Take them as entertainment, at the least they gloss over the facts and at times are downright incorrect. I know someone who bought 3 houses in Florida on the strength of advice from one of the programmes as they said you could get a USA visa..of course they couldn't. The programes should carry a health warning.

...I'm sure that most people would realise that a short programme can only give a superficial view of the whole process, for it's primary purpose is to provide entertainment for the general public and therefore avoid anything boring or technical....and generally speaking, the resulting viewing is quite good from that point of view....
....it can also provide a starting point for further research by those who have already had vague thoughts on the subject....in our case the research into buying took about a year.....
....so overall, I don't think it looks too easy...nobody would commit themselves to such an important and expensive undertaking just because of a property programme.....

Hi 12noon

I've appeared in a couple of those TV programs on Cyprus.

Some of the shows are funded by property marketing companies and will, naturally, promote the positive aspects of buying abroad. A number of them also sponsor magazines & property exhibitions.

But to get a balanced picture, you need to do more research and decide for yourself whether the benefits outweigh the disadvanteges.

Regards,

Nigel

better to treat these programs as giving you an idea of what a country is like, just a snapshot..better to go take a look for yourself..

Actually i like programs like those. I would just like to know more thats all. Maybe they will do follow ups in a few years time and tell you how everyone got on. Did they manage to get that business going and how affordable life is away from home.

Many of them are out of date when shown. As such they can give impressions of very unrealistically low prices.

Looks like I am reactivating quite an old topic, sorry - I haven't been around for a while

My company did "I Want That House" with ITV, so I know the format pretty well.

Firstly, forget the idea that the purpose of the show is to find the right property for the customer - the producers try to dictate which properties should be featured - even to the extent that we were pressured to show a property 1.5 hours away from where the couple were looking to buy. In the end we didn't, and the 'clients' confirmed later that they would never have bought there in a million years! The property was lovely, views perfect for 'wow' TV and that is the problem with these shows. They want to make good TV first, find the right property a distant second.

Filming is horrendous - 15 takes to get the right expression as the customers enter the bathroom (and you have 3 properties, 3 bathrooms minimum, maybe 15 bedrooms etc etc).

All in all, take it for what it is - a television programme rather than a totally genuine quest to find the right property for the customer, and enjoy the scenery
Scunner
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Sarah