Five Tips to Buy Property Abroad

Owning a holiday house is everyone’s dream. People spend their years saving to buy a new build house or purchase land and gradually construct the house. Having a second home gives you the freedom to choose the details and design, be it choosing between outdoor composite decking and indoor marble flooring or choosing the colour of paint for your walls. You can allow your creativity to flow according to your taste.

If you have moved to another country and are looking for a property to purchase there, certain things should be considered. Here are some amazing tips for you to consider while buying property abroad:

Do Your Research:

Before you contact a real estate agent, you need to do primary research. Having a basic idea about property prices in an area where you want to live or invest is essential. This will help you shortlist not just one but many areas that you can browse to find your dream house. Ensure to read the reviews from clients of real estate agencies you are planning to contact since foreigners can fall prey to scams quite easily. Also, do check the currency exchange rate while making the purchase.

Hire an Estate Agent:

Buying a house directly from the owner sounds like a great idea, but it only works well if you are a native. There are many legal, linguistic and social constraints when you are buying property in a foreign country. Purchasing through a real estate agent from a recognized property dealer will surely benefit you. Since the agents are looking to make their profile strong by locking deals, they will ensure that everything is precisely the way you want it and in your best interest.

Get Your Documents Translated:

Make it a rule; always know what you are signing for. Even if you purchase the property via a real estate agent, you must pay attention to the documentation. Ask them to add a translation of the contract in your native language so you can be fully aware of the terms and conditions. Also, doing so will help you sell the property in the future since you will have complete documentation in a language that you understand.

Keep a Legal Representative Onboard:

Although your real estate agent can guide you through the entire property buying and selling process, you need to have a legal representative on board to ensure that everything is going smoothly. The laws might be way different than in your country and can even vary from state to state.

Having a legal representative will give you peace of mind that you are not breaking any laws and following every legal constraint of the area. Also, legal terms are technical, and your real estate agent might not be able to explain them to you. However, a legal representative will help you understand them conveniently.

Find Someone to Partner Your Purchase:

If you are buying a holiday house in your favourite country, finding a partner with whom you can co-own the property is a great way to finance your project. It can either be a friend or a family member. This will help in reducing the cost of property for you. This will be a simple way to invest, and also, you will get a permanent spot for a regular family get-together and parties.

Also, if you co-own a property, you can do half of the maintenance and renovation done along with your partner. Take some time to discuss all the finances with your partner and also the prospects. You and your partner won’t regret investing in this!

The Bottom Line:

Buying and selling property, particularly in a foreign land, can be tricky and time-consuming. However, having the proper legal support and a real estate agent from an authentic real estate agency can ease your task markedly. Make sure to invest wisely!

Writing a Rental Ad: 10 Mistakes to Avoid

It is quite hard to face the fact that your rental property has recently become vacant, and you again have to go through the hassle of advertising it. Indeed, advertising a property can be a daunting task. That said, tenants come and go, and putting out ads for your recently vacant property is a part of the whole rental business. Having an informative, visually appealing, and accurate rental ad can increase your chances of attracting interested tenants. Unfortunately, there are certain mistakes that owners make while advertising their property.

1) A boring headline

To begin with, the advertisement must contain a short yet catchy headline that uniquely describes your property and makes it stand out from the crowd. It is the first thing that a potential tenant notices. Your ad gets more views when it has an interesting headline.

2) Insufficient information

When writing a rental ad, one should always make sure to include all the necessary details of the property in the advertisement. Whether it is about the furnishings or appliances the property has – each and every detail, however small, will make your ad more informative and eye-catching.

3) Targeting a very specific audience

Focusing on the physical characteristics of tenants or picking them on the basis of their family status would not get you a good tenant at all. Stereotypes and discriminatory behavior are a clear red flag for many and will not do you any favors as the owner of the property.

4) One source of advertising

Trends among renters change very often. Just because you found your last tenant through a certain app does not mean you will be successful in finding your next one at the same place. Relying on one specific application or medium to find tenants can make you miss out on several good options. Hence, advertise wherever you find a good opportunity to.

5) Outdated content

Using the same old, boring way of writing the rental advertisement for your property may not attract many customers. Moreover, details in the listing should be updated from time to time. Make sure to include high-quality content for the ad to reach maximum people.

6) Ignoring feedback

Customer reviews on the listing are very important. Whether the feedback you get is positive or negative, both opinions should be considered valuable. Ignoring users’ feedback can have a negative effect on prospective tenants. For the same reason, it is advised to address the reviews, however negative they may be, and try mitigating the situation. You can always ask for tips to improve your service from customers who give negative reviews under your listing. Also, you can ask them to contact you for detailed feedback, which will help you in crafting the ad as per users’ requirements.

7) Not using social media

Nothing compares to the reach that social media provides. With billions of people using social media applications, it serves as the perfect platform to advertise your rental ad on. You can connect with thousands of interested customers in a hassle-free way if you simply utilize the advancements of social media. Most people, especially the younger generation, rely heavily on social media apps for everything. They prefer house hunting on social media platforms too. So, listing your ad on Facebook and Instagram among other social media channels can make your ad reach a much wider audience. 

8) Not using proper vocabulary

To resonate with the target audience, one needs to use the right words in their advertisement. You can use specific keywords or USPs of your property to appear higher in search results. When you use the proper vocabulary, it helps the target audience to understand what you are advertising better. Stay away from ignorant, crude language, slang terms, or potentially offensive vocabulary so that your ad looks trustworthy and professional.

9) No pictures/Poor quality pictures

An advertisement with no pictures attached is good for nothing. No potential tenant would want to approach the owner of any blank rental advertisement for any queries. Apart from it being an incomplete ad, it also shows one’s unprofessionalism and lack of effort. Having clear, abundant, detailed, and high-resolution property pictures attracts customers and provides them with the convenience to see the flat without actually visiting it. 

10) Using abbreviations

You should avoid using abbreviations in your advertisement. Not only does it come across as informal, but also makes your ad difficult for a lot of people to understand. Poor rental descriptions can result in people skipping your ads and moving onto the ones that articulate the content in an easy-to-understand manner. 

It is nothing short of a harrowing task to properly advertise a property. It can become all the more difficult if you do not know how to go about it. However, if you look out for these mistakes and follow our tips, your renting business will change for good, and you will get a plethora of responses from interested tenants who will be eager to finalize the deal in no time!

Author’s bio. Jessica Fender is a professional marketer and a content writer. If you ever wondered, “I wish someone would write my essay for me”, she is one of those professional academic level writers that will save you time and your degree. She enjoys the beach, martial arts, and literature.

9 Clever Tricks to Make Your House Look Bigger

If you are living in a small space, then you know how it feels like to look cramped and restricted in your square footage.

When you try to cram everything in a tiny space, it will feel claustrophobic and anything but restful. The struggle is real.

Fortunately, you can reinvent your space so that it will turn out to be a spacious, well-designed home. Here are nin home design tricks that will make your small living space look bigger in no time:

1. Use enough amount of lighting

A room will look larger if it is well-lit, either with natural or artificial lighting.

Remove heavy draperies and open up your windows more to let the light from the outdoors enter your space. Brightly lit rooms will feel more open, eliminating shadows that can make space look smaller.

If you can, place your most used pieces of furniture, such as your favorite sofa, near the window so that you will have a view of the outdoors.

If there is minimal light, you can install track lighting. These flexible track heads and bright light can act as a substitute for direct light.

2. Opt for larger decorations

Using small knick-knacks make a space look cluttered and a lot smaller.

Utilize the triangle rule and symmetry when styling vignettes on coffee tables, dining tables, nightstands, and so on. Limit the groupings of your decor items into 3 to 5, as well.

Remember that you do not need to place accents on every surface of your room. Allow space to “breathe” instead of filling it with unnecessary clutter.

Heavy, weighty pieces of furniture tend to take too much space. For instance, a sleek sofa chair will provide you with as much sitting room as its overstuffed counterpart.

If you want to add a huge statement piece, such as a piece of art, then hang it on the wall. Do not use up valuable living space by placing it on the floor.

3. Choose monochromatic colors

Another classic decor tip is to use lighter hues when painting a relatively small space.

Painting the walls and the trim of the room with the same color tends to draw the eye up, highlighting the ceiling, as well as the entire room.

Both cool and delicate warm color tones on most surfaces will give the room a more open look, because you’re creating contrast, building depth and illusion of a much bigger space.

4. Hang mirrors in your home

Want to instantly create large, open spaces? Well, that starts with careful placement of your mirrors.

By placing them across windows and doorframes, you will be able to catch a glimpse outdoors and other rooms in the house, making space look larger.

A small space should include mirrors to make a greater sense of openness. Not only do they tend to reflect the light, but they also reflect the view, tricking the eye to perceive more space than it has.

5. Use patterns and stripes

Decorating a small room can be challenging. But another trick here is to decorate it with stripes and patterns so that it will appear larger.

Stripes could trick the eye to thinking that a room is taller and bigger than it is. For instance, if you have a narrow hallway, throwing in a horizontal rug will make it look wider. Similarly, a striped carpet can make a room look longer.

Moreover, a lot of people think that they can only use small patterns when decorating a room, but the opposite is true. You can utilize bold prints on the farthest corner of the room to draw in the eyes, creating an illusion of a much bigger, larger room.

6. Choose parallel or diagonal flooring

The way your flooring is installed can also make a space larger. As a general rule, installing flooring like boards running parallel with the longest wall of the room instantly makes it look more spacious.

Another flooring trick is to install boards or tiles diagonally. Although it is not the standard thing to do, the eyes will be deceived that space is vaster.

7. Invest in transparent furniture

A piece of furniture that creates an illusion of space are the ones that are made of glass. Using clear or see-through furniture will make space look more open.

If you want a space to look more spacious, yet you have to bring in more furniture, then go for the ones that have a glass top or have glass on the sides.

8. Get rid of unnecessary items

When designing your space, pick items that have simple lines and shapes. Remove the visual clutter by buying larger furniture pieces instead of several smaller items.

You do not have to stick with the usual sofa and loveseat arrangement, either. You can pair a smaller couch with one or two chairs.

You can also get rid of any excess items, including accessories that help contribute to the visual clutter of a room. Try to stay away from smaller artwork and decor, large statement pieces can also make a room appear larger and create an accent.

9. Use Multifunctional furniture

You can take the minimalist approach to make your space appear spacious.

Start investing in multi-functional furniture. In other words, pick things that serve a dual-purpose, such as a sofa that has a pull-out storage space, or an ottoman that you can also be doubled for extra storage.

Identify which furniture you want to downsize so that you can free-up that extra space. For instance, you can replace your traditional bed with a pull-out sofa or a daybed that can also double as a sofa.

Having limited space, places a lot of restrictions on so many things. So, if you are having problems with having a small home space, you can always look for creative ways to try to bring out that extra space in a room or at least create an illusion of a much bigger space.

About the Author:

Jacky Xu is the Chief Operating Officer at Maid Sailors Maid Service Austin. Maid Sailors takes pride in providing unparalleled cleaning services at affordable prices and will help transform your house into a home.