The Art of the Home-Buying Holiday
By Editor • Dec 16th, 2011 • Category: AdviceBuying a new home can be a time consuming process: finding and viewing properties you’re interested in, putting in an offer, and getting surveys conducted. It’s hard enough at home, but if you’re planning on emigrating or buying a holiday bolthole, you have to actually visit the country that you’re interested in.
Home Buying Holidays
That’s where home-buying holidays come in. Planning the perfect home-buying holiday is an art: it’s not just a matter of searching for cheap flights to Tenerife or wherever that dream home is, a hotel, and then kicking back with your feet up. It’s about making sure that you’re fitting in as much home viewing time as possible into as short a time as possible.
Before leaving make sure that you know the areas that you want to buy in, and that you’ve checked local property sites to find out what is available. Although finding and viewing a house in the UK is relatively simple (if you see a house you like that’s for sale you can phone the property agent and book a viewing almost immediately) it’s not quite the same on
mainland Europe.
Europeans have quite a laid back attitude to life, and it may take a while for them to respond to your calls. Make sure that before you leave you have a shortlist of properties you want to view, and that you have booked in appointments to view them already. It will also set your mind at rest to speak to the property agents before you leave, as you’ll have an understanding about how good their English is (or isn’t) and won’t have any nasty surprises on the day.
You can then plan your holiday around where you’re going to be.
Be savvy. If you’re looking at a few properties in one region, try to make sure that your appointments are all in the same day where possible. You can then incorporate this into your holiday and spend as minimal time on the road as possible whilst still seeing a lot of the surrounding area.
Viewing houses can be quite tiring, as can travelling. Be sure to arrive in the country the day before your first viewing appointment so that you have time to relax and get yourself together. If you’re tired, grumpy, and jet-lagged you won’t be able to give the house the full attention it deserves and might miss out on your dream home. Take some refreshments and snacks with you on long viewing days, as thirst and hunger can distract you as much as being tired can.
If you’re looking at property in the countryside ensure that you’re wearing sensible clothes for walking through fields. Don’t wear your finest glad rags, either; if you’re looking at derelict houses you may end up crawling through dusty attic and cellar spaces.
Home Buying Holiday Tips
Remember to give yourself some days off during the holiday. If you have a lot of appointments each day it’s easy to become jaded, and you will probably return home a lot more tired and no further towards choosing a property than when you left. It will also give you
time to get to know the area that you’re buying in.
Editor is based in England.
Email this author | All posts by Editor
