international property case studies

If you are thinking of buying a property overseas, whether you are buying a villa or apartment for investment purposes or as a holiday home, check out some case studies about how other people fared, and see if you can pick up some tips to ensure your project goes smoothly.

  • Case Studies - France
    France

    For the Bernsteins, a new life came about quite by chance when they were offered a week's holiday in the south-west France by a friend who needed somebody to feed his ducks and chickens.

  • Case Studies - Bulgaria
    Bulgaria

    Nikki and Darren Weeks bought a house in Bulgaria without seeing it, in an area they'd never visited and sent the money out to an agent they'd never met. It sounds like a recipe for disaster...

  • Case Studies - Dubai
    Dubai

    In March 2005, Kit James received what was to be a life-changing offer for his family. The opportunity to head sales for IFA Hotel and Resorts was too good to refuse but it meant uprooting his entire family and moving to Dubai.

  • Case Studies - Portugal
    Portugal

    Portugal is a clear favourite with Tony and Gail Greene from Burnham in Buckinghamshire. In 2000 they bought their first property there, a two-bedroom apartment in Dunas Dorados...

  • Case Studies - Switzerland
    Switzerland

    If you want to buy a ski apartment in the Alps, the chances are you'll buy off-plan, as the shortage of new development opportunities means most properties are snapped up well before new buildings are completed.

  • Case Studies - Spain
    Spain

    John and his partner bought their home in rural Andalusia around 10 years ago. The finca-style property still has no electricity and water is supplied via a pump from a well...

  • Case Studies - Cyprus
    Cyprus

    Paul Gudgeon had first visited Cyprus while serving in the RAF in the 1950s. But it wasn't until 1992 that he and his wife Ros took the plunge and bought a property there.

  • Case Studies - Italy
    Italy

    Adam Pollock never set out to buy a 20 bedroom former monastery in Italy but as a fashionable interior designer based in London in the swinging sixties he was better able than most to see the potential of a large living space.

  • Case Studies - South Africa
    South Africa

    Two things led Jeff and Carola Babcock to create their dream house overlooking the Indian Ocean in South Africa: one was a two-week stay at a hotel in Europe and the other was chancing upon an idyllic location on the Cape's Garden Route.

  • Case Studies - Turkey
    Turkey

    The Street family first visited Turkey on a holiday in 2003. "We'd never been to Turkey. When we arrived, we were amazed at how beautiful it was. There was this incredible blue sea, the people were extremely friendly, and it was generally unspoilt."