Spring is a popular time for buyers to travel abroad and view properties. So, if you’re ready to jump on a plane, here are some handy tips for getting maximum value for money from your viewing trip. And don’t forget your sun cream…
Viewing trips are easier with the groundwork already done
Travel and accommodation
Be savvy about travel dates. You won’t need reminding that air fares plummet outside of the school summer holidays and key festive periods, such as Christmas and Easter, and there are more seats available too. Meanwhile, booking mid-week flights and being prepared to travel at less sociable hours should also save you money. Equally, hotels or rented accommodation, such as Airbnbs, are cheaper and easier to book in spring. Hosts are usually 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.
If you’re doing all your viewings through one estate agent, ask if they can pick you up from the airport and ferry you around between properties each day, saving you further on transfer and travel costs. If you prefer or need to hire your own car, look for good deals on online car hire comparison sites like Holidayautos.com, and arrange your own cover for Excess Insurance. Car hire firms offer their own expensive option when you pick up the car but buying an annual policy independently typically works out much cheaper – one option is Insurance4carhire.com
Register with Smart Currency Exchange
It’s never too early to start planning the transfer of funds for your property purchase. The best solution is to open an account and chat with Smart Currency Exchange before a viewing trip. This way, the moment you make an offer on a property they can assist in two very important ways.
First, they can arrange the swift, secure payment of any required reservation deposit, helping you to secure your dream home. Second, once you know how much the transaction will cost you in the local currency, you can start organising the payments needed for completion and take advantage of the facility to fix an exchange rate using a forward contract.
Talk to Smart Currency Exchange today
Villa with ‘for sale’ sign outside
Mortgage offer
Buying with a mortgage? It makes sense to speak to a broker before you start viewing properties. Most will give you a form to fill in or you can do it online. Once completed, they’ll very quickly give you an indication of what you could borrow from a foreign bank. Having an agreement in principle when you make an offer on a property is a definite advantage, as it means your agent and any vendor will treat you as a serious buyer.
Have you organised all the services you’ll need to buy property abroad?
Make your viewing trip really count
What does this mean? Besides viewings, use some of your time abroad to organise the necessary paperwork and local administrative procedures required for a property transaction. So, if you haven’t already, find and appoint an independent lawyer and consider granting them power of attorney for the purposes of your property purchase – this is very common and especially useful if you can’t travel back and forth easily. Other key things to set in motion are applying for your tax identification number and opening a local bank account.
Deals to be made
Get some background information about the seller from your agent. When it comes to making an offer, vendors who put their property on the market in autumn and don’t sell before the end of the year could be open to a deal by the time spring comes around. Chances are they’ll want to secure a buyer before the summer season gets under way again, making viewings almost impossible in busy resorts.
Sunset in autumn I Andalusia, Spain
There’s always autumn!
If you can’t do a spring viewing trip before the peak summer season, push it back to autumn. As soon as the schools go back in early September, the crowds disperse, travel and accommodation prices tumble and temperatures dip making conditions more conducive to visiting properties. Not to mention, most of the properties in beach resorts will be free of holidaymakers again, making them available for viewings (which is usually not possible in peak season).
