If you want to buy property abroad where can you get the money to pay for it? Laura Slattery investigates the options available.

The photographs in the glossy brochure depict a freshly painted two-bedroom apartment in a small block secluded from the ravages of package holidaymakers or industrial waste magnates.

Better still, it's backed up by sound statistics on the rental market and expected capital appreciation that have been double checked through a combination of independent financial advice and DIY research.

Satisfied that they are not being ripped off or making an impulse buy, the next thing investors will have to consider is how to get the money to pay for it.

Using the family home as security for an overseas investment property is not a good move, cautions Mr Paul Coghlan, chief executive of the Prestige Group.

There are a lot of novice investors out there, he says: "They will compare Irish prices to Budapest prices and see that they can get an apartment for €120,000 or €130,000. Then you ask them how they will come up with the deposit and they say they will release equity from their home. That doesn't make a lot of sense."

Mr Coghlan is a firm believer that, unless investors already own a portfolio of properties, they should make sure that any investment can stand on its own.

"I think it's important that the finance for an investment property is secured on that property and not on any other asset."

Neither is it prudent to rely on the rental yield from a property to cover mortgage repayments.

In some countries, it is impossible to secure local finance. Even traditional destinations such as France can make it hard. But investors buying in the UK can get finance for 80-85 per cent of the final value of the property, says Mr Peter Bastable, managing director of Simply Mortgages.

Borrowing rates are about 2 per cent higher than here, but buying off the plans enables investors to secure finance for a larger percentage of the property value.

"Say you buy a property for £100,000 and there's a promise that it will be worth £120,000 by the time it's finished in 18 months' time," says Mr Bastable.

"You might pay a 10 per cent deposit and in theory you have to find £90,000 plus stamp duty and costs to pay for the rest. But the borrowing loan-to-value is based on the final value, so if it's worth £120,000 at that time, you will be in a position to borrow 80 per cent of £120,000, or £96,000."

Instead of having to come up with 20 per cent, the only sum the investor has to put in is the £10,000 deposit.

But the supply of properties will affect the rental yield, he adds. "Don't forget that in 18 months' time there will be a lot more properties on the market."

Investors often compromise on the rents they get in order to avoid leaving properties empty for months.

So they will find it more comfortable to meet repayments if they borrow less - about 70 per cent of the property value.

Investors who want the security of knowing they can cover repayments in the early years might consider taking out both a rental guarantee and an interest-only mortgage, says Mr Declan Hynes of Aquarius Properties. "In this situation, the loan is costing you about 3.5 per cent per annum, but you're getting 5 per cent in rent."

But beware: at the end of the interest-only period, repayments will shoot up, while rents may fall off after the guarantee expires.