Buying rental properties in Emerging Markets - Let's talk!

1) How did you initially get into doing this?

AnS: My story is actually boring: I started off as aCREBroker. Sold large properties and collected the commissions. I also went after development sites (Such as single family houses, land, end-of-life plazas) and invested my commissions and became a limited partner. My buying client would develop it and on average I made about 40% my original cash investments per development. I did this for 4-5yrs (started while in college).

Next: I took what I learned from my selling & buying clients and spent a-lot of time researching and learning about the real estate investment space for 4-5yrs.
In that timeframe I bought 4,,6,12 unit apartment buildings in my area. Kept doing this till I had a portfolio of retail plazas, Medical office buildings, Multifamily Apartments, but I don't buy traditional office towers.
My first year in the business as a broker... I made $0 (Not even lying). In fact I was running at a loss of $12,000. Second Yr it picked up real good and went on from there.

然后：我意识到新兴市场中的投资回报率更高。然后，我花了一些时间来研究欧洲市场，但发现它也是一个不那么高的ROI的地方。
For example. the average cap rate in France for multifamily is 2.5% and in the Netherlands its about 4% - 5%. Might as well buy a 8% cap rate 4-Plex in Wisconsin, USA.....

2) What should I keep in mind for my first properties given I do not have family connections like you?
My situation is a little unique. My uncle is a wealth oil businessman who dropped out of the 8th-grade. He hustled hard which is why he made over $100M.
BUT it's not all rainbows. He is still a not-so-good human being. He caused a-lot of damage and pain to my family and my cousins. He robbed us from a lot (not even kidding).
Now, the only reasons he works with me and as do I is because I take noBSfrom him. We have everything in writing and nothing left up to trust. He sees value in my deals and that's why he works with me... otherwise he will go out of his way to tarnish my business reputation.
I wish I had a loving uncle but sadly isn't the case.

What Can You Do?
a) Befriend developers, property managers,PEfund employees, and all commercial real estate players. Doing this will allow you to pick their brains and do this and collect as much information you need.

很难从Google找到这些新兴市场的数据。因此，建议与行业参与者交谈。直到今天，我这样做了...

b) Start researching about all theREITsin your desired country. Watch their transcripts, listen to their earnings calls. Doing this will help you learn about the country's real estate market at a MACRO level.
Follow the portfolios of the major real estate guys in your country. See what they're doing.

3) Do you know where I can find international cap rates (including historical, not just static data)?
This is hard. Even I cannot find data online. So what do I do? Well, I cold-call and cold-email tenants, real estate developers, property owners (if public information is there), property managers, building inspectors, appraisal guys. I do this and collect data. I also study the neighbouring properties (conduct comparative analysis).
You get the idea.
You need to get you hands dirty.

The saying I use is ~~~ "Here in the US, we have the privilege of using large shovels to dig for gold from a large pile of Cow's shit at a low cost. In the Emerging markets, we use our hands wrapped in plastics bags when digging for gold from a large pile of Cow's shit.
（可能是一个奇怪的说法，但您明白了）

5) Are you not concerned about oversupply, new entrants, or vacancy rates in the Middle East? I lived in UAE recently and noticed many empty buildings, all while construction was rampant and there was no shortage of land nearby, or cheap labor workers to build (unlike the US). Not to mention the economies of these areas fluctuate based on tourism or oil, and remote work has decreased need to work in cities. Probably a reason these landlords are selling for so cheap atm and would appreciate your thoughts.

是的。这是阿联酋和沙特阿拉伯的主要问题。在巴基斯坦，租金的需求很高，因为俄罗斯也很高。
Turkey also has good Apartment buildings.
Now, you don't need to buy Apartment buildings only... You can also pursue Industrial properties. Industrial tenants usually stay at a property for 5-10 years. Which is great. ALSO these leases are usually net-net.

I would say to look for sub-regions of the middle-east where the people who move there and already live there have lower income and not enough for a down-payment on a house. In such areas, tenants would stay as tenants for 3-5yrs until they're making more money.
归根结底，迪拜是更多富裕的人居住的地方。我敢打赌，普通阿联酋居民并不那么富裕，需要租用。
Also, you can look to retail plazas.
Apartments are one asset class... Don't limit yourself to one area if you're so new. Be wider in scope.