Property investor James Caan, from the BBC show Dragon’s Den, has said good research and close-up investigation were the key to his French Riviera property purchases.

Explaining his golden rules for property investment, Mr Caan told the Daily Telegraph that when investing overseas he chose the region because it is "so quick to fly there for weekends".

He added that extensive checking in person of different locations and different properties led to him choosing Cannes as the ideal location and the French Riviera property he bought there quadrupling in value over the past eight years.

Mr Caan also suggested that now is a good time to buy, because "I’ve always worked with the ethos that you should observe the masses and head in the opposite direction", reasoning that this means those who invest now will find opportunities that others are not looking for.

A member of the Dragon’s Den panel since 2007, Mr Caan recently published his autobiography.

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