VisaProAdviserVisas, migration and life abroad
Real estate abroad for expats: property-based investor residency, home-buying grants, squatter evictions in Spain, tenant rights in Germany and US living costs.
10 articles tagged Real Estate
A single person needs about $100K/year, a family around $350K, one Canadian family reports after 11 years. Real numbers on savings, housing, and budgeting.
What documents Spanish banks need for transferring money from property sales: notarized deed, account statements, declaration, and translator.
Since September 2026 Panama's Qualified Investor Visa minimum rose from $300,000 to $500,000 — but pre-construction property with a developer bank guarantee still qualifies at $300,000.
Desokupa reportedly gets 300 requests a day from owners; eviction operations start at €3,000. How its "access control" method, finances and lawsuits actually work.
Two investment routes in Panama for $300,000: economic solvency residency and qualified investor. Learn how they differ and which to choose.
Since April 2025 courts must summon squatters within 15 days and rule in 3. Since June 24, 2026 owners can legally cut utilities to trespassers.
Buying property abroad does not by itself give the right to live there: residence comes from a separate permit, and only some countries tie one to a real estate investment. Panama's Qualified Investor Visa is one such route, while Portugal removed property purchases from its golden visa in 2023 and Spain closed its golden visa programme in April 2025. Years spent on an investor permit count toward citizenship only where naturalization rules accept that status and the owner actually lives in the country.
Owning or renting also means dealing with local property law. Spain distinguishes allanamiento de morada, the criminal break-in of someone's home, from usurpación, the occupation of an empty or secondary property, which usually requires slower court proceedings. In Germany tenancy is governed by the Civil Code (BGB), and in 2013 the Federal Court of Justice ruled that a lease clause banning all cats and dogs is invalid, leaving landlords to decide case by case. In the US, owners of rental property can depreciate the building for tax purposes, which reduces taxable rental income on paper.