Expect the £/€ rate to remain volatile until well after the EU Referendum, which means extra care should be taken by property-buyers transferring money abroad. As these new homeowners in Spain discovered, your starting point should be a currency specialist…
Simon and Julie O’Brien can’t wait to spend quality time at their new northern Costa Blanca holiday home, which they purchased with the help of currency specialist Smart Currency Exchange.
When the O’Briens, from Ilkley in West Yorkshire, bought their townhouse in Dénia in December 2015, they used Smart Currency Exchange to exchange their Sterling into euros and send the money to Spain to complete the purchase.
“In total, between October and December we sent around €96,000 to Spain through Smart,” said Simon. “We did this using both spot and forward contracts, which we were able to do easily over the phone. The customer service and speed of transfer really stood out.”
The value of Sterling has dropped significantly in recent months. Rewind to mid-November 2015, and at one point £1 was worth €1.42, but by the first week of March it had fallen by nearly 10 per cent to €1.29. To minimise your exposure to this fluctuation and ensure you know how much your overseas purchase will cost you in Sterling on completion day, consider buying euros with a forward contract.
Simon and Julie paid €85,000, excluding fees and taxes, for their three-bedroom property, which needs updating and redecorating. “It had been left vacant for a few years, as the elderly British owner had returned to the UK for health reasons,” continued Simon. “But the work that needed doing was reflected in the price. We estimated it would take three to six months to get the place how we want it.”
The O’Briens’ property is in an established community called El Palmar, where the couple had holidayed with daughter Ellie in 2015. “We’ve stayed in Dénia a number of times, but when we stayed in El Palmar, I saw a few properties for sale and decided to look into buying there,” added Simon. “I looked online, found some agents and that’s how I ended finding our townhouse.”
El Palmar, which has a large outdoor pool and children’s play area, is ideal for family holidays. It’s just seven minutes’ walk to the beach from the O’Briens’ front door and a couple of minutes’ stroll to a local bar and restaurant. The centre of Dénia is a 45-minute walk, or short drive. The O’Briens expect to visit their property three to four times a year and plan to rent it out to holidaymakers.
Smart Currency Exchange will exhibiting at the A Place in the Sun Live exhibitions at Manchester Central (11th-13th March) and London Olympia (6th-8th May). Why not visit them to discuss how they could help you save money and get peace of mind when making foreign currency transfers? At the same time, you can browse properties for sale throughout Spain and other overseas destinations.
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For more information on buying overseas property successfully, download the Overseas Guides Company’s free Spain Buying Guide, France Buying Guide, Italy Buying Guide, Portugal Buying Guide or USA Buying Guide – and start receiving free news updates by email.
If you are considering an overseas property purchase in 2015, whether for lifestyle or investment, opening a no-obligation account with FCA-authorised Smart Currency Exchange will enable you to benefit from their competitive exchange rates and specialist currency knowledge, ultimately saving you money and time. For more information, download Smart Currency Exchange’s free report or visit the Currency Zone.