Buying a home in another country used to be a rich person's hobby. It isn't anymore. Video viewings, English-speaking lawyers and specialist currency brokers have turned an apartment in Limassol or a townhouse outside Alicante into a realistic plan for a buyer with an ordinary budget.
Realistic doesn't mean simple. You'll be signing contracts under a legal system you didn't grow up with, often in a language you can't read, and wiring what may be the largest sum of your life across a border. This guide takes the whole process in order: what to decide first, who to hire, what each stage costs and how long it all takes. It's built on what we see every day at HomeNSearch, where we verify listings in 13 countries, including Cyprus, Spain, Turkey, Thailand and the UAE.
Start with why, not where
A holiday flat, a rental investment and a future retirement base are three different purchases. They point to different countries, different districts and different property types, so settle the purpose before you open a single listing.
A yield investor should care about tenant demand in January, not how the marina looks in July. A future resident needs to think about schools, healthcare and visa options. A holiday buyer can relax about most of that and be pickier about the view.
Then set the real budget. Purchase taxes and fees typically add 5–12% on top of the price depending on the country, so a €200,000 apartment actually costs somewhere between €210,000 and €224,000 before you've bought a single chair. Decide your ceiling with those costs inside it, and keep a reserve. There will be surprises.
Research the market like a local, not a tourist
The country matters less than the street. Prices two blocks from the beach and twenty minutes inland can behave like separate markets, so once you've picked a region, get down to district level fast.
Look at how prices have moved over ten years, not two. A market that doubled in three years can halve in two, while a slow climber is usually telling you something healthier. Check what's being built nearby as well. A wall of cranes means future supply, and future supply caps both your resale price and your rent.
Interest rates belong in this homework too. When local borrowing gets expensive, domestic demand cools, and that's often exactly when a cash buyer from abroad gets room to bargain. You don't need to time the cycle perfectly. You do need to know where in the cycle you're buying.
If rental income is part of the plan, study the rules for renting, not just the prices. Many popular cities now license or cap short-term lets, and a district where holiday rentals are restricted is a very different investment from the one in the brochure. Ask a local property manager what occupancy really looks like across the year; their answer beats any forecast you'll find online.
And visit outside the season. August lies.
Check the ownership rules before you fall in love
Every country draws its own lines around foreign buyers, and discovering them late is expensive. Thailand won't sell a foreigner land, but a condo can be owned outright as long as foreigners hold no more than 49% of the building. The UAE confines foreign ownership to designated freehold zones. Cyprus asks non-EU buyers to get a permission from the Council of Ministers, which is routine, but your lawyer has to file it. Montenegro sells apartments to foreigners freely while restricting some categories of land, and Georgia barely restricts anything at all, with title registration that famously takes about a day.
Residency is the other rulebook to read early. Spain closed its golden visa in April 2025, and Portugal removed the real-estate route back in October 2023, yet buyers still show up with plans built around both. Greece still runs a property-linked visa with thresholds that depend on the region, Turkey grants a citizenship route for property purchases from $400,000, and Cyprus ties permanent residency to buying a new home for €300,000 or more. If a residency program is part of your plan, confirm it on official government pages the same week you start searching. Programs close faster than blogs update.
Hire your own people
The agent showing you the property works for the seller. The developer's free legal support works for the developer. None of that makes them dishonest; it means nobody in the room is paid to protect you until you hire someone who is.
At minimum, that someone is an independent local lawyer who speaks your language and answers only to you. Depending on the country, you'll also want a licensed agent on the buy side, a sworn translator for anything you sign, and a notary, who in most civil-law countries is a mandatory neutral part of the deal rather than an optional extra. A tax adviser who knows both your home country and the target one earns the fee the first time they open a double-taxation treaty.
A rule our brokers repeat to every first-time buyer: if everyone at the table was introduced to you by the seller, you don't have a team. You have an audience.
The step-by-step timeline
Here's the sequence for a typical resale purchase. Off-plan follows the same logic, except completion waits for the builder.
1. Set the budget and build a shortlist (weeks 1–4)
Fix your ceiling with the 5–12% of costs inside it, pick one or two target regions, and start filtering listings. Screen hard. Ask for floor plans, exact addresses and video walkthroughs, and drop any seller who won't provide them. This is also the week to start interviewing lawyers, before you need one urgently.
2. Take one focused viewing trip (about a week)
See eight to twelve properties in three or four days, not two properties in a leisurely fortnight. Walk the district in the evening. Talk to a neighbor if you can. Meet your shortlisted lawyer in person while you're in the country.
3. Reserve the property
Found the one? You'll usually sign a short reservation agreement and pay a holding deposit, often a few thousand euros, to take it off the market while the checks run. Read even this small contract before signing. Some deposits come back if the title checks fail. Some don't.
4. Let your lawyer run due diligence (2–4 weeks)
This is the stage that saves buyers. The lawyer confirms the seller actually owns what's being sold, checks for mortgages, debts and third-party claims sitting on the title, and verifies building permits and planning compliance. For off-plan, they'll also check the developer's licenses and how your stage payments are protected. Nothing gets signed until this comes back clean.
5. Sign the contract and pay the deposit
Next comes the main sale contract, called different things in different countries, with a deposit that's commonly around 10% of the price. From here, pulling out usually costs you the deposit, and the seller pulling out usually costs them more. Dates, penalties and what counts as a failure to complete all live in this document, so this is where your lawyer earns the fee.
6. Arrange the money
Mortgage approval, currency exchange and the international transfer all happen between contract and completion. Start them earlier than feels necessary. Banks will ask where the funds came from, and pulling statements from three institutions in two countries takes longer than anyone expects.
7. Complete and register
Completion day is usually a notary appointment: the balance moves, the deed gets signed, and the transfer goes to the land registry. In much of Europe you can do all of it through a power of attorney without flying in. From accepted offer to keys, two to three months is a normal pace for a resale deal.
Mortgages, currency and moving the money
Borrowing as a non-resident
Plenty of countries lend to foreign buyers, just on tighter terms than locals get: a larger down payment, more paperwork and often a higher rate. Expect the lender to want certified income proof, tax returns, a credit report from your home country and an explanation of existing debts, translated where needed. Other markets, Thailand and Georgia among them, are in practice cash markets for foreigners. That's why many buyers release equity from property at home and arrive abroad as cash buyers, which also makes their offers stronger.
One more thing. If the apartment will earn rent in euros, borrowing in a different currency adds a risk you don't need; match the loan to the income where you can.
Currency is part of the price
Between signing and completion, exchange rates keep moving, and on a six-figure transfer a small swing changes the cost of your home by thousands. You can't predict the rate, but you can fix it: currency specialists offer forward contracts that lock today's rate for a completion date months away.
Compare the full cost of a transfer, not the advertised fee. A zero-fee transfer with a padded exchange rate is often the most expensive option on the table. Get two or three quotes for the same amount on the same day; the spread between them will surprise you.
The taxes you'll actually pay
Four moments create tax: buying, owning, renting out and selling.
Buying is the big one, and it's the bulk of that 5–12% figure. The label changes by country: transfer tax, stamp duty, or VAT on new builds. The rate changes too. Cyprus transfer fees run on a scale that tops out at 8%, Dubai charges a flat 4% land-department fee, and a resale purchase in France carries notaire costs of roughly 7–8%.
Owning brings an annual municipal or property tax almost everywhere, usually modest. Renting out means declaring the income where the property sits, and normally in your home country as well; double-taxation treaties exist so you don't pay twice on the same euro, but you have to claim the relief, not assume it. Selling triggers capital gains tax in the property's country, often reduced the longer you've held.
One admin detail with outsized power to delay deals: most countries issue you a local tax number before you can buy, like Spain's NIE, and applying early keeps the notary date on schedule.
None of this should scare you off. It just belongs in the spreadsheet before you make an offer, not after.
How four popular markets compare
A quick look at the markets buyers ask us about most often, out of the 13 countries in our catalog. You can browse verified listings in all of them in our property catalog.
Cyprus is many buyers' easiest way into EU property: contracts in English are standard, the process is compact, and the permanent-residency route tied to a €300,000 new build keeps demand steady. Budget for VAT on new builds or transfer fees on resales, and remember the Council of Ministers permission if you're a non-EU buyer.
Spain is the mature giant, with deep resale stock from Valencia down to Andalusia. You'll need an NIE before you can complete, and since April 2025 there's no golden visa attached. Buy it for the life or the yield, not the passport.
Turkey moves fast and, for foreign buyers, mostly prices in hard currency. The title deed, the TAPU, transfers in a single land-registry appointment, and purchases from $400,000 open the citizenship route, which keeps investor interest high in Istanbul and Antalya.
Thailand plays by its own rules: condos are fully ownable within the 49% foreign quota, land isn't available to foreigners, and most purchases are cash. Rental demand in hubs like Phuket does the convincing.
Frequently asked questions
Can a foreigner own property abroad outright?
In most popular destinations, yes, though nearly every country attaches a condition somewhere: a quota, a zone, a permission form or a land restriction. The practical answer for your exact situation costs one phone call to a local lawyer, and it's a call worth making before you shortlist, not after.
How long does buying property abroad take?
Count the search separately. Once your offer is accepted, a resale purchase typically reaches completion in two to three months, driven by due diligence, financing and the notary's calendar. Off-plan completes when construction does, which can be a year or three away.
Do I need to travel to buy?
Usually not. In most of our 13 countries a power of attorney lets your lawyer sign everything, and plenty of buyers complete without a second trip. We'd still argue for one viewing trip. Photos don't record noise, smells or the neighbor's rooster.
Does buying property abroad give me residency?
Only where a live program says so. Spain's golden visa ended in April 2025 and Portugal's real-estate route closed in October 2023, so neither belongs in a plan today. Greece, Cyprus, Turkey and the UAE still link property to residency or citizenship in different forms, each with its own thresholds and conditions. Verify the current rules on official sources before the purchase, not after.
