How to spot a Property Hot-spot

Since the Spanish property boom of the late 1980s and early 1990s, many people in the UK have been on the look-out for a holiday home in the sun. In realising a considerable amount of equity in their property, they appeared to become property investment specialists over-night. The only problem is that effective property investment requires much more than striking it lucky in one market. It’s about calculating risks, estimating growth and return. Let me put it this way: when you view a house or apartment that you are considering buying, do you see the nice south-facing balcony and the walls painted in your favourite colour? Or do you visualise a balance sheet weighing up expenses against income? Clearly, you must take factors such as decor into account because, although you are buying for investment, you will need to be able to sell on at a profit to someone who has another use for the property.

But you need to look at every aspect of the investment, weighing up the pros and cons, the profit and loss, the income and expenditure. No investment is without its weaknesses, but you must be able to evaluate these so that you can make a measured judgement. In my experience, the most successful investors will only view the property for a few minutes before deciding to proceed. The reason is that they had already satisfied 95 per cent of their requirements through extensive research before visiting.