Make buying overseas property more than just an investment

Speaking Spanish fluently myself, I have found it an eye opener and at the same time disappointing, the number of people when travelling overseas who fail to learn so much as a ‘good morning’ or ‘thank-you’ in their destination language. What are worse still, are the many individuals that choose to buy a property abroad to make their second home and still fail to learn even a few phrases of local lingo.

Not only are they missing out on the very essence of what being abroad is all about; meeting new cultures, discovering different environments and connecting with local people, missing out on the language is like only getting half the experience, from being recommended the local dish of the day from the waiter rather than ordering your ‘safe’ favourite to hearing about new places, tips or events in your area. On a trip some time ago, only 10 minutes of my flight spent repeating a few basic words of Japanese (not the second language of choice for many) and I reaped the dividends, just the effort implies your attitude to their country and a willingness to embrace their culture and in that instance learn about who and what Japan was all about.

A host of cottage industries have built up to service in particular, the English speaking newbie’s overseas catering for everything you may need; a home furnishing service, English speaking handyman to car rentals. Whilst this may be a time saving device or may make you feel at ease dealing with one of your fellow countrymen, by using them you may be doing the country of your chosen second home a disservice.

Investors in overseas property are having a major effect on local economies and as new property hotspots open up, enterprising Brits are quick to move in and set up shop, but the whole point of moving or even just regularly spending time abroad is to experience a change from the norm and try something different, this experience is lost if you treat it as a home from home. Choose someone English speaking and the challenge is lost instantly and for me is the easy route out. I don’t profess to say it will be easy, in fact it will probably be more frustrating, but something I can guarantee you is that you never know what may come from it and it’ll be an experience not to be missed. From the community gardeners who offered me a few free plants as well as some great local gardening advice to my neighbour with a local crane company who invited me to his son’s wedding, both made my experience of owning my Spanish property richer in addition the capital gains. There are thousands of property articles that speak the virtues of locations offering real estate buyers seeking the ‘real’ Spain, France or wherever but the truth is, it’s been there all the time, you just have to embrace it. Don’t make ‘that Red Lion bar’ your holiday hang out, instead try ‘La Copita’ and next time you choose a service man try a local and give your business to the people that need it the most, you might be pleasantly surprised by the prices too.

Many of us are investing abroad in the hope of making money but we still have a responsibility to make sure that local people benefit from the experience also. Giving something back means that local people benefit directly from having jobs and a salary.

I understand that learning a foreign language is not the easiest task in the world and not all of us are blessed with a penchant for picking up new language skills but as the old adage says it not the ‘winning but the taking part that counts’, so have a go and if you can master a handful of words then it’s been an effort well spent.

Why not make a start from today, next time you are abroad try greeting the taxi driver it’ll get things off to a great start and if you want to really get stuck in, why not check out the full range of Michel Thomas Language Courses. Rumoured to be one of the best self-teach courses available, the now deceased Michel Thomas had something of an interesting life but it is his phonetic style of teaching which has won him many fans, encouraging new language learners to gain skills by speaking naturally rather than a list of vocab from a book.

Play.com is currently selling the French, Spanish and German audio language courses for half-price. So ‘pincha aqui’ to get started….