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Your Place In The Sun
Place In The Sun is an independent website dedicated to buying property abroad.
More and more people now own property abroad or are looking to buy property overseas than ever before.
For some it is a search for a new life, a new beginning, a place to retire, where factors such as health care, education and employment opportunities are often at the forefront of their minds.
Others are looking for a holiday home, somewhere for themselves, friends and family to spend a few weeks every year with perhaps the possibility of a rental income to help towards the upkeep and any borrowing required for the purchase.
And there are those who are looking to buy abroad as an investment, for capital growth, rental income
or simply to extend the idea of buy to let to countries new.
Whatever the reason for wanting to buy abroad, you will need independent impartial advice and the Place In The Sun website seeks to offer you just that.
To inform, educate and inspire
Through its pages, Place In The Sun seeks to inform, educate and inspire people just like you who want to buy property abroad.
It's all too easy to fall in love with the picture postcard impression of living abroad, but both your head and your heart must be involved in buying property. Not least because of the financial commitment involved.
When buying a property in the UK, the traditional route is to have a valuation survey done if not a structural one and to employ a lawyer or a conveyancer to deal with lgal matters. Building and planning matters are investigated and costs beyond the purchase price clearly understood. We also benefit from a well established property market with land registries to protect our property rights.
The danger when buying abroad is that the caution we rightly show when buying property at home is thrown to the wind. All too often people buy without having a survey done and without seeking independent legal advice before signing a contract.
Through Place In The Sun we aim to inform and educate you regarding the realities of buying property abroad while at the same time inspiring you to take the plunge.
We don't rely on the picture postcard impressions so often painted of buying property abroad. We seek to offer impartial, independent advice about the state of property markets around the world to help you make the right decision when buying abroad.
Don't leave your brain on the plane
The vast majority of people who have bought property abroad do so without any problems. Many of the problems and difficulties that do arise could be avoided if you follow this simple piece of advice.
Don't leave your brain on the plane!
We recommend that you always seek independent professional legal advice before signing any contract. And by independent we mean just that. Ideally from a lawyer or solicitor who has been recommended to you by someone whose opinion you trust.
When considering buying property in a certain area, don't be tied to just one estate agent. Look around yourself. Get a feel for the place. See what other agents have to offer you. Ask what you will have to pay on top of the advertised price. You may well find the same property for sale at different prices, with the potential to save you thousands of pounds simply by doing some window shopping.
Talk to people who have already made the move, either in person or via online forums. Find out what it's really like to live or own property in an area. What are the health facilities really like? Is the rental income potential as good as they say? Are the winters as warm and dry as you've been told?
It is also a good idea to actually live somewhere for a few months if at all possible before buying abroad. You may find that you have a totally different impression of a place after spending a winter there for example than you did during your week long summer holiday. Rental properties are
available almost everywhere and there's nothing like actually living somewhere for three to six months to get a true feeling for it.
Even a very basic grasp of a language in a country where English is not widely spoken can pay dividends for you. It means that you can talk to locals and that you will not be totally reliant on others to do the talking for you.
It can be a daunting prospect to learn a foreign language, but it has never been easier to do so thanks to language classes and courses and the many books, CDs and other tools readily available.
A word on property prices
In recent years, property prices have risen to record levels in the UK. This is one of the main factors that has allowed so many British people to buy property abroad or to consider doing so, either by selling their home or by borrowing against it.
An influx of British property buyers has in turn has led to property prices rising in many overseas markets, most notably along the Costas of Spain, France and elsewhere in Europe.
However, many experts believe these often record high prices are unsustainable.
Property bubbles have developed locally if not nationally in countries all over the world. An economic downturn, rising interest rates, political change or terrorist threats to world travel all could see prices fall or even crash, leaving those who have bought at the top of a market seriously out of pocket.
The building frenzy that has taken place in some areas added to the fact that people are considering buying in a growing number of countries also means that the availability of property has never been greater.
Falling property prices are of course good news for those looking to buy property, but we are concerned by the number of properties being marketed abroad as investment opportunities based solely on past price rises.
Just because property prices increased by 100% in the last five years does not mean the same is going to happen again during the next five years. And it's also worth noting that in certain markets, future price rises are almost entirely dependent on further waves of British buyers arriving.
House prices can go down as well as up, particularly over the short term.
Why we value our independence
Above all else, Place In The Sun seeks to offer you impartial, independent and relevant information about buying property abroad.
The success of the Place In The Sun website is entirely dependent on visitors knowing that the information that they find here is not influenced by sponsors or advertisers. People want to know the pluses and minuses of any property market and we intend to deliver the quality of information that you desire.
Our editorial is never influenced by advertisers or potential advertisers. Any companies mentioned in articles appear without favour.We are not paid to mention specific companies or their products or services.
All advertising is clearly labelled as such or appears in columns to the left or right of our main content.
We believe the above policy is in the best interest of both our visitors and advertisers.
We very much hope that you find our site of value and use when you are considering buying property overseas. We welcome your thoughts and comments - info@placeinthesun.co.uk
Please note that the Place In The Sun website is not associated with the television programme A Place In The Sun. Although we enjoy it as much as you do, we cannot help you appear on it!
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