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Diary of a buyer: Am I behind? - 6 February 2008

Posted by Robert Southwell 1 comment

A strange thing happened this week. I felt like I was in a dream when you have the feeling that everyone else in the world knows some all-consuming secret, but that you are suddenly only just discovering the life-changing truth that everyone else has taken for granted for years. For parts of this week, I have felt like the only person in the country who hasn’t already got a home abroad, or know someone closely who has.

In a way, it has been a bit ridiculous. For the past few years, the only people I have ever met with property concerns outside of England have been those bores that inevitably come across your path at dinner parties and take ages to get away from. In most of these cases, I’m left with the feeling that the beautiful sea-view villa they are describing is in reality a poky timeshare in some tourist trap.

This week, I have been telling a few selected people about our plans to buy a property overseas this year, and the response has been amazing! The people I have been talking to, from close friends to work colleagues to complete strangers, all seem to have a property overseas lined up, or know someone who does and which they are able to use.

Some of these people have been a real surprise – friends we have known for years turn out to have a small investment empire in Central Europe that is paying for their retirement plans. While you could say that maybe we should know our friends better, the state of other people’s finances isn’t something you bring up over a quiet pint in the local or a round of golf.

Even work colleagues who are considerably younger are planning either to buy overseas, or have family members who will let them stay for nothing. And to think we spent all those years paying for holidays! One chap is planning to inherit the flat in Portugal when his parents decide to come back to the UK as they get older.

The cherry on the cake was at the end of the week, when I came back from a meeting in London. Climbing into a taxi for the 10-mile ride home, and after a full day of meetings, I ended up telling the cab driver about our plans. He then spent the rest of the journey telling me about his golf villa in Spain, and the next property he was planning to buy in Brazil.

Maybe we will have to ‘borrow’ one of these places that our friends all seem to have access to, and see if life in the sun really suits us (I’m quietly confident of the answer…). More seriously, it has got me to wondering why we haven’t done this before – I can’t wait to get started on viewing places soon!

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Comments

1. Grace Wilson - February 11, 2008

It's amazing how many people out there do own property, and how many rely on their family to put them up when they go on holiday! I read a report that said most people only leave their 'hosts' with a small, cheap token to thank them for the free beds.

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