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Google Isn't Always Your Friend
Google is generally recognized today as the answer to every question, but there are exceptions to that Internet Age fundamental and one of them has to do with shopping for real estate overseas. As you launch your foreign property adventures, your first instinct may be to Google in some direction, to surf around online for country agents and property listings. I encourage you to resist that urge.
Well, that's overstating things. Go ahead and spend time online searching property-related keywords for the destinations that interest you. You can acquire background this way, gain a starter understanding of the geography, the neighborhoods, and the property options on offer wherever you're searching, and begin to identify price points. All of that can be helpful if you keep it in perspective. Whatever information you find online to do with the state of a market, with sample property listings or with current pricing, will be confused and confusing. Often it will be plain wrong, and when you think through what's going on, you'll understand why. In fact, several things are going on that keep the Internet from being your friend when it comes to finding a piece of property worth buying in another country.
The first has to do with language. Search online in English for information on real estate for sale anywhere in the world where the people don't speak it as a first language, and what are you going to find? If you find anything at all (in some small non–English-speaking ...
