Community

BuyAssociation Editor's Blog

Diary of a buyer: The world is our oyster - 31 January 2008

Posted by Robert Southwell No comments

Research, research, research. This has been the mantra this week, and even though we have spent a good number of hours on the process thus far, it seems we have just barely scratched the surface! The sheer amount of information out there is somewhat overwhelming.

This has been an exciting week though, it has been the first time we have seen an idea of what we might be able to afford, and the gains that this could bring us later in life. The only problem now is that we need to make a decision somewhere along the way.

We started out with a rough idea of what we were looking for: a large apartment or villa with three to four bedrooms to allow the family to come and stay when they want to. We’d like to be near a beach, not too far from an airport and ideally near some good open countryside where we can walk. Aside from this, we’re not too demanding – we don’t need absolutely to have a private swimming pool, or a huge garden. We’d like to have somewhere to sit outside and eat, barbecue or have drinks as well.

Much to the amusement of my wife and family, I decided that we should have an organized approach to our factfinding, so while I got on with searching through the internet, my wife was dispatched to the newsagent and bought back two bags of magazines!

By this time, I was deeply involved in a number of different websites, all of which were telling me where the best places to buy are, where I can make the most money on my investment, and where the next big thing can be found (about seven different countries, apparently). The internet can be confusing enough as it is, but when there are a swathe of different sites all telling you that they are the right way to go, it is difficult to keep up and keep a clear head.

The magazines were no clearer. While I have no doubt that the five places that one publication said in the course of one issue were ‘great’ to live in, it didn’t exactly help us out.

In fact, it seems we need to become more definite about what we want from this new house abroad, because at the moment, the four or five countries we had selected as possible destinations have now become eight, and we haven’t finished reading the magazines yet.

We obviously need to get some kind of a handle on what we are looking for, and where we want to be, so I think the next thing to do is talk to a few people who we know have bought overseas, and see how they approached it. Hopefully they can give us some pointers, otherwise we may end up buying a palace on a Caribbean island at this rate!


Keep blogs friendly, read our posting policy for guidelines.

Comment

Name

Email address

 

Found an offensive/inappropriate comment? Please report it.

Holiday home insurance with Staysure - the over 50's experts

www.holidaylettings.co.uk online advertising for home owners abroad

Discounted Airport Parking - available across the UK

© Copyright Buy Associates Ltd

All circumstances vary. BuyAssociation provides general advice for guidance purposes only. It is strongly recommended that you seek professional advice before making any purchase.


 


Browse our articles written by leading industry experts:

Overseas Property Buying Guides

UK Property Guides

Gardens and Interiors

Cosmetic Surgery Fact Sheets

Looking Good Guides

Money

Business

Community

Travel