I visited a Property Exhibition at the Novotel in Hammersmith last week. It was a bit muted compared to others i have been before. Seemed Londoners were still recovering from the excesses of the past weeks. All in the spirit of the festive season.
The main revelation is that Spain is no more a viable option for the new investor or bleary eyed retiree looking to cash in on the strength of sterling and relative affordability of properties abroad. Spanish house prices are now neck to neck with what obtains here.Thanks(or no thanks)to the unrelenting invasion of foreign investors in Spanish properties. A considerable number of whom are British.The new states of the EU are the hotspots now.With Bulgaria and the Adriatic states topping the list. Riga has a good ring to it!
There i was lumbered with all sorts of brochures with all sorts of architectural delights. Most were promptly offloaded into the nearest recycle bin.However the Overseas Property TV magazine proved to be a good read. One particular article quoted the currency specialist company HIFX as saying that the big banks charge up to 4% higher than specialised brokers thus emigrating Brits potentiallly lose up to £900m yearly transferring money through them rather than through the
small concerns.
In a mystery shop of high-street banks and currency
dealers,there was a massive £4,932.22 difference between the highest and
the lowest costs when buying 150,000 euros
. The wise thing is to seek sound financial advice from independent brokers before transferring any sizable amount of money abroad.
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