Will the pound ever recover against the Euro.

de1amo

i would suggest buying a flat in a country like spain--it has lots of good skiing and house prices have dropped more than your exchange rate to the euro-

nollag2006

We are actually in something of a similar predicament. The family are all ski mad - I hate the thing, and so we are looking at a place in Zell am See, Austria.

Prices there haven't fallen much, but they dont rise much either. The beauty of Zell is that it has great train and air connections across Europe, and its got great hiking, cycling and other outdoor activities during the Summer too

de1amo

i nearly bought a ski place in france many years ago but i was put off by the punative way the french governemnt taxed second homes--i dont know if they have now addressed this--it was many years ago -

chucknorris

I will watch the exchange rate with interest as I may become interested in buying a property in Spain (in a few years).

Initially I dismissed the idea as being daft because we would only go there in the winter and the long term winter rents are quite cheap, BUT when we actually started searching for a place to rent (just for 3 weeks this time) we are finding it hard to get exactly what we want. So I am being drawn again to buying but more from the notion of certainty of getting what we want when we are over there, rather than costs. You only get one life so I may decide it's worth the extra money to get what we want every year.

de1amo

i bought outside the eu-in turkey--so far it has appreciated 19pc due to the pounds dwindling rate and property prices seem quite solid in local terms!--i just flucked it and was looking when the pound was at its highest ever against the Turkish lira back in 2006--i wouldnt do it at these rates!!
-my brother is holding off buying a family home in spain because of its woeful economy and dropping house prices-he is hedging in gold! -he got out of sterling and euro!

nollag2006

de1amo wrote: »

-my brother is holding off buying a family home in spain because of its woeful economy and dropping house prices-he is hedging in gold! -he got out of sterling and euro!

Wow !! Pretty risky move. Hope he doesn't get scalded

de1amo

he did it about 4 years ago and to my knowledge he is up about 200pc!!-he has been nagging me for years about the unsubstanable western economies--only draw back he has is that he bought the gold in sterling and must still face the hit' but on 200pc i think he can suffer the pain!!--he is in no rush!

Cleaver

Maybe it's just a personal thing, but I couldn't see myself ever buying a second property even if I was completely minted. What I like about holidays and time away is going somewhere new and different every time. Even if we revisit a city or place we chose somewhere different to stay.

Horses for courses I guess.

de1amo

i thought that way when i was younger but now im a grumpy old man i like familiarity and coming home --abroad!--my daughter whop is 12 going on 22 isnt too keen on the trips though-its either come with us or go to nannys! she usually comes to sulk with us!!

nollag2006

de1amo wrote: »

he did it about 4 years ago and to my knowledge he is up about 200pc!!-he has been nagging me for years about the unsubstanable western economies--only draw back he has is that he bought the gold in sterling and must still face the hit' but on 200pc i think he can suffer the pain!!--he is in no rush!

Good for him - but a bit too speculative and volatile for me.

I tend to keep my investments in UK property. Might fluctuate a bit, but tends to keep rising over time, and the rental income makes for a nice little bit of pin money at the end of each month.