A good friend of mine recently bought a property in the US. He lives in Ireland and the property was as an investment. The property value was $360,000 US Dollars. He began the process of buying the property in question 6 months ago. At this time it was expected to cost him €310,000. This was based on the currency exchange rates at that time.
He closed the property 2 weeks ago (it took very long to complete the transaction due to it being a foreclosure property) and the actual cost was €288,000; a saving of €22,000 based on the exchange rate movement.
Whilst this worked out strongly in his favour I can’t help feel someone from the US who was buying a property in Europe and ended up paying far more than initially expected. It raises an interesting question though. Continue reading Buying a property in a different currency – when to make the jump!