Independent and Trustworthy?

I  was recently quoted in the British Daily Telegraph telling the world why I liked Uruguay. I have never spoken to the journalist in question and I don't think that she has ever visited the country she was writing about. Instead her "authoritative" piece was nothing more than a lift from an International Living magazine article.

This set me to thinking. We tend to look to the media for advice and unbiased information, but how often do we get it? I long ago gave up on UK buying property abroad magazines because they were full of gushing puff pieces proclaiming the virtues of whatever project their biggest advertisers put in front of them. In depth, independent, questioning? You have got to be kidding!

TV Programmes like a "Place in the Sun" were equally unreal (remember when property prices were always going up by 20% pa everywhere they went?) and whilst in the past you could at least look at the scenery in the background, these days the cameras rarely leave the presenters! The best story I heard was of a special in depth documentary in which a lady from Yorkshire was ferried around Marbella looking at reduced price flats and prattling on about how she was looking for a bargain. Apparently she now lives on a mobile home site near Antequera, never had the money for an apartment and was never looking for one. The TV people needed a face and who was she to say no to being accommodated and wined and dined around Marbella?

The internet seemed to offer a real alternative but even here you need to be careful. From the USA there are a number of supposedly "independent" advice magazines and news letters. Unfortunately those independent reviews are nothing of the sort and all too frequently the journal is on the seller's payroll. How do they get away with it? Well the company that owns the journal has a "separate" real estate company. One does the promo and the other receives the commissions. Neat, what!

So who can you use or trust? Well, apart from me (obviously), follow your own instincts! Don't rely on one source for information and always compare and contrast. Talk to agents, look at those messageboards and Facebook groups, go to exhibitions and hear what people have to say and then apply common sense. The more you learn about your chosen destination the more other people will respond to you.

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