I was reading with interest some of the comments posted regarding inspection trips. I run my own business arranging inspection visits amoung other things. I have worked in the industry for 7 years in Spain/worldwide and 8 years in the UK. The best advice I can give you is use an agent that is not out there. All the big name agencies are so because they have made a lot of money. They can only do that through sales. Inevitably presure comes into it, as the reps are generally comission only and targeted within an inch of their life. The also generally do not have any experiance in real estate prior to the position they are in now. In fact the back ground to a lot of sales staff and company owners is timeshare. Your experiance can be hit and miss as all of these companies have some fantasic staff, but its the few bad eggs that we all get to hear about. My advice would be to do as I do with my clients. Deal with a local agent who only deals in the are area you are interested in, ask loads of questions before you fly out, know the advantages of resale property vs off plan new developments (avoid agents who only offer off plan you need to see the whole market to understand it), get some property info emailed to you and be straight with your agent. We getted messed about by you guys to! The local agents I use are well established and you usually get shown around by someone who owns or has an interest in the company. They offer high levels of service and generally are very knowledgable, as they have both purchased property and set up business in the area you are interested in. They usually pay any staff they have a salary plus comission ensuring you achieve less presure as a rule, but yes their are still small agents who are just in it for a fast buck, just not so many. They generally want to run a solid business to support thier family and employees. Dont get me wrong. We all want to sell property especially if we have heavily subsidised your flights and accomodation. But some of us understand that you dont want to be sold to and that you want to make you own discisions in your own time. Now because we belive that, we make less sales and less money. This means we are harder to find as we can not spend 1,000,s on press and exibitions. We offer as much protection as the big agencies as long as you follow some common sence and as long as you dont let your heart rule your head then you will be fine. Sorry for the rant, but one of the small guys wanted to have his say too! Good house hunting!