Saving money unexpectedly on their property purchase in Italy will make moving there this year all the more enjoyable for Duncan and Karen Veal, thanks to the great exchange rates the couple received when they transferred euros to Italy.
Article written by The Overseas Guides Company
The Veals, who work at a school in Devon, saved £000s by using Smart Currency Exchange to send payment for their property in Puglia to their Italian bank account. Smart Currency Exchange typically offers exchange rates that are 3-4 per cent better than those offered by high street banks and also lets clients forward purchase currency in order to protect their money against exchange rate movement.
“On large transfers, such as the €100,000 we transferred to buy our Italian property, the better exchange rates from Smart really do make a difference,” said Karen, who discovered Smart Currency Exchange through the ItalyBuyingGuide.com. “The savings were enough to cover our geometra fees, or the cost of a new bathroom. We’ve made a series of transfers to Italy since our first one in November 2012, as we’ve needed to send funds to pay for renovation costs and each time we’ve been very impressed with Smart.”
For their first transfer, the Veals forward purchased euros, so they knew they had the euro price of their Italian property covered before completing on it in early 2013. When sending further euros to Italy to pay for work done on the property, the euro had begun to weaken against the pound, so Karen kept in daily contact with Smart, which enabled her to secure an exchange rate she was happy with.
The Veals plan to take early retirement from teaching and move to Italy before the end of the year. Their Italian property is in the countryside on the edge of San Vito dei Normanni and comprises two two-bedroom villas, one of which will be their home, the other they intend to let to holidaymakers once they are settled. “We paid around €100,000 for the whole property, but as the villas were just empty shells, we spent roughly the same again finishing them and adding a pool. Our current UK home is on the market, and for extra income we’ve bought a buy-to-let flat in Devon. The villas are now ready, so we hope to be able to move to Italy in the summer.”
If, like the Veals, you are buying property in Italy or another overseas destination and will need to transfer Sterling to a foreign currency account, consider using Smart Currency Exchange, as they consistently offer better exchange rates than banks. For more information on this, visit the Currency Zone or download Smart’s free report here.
To understand the full step-by-step process to buying a property in Italy and receive regular news updates, collect The Overseas Guides Company’s ‘Italy Buying Guide’.
