# Investing in real estate outside of Canada? In an island called Sri Lanka?



## rocketscience (Dec 19, 2018)

Hi, is it a good idea to invest in real estate outside of Canada?

Sometime ago I once had the opportunity to deal with a certain Spanish lady who was doing something with setting up a boutique hotel in Sri Lanka. I have absolutely no clue the ownership percentage of the hotel, whether it was done in partnership with a person from the island. But at the time, I remember understanding that this was somehow her business.

I was thinking about the Canadian dollar against the LKR as well.

Do you think it wise to invest in real estate in Sri Lanka?

Here's some properties I was looking at: https://www.propertypost.lk/search.php?q=luxury+house

Is it feasible to start a business on that island?

If not Sri Lanka, what about Seychelles? I've heard Seychelles is quite heavier on the wallet in terms of living costs.

But Seychelles is tiny compared to Sri Lanka.

According to Wikipedia, 
Seychelles: 459 km2 (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seychelles)
Sri Lanka: 65,610 km2 (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geography_of_Sri_Lanka)

Thoughts? Advice?


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## Just a Guy (Mar 27, 2012)

Remote real estate investing is amoung the most difficult ways to invest. First off, you’re no onsite, so you’re trusting your “partners” are honest. Next, it’s difficult to oversee, you have no idea if they are doing what you think they are, or even if it exists. Then you get the issue of foreign governments and their stability. Then foreign tax systems...

You can make money, but this isn’t the way I’d start investing in real estate, this is for experienced people in my opinion.


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## rocketscience (Dec 19, 2018)

Just a Guy said:


> Remote real estate investing is amoung the most difficult ways to invest. First off, you’re no onsite, so you’re trusting your “partners” are honest. Next, it’s difficult to oversee, you have no idea if they are doing what you think they are, or even if it exists. Then you get the issue of foreign governments and their stability. Then foreign tax systems...
> 
> You can make money, but this isn’t the way I’d start investing in real estate, this is for experienced people in my opinion.


Right... Sri Lanka is rated #1 on lonely planet and looks like a beautiful place. But people are people, so I wouldn't really know exactly who to trust on the long term, unless I was working with a reputed agent maybe. But then the other issues you mentioned...


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## Just a Guy (Mar 27, 2012)

If you ever watch shows like American Greed you’ll see real estate developememt is ripe with fraud. There is a lot of money to be made in real estate, so there’s a lot of temptation to make even more.


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## Spudd (Oct 11, 2011)

These are 3rd world countries, it would be basically impossible to find someone trustworthy on the ground, I would think. Not that I'm saying everyone in 3rd world countries are bad, but there's definitely more potential for corruption there, and if you're trying to manage it remotely from Canada.... forget about it.


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## Longtimeago (Aug 8, 2018)

As someone who has invested in property outside of Canada, I can tell you that you need to know as much about what you are doing in any country as you do in Canada. If the answer to that question is, 'no I don't know as much about investing in real estate in Sri Lanka as I do about investing in real estate in Canada', then the prudent thing to do is either become that educated in that market or forget about it.

Money can be made investing in real estate anywhere in the world and third world countries are no exception but you need to know about the market, just like anywhere else. It's that simple.


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## OhGreatGuru (May 24, 2009)

Sri Lanka also had a 30-year civil war, ending only in 2009. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sri_Lanka. It's a bit early to say if they will now move forward with generations of peace, or if the ethnic and political divisions will resurface in violence again.


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## moderator2 (Sep 20, 2017)

rocketscience said:


> Hi, is it a good idea to invest in real estate outside of Canada?
> 
> Sometime ago I once had the opportunity to deal with a certain Spanish lady who was doing something with setting up a boutique hotel in Sri Lanka.


I'm a moderator on this site.

I see that you are posting _from_ Sri Lanka. Could you please clarify: are you a Canadian investor? Do you have business interests in Sri Lanka that you are trying to promote?

Just a reminder that promotion of businesses and services (marketing) is not allowed here.


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## rocketscience (Dec 19, 2018)

Hi Moderator, yes you are correct. I wouldn't be thinking of investing outside of Canada unless I took a fancy to that place.


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## rocketscience (Dec 19, 2018)

In Sri Lanka right now. Been to Nuwara Eliya (cold), Hambantota (hot), Tangalle (tourism); it's an island that doesn't feel like an island but not really filled with tourists.


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## rocketscience (Dec 19, 2018)

Lol, I just googled RocketScience. Looks like I'm an "Award-winning digital marketing & PR" company. Lol.

Moderator, as bad as it looks, I swear I don't have anything to do with the folks over there. I didn't know they even existed when I chose the name. And according to their website, they're not even in Canada. I'm not marketing them either!


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## can_84 (Jul 2, 2011)

I've looked at Sri Lanka and I chose to stay away. 

This was my reasoning:

The 30 year civil war was started by the Majority Buddhist taking a hard line against the minority Hindus, basically state terror. The country is caught up in United Nations investigations for genocide and war crimes. They recently went though a political crises where there was an attempted coupe where hardliner Buddhist wanted to cease control to prevent the state passing a new federal constitution granting rights to minorities. This lead to the Sri Lankan currency depreciating by about 30%, coupled with the fact that the Sri Lankan government spends about 70% of its revenue on paying off debt, especially to China. Basically China has Sri Lanka by the throat if you look at the loan structure.

My opinion: Sri Lanka is caught in a religious war which has caused it great economic damage, this has lead China to pretty much own the island. If you want to conserve and grow your $ I would stay away from this violent island for the foreseeable future. 

Hers a great article to sum up the issues that I've listed: 

https://www.cnbc.com/2018/12/27/inv...political-turbulence-in-sri-lanka-expert.html


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