(1888PressRelease)
September 13, 2007 - As any diligent investor will know, a property purchase is something that shouldn't be done on the spur of the moment. There are many steps that need to be moved through before a buyer should be confident in handing over their money, not least structural surveys and research of property prices.
This process is known as due diligence and if it is important for the British investor buying a property in the UK, it is doubly important for the investor buying a property abroad. All the same processes have to be conducted, but they have to be conducted in a country that has different laws and procedures and has them in a different language.
The ease or difficulty of the due diligence process will vary from country to country depending on a number of factors. Some of the more important of these will be whether the country is used to having British investors buying property there and whether the law allows non-residents to buy there.
For instance, countries such as Indonesia do not allow non-Indonesians to buy a property there, requiring outside investors to find and recruit a local partner.
This can sometimes backfire in this particular country however, as anecdotal evidence suggests that the Indonesian courts are not especially forthcoming when it comes to tracking down and penalising its own citizens that have defrauded outside investors.
Contrast this with Spain, where there is a long history of Britons buying and trading property all over the country. There is a sizeable expatriate community there and the country is not too far away, plus it is well serviced with airports and budget airline routes.
This means it is not difficult for the investor to make trips to view and inspect properties and make the necessary purchasing arrangements. Spanish developers are on the whole well used to dealing with buyers from the UK and there are plenty of resources available for UK buyers to access if they need them.
According to Easier.co.uk, two resources that prospective investors in a Spanish property might find particularly useful are the English language Spanish property website kyero.com and the website of the MVIV - Spanish Ministry of Housing - at www.mviv.es.
The former lists nearly 100,000 properties across Spain by price and region, allowing for easy comparisons. The latter does the same but under slightly different criteria. Cross-referencing an area or property between both sites should allow the buyer to gain a more accurate picture.
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