Article by: Mr Mike Hood m.hood@kbrfx.com Published: 22/10/2007

When buying abroad, there are many factors to take into consideration.

Are you buying a residence or an investment?

What is your price range?

Do you want a townhouse or a beach-front location?

What are the local amenities like?

How far is it from the airport?

What are the legalities involved?

Even with just these few things, it is no wonder that Foreign Exchange is often overlooked.

So what is Foreign Exchange (FX)?

· Foreign Exchange (FX) is the trading of currencies, whatever they may be, British Pounds, US Dollars, Japanese Yen and Euros.

The rate of exchange affects the purchase price on an overseas property. If you were buying an apartment in Portugal for €200,000 and the exchange rate for British Pounds (GBP) to Euro (EUR) was 1.4350, the property would cost £139,373.

If in a week the market had moved to GBP-EUR 1.4250 the same apartment would now cost £140,351, nearly £1,000 more.

It has been proven that high street banks do not offer the same rates of exchange as specialist providers, with the difference being up to 4%. Now 4% may not sound a great deal, but on a property costing €250,000, 4% equates to €10,000.

Using a specialist provider you can fix a favourable rate for up to a year in advance, protecting yourself against market movement as shown above.

So when looking at furniture brochures or deciding on the colour of carpets you want to put in your new overseas property, take a moment to consider one of the most important parts of your purchase, Foreign Exchange.

You can contact KBR Foreign Exchange Plc. on:

+44 (0)1702 608 599, or via e-mail; info@kbrfx.com

Article Link: http://www.property-partnership.com/overseas-property-guides/overseas-property-guide.cfm?id=82

Please contact the author at m.hood@kbrfx.com for more information.