150 000 EUR to invest

In my case the answer to your first question is simple - I regard "buy to let" (BTL) as major hassle for uncertain returns.  Remember that BTL properties will frequently need repairs, redecoration and replacement flooring after each tenant leaves, and the kitchen and bathrooms replacing every 5 to 10 years.  And not forgetting capital gains tax on any capital appreciation.  Unless you do all the management yourself, and have trustworthy tradesmen to handle the maintenance, the overall long run returns can be quite poor.

I do however regard property as a "good investement" so my strategy has been each time I have moved house over the last 30 years to really stretch the budget and go for the most expensive property I can afford ... a strategy which helped me when ten years ago I needed to move to inner London for my job.

In terms of choice of platforms, whilst this forum is a good place to get a feel for people's opinions of each, each platform operates slightly differently and some can be a lot more tome cinsuming than others (e.g. Funding Circle) and others only post new loans (which often fill quickly) during office hours (e.g Funding Secure, Saving Stream).


Edit: Its not clear from your post whether you are based in eurozone or the UK.  For many based in the UK, euro denominated investments are simply a risk too far, as many bondora lenders have discovered to their cost over the last 6 months or so.

Firstly you would need to make sure that any UK based P2P platform would be willing to deal with a non-UK resident. I believe there are more than a couple but before taking the time to investigate the platform ask them that question first otherwise you could have wasted a great deal of time.

I'm generally in agreement with mrclondon regarding BTL. The returns are fine in an appreciating market but the last time I looked closely at it the returns were in the region of 8% gross assuming a tenancy occupancy in the region of 80%. The upkeep costs are really the big unknown but you can normally factor in somewhere in the region of 2% so that nets down to 6% pre-tax. If you're in an appreciating market then this is a bonus and many London landlords rely upon this but there will be capital gains tax upon disposal assuming the property has appreciated.

From my perspective, I prefer to achieve higher or equal returns elsewhere without the concerns as to whether the tenant is a good one or a not so good one.

mrclondon and bugs4me
Thank you for the answers, very valid points.
Actually only after you mentioned it I remembered that 131 000 was an empty apartment.
I did some interior design, changed the bathtub and bought the furniture. Which was around at least 10 000 EUR total(because I was in furniture business atm).

Regarding repairs and bad tenants, this shouldn't be an issue if you got the deposit and a good agreement.
In an attractive and more expensive apartments you can choose the tenants(family and respectable).
In cheap, microapartments repairs and furniture are dirtcheap, so even less problems there.

Opposite to the p2p lending, where the service provider might go out of service, which might end up being a loss of all the investments in there
(that is still a minimum 10% loss even with diversification) and if another crisis hits there might be up to 50% defaults or late payments on loans,
which is a total crisis. With real estate you at least still have the rent, even if in lesser amounts until the recovery.

Could someone proficient enough teach me their experience with p2p lending over skype or some other voip?
Could compensate the wasted time. For me it seems a good idea to seek knowledge for money, then
to lose much more from inexperience.

PS. Property capital gain taxes depend on the country, and are only payed when the apartment is sold.
If you hold the property for renting only you don't have to worry about all that.
Even renting taxes depend on the country and not your residency. For example for renting out in Croatia you pay only 10.5%

Mmmm. Thought you'd had a few early Timothy Taylors. I think you can "unlike" by clicking on it again. If you like

Being Russian and living all my life in Estonia I am amazed of how people get the wrong impression from the press on the Eastern Europe politics.
Russians interest in Estonia has only improved things, since like 20% of real estate in Estonia is owned, managed and run by the Russians,
which is very profitable for Estonia since extra investments and taxes are always a good thing for quality of living in the country.
Putin on the other side has exactly no "evil" interest in the neighboring countries, but USA stirs unrest and applies influence in the countries that border with Russia. I am an Estonian citizen, born in Estonia, raised there and know Estonian language, having one of the best friends and Estonian guy.
Please get some education and real knowledge before starting big politics talks.

www.valuewalk.com/2015/02/u-s-army-parade-russia-border/
So the starting Cold War thing is provoked and financed by the USA to scare more loans in to the USA
economy and find excuse for interfering with EU business and legalizing interrogations(on EU soil again).

Russia bordering countries are not very safe for living ATM that is a fact.
Moldova is not bordering with Russia and is going into EU(and adopting EUR) in the coming years, and it seems as if neither
USA nor Russia has any interest there. Riga is simply very well known to me and I also have many friends there. In reality
renting yields are still very high even in Ukraine so having real estate in the countries neighboring Russia is not always a bad thing.
It's just that living is not very safe there.

PS. yorkshireman, you can unlike the post by clicking the like button again.

You probably need to be lending in EUROs, you don't need currency risk.
But apart from Mintos and Bondora I don't know any other Euro platforms who will lend outside their own country (if you find any tell me).

There is a list of such services on this forum somewhere, there is quite a bunch.
As for currency risk I don't mind having GBP, neither is getting a bank account in GB nor even residency is a problem for me.

Scout the services from wiseclerks blog www.p2p-banking.com/countries/germany-international-p2p-lending-sites-loan-volumes-march-2015/

fixura.com/lend/register-as-lender/
www.estateguru.eu/
www.omaraha.ee/en/invest/applications/
evolutislending.com/LenderSignUp.aspx
www.fundingsecure.com/register
to start with