Many overseas investors in Spain could be encountering avoidable problems because they do not speak the local language.

Research by Rosetta Stone found that the majority of Britons do not speak a language other than English, while most of those that do speak French.

This is despite Spain being one of the most popular destinations for British holidaymakers and overseas property investors.

The organisation stated that nine out of ten people were unable to ask for general directions in Spanish, while a similar proportion were unable to comprehend basic instructions such as left and right.

A lack of linguistic awareness could prove to be a problem for people who are considering relocating to Spain on a permanent basis.

Foreign Currency Direct recently carried out research which found that only one in ten future expats were learning to speak a new language before moving.

Tips:

Flats = pisos

Home = casa

Thanks = Gracias

Tomorrow more = mañana mas

Cheers!!!

Commonwealth Bank is considering not increasing its standard variable lending rate so it can snare extra market share after the rush of rises from its rivals.

The nation's largest lender is believed to be unlikely to follow the moves of National Australia Bank, ANZ and Westpac in the short term.

It is believed that CBA decided to remain on hold to boost market share, especially after ANZ admitted it would take a reputational hit, particularly on business banking, after the Opes Prime and Lift Capital crises.

ANZ is still mired in the Opes Prime fallout and revealed yesterday that it remained stuck with a stake above 5% in 22 predominantly illiquid, small capitalised stocks.

Commonwealth Bank could be priming itself to expand aggressively into business banking, particularly if ANZ's book started to struggle.

Wholesale short-term funding costs for Australian banks remain well above historical highs, despite moves by the Reserve Bank to pump liquidity into the financial system.

The Reserve Bank was active in domestic money markets yesterday, buying $445 million worth of government and quasi-government bonds and $471 million worth of ADI-securities.

The activity follows surprise trading last week when the RBA moved in to buy residential (4 flats & houses ) mortgage-backed securities, which sparked some concern a lender could be in trouble.

Cheers!

The Costa Blanca region is the most popular domestic holiday spot with Spanish nationals, official statistics have shown.

The area has overtaken the Costa del Sol as the first-choice holiday option for the country's residents.

The news provider added that the number of Spanish tourists staying in flats, apartments and hotels in Costa Blanca was higher than the amount that had booked in both Barcelona and Madrid combined.

This could represent good news for overseas property investors, as they could offer accommodation to holidaymakers.

Specifically, the figures showed that more Britons were visiting the Costa Blanca out of season.

Cheers mates!

People who are relocating to Spain have been advised to take the country's different inheritance laws into account.

This means that assets may not always go the surviving husband or wife of the deceased person.

Expats research these issues in advance so they can be aware of what happens to their estate in the event of their death.

You will need to make a new will to comply with local law if you retire abroad, an important issue which may easily slip off the to-do list.

Furthermore, expats who still owned  UK flats were advised to make sure they had a will in Britain.

Cheeeeeers!!!

The town of Muro de Alcoy has come top of a list of the most popular investment spots in Spain.

A survey by Navalagamella Estudios found that the town, situated in the province of Alicante, was the favourite option among overseas buyers entering the Spanish market.

This was largely attributed to the ease of getting to the area, as budget airlines travelled to the airport in the region, which is less than hour away from the town itself.

The difference between being the number one destination in Spain and number four is keeping the journey time to and from the airport under an hour.

In addition, the warm weather for 12 months of the year was said to be an attractive feature of Muro de Alcoy, along with its relatively low flats prices.

The town came ahead of other places including Adra in Almeria and Tortosa, located in the province of Tarragona.

According to a study by Halifax, the average property value in Spain has risen by 100 per cent since 2002, beating the continent-wide average of 40 per cent.

Cheerio!!!!

Overseas property investors have been advised that Spain offers a wide choice of flats at affordable prices.

Travel writer Stephen Morgan said that the country was ideal for different types of buyers, such as those purchasing a holiday home and people who wanted an investment property.

He highlighted many of the attractions of the Spanish market, such as its good climate for 12 months of the year and outstanding natural beauty.

Spain also had much to recommend it to city dwellers, as its major urban settlements were some of the most "sophisticated" cities in the world.

Although the vast majority of tourists and residents come to Spain to laze about on the beach, there's much more to the country than the coastal resorts and island entertainment.

This comes after Spain was recently praised by UK newspaper the Telegraph, which said that it had become a "lifestyle destination" for British property buyers.

Live or die 4 Dixie! Cheers!!!

Many towns and cities have benefited from being located near regional airports, an expert has said.

Regional airports had made foreign destinations more accessible to those in the area, including holidaymakers and flats, houses, etc property investors.

The immediate area often saw further material benefits beyond people being able to travel more, such as improvements to the local infrastructure.

If the services don't work then airlines won't run them. If they don't have enough passengers then they won't be running them.

The benefits applied in the case of both UK airports and those in other countries, as these areas had benefited from extra tourism and investment.

This comes after the Airport Operators Association praised regional airports for making overseas travel more convenient for many people.

Invest ASAP!!!

Cheers buddies.