expat network
stamp duty

Stamp Duty Proposals For Foreign Investors: Will It Affect UK Demand?

Proposals to increase stamp duty for overseas purchasers of property will have an impact on the UK property market.  Benoit Properties set out the impact that they expect to see on foreign property investors. Taken from an article by Benoit Properties Speaking at the Conservative Party Conference, Theresa May announced plans for overseas purchasers...

cyprus

Cyprus Investing To Draw In Wealthy Expats

Cyprus is a small island in the Eastern Mediterranean with a rich history and culture spanning 10,000 years.  It is one of the oldest civilisations in the Mediterranean, situated at the crossroads of three continents – Europe, Asia and Africa.  This unique geographic position has played an important part in its turbulent past throughout history....

renting property

Renting Property In America

If you are planning to live short term in America renting a property will generally be the best option.  Even if you plan to buy a property it may be worth renting for a period to ensure that when you do buy a property you have built a knowledge of the local area, the desirable...

mortgage

Can I Get A Mortgage As An Expat?

When living and working abroad many British expats want to retain an interest in the UK property market by investing in a buy-to-let property to get a good return or they buy a property for their family or to leave empty so that it is ready for them when they return home.  Expats from other...

home

Why Expat Tenants Need Home Insurance

Even before you moved to Hong Kong, you may have heard about the highly unaffordable rent in the city, which always ranks top among the world’s most expensive housing markets. This perennial problem has become so extreme that a resident needs to spend 19.4 years without any other expenditure in order to be able to...

travel insurance

Travel Insurance For Expats: Is It What You Really Need?

If there’s one thing that expats around the world do, it’s travel. This may seem like a really obvious statement, seeing as how a person has to travel in order to become an expat, but one doesn’t have to be a genius to look at expat communities in countries around the globe and see that...

insurance

Expats’ Special Insurance Needs

Everyone faces risks that require reliable insurance coverage.  Expats face the same risks as well as additional risks caused by their decision to live abroad.  It is important to recognise the risks that you face and to be sure that the coverage does not have terms invalidating the insurance because of your location or because...

property fraud

As Safe As Houses? The Problem of Property Fraud

HM Land Registry advise how to protect against property fraud in England and Wales when you live abroad. Property is usually the most valuable asset people own. It can be sold and mortgaged to raise money and can therefore be an attractive target for fraudsters. If you live abroad your property might be more at...

property options

Property Options In America

When moving to America there are a number of options for where you are going to be living and in what type of accommodation. While you explore the options it is often necessary to find temporary accommodation while you decide where you want to live long-term. While you find the solution there are a number...

personal finance

Personal Finance In Portugal

There are many financial issues that face those who are looking to move to Portugal. Many of these issues can be dealt with easily, provided you take advice from an expert in both Portuguese tax and tax law in your home country. Something that can save you tax in at home can have the opposite...

villages portugal

Five Pretty Villages In Portugal

Monsanto. A small, fortified village previously named the ‘most Portuguese village in Portugal’. Houses and streets in Monsanto are packed tightly and carved from the cliffs and boulders that surround the town. The castle overlooking Monsanto provides an excellent panorama of the plains and nearby mountains of the Serra de Estrela. Monsaraz. This village still...

property market in portugal

The Property Market In Portugal – Is It Time To Buy?

The property market in Portugal experienced a turnaround in 2015 after several years of recession, which saw property prices fall by 30% on average in the Algarve. Spurred on by property prices that are still around 13% below their 2006/07 peak, British buyers – who have long been the keenest of overseas buyers – were...