We ended up not needing it – serendipitously, a buyer materialized a couple weeks ago who is willing to pay list price :)

Good luck in your search! We’re very lucky to have actually just found a buyer for the full list price, but yeah, the market is rough right now

She gets a 10% cut for managing the property for all this time, and paying out of pocket for various repairs. As a result, she unfortunately has an interest in seeing the sale price be as high as it can be. She lives in the villa next door.

Yeah, we’ll try to get the family friend to send it to us, for sure

Hmm, that’s a good idea. At least then it doesn’t have to go through the family friend. I guess they’d take care of any necessary permits too. I like it!

Do you think it’s realistic to try to rent out the property in low season as well (late fall, winter, early spring), or is this likely to be a predominantly summer thing?

Oh, just to clarify, the house is owned outright with no mortgage, so at least we don’t have any equity problems like the first article mentions. However… yeah, that’s not looking promising. I’m inclined to think it’s better to drop the price by €101K or so. Better to do that and get the money now, than get stuck with it for many more years while the market recovers. Do you think that could make sense?

We do have some rental income, but it’s managed by the family friend, who only rents out to “nice families” she knows. We’re half-booked for July and August. It drives me a little bit crazy that they resist doing a proper managed Airbnb in the meantime.

Honestly, I’d love to get rid of the property in hopes that we can then buy into something that WE control. I’d like to think I’m half decent at financial management, but to be effective, we need to actually have control. The family friend is a really nice lady, but she’s no financial manager, that’s for sure.

Awesome, sold! Jk jk XD

Thank you so much! These are great starting points. Also, thank you for the condolences – it’s been a couple of years since her dad (the heir) passed away, and several more since her grandpa passed. Getting possession turned out to be very complicated, but we’re nearing the finish line on that front.

I do have a remaining question, actually. Real estate is an interesting option, and I like the idea of a nice stable rental income over the years. However, here in Canada where we now live, I fear that there’s a substantial real estate bubble. If true, now would probably be an awful time to by. What do you think?

Ah, STOXX it is, then! I’d like to stay away from US assets as much as possible, given the current… environment.

Is one better than the other?

Thank you, this sounds like good advice. I should’ve mentioned in the original post, but we’re in Canada. We’ll start by approaching a tax accountant and then go from there.

We already have a cause we support, and while we most definitely won’t be donating everything, we will absolutely be donating a percentage.

Yep, for sure. We’ll also make sure anyone we work with is a fiduciary, to help guard against those kinds of corrupt practices.

There are a large number of funds available to us through the company, which has its account at UBS Switzerland AG. What should we be prioritizing when fund-shopping?

We are shopping for an asset manager, but it seems like a good idea to walk into that with our eyes already open and some beginning ideas.