I'm deciding if I want to finance some land in my gf's province.

Now it's north of PP about 45 mins and it seems for the size of the land, 3 separate plots. One large and the other 2 smaller. For about $1.97 a sqm. That seems on the higher side given a government website saying "rural" land prices are between $0.50 and $2. So this land is on the high side. Granted if you bought land back home you would spend a whole hell of a lot more then $2 per sqm.

Planning on renting it out for about $100 a month to local farmers or letting her brother farm it. Which if it's her brother the money would probably stay in the "family" and wouldn't see any residual. But one plot might build a house in the future.

Now I know what has happened in the past with such things. Mostly fleeced men. But this is not the case. Of course since we aren't married yet it'll have to be all in her name. And it's not too bad because she's willing to sell some of her gold to finance it as well, this isn't gold I bought her, it's gold she bought herself before we were together over a year ago.

Can you own 49%?

I recently spoke to the guys at Sciarroni associates.
You can use a nominee to buy land with a prearranged lease back to you.
Other people advised:
A mortgage can also be issued over the title for further security.
Not very expensive.

If you don't own the property(not in your name) can you secure your equity via mortgage, lien, loan, security?
Love is great and all, but it has no force of Law. How do you CYA?
I suppose if the price is right then consider it a Gift.

Yes you can issue a mortgage on the title.

frank lee bent wrote:Yes you can issue a mortgage on the title.

That's good. It set things straight 15 years after I was married. Loss of capital gains was enough.

You can own the land through nominee agreements whereby the 51% owner signs all control over their ownership to you.

I gave my gf money to buy land ( $5,500) for 2 hectare in Svay Rieng Province, ( although she says its mine) , No idea if it was over/under priced or not an don't care.
its all planted for rice and her family works it so they get the rice and money left over from sales

AS your not looking at a huge investment, look at it as a gift to her.

I don't understand why some of you are asking about average land prices in the provinces (mostly the OP)... It all depends on the market (not government websites). I've seen some land in the provinces going for 10$-15$/sqm. Hell, I've even seen some land going for the ridiculous price of 50$/sqm (greedy landlord/non-serious seller kind of stuff (the type where you'd walk 500m in any direction and the price would fall 4 fold). Makes your 2$/sqm look amazing. I've also seen land for just over 1$/sqm in areas not that far from Phnom Penh. Basically, what does the local market dictate? Is it close to a water source? Close to a provincial town? Does it have a of of mature fruit-bearing trees? Is it just empty paddy fields? Does it have power access? How many amps? Is hard title provided? etc. You can't just say "X land is overpriced/underpriced" without considering all the local market forces at play.

5.5k for 2 ha of rice land has got to be cheap in global terms.

heading up to mondulkiri in a few weeks for a casual look at land for a small garden.