Buying a holiday home abroad is an exciting time regardless of your budget as it will offer you the freedom to travel to the winter sun, or skiing trips whenever you require it. However, if it is your first time buying a property abroad it can be a daunting process.
And whilst you may think transferring the property payment from your bank account via a bank to the vendor is the easiest option, it certainly won’t be the cheapest option. Banks never have the best currency rates, and this could amount to thousands of pounds which you could save by transacting through a foreign exchange broker like Optimal Currency.
Six steps to buying your property
So, how does it work? Many of our clients come to us when they’ve already found the property they want in Spain or Portugal for example, have arranged a mortgage and want help with the international payment transactions. There are six simple steps:
- Register – First the client must register on our portal, which enables us to verify their identity and prevent any fraudulent or money laundering activities.
- Broker – Then the client is provided with one of our dedicated brokers whom they will deal with throughout the entire process. They will be able to speak with their broker whenever they need to as we don’t outsource any of our work to offshore call centres.
- Monitoring – Within the timelines of the property transactions the broker will check the markets to ensure that we advise the client of the most appropriate time for the client to buy the currency in which to make the property purchase.
- Fixed-rate – Following our advice to buy, the client will have fixed the rate of exchange even if the payment transactions are not going through for a few months. However, we don’t expect our clients to take our word that this is the best rate at that time and encourage them to ask their bank what the going rate is as a comparison. If they’re cheaper we will do everything we can to beat the rate.
- Due diligence – Behind the scenes we are speaking with notaries and solicitors both abroad and at home to ensure the property transaction is a smooth one with no unexpected surprises.
- Money Transfer – All settlements are made via bank transfers to wherever the money is needed. So even if you don’t have a bank account set up in the destination country, we are able to pay builders, solicitors or vendors as necessary. All our payment transfers have a six-eye check to ensure the money lands where it is needed.
Our process is designed with customer satisfaction in mind, and we do everything within our power to ensure the customer experience is a positive one, with competitive rates and one-to-one assistance. If you are starting the journey to a holiday home abroad and want to find out more about how we can possibly save you money, then contact Optimal Currency today.
