Inspection Trips: the key to clever property buying abroad?

Inspection trips are trendy again. Or at least, they're not seen as as undesirable as they were in recent times. Often considered on a par with dodgy timeshare or high rise flats, they depleted in popularity after bad press in the eighties and nineties but times are changing. As Brits go further and further afield in their quest for the perfect holiday home overseas, inspection trips are becoming less supplementary and more of a necessity. If you fancy a property in Brazil or Cape Verde, an inspection trip is a valuable tool, after all agents based in that country know the emerging market well, better than your best research could, as well as having excellent and unrivalled local knowledge.

The traditional inspection trip seems to have moved on from a few days of hard sell in sunny Spain. Often touted now instead as 'lifestyle visits, ' prospective buyers tend to be well looked after, put up in decent accommodation and most importantly, treated to a one on one trip rather than herded onto minibuses and carted around faceless developments.

On the whole, prospective buyers are wined and dined courtesy of the real estate company but flights still on the whole are the responsibility of the buyer. So, to keep costs down, how do you find the best flights? The key is research and a degree of flexibility. If you visit any location particularly in Europe, during UK school holidays, prices are bound to be steep. Exercising flexibility such as a willingness to travel mid-week will see better and cheaper flight options, as will considering more than one departure airport. Plus, research special offers whenever possible and the low cost airlines in particular will even let you know if you subscribe to their email newsletters when they're having a sale.

For more information on inspection trips and to get a sense of what is available from Goa to Grenada, one website that has a wide selection is http://www.propertymartoverseas.com/ and try http://www.skyscanner.net/ to compare flights. Happy hunting!