Buying Overseas Property-an insight into the common misconceptions

Janet and John want to buy a property overseas. They are looking at buying a home abroad either a villa in Spain or a house in Turkey. I caught up with them last week and asked how their quest was going. I was amazed at how many misconceptions they had encountered on their journey into the unknown world of buying property abroad.

Janet and John first started looking for their dream home on the Internet and used Google to search for property overseas they faced a minefield of choice and had pages and pages of resource to study. After a few weeks of researching they had their first decision to make. Whether to fly out to Spain or Turkey on an agent paid inspection visit or, to self- fund a week away, and find out for themselves armed with the names of agents they had found on the net. At this time they had still not decided whether they wanted Turkey or Spain and were becoming further confused by other options they had found in Bulgaria, Romania and other Eastern European destinations.

Every web-site they visited promised personal attention and lots of help for the new buyer, including legal advice and cutting through red tape. Each estate agent promised Janet and John to find just the property to suit them. Well they would, wouldn't they? In fact Janet almost became tearful confronted with so many agents and so many avenues to approach! What had started as an apparently easy quest for a dream home was becoming a nightmare!

Finally John made a decision and booked a flight to Valencia with easi-jet. Two weeks in Spain to investigate the Spanish connection seemed a good idea to start and have a few days holiday in between the searching. Janet was happy with this idea and at least something was decided. In the mean time having made contact with a few agents offering paid 3 day trips the emails started to come and the phone started ringing with fairly insistent offers. They resisted each one and were quite pleased with the decision they had made.

As their trip approached further searches were made on the internet to view potential properties in Spain. They discussed a budget they could afford and the type of accommodation they both wanted. This was where the mis-conceptions started. Nobody advised them how to go about choosing a property that suited them. They really needed help before they traveled to establish exactly what they wanted and why they wanted it. This is what they should have asked themselves and didn't. Did we need to be close to an Airport? Is this Airport serviced by Budget airlines? Is this just a holiday home or a potential home for retiring abroad. Do we need local amenities to be close-by? Does the villa in Spain need to big enough for visitors? What budget do we have in mind to spend and do we want to add to that by way of local mortgage on the property? Alternatively do we wish to release equity in our UK home?

A good list of thought provoking questions which must be addressed by any potential overseas property buyer before they go on their first inspection trip. To see how Janet and John's trip abroad develops see tomorrow's article.

hugoraymond@mypropertypal.com