Would you agree to buy a property in the UK if you knew the price could change by a few thousand pounds even after you had agreed a purchase price?

Obviously not. Unfortunately, thousands of British people still do this when buying overseas property despite there being an easy way to avoid it.

When you purchase a property abroad, you’ll be paying for it in the local currency, be it euros, dollars or another currency. This means you’ll need to send funds for the purchase, usually from your UK bank account, to an account in the country where your property is – typically yours or a notary’s. However, constantly fluctuating exchange rates mean the amount of pounds you’ll need to exchange to meet the agreed purchase price in the local currency is constantly changing – one day it could mean you need less, the next more.

Here’s a real example. The current asking price of this two-bedroom two-bathroom townhouse, situated in a quiet cul-de-sac in the resort of Cabo Roig on Spain’s Costa Blanca is a tempting €140,000. However, over the space of just three months the price in pounds to British buyers fluctuated by a hefty £5,580, thanks to nothing more than exchange rate movements. In this instance the exchange rate has moved in favour of anyone transferring pounds into euros – however, it could go the other way. Currency transfer specialist Smart Currency Exchange tracked how the price in pounds changed:

Date	Approx. Smart £/€ rate	Property price
July 16	1.268	£110,410
July 9	1.246	£112,360
June 16	1.231	£113,729
May 16	1.248	£112,179
April 16	1.207	£115,990

The way to eliminate this uncertainty is to use companies likeSmart Currency Exchange for sending money to an overseas bank account – DON’T ask your bank to do it for you. Smart Currency Exchange will allow you to secure an exchange rate for an agreed transfer, which you can use for up to a year in the future. This means that once you know what your property abroad will cost you, you can effectively fix the price of it in pounds as well as the agreed local currency. In addition to this, a currency transfer specialist will always offer you a far better exchange rate than your bank.

For more information on how Smart Currency Exchange could save you money, download their free guide by clicking here or visit the Currency Zone.