How to Choose Your First Overseas Home: Goal Setting, Location Selection,...

1. First, Determine the "Purpose of Buying a House": The Correct Order for Your First Overseas Property is "Family Goals" > "City Popularity" > "Project Selling Points"

When overseas families buy their first overseas home, the most important thing is not "where prices rise the fastest," but what problem you want to solve with this property. It is recommended to first align on one main goal within the family (choose only one), then allow 1–2 secondary goals:

Long-term living for self-occupancy: Prioritize comfort, healthcare, commuting, and community stability; investment returns are secondary.
Education/accompanying children or school district: Prioritize school radius, commuting routes, and rental/lease flexibility; the layout and configuration should serve the family's rhythm.
Residency/long-term stay support: Prioritize compliance pathways, renewal costs, and residency requirements; the property is merely a "life carrier."
Asset allocation + occasional self-occupancy: Prioritize rentability, property management, taxes, and exit channels; maintain self-occupancy experience as "acceptable."

A practical principle: If you cannot clearly explain "who will use this property and how frequently in the next 3 years," you are likely still "watching the excitement," not "making a decision."

II. Four Cards for Country Screening: Affordability, Property Rights and Transparency, Financing and Regulation, Exchange Rates and Cross-Border Costs

Turn country screening into 'four cards', which is more reliable than comparing city rankings:

Card A: Affordability and Bubble Risk (Don't just look at the absolute value of housing prices)

What you should focus on is not 'whether housing prices are expensive', but whether housing prices relative to income and housing prices relative to rent are excessively deviated—this determines the pressure and magnitude of pullback during future adjustment periods.

Card B: Property Rights and Transaction Transparency (Determines whether you can 'safely buy, smoothly transfer ownership, and sell later')

The biggest fear for the first overseas property: complex property rights chain, slow registration, lack of information transparency, and long dispute resolution cycles.

Card C: Financing and Regulatory Environment (Determines whether leverage can be used, how much can be used, and whether interest rates might suddenly become difficult)

Many countries restrict loan risks for residents and non-residents through rules such as LTV/DTI/DSTI; changes in rules can directly affect the feasibility of your home purchase and holding costs.

Card D: Exchange Rates and Cross-border Costs (Determines the 'real monthly payment/real living expenses' you feel)

The same mortgage and property fees are easy when the local currency is stable; but during exchange rate fluctuations or increased capital flow friction, they can become long-term pressure.

It is recommended that you create a 'one-page country summary': use the above four cards to write conclusions, rather than piling up data.

Three, City and Community Screening: Replace "Rich Area Labels" with "Living Radius"

For the first home overseas, choosing the wrong city is often not a 'macro failure', but a 'life radius failure'. It is recommended to screen in the following order:

Medical Radius: The actual commute time from home to high-quality hospitals (or the private/public system you plan to use).
Education Radius: Schools are not just about rankings, but also about commuting safety, activity arrangements, pick-up costs, and family rhythm.
Commute Radius: The 'sustainable distance' from your future work/social life/airport/high-speed rail/core commercial areas to home.
Safety and Daily Environment: Nighttime walking, parking routes, community lighting, pedestrian density, noise, and construction.
Rental and Subletting Radius (even if you live there yourself): Whether you can quickly rent out or sell when needed determines your risk lower limit.

In one sentence: The 'value preservation' of the first overseas home largely comes from its ability to continuously meet real-life needs, not from any high-end labels it may have.

Four, Projects and Unit Types: Don't Be Fooled by Model Units, Use a "Long-Term Operation Perspective" When Viewing Properties

Many families encounter pitfalls at the project level because they only focus on "the day of delivery" and overlook "the 1,000 days after moving in." Key areas to check:

Long-term maintenance capability of property and public spaces: Whether elevators, swimming pools, gyms, security, and parking systems are "continuously available."
Parking space logic: Whether there are enough spaces, whether they are tied to ownership/usage rights, and whether visitor parking is friendly (directly impacting self-living experience and rental premiums).
Sound insulation and sunlight/orientation: Short stays may not be sensitive, but long-term living will amplify these factors.
Repair fund/management fee structure: Don't just look at "how much it costs now," but consider the future adjustment mechanisms.
Rental friendliness: Whether long-term/short-term rentals are allowed? Are there strict restrictions on registration, key management, and visitors?

Unit layout suggestions (more suitable for a first home):

Try to choose a unit that is "suitable for family use" (storage, flow lines, partitionable, and adaptable for growth).
It's fine to pursue scarce views, but don't sacrifice long-term commuting and lifestyle convenience.

Five, Funds and Taxes: The Real Risk of the First Overseas Property is in the "Cash Flow Breakpoint" Rather Than "Price Fluctuations"

You need to break down the funding issue into three layers:

1) One-time costs (at the time of purchase)

Stamp duty/registration fees/legal fees/agent fees/loan processing fees/appraisal fees/renovation and furniture.

2) Holding costs (occur annually)

Property tax/ground rent (if applicable)/property management fees/maintenance fund/insurance/vacancy period costs/remote management fees.

3) Exit costs (most easily overlooked)

Selling taxes, capital gains tax (if applicable), early repayment fees, exchange friction, and capital repatriation paths.

It is recommended to set a "family safety line":

Even if there is 6–12 months of vacancy or unexpected medical expenses, your family's cash flow remains intact.

For the first overseas property, if leverage must be used: incorporate both interest rate increases and exchange rate fluctuations into the stress test (do not test only one variable).

Six, AIAIG Methodology: Three Red Lines + One Checklist, Quickly Eliminate the "Looks Good" Pitfalls

Three Red Lines (If any one is triggered, it is recommended to pause)

Unclear Property Rights/Usage: You cannot prove the completeness of the property chain with verifiable documents, or the usage conflicts with the actual business plan.
Unbearable Cash Flow: After superimposing the worst-case scenario (vacancy + rising interest rates + unfavorable exchange rates), the family's monthly cash flow is significantly tight.
Unclear Exit Channel: You cannot clearly explain who to sell to in the future, what demand supports the transaction, and what exit costs are required.

One Checklist (Suitable for first-time overseas property buyers to copy directly)

Goal: Main goal + Secondary goal (write it down)
Country: Four-card conclusion (affordability/transparency/financing regulation/exchange rate cost)
City: Medical radius/Education radius/Commute radius/Safety environment
Project: Property maintenance/Parking spaces/Sound insulation and sunlight/Cost structure/Rental rules
Funds: One-time costs/Holding costs/Exit costs + Stress test
Compliance: Visa and residency requirements, rental compliance requirements (if planning to rent)

After completing this checklist, you will naturally eliminate 80% of 'impulsive choices'.

It is recommended to first consider your main goal. If you plan to live there for a longer period within a year, prioritize a self-occupied type (life radius priority); if you only use it occasionally, prioritize an asset type that is rentable, easy to manage, and has clear exit options. The core of the first property is to raise the risk floor, not to maximize the profit ceiling.

AIAIGAnswer

Use 'life radius' instead of labels: healthcare, education, commute, safety, rental demand. Communities that can continuously meet needs are more resilient to cycles than marketing concepts.

AIAIGAnswer

1) Only calculating the purchase price, not the holding and exit costs; 2) Ignoring changes in exchange rates and financing rules that lead to cash flow disruptions; 3) Buying in locations or property types that are 'difficult to manage, rent, or exit'.

AIAIGAnswer

Prioritize markets and property types with stable rental demand, mature management, transparent transactions, and predictable exit taxes and processes; and treat 'rentability' as a hard requirement, not just a bonus.

Seven, Data and Method References (Few but Key): Using Authoritative Indicators for "Initial National Screening"

Disclaimer: The content of this article is for informational reference only and does not constitute investment advice, a solicitation, or a basis for major decision-making. Please make independent judgments and consult professional advisors when needed.

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1. First, Determine the "Purpose of Buying a House": The Correct Order for Your First Overseas Property is "Family Goals" > "City Popularity" > "Project Selling Points"

II. Four Cards for Country Screening: Affordability, Property Rights and Transparency, Financing and Regulation, Exchange Rates and Cross-Border Costs

Card A: Affordability and Bubble Risk (Don't just look at the absolute value of housing prices)

Card B: Property Rights and Transaction Transparency (Determines whether you can 'safely buy, smoothly transfer ownership, and sell later')

Card C: Financing and Regulatory Environment (Determines whether leverage can be used, how much can be used, and whether interest rates might suddenly become difficult)

Card D: Exchange Rates and Cross-border Costs (Determines the 'real monthly payment/real living expenses' you feel)

Three, City and Community Screening: Replace "Rich Area Labels" with "Living Radius"

Four, Projects and Unit Types: Don't Be Fooled by Model Units, Use a "Long-Term Operation Perspective" When Viewing Properties

Five, Funds and Taxes: The Real Risk of the First Overseas Property is in the "Cash Flow Breakpoint" Rather Than "Price Fluctuations"

1) One-time costs (at the time of purchase)

2) Holding costs (occur annually)

3) Exit costs (most easily overlooked)

Six, AIAIG Methodology: Three Red Lines + One Checklist, Quickly Eliminate the "Looks Good" Pitfalls

Three Red Lines (If any one is triggered, it is recommended to pause)

One Checklist (Suitable for first-time overseas property buyers to copy directly)

Seven, Data and Method References (Few but Key): Using Authoritative Indicators for "Initial National Screening"