It was back in early 2003 when we first ran an article here on investing beyond the UK and we looked at prospects in the Czech Republic, specifically its capital city, Prague. In the following years we went on to look at investment prospects in many other locations in what was then often described as the new-EU. Some including the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Poland were clearly offering opportunity whilst some others, such as Hungary and Romania came with quite obvious wealth warnings.

Many investors who bought prior to around mid-2006 would have seen some very strong gains in Poland and the Czech Republic if they bought correctly. Some have taken a long term approach and are renting units to locals while others with an in and out buy and sell strategy sold up before the downturn in 2008/9.

Some traditionalist landlord readers happily working their UK patch and often doing very well indeed would ask me at events when we met; just what was the appeal of investing abroad, given that it inevitably involves additional risk.