״If you buy a dirah in Yerushalayim, then how do you make money? Renting it out? Do you need a property manager in Israel? How do you know your place is being taken care of and such? Are there annual Israeli property taxes?״
If you buy real estate in Israel, you can rent it out short term as a vacation apartment (higher rates, daily or weekly, bigger headache because always looking for tenants, need to provide appliances and furniture at a high standard, and need to have it cleaned regularly for new guests) or long term (lower monthly rent, but more steady, easier maintenance and minimal investment) for immediate income, and hang on to it and sell when prices are higher (real estate in Israel seems to always be going up, there is a big housing shortage despite the current housing starts).
A property manager is a good idea if you plan to rent- you would need someone to be on top of finding tenants, arranging for the rent payments, maintenance/repairs when needed, which may be hard to from afar.
There is a one time purchase tax of 8% for which foreign residents are not exempt.
There is arnona, Israel’s version of municipal taxes, charged every month or two, usually paid by the tenant , as are other utilities and building maintenance fees. If you are not renting it, you would have to pay all of the above. Some places will give you a one time exemption if you don’t live there, other places have threatened to charge higher rates for empty apartments in order to discourage the phenomenon of ghost neighborhoods- “communities” where homes are owned by foreign investors and are left empty.