Got time on your hands in the dreary run-up to Christmas and dying to crack on with plans to find an overseas home? Then there is no time to lose! Believe it or not, autumn is one of the best seasons to head out to your chosen destination and start looking at properties. If you still need convincing, here are five reasons why booking a viewing trip before the end of the year could make a lot of sense.
There are many benefits to booking your viewing trip in Autumn
1. Cooler and calmer
There’s nothing fun about racing between properties with a searing Mediterranean sun beating down on you and traffic jams round every corner. Which is why dedicated viewing trips in peak tourist season – typically June, July and August – are not advisable. Throw into the mix airport queues and crowded amenities, which are unavoidable in popular resorts, and the idea of a summer trip where your focus is finding a property becomes even less appealing.
Instead, let the holiday hordes return home before heading out in October, November or even early December, when conditions are more suitable for visiting properties. Not forgetting, it’s always useful to experience the climate and general liveliness of a resort or locality in low season.
Sunset in autumn I Andalusia, Spain
2. Access is easier
Most properties in holiday resorts – especially those popular with foreigners – tend to be fully occupied throughout the summer months. If the owners themselves aren’t enjoying time in their second home, they’ll be renting it out to holidaymakers.
As well as the general crowdedness, this is the main reason local estate agents tend to avoid viewings in peak season, preferring to focus on rentals and property management. Add to that the fact that many notaries – essential for completion of any property transaction – across Europe shut up shop for a month or so to enjoy time off over summer. So, the key message is it’s far easier for everyone for viewings to be done during the quieter months, with October and November ideal. Not only will you have a far better choice of properties to view but there’ll be more flexibility in when you can visit, and your agent will prefer it!
Avoid the summer rush and book an autumn viewing trip
3. Better for travel and accommodation
You don’t need reminding that air fares plummet outside of the summer holiday season and there are more seats available, so you’ll save on that front by flying out in autumn. Equally, hotels or rented accommodation, such as Airbnbs, are cheaper and easier to book.
Your hosts are likely to be more flexible with minimum booking times too, as they’ll be grateful for any reservations outside of peak season when they make most of their money. Just moving through the airports at either end is a less stressful experience, given the absence of families off on their summer holidays.
Brokers and estate agents want to sell their remaining properties before the new year
4. Deals to be done
When it comes to making an offer on a property, vendors are often more open to a deal in autumn compared to earlier in the year. Chances are they put their property up for sale in spring, the traditional and busiest time for new listings to hit the market and people to start looking.
The expectation is to have a buyer and ideally have everything signed and sealed by Christmas, when everything shuts up for the festivities. And the old adage ‘new year, new start’ still stands. As the year draws to an end, vendors who are still waiting for an acceptable offer should be willing to negotiate. Compared to spring, you should be competing with fewer buyers too, making you more attractive.
5. Our Virtual Event is in November
Why not organise a viewing trip for the weeks immediately after the Your Overseas Home biannual Virtual Event? If you already know the resort or area where you wish to buy, you could use this event to meet a suitable estate agent and with them start picking properties for to view when you fly out in the coming week(s).
The Your Overseas Home Virtual Event is hosted entirely online, which means you can chat to property experts and sign into live seminars in real time, all from the comfort of your home. Find out more and register for Your Overseas Home today.
Download Your Viewing Trip guide today
