EXCHANGE RATES. GOOD and BAD!!!

You may have spent months planning a holiday and paying for flights, hotels etc with your hard earned cash. You may have taken the plunge and decided to use your savings to buy a property abroad. All carefully budgeted for and helping you to achieve your dreams.

ÿ ÿ ÿ ÿ ÿ ÿ ÿ ÿ ÿ ÿ ÿ ÿ ÿ ÿ ÿ ÿ ÿ WHAT ABOUT CURRENCY EXCHANGE?

Why oh why, do I see people in queues at airports waiting to exchange pounds into euros, dollars etc. I feel it won’t be because they have forgotten they may need some cash for some purchases abroad but because they know there are exchange desks available at the airport and this may seem convenient. Yes and it will give something else to do while waiting for departure.!! What it probably won’t do is give you the best rate of exchange.

Only recently, as I studied the queues of currency purchasers, I was amazed to see the temerity of the currency kiosk in offering less than 1 euro for 1 pound ÿ- ÿonly to be outdone by the sheer cheek to be charging a rate of about 1.35 to get your pound back. Yes, a margin of about 40% between the buying and selling rates of exchange.


And the final enticement? “We charge you no commission”. Well, kind-hearted or what? Even they obviously felt they had to draw the line somewhere!


But you don’t
ÿhaveÿto put up with this.

What can be done to get a good rate of exchange? A little
ÿextraÿplanning as part of your holiday plans in general. Keep an eye on exchange rates in the weeks before your holiday date. You will then see the trends and can jump in when they look to be in your favour. Look at different exchange bureaux/banks …….they may not have the same exchange rates on the same day.

When buying a property abroad the amounts involved can be large. This is when using a currency house can give you a good rate and save you considerable amounts.


We are always pleased to explain which ones we use and why.


In all aspects of our lives we often “shop around” for good deals on our purchases. So currency exchange should follow this ethos.

Keith Pintointernational

You May Also Enjoy

Home and Living

High Quality Modular Homes for the UK

Are you looking for added accommodation space in your garden / on your land? Modular Living Homes by tutumHOUSE offer a new way to live – minimalist in form, rich in experience. “There are approximately 9.6 million homes in the UK with a garden shed, and around 52% of the population owns one.” asgardsss There…
Read More
Estate Agent Talk

The most stressful places to move to in the UK

With more people in the UK moving homes during summer than any other season and the average cost of moving in the UK rising to over £14,000, picking the right place to move to has become more crucial than ever. Luckily, new research from Pay Less for Storage reveals the UK cities that make life easiest…
Read More
Estate Agent Talk

Time-Traveling Estate Agent Sequel Climbs Amazon Charts

A UK Estate Agent Currently Bringing Joy to People’s Lives – Shame He’s Fictional…   Eric Meek, the fictional estate agent created by author Dale Bradford, is back for a second outing in The Time‑Travelling Estate Agent 2, a sequel that is already climbing Amazon’s bestselling time‑travel rankings. Estate agents were recently highlighted as the third…
Read More
Estate Agent Talk

Is it finally time for lenders to back green homes?

Andrew Smith weighs the risks and rewards Property developers are increasingly pitching green homes to lenders; however, with sales cycles slowing down and repair costs rising, is now the right time to back sustainable builds and at what price point is there market demand? Sustainability is continuing to shape our future of construction with the…
Read More
Breaking News

Breaking Property News 24/07/25

Daily bite-sized proptech and property news in partnership with Proptech-X.   OpticWise – digital infrastructure in commercial real estate If your building were a product, how would it perform on the user experience scale?  Week 9: Experience as Infrastructure – Designing for Human-Centric Buildings Welcome to Week 9 of our 52-week journey into the future…
Read More
new build homes colchester essex
Breaking News

UK Housebuilding Falters as Construction Hiring Flatlines

New research from Inventory Base reveals that UK construction industry employment has increased by almost 11% in the past five years, but there has been less than 1% growth in the past 12 months. Inventory Base’s analysis of the UK construction industry shows that in 2024 (latest data available) it employed an estimated total of…
Read More