Before you begin looking at properties for potential investment, we recommend creating a spreadsheet to track the details for each rental you view. This will make it much easier for you to compare each option against all the others. When shopping in Latin American markets, don't expect listing sheets. Sometimes you'll be lucky if the agent showing you the apartment is able to answer your questions even about basic things like total square meters and building fees.

What data should you record for each property you view? Your spreadsheet should include the price, the total size in square meters (so you can compare property prices by square meter; this is the only way to get an apples-to-apples read on relative costs), monthly HOA fees, estimated monthly utility expenses, property taxes, and, if they property is currently operating as a rental, occupancy rates over the past two years and the average rent. If the property doesn't have rental history, estimate occupancy and gross rental income with help from the real estate agent and rental managers you interview. Then use the occupancy rates, rental figures, and sales price to calculate net rental yield. This net rental yield projection is a key factor in making a buy decision.

If you haven't ever created a spreadsheet to calculate net yields on a rental property, you can download one to get you started at our Live and Invest Overseas website, liveandinvestoverseas.com/howtodooverseascashflowmath. In some cases, you'll be able to get a good idea of the projected net rental yield in advance of a viewing. If your estimated net yield is less than 5%, you might want to skip seeing that particular property. On the other hand, the more properties you see the better you become at sizing up one opportunity versus another. Plus, the more time spent with your real estate agent, the better you're able to judge his competence and experience.

Unless you're buying largely for personal use and know without question where you want to purchase, the biggest challenge of buying property overseas can be identifying where to buy. How do you move from the very general notion that you'd like to own cash-flowing real estate overseas to identifying where and what, specifically, to buy?

It takes time and what we refer to as “being in the market.” When you target a country or a region as a place where you think you want to invest, you need then to work to position yourself so that you're ready to act when the right opportunity presents itself. You do this by researching, scouting, and staying connected. This is where the in-country network of support you've built, starting with a local attorney you trust, begins to pay off. When you've identified a big-picture location for purchase, make everyone you know in that location aware that you're in the market, looking for an opportunity. Give them an idea of what kind of property you're shopping for (size, specific location, intended use) and your budget.

You can't wake up one morning and decide you're going to invest in a rental property in Panama, a Caribbean beach house in Belize, or an apartment in Paris. Well, you could, and you could then proceed quickly to buy. But, operating that way, the chances that you'll get the best deal possible are slim and the chances that things won't play out the way you hope are not.

You need to be “in a market” long enough to understand the difference between the local market and the gringo one. You need the experience of vetting opportunities and of communicating with sellers. You need to determine your own idea of comparables and of what a piece of property of the description you're looking to buy “should” cost. You aren't going to accomplish those things in a single visit to a country or after a few weeks of Internet research. To buy right, you need to give the in-country contacts and resources you've developed a chance to connect you in real time. You need to leverage their boots on the ground, because, unless you're taking up temporary residence in the place yourself while conducting your property search (not a bad idea but usually not possible), you don't have boots on the ground of your own.

Colombia, for example, was a new market for us when we decided we wanted to invest in a property in Medellín. Even though we'd bought real estate in many other foreign countries many times before, we moved slowly. We solicited a local attorney recommendation from an expat friend who had recently bought in Medellín himself. We traveled to Medellín to meet the attorney in person, then, with his help, we developed a network of connections, including three real estate agents (one gringo, two local), a banker, and a contractor (as we knew we would be shopping for a renovation project). We returned to the country five times over 10 months, each time expanding our network and furthering our education. Finally, after nearly a year of focused effort and after viewing dozens of apartments for sale, we made a choice and an offer. A year is possibly excessive. We've purchased in other new markets after six months of attention or less. Our point is that, even if you've got years of experience at this, it takes time to identify a purchase, especially if you're targeting what for you is a new market.

One way to narrow your search for a rental property is to ask the rental managers you meet with what rents best in that market and if any specific type of rental is currently in short supply. This is the approach we took when shopping for our first rental in Paris.

The short-term rental industry is well established in Paris. It was a strong and growing industry decades before Airbnb. Foreigners buy pieds-a-terre to stay in when they visit Paris and rent out when they aren't there. Most of these buyers don't have big budgets; these are second homes in one of the world's most expensive property markets. The apartments they buy tend to be small—studios and small one-bedrooms. Thus, that's the majority of the short-tern rental inventory available in Paris.

The rental manager we met with in advance of beginning the search for our first rental property in Paris made the point that what she could really use was a two- or even a three-bedroom apartment. The demand for bigger rentals is much smaller than the demand for studios and one-bedrooms, but it's seriously underserviced. Two couples traveling together could rent two one-bedroom apartments near to each other, but a family didn't have a good option. Meantime, a single couple wouldn't be opposed to renting a two-bedroom apartment if the price and location were right, even if they didn't need the second bedroom. In other words, a two-bedroom apartment allowed more flexibility than a smaller place.

In addition to insights and recommendations about what size and configuration (studio, one bedroom, two bedroom, etc.) could be more or less rentable, a rental manager should be able to give you ideas regarding the best neighborhoods, important apartment amenities, and nearby services that renters are looking for in that market.

Now that you know what you're looking for, you can pass your parameters on to the real estate agents you've contacted.

Use every property you see as a learning experience even if it doesn't meet your parameters, but don't spend much time in a place you know you're not going to buy. Move on quickly to the next one, all the while keeping notes to enter into your tracking spreadsheet when you get back to your computer.

You'll want to see enough properties to feel confident in your buy decision when you make it. At the same time, you don't need to see every property on the market. One friend who has bought rentals in at least a half-dozen countries has been known to end up with more than 100 entries in his spreadsheet when looking at a new market. He's retired so he has that kind of time. He's also a former engineer. He likes data.

The problem with collecting that much data is that you can lose sight of the goal—which is to buy a property that makes good cash flow sense and that also serves your personal lifestyle agendas. Not everything about this can be calculated in a spreadsheet. You don't need to analyze 100 properties down to the third decimal point in the projected yield. You need to get a good feel for the market, feel comfortable you're paying a good price, be confident in your net rental yield projection, and like the place. That last point—actually liking the property you decide to buy—is as important as all the others.