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In This Months Issue You'll Find:

Message from Alexis for January 2010

How to make your overseas buying dream come true

Transferring Money Internationally for Dummies

Who is Joe Goodwin and why should you care?

2009 – The Dark Age of Property by Kim Brown

Getting good deals on flights overseas By Carol Dunning – OGC Writer

France Property Buying & Investment Guide

'See' you next month

Hi

Happy New Year!  It is so hard to believe we are now in 2010, I am sure you will agree: just looking at those figures, one somehow imagines it to be some time in the future but no, we are here NOW in a new decade.  How does that make you feel? As the year turns, I find myself focusing on what I really want for the future and naturally that involves your favourite country and mine: France.  If your dream is to have your own bolthole in France, be it for holiday breaks or more permanently, you are in the right place.  Here at the Overseas Guides Company we bring you great, up to date information, can put you in touch with the very best professionals and as always, I share my very own “top tips” with you (I know you like those!). 

The good news is that it is a buyers’ market now in France and despite the pound not really showing us the value we would like it to against the euro, you will still find your money goes just so much further in France – and that is not to mention the other myriad reasons why buying there is a good idea of course. 

Talking of the pound, you will be wise to speak to one of the guys at Smart Currency Exchangehttp://www.smartcurrencyexchange.com/ for all your currency transfers.  They can plan a currency strategy for you, you will undoubtedly save money and you will not have the worry of not knowing exactly how much you have to pay should the rate change: a huge bonus when you have so much else to think about! 

As you know, my husband and I are buying a big house, needing quite a bit of work, in the Aude department of the Languedoc-Roussillon.  We have made endless lists (I love lists) and it is great to be able to tick off the finance side of it, backed up by this wonderful team at Smart. Our deposit money went through quickly and safely and we saved over £200 on this alone!  I cannot recommend their services too highly, we are about to send our completion money through them and I look forward to seeing how much we will have saved on this.

I am so looking forward to sharing our France story with you as we go along.  This is just so exciting, I can scarcely believe it is happening!  January can sometimes be a little dull, let’s face it, but if you have something planned, it can take the edge off  the sloth, believe me.  In the back of my mind, you know, I am thinking of sitting at a little pavement café in Montpellier or the glorious Carcassonne, glass of wine in hand, the sun shining and our 2 Cocker Spaniel puppies at my feet.  Yes, we have lots of work to do (more on this later) but the joy of being in France will make it a pleasure rather than sheer toil. 

So welcome to this month’s newsletter.  We have some great articles for you:  I share with you my own thoughts on making your France buying plans come true, including the first of my top 5 tips on how to move things forward step by step, we have a wonderful property for you to drool over and our very own Charles Purdy lets you know how to plan your currency transfer and more…

I dare say you have as strong a desire as I do to immerse yourself in the French way of life.  I sincerely hope this newsletter finds you well and optimistic about your future.  You know that you can call on me or one of the team here at Overseas Guides Company for any information you might need to help you make your dream come true. Just pick up the phone or send me an email.  You will always get a friendly reply.

Happy reading and may I wish you a joyous and peaceful 2010.

Kind regards as always,

Alexis
France@OverseasGuidesCompany.com
France Buying Guide
The Overseas Guides Company Ltd
0207 898 0549 (call me!)

How to make your overseas buying dream come true plus the first of my 5 top tips for positive thinking towards La Belle France

I feel that now, more than ever, the dream of buying a property abroad, in particular France, is something more and more of us have.   Without going into the reasons why, many of us have become somewhat disillusioned with the UK.  I cannot tell you how many of my readers have contacted me to say they have had enough here and want to go somewhere with a decent community, good climate and space.  Do you have that dream?  Are you ready for the next step, that of actually doing something about your dream?  This is where we can help you.  As you know, my husband and I are doing that very thing: making our France dream happen, and I am so looking forward to sharing our adventure with you as the year progresses.

But what about you?  Where do you actually start?  Well, simply reading this newsletter is as good a place as any!  Further, if you have not already done so, arm yourself now with a copy of our excellent France Buying Guidehttp://www.francebuyingguide.com/guide.htm It is packed full of tips and practical ways to get the ball rolling and includes our very popular bonus section entitled “Worksheets” so that you can make a personal timeline of what to do, when and most importantly how.  My own advice to you is to make proper plans before you head off to France to look for your property.   Have a pen and notepad to hand and write down everything you want to achieve, what is important to you, ideas of how you might fund your purchase and any areas of France that particularly take your fancy.  You now have the beginnings of making your dream come true!

Next – and this may seem slightly strange but is something I truly believe in – visualise yourself in your new life.  Tell yourself you can do this, that you are the author of your own destiny and deserve it and keep in mind that it is entirely possible.  Many folk have done what you are trying to do - I am one of them – you can do it!

Once you have put on paper even a few of the plans you have in your head, you are ready to proceed and this is where we come in.  We have helped countless others achieve their France buying dream and we can do the same for you.  As always, give us a call, write us an email or fill out our short property form with a few details of what you would like to achieve.  We will be more than happy to work with you, maybe give you some further ideas which appeal to you and answer your questions on everything from the buying process in France to how to take your much loved pet there.  http://www.FranceBuyingGuide.com/resources.htm

I can think of many reasons why anyone might want to make a life for themselves in France – I am sure you can too! Over the next few months I will be giving you my very own top tips to give you the confidence of knowing your dream can be achieved in France.   Prepare to be sorely tempted as you read number 1 this month!

1. Lifestyle

There is something almost intangible about the joy of the French lifestyle but in a nutshell, life seems to be ENJOYED more there - I am not sure how else to put it!  The French seem to have a knack of working to live, not the other way around.  For instance in many rural areas lunchtime is sacred and everyone stops to enjoy good food, wine and company for an hour or two.  It is so easy to find a simple café or brasserie with a “prix fixe” menu – usually excellent value – to enjoy a good meal and catch up with friends/colleagues.  The sense of community is far greater in France and, dare I say this, is something I feel we have lost to a large extent in the UK.  People look out for each other, the old and the young mix and villages and small towns make great efforts to plan local fetes, flower festivals, markets and the like. 

So…first things first: think about what you are really looking for in France and enjoy the search.  Keep to your initial plan and ask us about our recommended professionals to help you on your way.  Remember that buying property is a good investment and, even if you find you are not as happy with your purchase as you thought you would be (an unlikely event!), you still have the option to sell it, possibly at a profit.  My guess is that you will love it so much that you will wonder why you did not buy it years before.  Take a quick look at our property form, pop it back to us and we will do our very best to put you on the right road.

http://www.FranceBuyingGuide.com/property.htm

To be continued next month!

Transferring Money Internationally for Dummies by Charles Purdy

When I was 27 my mother purchased me ‘Cooking for Dummies,’ and at first I took it as a bit of insult [especially as I wouldn’t say her cooking was “cordon bleu”].  Okay my cooking wasn’t great but I was still alive after ten years away from home. After flipping through the book, I actually learned quite a bit. Without it I would still be wrestling to peel hard boiled eggs – rather than painstakingly picking the peel off, if you run cold water over them for a few minutes (after boiling them), the shells slide right off with almost no effort! 

As for international payments…making money transfers from one bank to another bank overseas isn’t exactly rocket science. There are, however, many ways to do it ineffectively and lose quite a bit of money in the process. The standard manner to send money to or from the UK is to visit a bank, request that a certain amount of sterling or euros are converted and then instruct the bank on where to send them.  During this process there are three main areas where people go wrong. They include: getting poor exchange rates, paying unnecessary fees and finally failing to order currency at a good rate now for purchase in the future. Let’s look at each one of these individually.

Getting Bad Exchange Rates
Similar to buying produce in a tourist location abroad rather than a village shop, buying currency from a bank is more expensive than buying it from a currency specialist. A bad exchange rate is simply paying more for the currency than you can get it elsewhere. You wouldn’t go buy vegetables in one shop if you knew that you could save €5 by getting them elsewhere! The issue with currency is that you won’t simply save €5 – you could save €1,000’s by shopping around. For example, some currency organisations save clients up to 4% over using the bank. This means that an instant saving of €4,000 can be made when moving a large sum of €100,000 by using a specialist rather than a bank.

Paying Unnecessary Fees
Everyone knows that the banks like to charge fees – overseas you might get charged for withdrawing money or writing a cheque.  Many banks even charge when you deposit money. Again, by using a specialist currency organisation, fees can be eliminated or reduced. Specialists know how the systems work and they know the most cost-effective way to move money. Many expats abroad move their pensions from the UK overseas every month or quarterly. Fees in the UK can amount to £25 for each transfer (that’s £300/year in fees alone!) – why pay that fee if you don’t have to?

Order Currency Now for Use Later
There is one product – called a Forward Contract – that can assist people massively.  Imagine receiving your pension or a regular payment overseas every month and then imagine that every month the value of it decreasing due to sterling weakening against the euro. This is precisely what has happened over the past year and it’s totally avoidable. Currency specialists can help their clients to reserve the rate today and purchase it in the future – this means that if you get €1500 from your UK pension in month one, you can continue to get that same amount for the course of the year! Those that didn’t purchase Forward Contracts last year sadly watched their pension values decrease by over 20%.

Transferring money internationally is not a difficult process; however it’s easy to get lost and led astray by figures and doing things the ‘traditional’ way. There are choices available and substantial amounts of money can be saved by enquiring about alternatives to the bank. Currency specialists are regulated by and must be registered with Customs & Excise. Due to the fact that specialists buy large amounts of currency each day from their bank, the bank passes significant savings on to them that they fail to pass on to their own clients. By using a specialist you’re still effectively using the regulated banking system but getting a much better service and, often, a substantial saving.

Why not claim your FREE report from www.RegularPaymentReport.com on how to save money on payments to and from the UK?

Dear All,

Thank you for your speedy transfer to my bank account abroad, it was done the day after I sent funds to you.

I must say you provide an excellent service and would recommend it to my friends. Not only did you inform me by e-mail about the state of the currency market on a weekly basis, your regular phone update proved very useful. It’s not often that one comes across such an efficient company that does exactly what it promises and on time too. I will definitely use you again for future foreign currency transactions,

Sincerely

Ralph Long   15/01/10

To get an update on the Euro exchange rate, request a quote at Smart:
www.SmartCurrencyExchange.com/quote.aspx

Who is Joe Goodwin and why should you care?

Joe is one of the friendliest people in the Overseas Guides Company office, with a thirst for knowledge and an enthusiasm for his job that is utterly infectious.

Joe has a passion for music and started playing drums in various bands at High School, hoping to become a drummer in a professional rock band, earn mega bucks and have crowds of young ladies screaming his name!  It took him until the final year of university to realise that this was not going to pay the bills, so he moved closer to his next goal:  that of owning property around the world, including north Finland (Luosto perhaps?), Northern France, Southern Spain, Nuremberg Germany…

And how better to do this than to live vicariously and help Overseas Guides readers to achieve their property goals?  Arming himself with a BA Hons. in Business Management and Entrepreneurship acquired at Staffordshire University – “a great Uni but one that lacked a buzzing nightlife scene” to quote Joe, off he set to big, bad London and the bright lights to talk to people about their property hopes and dreams.

“Working in a sector that you are passionate about really helps when working late and going the extra mile to find solutions to our readers’ problems” grins Joe and adds:” Of course it will all help for when my dream of owning property abroad myself becomes reality!”

Joe loves building relationships for potential property buyers throughout the buying journey and is always enthusiastic about receiving updates:  “It’s essential to keep up-to-date and to expand our knowledge of the most recent developments and to learn of others experiences - that’s the way I can keep on helping buyers.”

So...why don’t you give Joe a ring and update him on how YOU are doing?  He will drum up all the help and support you need to make your property dreams come true this year!

To speak to a member of the OGC team, please ring Mon-Fri, 9am to 6pm on 0207 898 0549.  The OGC Resource Centre are available to you – free of charge – to offer recommendations, assistance and at the very least help to point readers in the right direction.

2009 – The Dark Age of Property by Kim Brown

Kim Brown, OGC Director, has a column in the UK publication Overseas Living and I thought I would include an article she wrote for their special supplement.

Last year will go down in history as being a dark and bleak year for the overseas property industry.  The ninth year of this new millennium started with a weak pound, greatly reduced lending facilities and a world wide panic regarding the future collapse of world economies.  In January, I vividly remember the discussion my business partner and I had – all our plans for expansion and growth were thrown out as we agreed our only plan of action was to avoid redundancies and survive the year.

The early months of 2009 brought unfortunate stories about British overseas property buyers having to find an extra £20,000 to £50,000 to pay for their dream property.  Many buyers started their dream purchase in 2007/2008 with a favourable exchange rate.  Sterling was over 1.25 to the euro and over 1.90 to the US Dollar but by January 2009 they decreased by 16% and 22%   respectively.  This meant that those that did not secure or fix a rate of exchange spent month after month watching the cost of their property increase in cost.

Emails and phone calls flowed into The Overseas Guides Company pleading for help.  Many buyers couldn’t raise the necessary funds and not only lost their dream property but also their deposit money too.  The sad aspect of the whole situation is that property buyers could have fixed a rate of exchange in 2008 even if they didn’t need to buy or use the money until 2009.  Hindsight can be a depressing thing.

Aside from the weak pound, the banking world was thrown into total chaos and loaning facilities were drastically altered or removed altogether.  For example, many buyers in Cyprus purchased a property assuming they’d get a loan for 80 – 90% of the value of the property, yet the loan to values changed to 60/40 (60% loan to 40% cash).  Imagine dealing with an exchange rate that has increased the value of the property by 20% and then having to find an extra 20 to 30% to meet the requirements of the mortgage?  Could things get any worse?

To compound problems even further, estate agents and developers started to go under talking client deposits and their dreams with them.  Many overseas property ‘professionals’ failed to carry insurance with the result that some property buyers found themselves left high and dry.  Some were left with debt, others with a part-built property and some discovered that ownership of their new home had been transferred to the banks to pay off the developer’s liability. 

Some Brits found themselves in the unfortunate position of being between house sales – they couldn’t sell their UK property and couldn’t meet their obligation of paying for the overseas property.  Those that made the sale of their UK property a condition of the purchase agreement were okay but those who didn’t were forced to completely on the sale.

Yes – 2009 will be remembered as the dark age of property.  The good news, however, is that positive signs have been report and analysts remark that the worst seems to be over.  

If you haven’t purchased overseas yet, you’re in a very fortunate position to learn from history and safeguard yourself.  What should we take from 2009?  Once you buy a property overseas, make sure to secure an exchange rate immediately so that the value of the property does not increase in value (Check out: Smart Currency Exchange Ltd the second you decide to buy overseas).  Regarding mortgages – get the facts.  Know that an offer in principle can and will change.  Find a way to secure the amount needed so that changes in loan to values will not affect you.  When selecting a developer or agent, research what happens if they go bust.  Will you get all your money back?  Finally, if you need to sell a property in the UK to buy one overseas, make the overseas contract conditional on the sale of your UK property to safeguard yourself.

If you want to read the article’s Kim writes for Overseas Living then go to:
http://www.overseasliving.co.uk/news/expert-opinion/

Getting good deals on flights overseas by Carol Dunning – OGC Writer

I have just returned from New York.  When I decided in June of last year to spend Christmas in the States I must confess I was in a bit of a quandary:  Did I book early in the year in the hope of getting a secure reservation over this busy season or did I wait until the last moment, hope to get a seriously rebated seat and risk not getting a booking at all? But then…what if, in these uncertain times, my airline of choice had strikes or, even worse, went under in the intervening months?

Well, the holiday was too important to take a chance on: did I really want to spend Christmas alone in London? So I turned to my old and faithful friend, Opodo.  Ever wondered what the name means, by the way?  Well, its based on "OPportunity tO DO” – I’m a veritable mine of information aren’t I!

Let’s face it, there are endless sites on the Internet where you can book all your travel arrangements, but I prefer to go with tried and tested companies – ones that I have used often before and been happy with – so I went ahead and booked. I did take the precaution of getting a few comparison airfares in advance, but none beat Opodo. 

All went well – I was surprised and delighted to get a reminder text from them the day before I left with date, time AND weather update for the following day – that’s what I call really good service. Fortunately I didn’t have to use the insurance policy I purchased through them but I did phone in with a few queries about it before my departure. Calls were taken personally – none of those endless, aggravating telephonic messages – and emails were promptly responded to and, all in all, I was a very happy travel bunny.

Why don’t you give them a try on: