Efficient markets/jurisdictions to put 20-30m in real estate for passive income?

[Houdini]

P.S: This is a memo of something similar to what you're looking for, which was recently shared by my clients.


1) Georgia (Tbilisi & Batumi)
Net yields: 6-9% (short-term rentals); 4-6% (long-term)
No pro-tenant laws (easy eviction)
Foreigners can own freely (except agricultural land)
Minimal bureaucracy, easy property purchase
No capital controls, no real AML harassment
Low taxes (5% rental tax if structured properly)
No real risk of expropriation

Downsides:

• Short-term rentals are competitive in Tbilisi
• Some local property managers are unreliable
• Economic fluctuations (but real estate demand remains strong)
• Russia is literally next door. Good or bad depends on how you view it.

---

2) Montenegro (Budva, Kotor, Podgorica) ​

Net yields: 5-7%
Easy eviction laws
No restrictions on foreign ownership
Low taxes (9% corporate tax, rental tax options)
Reasonable bureaucracy
No crazy AML harassment

Downsides:

• Some property managers are unreliable
• Economy is small, so rental demand can fluctuate
• Slightly harder to liquidate property quickly

---

3) Turkey (Istanbul, Izmir, Antalya) ​

Net yields: 5-8% (Istanbul); 6-9% (Antalya short-term rentals)
Can qualify for citizenship almost immediately after buying properties worth 250k or more.
Foreigners can buy freely (except near military zones)
No extreme pro-tenant laws for furnished rentals
Low taxes (usually 15-20% on rental income, but structuring helps)
Minimal bureaucracy (property purchase can be done in days)

Downsides:

• Currency risk (but if you buy in USD/EUR-denominated projects, it's mitigated)
• Property management quality varies
• Short-term rental regulations can change

---

4) Cambodia (Phnom Penh, Sihanoukville) ​

Net yields: 6-10%
No crazy pro-tenant laws
Foreigners can own apartments (via strata titles)
Low taxes (rental tax ~10%)
No AML nonsense (relative to the West)

Downsides:

• Economic stability concerns
• Infrastructure issues
• Some areas are overbuilt

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5) Serbia (Belgrade, Novi Sad) ​

Net yields: 5-7%
Pro-landlord legal system
Foreigners can own freely (except agricultural land)
Low taxes (rental tax ~15% but can be optimized)
No over-regulation or excessive AML

Downsides:

• Some property managers are inefficient
• Real estate prices are rising quickly, reducing future yields

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Countries That Almost Work But Have Issues​

Portugal – Golden Visa changes, bureaucracy, low yields (2~%)
Spain – Overregulation, high taxes, pro-tenant laws (you can literally get your house stolen see: (https://www.idealista.com/en/news/l...in-spain-understanding-spain-s-okupas-problem)
Greece – Pro-tenant laws, unpredictable, annoying bureaucracy
Thailand – Foreigners can’t own land, leasehold risks, lots of scams, see.
Latvia – Poor long-term economic outlook, shrinking population, no mans land, unless you are into fintech, then it's different.

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So, For a balance of high net yields, property rights, minimal bureaucracy, and non-hostile AML environments, my top recommendations are:

Georgia (Tbilisi, Batumi) – Best all-around choice for yield, low taxes, and ease of ownership.
Montenegro (Budva, Kotor) – High rental demand, solid yields, and Ok-ish legal system.
turkey (Istanbul, Antalya) – Good yields, reasonable taxation, and easy foreign ownership (plus citizenship).
Cambodia (Phnom Penh) – Strongest yields in Asia, simple tax structure, and low bureaucracy.
Serbia (Belgrade, Novi Sad) – Business-friendly, low taxes, and high rental demand.

To answer your question @OKboomer, If your main concern is AML nonsense and anti-offshore attitudes, Georgia and Cambodia are the best choices. If you want a balance of EU access, strong yields, and minimal headaches, Montenegro and Serbia are solid options.

very vey good list I didn't saw until now. Thanks for sharing.

 

[Meta]

I can only find stuff in Khmer. I somewhat understand your compassion but locals are already priced out by hundreds of Chinese/Russian launderers.

I guess cryptofriendly means trusts - Law on Trust was published in 2019. It's not something "secret" that should not be posted here, honestly. It's also not a legal ownership at all. It's just a bit more formal way of the old nominee arrangements. Now nominees are called trustees, need to get a license and trust deeds should be entered into government database. Trusts are supposed to be about trust (ugh). The law is new and not tested, Cambodian lawyers are not really known for trustworthiness or the government for stability.

 

[cryptofriendly]

I guess cryptofriendly means trusts - Law on Trust was published in 2019. It's not something "secret" that should not be posted here, honestly. It's also not a legal ownership at all. It's just a bit more formal way of the old nominee arrangements. Now nominees are called trustees, need to get a license and trust deeds should be entered into government database. Trusts are supposed to be about trust (ugh). The law is new and not tested, Cambodian lawyers are not really known for trustworthiness or the government for stability.

Yeah, that's right. One doesn't really need a lawyer for that, it can be done directly via the banks that have been licensed as potential trustees. Two of the eight with license look pretty safe and established for me.

Regarding the stability of the government, the same government has been in power since 1984, are there any governments in existence worldwide with a longer track record nowadays?

And if it's good for the Chinese, it should be good enough for myself as well, as long as it's not something some okhna wants to have for himself. I don't have the current numbers, but:

"Trust Law has had a profound impact on foreign investment in Cambodia’s real estate sector. As of the second week of November 2023:

• Trust registrations reached 683 cases
• Total investment volume surpassed USD 1.223 billion
• 552 foreign investors were involved, contributing USD 580 million"

https://www.compass.com.kh/news-detail/estate_news-13487/

 

[OKboomer]

real estate is the easiest thing to take. Especially if its being held by rich fat foreigners while the locals have none of it.
This doesnt mean outright expropriation but hidden forms of it by e.g. mandating a minimum selling price way above market (and pay tax fees on this), some form of taxes, other forms like max rent etc.

Personally, I stay way clear of this asset class unless I live in it or its so cheap to make not even a rounding error in my portfolio.

true, but then what is something that could 1) store/preserve value 2) generate income irrespective of financial shocks?
I am getting more paranoid that bitcoin has been completely hijacked by us politicians and wall street and nothing good will come of it...

like what? Global economic collapse? USD crash? Is real estate a good harbor for that scenario?

yes, global economic collapse; yes, possible USD crash; Great Taking is a conspiracy theory that seems to check out; google it; sounds scary;
not sure if real estate is a good harbour, but possibly it's the least worst?
read above about my concerns about bitcoin having been hijacked

Dubai feels underpresented in this thread. Seems to be checking most of your boxes?
Also short term rental yield can get to 10%+ in some areas for small flats/studios.


Here is some back-up by deepseek

Dubai is such a crowded trade that the contrarian in me avoids it. Literally all sorts of scammy characters (crypto scammers, sanction evaders, organized crime leaders, etc) are all cashing out into properties in Dubai. From what I understand they have a hard time to resell, since there is so much new supply; also quality of real estate goes down;

I also don't trust that place in my gut; something tells me Dubai is a big mousetrap (maybe I'm paranoid....) - also, why does every person of significance who moves there suddenly takes to social media to say how wonderful everything is. are they kept as financial hostages?... (again, maybe I am paranoid; but I am not singing on social media about a place where my life is great); feels like one of those movies about some perfect happy village, which in the end is revealed to hide a horrible secret.

So quick question as per the name of this thread its an efficient market so how are you supposed to make money in that market.If it is efficient then you should not be able to make any money in it.However if it is inefficient that is where you will make your money.

sorry for the confusion. in this case i meant efficient for me, not for markets

I still don't get it. What kind of Great Taking scenario takes your crypto but leaves you apartments in Valencia and Bali for 20-30m. We are talking about 100 properties 200-300k each. You need a whole organization to maintain it

Maybe, just maybe self-custodied BTC survives the great taking. the question is whether it will still maintain its value
Great Taking scenario does not predict confiscation of real estate, provided there is no mortgage / debt attached to it.
expropriation is something that concerns me and I am painfully aware that even places that used to respect right to property and rule of law, have been eroding those values, hence I am only looking at stable / safe places.
if that exists. I am trying to brainstorm here, since I have found no interesting offers / options elsewhere and I have been everywhere.
every single offer I have reviewed seems like a scam

Day trading couldn't be further away from passive investing if done in person and not via bots, it's actively buying and selling and monitoring markets most days. I have done the US market while living in Asia in the past, that year of sleepless nights wasn't feeling very passive, there aren't many things worse than that.

Real passive investing should be stress free and require max 2h 'work' per week.

With 20-30m investment, one shouldn't have any problems spending 0.5% of it per year to delegate the boring part to someone else to manage, and to stay away from it completely. Letting it run via Labuan or other places it would be enough substance to save on taxes as well. A win-win scenario.

Just random ideas for inspiration with focus on passive investment, no recommendations: PPR Notes, Fundrise, (both around 10% per year or more)

These aren't fully passive, but it would be easy to hire people for that: investment in whole apartment blocks or self-storage.

Or the easy option as others have already suggested: REITs.

trading has probably given me more health problems from stress and unhealthy lifestyle/habits than anything else... and it's anything but passive
Yes, whole apartment blocks or self-storage is something I would be interesting

With that amount of cash, I would just invest in an S&P 500 ETF. Yield typical value range is from 1.47% to 2.03% pa. Truly passive income, and capital is growing. Live and forget.

SPX is in a parabolic ATH with metrics way above the dotcom bubble, etc. if it collapses, which I think it will, it can take a decade for it to recover (2000 crash, then double top by 2007 whereby it crashed again and it returned to same dollar values only by 2010 or 2011)
Also, banks holding my SPX can also collapse; I think this is coming soon

Ok, so we tell OP to give up on real estate and buy (liquid) gold instead?

I am already in liquid gold. And I am very paranoid about us gov and wall street hijacking it
it was supposed to be an alternative to the parasitic financial and political system, and has become entirely absorbed and integrated into it
they can also short it all the way to 0 using infinite dollars they have at their disposal

At the moment looking at BTC why not? Its in an uptrend which should last a good part of this year.One half Gold ( money printing wont stop)and one half BTC( keeping fiat is pointless,keeping real estate burdensome).And lets forget about wasting endless hours of pointless management of real estate where it is more active work than any type of passive income generated,then taxes and what not.He can keep just two analysts if he likes and to keep track of Gold and BTC charts and even that is not required.BTC is outside any government intervention so price swings in it are purely based on demand and supply and not some government bulls**t.He might be sleeping much better than if he had to worry about the tenant not paying his rent on time where his advance taxes have already been paid,evictions ,court notices to non paying tenants,dealing with property management services,upkeep and maintenance of property etc blah blah blah.At the end of the day does real estate even give a real return or its just all notional i wonder.The only real estate required is the house that you live in i would say and not much more.

Put your money in a non crs bank account,take a residency that doesnt tax you on capital gains including crypto,read the charts put your money in these two .Take rest and enjoy life .Step out when everybody is talking about these two asset classes for their great money making ability ( when the shoe shine boy gives you tips on the market it is the time to get out ) and remain out for a while.

anything i keep in banks i assume is not mine and can disappear at any moment; thus i try to keep not more than i need for my immediate expenses short-term;
physical gold (i would not trust a piece of paper) is extremely challenging to source in large quantities, verify and then store safely, or move)
bitcoin uptrend ? I am a bit concerned both about the diminishing returns of cycles, fishy TA (one could interpret the upcoming new ATH as a bearish retest of a 13-year-long trendline) , I am just not sure how everyone is so sure bitcoin will keep going up;

it has become almost a universally accepted wisdom -- and that scares me!

Then village on Bali haha

I like the place; but owning anything serious there is sketchy on many levels

Regarding BTC vs. Gold, I believe it's a good idea to swap BTC to Gold when the ratio reaches 75-100 oz per BTC.
Not really for growth, but wealth preservation during the bear market cycle.

At least that's what I plan to do.

30x15x10 cm isn't that hard to store safely. And I always wanted to be a pirate.
It's more fun to be able to touch and bury it, PAXG just doesn't feel the same

physical gold (i would not trust a piece of paper) is extremely challenging to source in large quantities, verify and then store safely, or move)

 

[cryptofriendly]

physical gold (i would not trust a piece of paper) is extremely challenging to source in large quantities, verify and then store safely, or move)

Wouldn't this provider fulfill all your requirements?

https://www.bullionstar.com/buy/gold-bars

Safe location, audited, insured, offers storage, withdrawal / buy / sale online or on the ground in person, allows purchase with crypto/cash/credit card, big selection of coins / bars / etc., bigger bars close to spot price, quite long track record.

The negative points: big spread on purchase via crypto, and them asking for SOF above a certain amount, but that shouldn't matter if your money is clean.

Not using them personally though, so DYOR.

 

[Meta]

Yeah, that's right. One doesn't really need a lawyer for that, it can be done directly via the banks that have been licensed as potential trustees. Two of the eight with license look pretty safe and established for me.

Regarding the stability of the government, the same government has been in power since 1984, are there any governments in existence worldwide with a longer track record nowadays?

And if it's good for the Chinese, it should be good enough for myself as well, as long as it's not something some okhna wants to have for himself. I don't have the current numbers, but:

"Trust Law has had a profound impact on foreign investment in Cambodia’s real estate sector. As of the second week of November 2023:

• Trust registrations reached 683 cases
• Total investment volume surpassed USD 1.223 billion
• 552 foreign investors were involved, contributing USD 580 million"

https://www.compass.com.kh/news-detail/estate_news-13487/

Hah you got me on stability of government As long as those guys are in power trusts should be fine.

 

[cryptofriendly]

Hah you got me on stability of government As long as those guys are in power trusts should be fine.

It's practically a family business.
With the strong ties to Chinese investors and government, the last thing they'd do is killing the golden geese.

https://www.rfa.org/english/news/cambodia/cambodia-hunsen-07062016175905.html

 

[JackAlabama]

Wouldn't this provider fulfill all your requirements?

https://www.bullionstar.com/buy/gold-bars

Safe location, audited, insured, offers storage, withdrawal / buy / sale online or on the ground in person, allows purchase with crypto/cash/credit card, big selection of coins / bars / etc., bigger bars close to spot price, quite long track record.

The negative points: big spread on purchase via crypto, and them asking for SOF above a certain amount, but that shouldn't matter if your money is clean.

Not using them personally though, so DYOR.

yeah this one is a good thing and it works smoothly assuming the world remains sane BUT its a big fat sitting duck.
Its all very transparent and just one legal action away from being used for the greater good / defend the monetary system or whatever is the new current thing or simply being invaded by whoever.

 

[MarkusCostigan]

No investment should give you a sense of stability. When it happens, it’s a red flag.
Investing is risky by definition.

This is probably one of the smartest things I've ever read. It deserves to be highlighted.