"Step-by-Step Educational information on how to avoid risks, save money and ensure that you know all the FACTS about safely buying a property in France"

Dear Reader,

(If you don't feel like reading, just give us a call on 0207 898 0549 or from outside the UK +44 207 898 0549)

So…you’re considering plans to buy property in France?

You’re not alone! Reports state that millions of Brits are emigrating, buying a second holiday home and/or investing their surplus money in property in France. One newspaper recently announced that 'Record numbers move out of 'fraught' Britain.'

With the prospect of a better life and more for our money, many of us are considering either a ‘Big’ move or a sunny destination to escape to! (especially after the UK summer that never was - 2007)

With all this in mind, it's important to realise that Buying Property in France is a HUGE Decision!

I say ‘Big’ and 'HUGE' because making the decision to buy in France or any overseas destination is no small matter. In fact, if potential buyers actually knew about the hundreds of steps involved and that one OVERLOOKED STEP can cause a disaster, they might think twice.

The problem that most people face when buying property in France is that there is not one source of information that helps them from start to finish - ensuring EVERY step is covered. And I mean EVERY step - starting from the initial idea all the way through to sitting on the patio of your new property and enjoying your new lifestyle.

This lack of information can cause people to unknowingly miss an important step which can cause huge upset, a loss of money, time and even detriment to one’s health.

I know this first hand, as you can read below

A few years ago my parents-in-law (Jan and Keith) lost well over £20,000 in purchasing their overseas dream home, having made many poor decisions due to a lack of knowledge (and overlooking important steps). Sadly, because of the stress, my mother-in-law is no longer with us and my father-in-law has moved back to England, wondering how things could have gone so terribly wrong.

They unintentionally hired a ‘cowboy’ agent, failed to retain a solicitor, lost ££££’s buying currency from a bank and not a currency specialist (like Smart Currency Exchange) and ultimately paid well over the market price for their property. Furthermore, they failed to meet with a financial planner to fully understand the amount of money they had available and how to best purchase and structure their finances.

My father-in-law now has a property abroad that he can’t sell and has had to take out a mortgage and move back to England, where he now lives out his life as a widower. Yes - their story is extreme. I guess it’s the things like this that happen in our lives that make people like me do something about it.

Due to my in-laws disaster I realised that the overseas buying process is fraught with issues...and I decided to search the marketplace for information that could help prevent what mum and dad went through.

I searched high and low for information and support that would help potential buyers through the start to finish process of buying overseas. And on my search I looked for one source - not a million different books, websites and magazines.

I wanted to find a source of information that provided the following:

Books, Websites, Magazines and France property shows gave me information at various stages of the process...but none of them seemed to cover everything.

I read a few books and they were okay…but I found them a bit boring, theoretical and written by people that haven’t really gone through the process of buying an overseas property themselves. Furthermore, they didn't seem to have local tips or things that people need to look out for.

And the only other information I found was from agents and I wasn’t impressed with much of what I found. The information was written to sell property and not to paint the full picture.
Yes...it's true that you can find tonnes of information for free on the Internet, but you can also find a huge amount of garbage that takes ages to weed through.

I wanted to find a source of education, so I could 'do my homework,' about what the France property buying process is, how to make sure I do things correctly and overall how to ensure that whole process went as best as it could.

I couldn't find one source to provide me with what I wanted...

So...In 2004, I and my business partner decided to start a company that fills this gap in the market. We decided to set up a service that provides INDEPENDENT and NON-BIASED, TRUTHFUL information and assist buyers with support, resources and on-going information to help them on their overseas property buying journey. And I mean the FULL journey – not just buying the property.

We decided on our mission: