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- [00:00]
Dan
Welcome back to Real Estate Without Borders. Today I am joined by the lovely Dave Hutchinson. But not just Dave, we're also joined by an awesome guy by the name of Tim. But before we do that, Dave, how's it going? And maybe you can. He can introduce our guests here.
- [00:14]
Dave Hutchinson
Yeah, of course. Everything's good, man. We're back in Toronto. My lighting is a bit off today, so I apologize. We've got a busy office full of realtors closing deals over here, so it's good. But, yeah, Tim, honestly, man, me. And just so you know, you don't know me yet, but me and Dan. Me and Dan communicate pretty much exclusively by sending each other your tweets. So true story. You might not know us, but. But we're very familiar with you and it's super cool what you're doing. It's just like literally back and forth, Me and Dan, at least a couple times a week, we'll be like, should we split this? Are we going to buy this one?
- [00:48]
Dan
Are we, Are we moving to Italy?
- [00:49]
Dave Hutchinson
Yes, let's get the Italy passports going. But yeah, Tim, Tim, tell us about yourself. Let us everyone know who you are.
- [00:56]
Tim
Sure, yeah. Thank you so much. So, yeah, before we begin, just wanted to say thank you and thanks for the introduction. So I have a special connection with Canada and Toronto specifically. I actually, yeah, I spent a full summer about 15 years ago in Toronto. So, yeah, I had great, great time and really good fun there.
- [01:20]
Dave Hutchinson
Amazing.
- [01:21]
Tim
So, yeah, my name is Tim. I'm based in Dublin, Ireland. Although I spent about half of my time in Spain as well. So, yeah, about 11 years ago, I decided to quit my corporate job at Microsoft and essentially moved to Spain together with my family. Mainly because of the lifestyle and the 300 days a year full of sunshine and all that good crack. So, yeah, I suppose that's how it all started. The whole kind of, you know, the first ideas about, you know, the beautiful Spanish lifestyle and properties and so on.
- [02:09]
Dave Hutchinson
That's cool, man. I kind of did something somewhat similar. I spend my summers, or, sorry, my winters in Tulum, Mexico. Because I'm sure when you were here, you experienced Toronto is pretty much exclusively gray and fairly cold.
- [02:23]
Tim
Yeah, yeah.
- [02:24]
Dave Hutchinson
But I'm not sure. Did you ever get yourself a Tim Hortons coffee? Have you ever had one of these?
- [02:28]
Tim
I did, of course. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
- [02:29]
Dan
Best coffee in the world, right?
- [02:31]
Tim
Yeah.
- [02:32]
Dan
Give us that coffee and a cigarette all in one.
- [02:35]
Tim
Yeah, well, I suppose it depends on what you compare it with, right? If, if, if, if you put it in, you know, if you compare it to an Italian coffee.
- [02:48]
Dave Hutchinson
That's right.
- [02:48]
Tim
Or Spanish coffee then. Yeah, I'm sorry guys, but yeah, it's nowhere near, you know, what we expect, what we're used to here in Europe. But yeah, and of course the, the donuts, right? Of course they've got some really, really good donuts as well.
- [03:06]
Dave Hutchinson
Yeah, that's right.
- [03:07]
Dan
That's how they get you there.
- [03:09]
Tim
Yeah, yeah.
- [03:10]
Dan
So, yeah, so tell us a little bit about, about afford a home, like your, your site and the journey and sort of like, and, and yeah, just tell me about like the business, like what's, what compelled it, you know, how, how has it been? What kind of clients are you, you serving? Like you know, what's going on with that.
- [03:28]
Tim
Yeah, so the whole story and, and the project started in July of last year. So my background is in tech. So I've been one of the founders in a startup for nine years. So I've actually quit that company back in November of last year. And yeah, the objective was to really focus on affording home full time. But yeah, it all started in last summer. At that time I already kind of had an interest in real estate. I actually, I bought my first property in Spain. I bought another one in Italy, which I flipped after a short while for profit. So that's how it all kind of started. And I always had a good eye for amazing properties, affordable properties with unique characteristics like sea views and you know, and everything else. So, so I said look, now at that stage, I already kind of had lots of friends and family that asked me to help them with buying a property, a holiday home or maybe a retirement place and so on because I mean, who doesn't want to retire in Italy or Spain, right?
- [04:46]
Dave Hutchinson
That's right.
- [04:47]
Tim
So yeah, I decided to share one of those properties that caught my eyes on Twitter. Now just so you guys know, before that I never really created any content. I think at that stage I had maybe about 150 followers on Twitter and I was really a content consumer as opposed to a creator. So I said, look, I'm gonna try it out, share it and see how it goes. And my first post went viral. All of a sudden I've got this. A lot of people DMing me and asking me, hey, how can I buy this? Is this really the cost? Is it? Why is it so cheap? And so on. So I said, yeah, I started, I did a few more posts and then I was thinking, I kind of, you know, tested, I did some early testing and figured out that, you know, like the all signs were showing that it's, you know, it could be a viable business. So I said, look, what can I do to try and monetize this whole idea? So at the time, I think the, the whole model around newsletters and selling guns in the newsletter and so on, that they were only starting at least here in Europe. I know in the States, the newsletters were kind of a thing, like a big thing already for a couple of years. So I launched a newsletter and grew to I think my first 5,000 subscribers in a couple of months. All organically through Twitter and through my posts. The posts. You guys see, my biggest post in terms of engagement was it was viewed by 2 million people.
- [06:47]
Dave Hutchinson
Wow.
- [06:48]
Tim
And only from that post I got almost 3,000 subscribers.
- [06:52]
Dave Hutchinson
Wow.
- [06:53]
Tim
So it was kind of, you know.
- [06:55]
Dave Hutchinson
That's cool.
- [06:56]
Tim
Yeah. I think this kind of proved some early PMF that there is definitely interest out there and so on. So yeah, at the moment what we've done after that. Right. Because after iterating a few, you know, the business model and we were thinking initially to essentially try and monetize the newsletter through ad placements mainly.
- [07:26]
Dave Hutchinson
Right.
- [07:27]
Tim
But then we, you know, we weren't happy with the ad copies and no, we had lots of subscribers that were kind of pushing back and hey, you know, don't. You've got beautiful newsletters and all these clunky ads, they kind of don't fit at all. And then we've done lots of research as well and essentially the way we work at the moment is really on a one to one basis. So there is a client that's interested in buying European real estate and what we do is essentially we help them end to end. So we rolled out paid consultations about three weeks ago. We've done 10 already. So that's where, you know, people jump on a 60 minute call and essentially ask all the different questions that they have, you know, in terms of the whole buying process, the types of documents they need, visas and so on. Although I'm not a, a tax advisor or a visa advisor, but on a high level I can advise on that as well.
- [08:38]
Dan
Yeah, we actually, we have a visa advisor coming on the show, so maybe I'll connect you with him as well. Yeah, because they, they do a bunch of that stuff. So. Okay, so before we dive in, because I want to hear more about this, this like paid consult and kind of like who are the people going through it and what are you talking to them about? Really quickly you mentioned you bought a place in Italy. We've been trying to figure this out. We got A couple of guests coming on, somebody from Japan and somebody from Italy about these. Like, in Japan they have this thing called Ikea, which is like all of these 9 million empty houses that are just like, you get them for free. And apparently Italy has something very similar. What's going on with that? Like, explain. And, and can I actually go to Italy and just buy a house for a dollar?
- [09:20]
Tim
Yeah, you can, yeah. The only, the only caveat is that you'll have to actually live in that place for a number of years, right?
- [09:29]
Dave Hutchinson
Oh, you're living it, not just renovated to live in it.
- [09:32]
Dan
Define live, yeah.
- [09:35]
Tim
So it really depends on the area, because all these schemes, right, the one Euro scheme, home scheme, is managed by the local council, right? And it depends slightly on the, you know, based on the region and area and so on. So I think the very first one was launched in Sicily and essentially what, what the Italians are trying to do is that on one hand they have a lot of, you know, these abandoned houses, most of them are really, you know, require a lot of renovation because, you know, they are destroyed and so on. And what they're trying to do is essentially attract new people. They're trying to bring these villages back to life. So, and, and to be honest, they've been quite successful.
- [10:33]
Dave Hutchinson
Are they in good locations, like sort of cut you off? Are they, are they in like, desirable ish locations? Or are they kind of like middle of nowhere, no one want to live there type location?
- [10:40]
Tim
Most of them are in, you know, small villages. They could be inland as well, so, you know, quite far away from, from the coast and so on. But there are some areas that are kind of better located, I suppose. So again, it depends, it depends on the location and so on. Sardinia are running a similar scheme as well, and they specifically, after Trump has won the presidency in the States, they specifically launched a scheme targeting Americans.
- [11:15]
Dan
Well, that's. Most of the people who listen to this show is people who want to take their capital and move it to other countries, right? Like there's. And the easiest way for most people to do that is like, it's so simple to just understand real estate in another country. It's just a house, right? It's not like you have to go and investigate businesses and learn. Like, it's such an easy way if you're just purely investing the money to, to, to move it to a different country.
- [11:39]
Tim
Yeah, yeah, absolutely. And actually, I mean, these schemes, they're not for everyone, right? Because it's, as I said, there are certain conditions that you, you need to meet so things like if you.
- [11:49]
Dave Hutchinson
Yeah, yeah. So explain.
- [11:50]
Tim
Yeah. You need to have a project done for the place, the renovation project. Right. I think you need to submit it within the first four months.
- [11:58]
Dave Hutchinson
Okay.
- [11:59]
Tim
After you bought the property, then, as I said, you need to live in that place. So you can just, you know, buy the place, renovate it, and then, you know, come only on holidays. So you. Yeah, I don't remember the exact days, but I think there's a set number of days that you need to be there.
- [12:15]
Dave Hutchinson
They got the Italian. The Italian police outside your house with a camera watching to make sure. 127 days. 128.
- [12:26]
Tim
Yeah. But at the same time, right. I've heard lots of successful stories. So there is one Australian lady, so she bought five of those houses, and what she's doing is she's renovating them and then she's operating them as Airbnb, and they've been, like, really successful. So. Yeah. And another interesting fact, I actually read this the other day. So if the first and second wave of these schemes were mainly, you know, these houses were mainly bought by Americans, Australians and so on. So mainly foreigners. The third wave, in Sicily, there is a lot more Italians. So young Italians that are kind of, you know, tired of the city life and they can work remotely and so on. So it's actually the locals now buying these homes.
- [13:17]
Dan
Interesting. Okay, so let's pivot a little bit to what you mentioned in regards to these consults, like, who's signing up for these things, what does it cost, and what are the results that they end up getting?
- [13:28]
Tim
Yeah, so the consultations are 60 minute long and they cost 200. And it's really for people that, you know, that they want to buy a home, it could be either as an investment or as a holiday home, second home, or maybe even, you know, they're planning on relocating to that place, but they don't know where exactly. So it could be. We cover four countries at the moment. Spain, Italy, Portugal and France. So obviously, even though all of these countries are in the eu, there are some differences. So this call is mainly for people to ask any questions they have if they are still undecided about the country. Or maybe the area in Spain, for example, could be the northern Spain or maybe southern Spain and so on. So it's really for them to come on and ask any questions they have once. Yeah.
- [14:33]
Dan
Oh, no, I was just gonna say, like, for a lot of the people in the US or North America listening, like, because you're naming, like, you name four countries I'm just gonna put this map up because it's like people, I think they don't contextualize properly. Like when you say that you live, lived in one place and you bought a house in another place, they're thinking that that's like flying from the US to Europe or to South America. But it's not. Right. Like the, the Europe is like about the size of the U.S. right. So I think that that's an important, important thing for people to think about, like the geography of it. Anyway, I'll let you continue.
- [15:07]
Tim
Yeah, yeah, I mean, I suppose the beauty of Europe, right. Just, just to touch a bit more on that point. So even though it's, you know, it's a, it's a continent right There, there are lots of countries which are, even though they're neighbors, right. The countries are kind. There is a lot of differences between all these countries. Different culture, you know, different, different language and so on. So I suppose that's kind of the main attraction. And again, that's not me saying a European, but it's, you know, it's, it's what others people and how, what's their experience after visiting Europe? So yeah, just. So once they've done the consultation then they, they have the option of signing up to one of our packages. And what we've done is we've actually given that I'm a SaaS guy at heart. So I've, you know, yeah, I've worked for SaaS companies, I founded SaaS companies and so on. So what we did is we actually opted for a subscription based model which is basically, which is basically you subscribe to one of the two packages we have. So it's a basic package and then a premium package. And essentially what we do is we start by doing a comprehensive market analysis in the selected area. So let's say you, you're interested in Costa del Sol in Spain, but you're still kind of, you don't know exactly where because cost, you know, it's, it's quite a big cost. So we would help you decide. And then also we would actually provide a report with property listings. So that's kind of the basic package and you can cancel at any time or the subscription ends once you've actually selected a property that you want to go ahead with.
- [16:57]
Dave Hutchinson
Cool.
- [16:58]
Tim
The premium package has, you know, the same things that the basic package has, but also, you know, things like off market deals. So that's where I go and I engage my network that I've been building, you know, for the past two or Three years. So it's, you know, me reaching out to specific realtors, asking them to, you know, to talk, to talk with their friends and with their network and essentially find, try and find some, some really good and off market deals.
- [17:29]
Dave Hutchinson
That's cool. Is it out of curiosity because I'm a realtor myself, it's like, is there a local mls, like a local website that. Yeah, yeah.
- [17:40]
Tim
Well that's like a Zillow type. You mean is it something like that? Like st. Yeah, no, no, there's nothing like that in Europe. And that's the whole kind of, you know, difficulty and the whole, you know, the difficult. It's like if you were to do this on your own, you would need to probably monitor, I don't know, 20 platforms.
- [17:59]
Dave Hutchinson
Right.
- [17:59]
Tim
I mean there are kind of, you know, the top two platforms in Europe, but there is so many other smaller ones. So yeah, it's not as straightforward, I suppose.
- [18:11]
Dave Hutchinson
We have the similar problem. We have a similar problem in Mexico. There's no mls, no centralized website. So it's like you said, it's helping people based off of the network that you've built, which is really cool. Good for you. Do you help people with the sale of their home? If they ever were to say they buy from you and then maybe 3 so years down the road, do you also help with the transaction of the sale or just referring.
- [18:34]
Tim
Yeah, like one thing that I've, I've done, I suppose up until this point is I've actually had a few owners reach out to me and say, look, I love your posts, you know, you get some really amazing engagement and so on. I actually have, I'm actually selling my own property. Would you mind doing a post op and see, you know, perhaps if you can help me find a buyer.
- [18:57]
Dan
Do you charge a marketing fee for that?
- [19:00]
Tim
So I do if it's a real estate agency, but if it's the owner directly. Up until now I promised myself just to try and help them for free. So I haven't charged anyone.
- [19:12]
Dan
Now wouldn't, would they be typically paying a commission to a realtor anyway? Like in that scenario, like couldn't you get licensed as a real estate agency and make a business out of this?
- [19:20]
Tim
Yeah, yeah, definitely. That's one of the avenues that I, you know, I could potentially take as well. So yeah, we'll see, we'll see how it goes. Cause like, you've gotta remember I've only been doing this, you know, since last summer. So it's not even been a, been a year.
- [19:39]
Dan
Yeah, fair, fair, yeah. We're out here trying to convince you to like start another business off the side of it. Yeah, Yeah. I, I'm just curious. Okay. So, so now I'm like, who, who are the people, who's, who's taking these consults? Who's the big buyers? I know you mentioned in Italy it's like, you know, the third wave. But like, who's, who are the people interested in buying properties all over Europe? Like, are you seeing a lot of American interest? Are you seeing a lot of interest from other places in the world? Like, what stood out to you? Any trends you highlight for us?
- [20:06]
Tim
Yeah, yeah. So 68% of my subscribers are American. Yeah. Amazing. So again, I don't know why, I've been reading kind of lots of articles about people, not everyone being happy with Trump winning the presidency. You know, the trade war. Investors are kind of trying to diversify their assets and maybe move some of their assets over to Europe. I've been speaking to some of experts from my network and so people that deal with, you know, tax advisors, visa advisors and so on, and they are kind of seeing the same trend. So there is a lot of interest from Americans, Canadians also.
- [20:49]
Dave Hutchinson
So, so yeah, I think our wave is coming. We just had our election, so you're going to get that wave in the next like maybe month or so.
- [20:55]
Tim
Yeah, I've already had at least 10 Canadians reach out to me since last week.
- [21:01]
Dan
Politics are probably your biggest lead source. Right. Like, you know, every four years an election's coming. Let's go, let's get the ramp up. The marketing man, people, half the people are going to be pissed off.
- [21:11]
Tim
Yeah, yeah, absolutely. Then you have, obviously I think the Europe is kind of deemed, you know, one of the safest place, even though I know we have an active war at the moment right on the continent. But in terms of passports and, you know, residency. So it's kind of, it's, you know, the European passport is very appealing at.
- [21:30]
Dan
The moment, I think like mature economies as well. Right. Like they're not emerging markets. I mean, these are some of the oldest economies in the world. Like, it's not. Sure, maybe they're not growing like advanced economies are, but, but you can predict the growth. You know, it's not like this, this major volatility that you see in a lot of these other up and coming economies. So. Cool.
- [21:49]
Tim
Yeah.
- [21:49]
Dave Hutchinson
You, you, the areas you mentioned, was there a specific reason, like you chose those areas, I'm assuming just based off of pure demand, but like that. Is that why you chose those areas? And Then are you looking to expand across different parts of Europe?
- [22:00]
Tim
Yeah, yeah. So the main reason why of these four countries, it's really because we're passionate about this area. So the Mediterranean, it's. It's, of course, one of the reasons why we decided to. To move to Spain to buy a property there. And that's where we want to live. That's where we see ourselves living. And then, yeah, we actually went with. Instead of Portugal, initially we went with Greece, but then because there was a lot of demand in Portugal, we actually swapped the two countries. And I suppose Portugal is another kind of interested play place because it's. So Spain have actually canceled the golden visa scheme at the beginning of April.
- [22:45]
Dan
Because we've talked about it a couple times on the show. I'm curious, tell me what's going on there.
- [22:49]
Tim
Yeah, yeah. So what's happening in Spain is it's. I mean, they've had lots of protests recently. Right. So the locals aren't happy with not just tourists, but also with foreign investment. Right. So. And the main, I suppose, issue for them is really access to affordable housing.
- [23:12]
Dave Hutchinson
Right.
- [23:13]
Tim
Because, of course, you know, you have lots of foreigners coming in, investing in the country, which kind of means that, you know, there is less housing for the locals because obviously they. Their pockets aren't as deep as, for example, you know, people coming from, I don't know, the States and so on. So they've had lots of protests recently. So places like the Canary Islands, the Balearic, so Mallorca, and a few other places, Barcelona as well. So what's happening at the moment is obviously there is strong demand, which kind of, you know, prices are going up and everything else. Right. Which is, yeah, normal for this kind of.
- [23:54]
Dave Hutchinson
For the, for the, for people to get like a golden visa. I know Spain, you mentioned that's no longer a thing.
- [24:00]
Tim
Yeah.
- [24:01]
Dave Hutchinson
Do the other places you service, they have those kind of options for foreign investors?
- [24:05]
Tim
Yeah. So the most appealing country at the moment for, I mean, that still have a golden visa, Right, is Portugal. And so, I mean, it's not just the golden visa, but it's also, you know, almost everyone speaks English. Lisbon is, you know, similar to San Francisco, I've heard lots of Americans say, really, mainly because they have the, you know, the bridge, Lisbon, although on a smaller scale. So the Americans feel at home in Portugal. And. Yeah, so their golden visa, although they've changed this slightly. So version one of the scheme, so you could actually invest in a property, you could buy a property and then kind of get residency. Whereas now the golden Visa investment is no longer tied to real estate. So I think what they've done is they've changed. Now you have to invest into one of the areas of the economy, so it could be being an investment fund in crypto as well and so on. But it's, it's. I mean, the rules around that are very appealing because. And the minimum investment is half a mil. Okay. And you get a Portuguese long term residency. Permanent residency.
- [25:13]
Dave Hutchinson
Permanent residency. Wow.
- [25:14]
Tim
Permanent residency. Yeah, even. And, and the minimum amount of days that you, you need to be in the country are seven days.
- [25:23]
Dan
That's easy.
- [25:24]
Tim
So it's, it's kind of appealing, Right. To a lot of people. And then after five years, I think you can apply for a, for a passport.
- [25:32]
Dave Hutchinson
Wow. Yeah, that's cool. And then. So, okay, so Portugal's offering. Spain has stopped it. Interesting. Is that, is that like a main driver for people? I'm assuming. I'm kind of curious still to touch back on, on who, like, I know we said mostly Americans, but are these people investing more so for Airbnb or is it an investment for a second property or I guess maybe 50. 50. Like what are they purchasing for?
- [25:55]
Tim
Yeah, it's, it's a mix really. I mean, most people want to, if, if they're not planning on, on staying in the country, then obviously they want to rent it out for the, you know, for, for that time that they, they aren't there, that they aren't using it. But it's, yeah, it's, it's a mix. I would say maybe 70% of people are, are approaching this, you know, from an investment perspective, and then the rest are looking to relocate.
- [26:18]
Dave Hutchinson
Is there, is there, are there any Airbnb restrictions for foreigners or like, because in Toronto specifically, like, it's very, it's not impossible, but the, the city's made it fairly challenging. Same with like New York. It's not easy. What are the restrictions like, for, for foreign buyers?
- [26:32]
Tim
Yeah. So Spain actually, they've, they, they've rolled out some changes in the legislation, so in January of this year and, and then at the beginning of March. So essentially in Spain what they've done is, and again, like to add, you know, more difficulty to the whole process is that they have national legislation and then they have local legislation. Right.
- [26:57]
Dave Hutchinson
Okay.
- [26:58]
Tim
So that's, that's kind of another angle where, you know, lots of people are, you know, have questions around these different legislations during the consultation that I offer. But yeah, the main kind of change that they've done is so on one Hand, they froze the issuing of new short term rental licenses and then two, like in some places, let's say you, if you want to buy an apartment in a, in a complex. Apartment complex. Right, right. Then you need to get 60% of your neighbors to approve to essentially say.
- [27:32]
Dave Hutchinson
Yeah, well, like sign off on something.
- [27:34]
Tim
Exactly. Yeah. Yeah. Which really, given that the locals aren't happy with.
- [27:39]
Dave Hutchinson
Not going to happen.
- [27:40]
Tim
Yeah, it's not going to happen. So I suppose the only kind of thing you can do is, you know, buy a house because then you, you know, you want to get the approval of your neighbors.
- [27:51]
Dave Hutchinson
So that's only like a condo purchase or like a.
- [27:54]
Tim
Yes, yeah, yeah, interesting. So, yeah, no, they're definitely making it a lot harder now. It's still possible. So one way around this is to buy a property with an existing license. But then again, it depends really on the region. Right. Because in some regions what they've done is they've actually stopped for the license to be transferred to the new owner. So you need to apply as the new owner. In some places it's still possible to buy the property with the license. So that's why it's, you know, really my advice is, you know, if you're interested in this, then definitely get expert advice because it depends so much on the different regions. Whereas if we look at other countries, right, that's Spain, Portugal, on the other hand, it's not as strict. So, you know, getting a new license, transferring the license from one property to another is still possible. But what you have in Portugal because of this increased demand from foreign buyer buyers, specifically the real estate prices are a lot higher than what you have in Spain.
- [28:56]
Dan
Yeah, it's funny, Portugal is the only place in the world that saw housing affordability deteriorate worse than Canada since the beginning of COVID I actually, I know this because I accidentally became famous in Portugal for a week by. I posted this chart about what I just said, but it said Canada had the second worst housing affordability. And then the, you know, Portuguese media picked it up and found wow, because they were number one. And it was all over the news. I had some TV interviews there and just random stuff like that too.
- [29:24]
Tim
Yeah, yeah, no, there's definitely signs of what Spain has, has been experiencing. Right.
- [29:31]
Dan
So why isn't this happen in places like Italy? Because they don't have the golden visa program and. Yeah, yeah.
- [29:37]
Tim
So Italy. So the cool thing about Italy is that they don't have such a big problem in terms of available housing. Okay. So there is a lot of. There's thousands of properties on sale at the moment.
- [29:50]
Dave Hutchinson
Okay.
- [29:51]
Tim
Which kind of, you know, which means that there is properties, you know, to essentially incentivize, you know, buyers to come in, invest, buy them. The regulations in terms of short term rentals aren't as strict. So it's really. Italy is the way I see it is Italy is where Spain used to be, you know, five, seven years ago. And then at the same time, when you add into the equation the Italian brand, the number of tourists, it is.
- [30:22]
Dave Hutchinson
Just the way he said Italy is cool, man. I'm saying it wrong.
- [30:26]
Tim
Amazing, amazing food. Well, the best food. Right, right. The pasta, the pizzas and so on. So it's, it's really like from an investment point of view, Italy, I think is probably the place where I would personally invest in at the moment.
- [30:40]
Dan
Done. Sign me up. Let's go. Shut up and take my money.
- [30:43]
Dave Hutchinson
Yeah, let's book that consultation foshard after this call.
- [30:46]
Tim
Let's do it. Let's do it. I'll give you guys a discount.
- [30:48]
Dan
Okay. Because that. But that's a good segue because I was going to ask, could you give me a ranking of like top three places that you'd invest in?
- [30:54]
Tim
Yeah, yeah, yeah. So I would say Italy, Spain and then Portugal.
- [31:00]
Dave Hutchinson
I am, I am looking at your post. The ibiza villa.
- [31:04]
Tim
Yeah.
- [31:04]
Dave Hutchinson
10. 10k a week.
- [31:07]
Tim
Yeah, yeah. From 10k a week.
- [31:09]
Dave Hutchinson
Pull that one out. Fosh NK a week. 8.5 per week, mid season, fully booked. April, September, 80% repeat clients, private beach access. What would something like that cost to purchase? Approximately five mil still.
- [31:22]
Tim
Yeah.
- [31:22]
Dave Hutchinson
Crazy.
- [31:23]
Tim
I actually, I actually I visited that place, Crazy. In last month. So I actually, I went there, you know, took some video content and then just this morning, right. I got the news that, you know, this essentially we got exclusive selling rights for this villa.
- [31:46]
Dan
No.
- [31:47]
Dave Hutchinson
Wow.
- [31:48]
Tim
This is one of. Thank you. This is one of the villas that has been, you know, they've had it in some really popular magazines, you know, for millionaires. So it's deemed as a famous villa in Ibiza. So. Yeah. And it's been operating as a short term rental for a good few years now. And it's just, it's incredible guys.
- [32:13]
Dan
It looks cool.
- [32:15]
Dave Hutchinson
When people are purchasing, are there financing options or is it mainly cash when foreign investors are purchasing over here?
- [32:24]
Tim
No, I mean foreigners can get a mortgage obviously not as much as a resident would. So generally they would get between 50 to 60% and then the rest would have to be. Yeah. In cash.
- [32:38]
Dave Hutchinson
And is there stipulations around like Having residency for an approval of a financing option or.
- [32:44]
Tim
No, no, no.
- [32:46]
Dave Hutchinson
Wow.
- [32:46]
Tim
Because part of the process is before you initiate the buying process, you need to get a local tax number. And once you have that, then essentially you can open up a bank account, get a mortgage and everything else.
- [33:00]
Dave Hutchinson
You help the people with this as well?
- [33:02]
Tim
Yes, yeah. It's not us specifically, but people from our network. So I suppose the main. Yeah.
- [33:07]
Dan
You didn't know you were coming on the call to pitch me and Dave on a consult, but I think you did a pretty good job. This is how we got our free.
- [33:15]
Tim
Yeah, no worries, guys. I suppose the main kind of where. Where it all started. Right. And. And I can. I can do the pitch in, in two sentences, max. Right. So the traditional European realtor, they are representing the seller, Right. Because that's how they're making their money. That's right. You know, they get a commission. Whereas our approach is. And it came from our own experience, right. When we bought properties in Spain, in Italy and so on. So there is no one really to represent the buyer, especially a foreign buyer. Right, right.
- [33:47]
Dan
Is there never buyer, like, there's no buyer reps otherwise. So real estate agent, just a listing agent in most European countries, Correct?
- [33:54]
Tim
Correct. Yeah. Yeah.
- [33:56]
Dan
So you're becoming basically like the North American equivalent of a buyer rep, Correct?
- [34:01]
Tim
Yeah.
- [34:01]
Dan
Amazing, amazing.
- [34:03]
Tim
So, yeah, essentially we make sure that, you know, you as a buyer, you'll be looked after and essentially supported throughout the process.
- [34:11]
Dan
Yeah, the fee structure makes sense too because like in North America now you're starting to see a progression towards that, becoming a fee based service where agents can, like, you know, in the US they had this big NAR lawsuit basically where they. They made it so that listing agents can't pay buyer agents directly. So you have to actually like contract your buyer agent. So you're just ahead of the curve with this whole concept, to be honest.
- [34:32]
Tim
Yeah, yeah. I've heard. I've heard from a few real estate agents that have been in this game for ages. So one thing they've been telling me is that I'm trying to disrupt the legacy sector.
- [34:43]
Dan
Yeah, that's all right.
- [34:45]
Tim
Yeah, absolutely. Some of them have wished me good luck. I don't know if it was in a good way or bad way.
- [34:52]
Dave Hutchinson
I think what you're doing is really cool, man. I think, I think this is the main reason we started this podcast, honestly, is because we're seeing this new wave of this new generation of people who are much more willing or interested in investing overseas and seeing these like incredible opportunities. And it not being such something that was so hard to access. Right. I think as everything's kind of coming to fruition and people have more access to certain websites or people like yourself, this whole dream of owning a home and. Or is that for. For, like, most people probably don't know this exists, and it's changing rapidly, and I think it's a lot to do with the current climates in, you know, some of these North American cities.
- [35:35]
Tim
Absolutely. Yeah. Yeah.
- [35:36]
Dan
The branding's so on point, too. Like, afford a home. It's so. So simple. Yeah. You really. You've done a great job. I. I wish you all the best, too. I think, like, it's.
- [35:45]
Tim
Thanks so much, Daniel.
- [35:45]
Dan
Definitely, yeah. Anything that you want to leave our audience with before we sign off here? Like, where can they find you? Where would you like them to contact you?
- [35:55]
Tim
Yeah, yeah. So we are currently working on launching a full website because at the moment, what you see here is really the landing page of the newsletter, which has been designed by my wife. So it's really myself and my wife running this business.
- [36:14]
Dave Hutchinson
Cool.
- [36:15]
Tim
And everything you see, you know, the branding and so on, I mean, it's super basic, but it's a substack, a beehive, actually.
- [36:24]
Dan
Okay, true, true.
- [36:25]
Tim
Yeah. Yeah. So, yeah, we are working on a full website that will contain a lot more helpful information. You know, hopefully some guides and essentially, you know, some free resources that will help people as well, at least at the beginning of their journey. But, yeah, the website of the newsletter, which is 100% free as www.affordyhome.com, so feel free to have a look and if you like what you see, subscribe. As I said, it's free and we plan on keeping it like this. And then, yeah, I mean, if. If you want to go one step further and if you're interested in maybe buying an olive farm in Spain or a winery in Portugal.
- [37:13]
Dan
Yeah, that was actually. That was the post that I saw when I was like, I'm booking a call with this guy right now.
- [37:19]
Tim
Yeah. Then feel free to get in touch. All the contact information are in each newsletter. And then I'm also on Twitter, So, yeah, any I'm. And specifically setting aside at least an hour every day to answer to, go back to every single dm, I'm receiving email and so on. So, yeah, I go back to everyone.
- [37:45]
Dave Hutchinson
I just signed up for your newsletter, so I'm in.
- [37:48]
Dan
Dave's got big money, too. He's buying a house, like, within the next year, guaranteed.
- [37:53]
Tim
No worries, Dave. I'd be Glad to help.
- [37:56]
Dave Hutchinson
I'm going to come down and visit you maybe and we'll do an in person podcast, eh? Fosh.
- [38:00]
Dan
Yeah, 100%. Actually, the last thing, I'm out of curiosity because, like, you have tons of Realtors. Like, we have a lot of Realtors who listen to our content, right. And like, if a real estate agent had a client, you know, if I'm a US or Canadian Realtor and I have a client who wants to go buy some real estate in Europe, is that something that you would take on? And typically in. In North America, you know, agents get paid like a 25% referral fee by their other. Like, if a Realtor, Should I have. Should we send Realtors to reach out to you too?
- [38:28]
Tim
Absolutely, yeah. 100%. Yeah. No, I'm open to any kind of collab and partnership. The way I see this is having an experienced network of different experts, different people really helps the end user, the buyer, and so on. So, yeah, happy to chat about this with Realtors as well.
- [38:59]
Dan
Amazing. Awesome. Thanks so much, Tim. Really appreciate your time. We'll have to have you back. I think I want to have you on at least once a quarter just to give us an update on whatever the heck's going on.
- [39:11]
Tim
Let's do it. Thanks so much, lads. I appreciate it.
- [39:13]
Dan
Thanks, guys. Take care.
- [39:14]
Dave Hutchinson
Thanks.
- [39:14]
Tim
All the best. Bye.