For many years now, British people seem to have had something of an obsession with buying ‘a place in the sun’. Numerous TV shows including the one just mentioned, as well as multiple newspaper and magazine articles. All encouraging people to find their little piece of heaven in Spain, France, Bulgaria, or even further afield in Florida, or even Asia.
So many British people find this whole concept to be, a dream come true. In addition, huge numbers are not just dreaming about it. They are actually making it happen, and are buying their piece of foreign property, either as an investment is or as a place to permanently emigrate to in the future.
A survey last year by a well known UK mortgage Company showed that a massive 33% of all British residents fully intended to make owning a foreign home a reality. Some people are waiting for perhaps, a considerable amount of years, until they reach retirement. Then selling off their home and everything else to head for a new life in the sun.
Others cannot wait to make the leap much earlier, either as a permanent residency or as an investment that will have to sit and wait until retirement. In some countries such as Spain, there are limited opportunities, to obtain mortgage financing locally. Many people opt for local financing of some have trouble with ruthless operators who think nothing of fleecing foreign mortgage holders for huge sums in front fees.
SolBank a large Spanish bank and mortgage lender charges an upfront fee of EUR23,000 to cover ‘application costs’ on a mortgage of EUR200,000.
These days, the once stuffy traditional mortgage British lenders are far more amenable to second mortgages in the UK for the purpose of purchasing a house abroad. Below are some things to consider when planning, UK financing for a home in the sun. As with all real estate deals the first thing to consider, are actually three things, Location, Location, Location. Many people opt for the ever popular areas Spain France or maybe Florida, but there are other options.
There are many stunning and exotic places around the world, some highly developed some off the beaten track for tourists. Some of these of the beaten track locations can be equally beautiful, with warm friendly people and just as safe as well known tourist traps. To find such a property, you may not have to always go to some out of the way exotic country. Properties on the Costa del Sol sell for several times more than those in the northern areas of Spain.
Central France, is far cheaper than the Cote d’Azur, and the same applies to many well-known house buying destination countries. If you are financing your new foreign home with a second mortgage and you don’t intend to live in it for the time being. You should consider location’s that will bring in a decent income, especially in the local peak season.
If you’re home in the sun is able to finance itself, it will give you more free cash to save of the day when you can jet out and live in it yourself. This option may also allow you to buy your dream house with a second mortgage today, rather than waiting for retirement.
You should also consider, not using the property yourself in any period of the year, when it can be rented out, and instead opt to use it in the ‘off season’. Perhaps if you have friends or family, who also want their little piece of paradise. Why not consider pooling and the available funds, they you have between you. Again this can bring you to a point of a buying a property, much earlier. Then, if you sell that property 10 years from now, you will have on considerably more cash available to purchase a place in the sun of your own.
You could of course, opt to buy a property abroad, that needs some renovation, this may entail protracted work over several years to make the home come up to a good standard. However, you should be looking at a profit from your renovations; also, the property will hopefully have gone up in value in the meantime anyway.
Financing your home away from home using equity stored up in your UK house is a great way to jump onto the foreign ownership ladder. All that is needed is that your home is now worth more than you paid for it. You can then consider a remortgage to release this equity as cash which you can use to purchase your second home in the sun.
One good advantage to this option is that the money you draw out of the property is being reinvested into a second property purchase. So although you will have interest to pay until second mortgage loan, this should be outpaced by the increased value in your second home, and may even be paid for by rental income.
This may be a good way for many people begin their place in the sun dreams tomorrow, rather than waiting 15 or 20 years, for retirement. If this idea appeals to you, then contact an online mortgage broker, so that he can assess if this is a viable option for you.
Joe Kenny writes for Only Stop, compare bad credit remortgages in the UK, visit them today for mortgages or Glitec for more mortgages and information.
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