With elements of the property market in the UK looking increasingly bleak it is no wonder that investors are increasingly looking abroad.

The Overseas Investment Property market is beginning to look a lot more attractive!

The big profits are always made when an investor manages to highlight a "hotspot" before the multitudes. I wish I had a pound for the number of times I have heard "I wish I could have got into ***** county in the beginning"

More often than not these people had the opportunity but did not take it but that’s not my point.

It is easy to be discouraged from Overseas Investment Property.

The horror stories heard about people’s investments in Spain and North Cyprus are I’m sure still fresh in a lot of your minds, but should this put you off Overseas Investment Property?

Well "bad news always travels quicker than good", I know plenty of people that have made, and continue to make good money in Spain, Italy, France, Morocco, USA and various Caribbean destinations.

While we are on the subject of annoying sayings this one always gets me "if it sounds too good to be true it normally is" well yes that maybe the case but what about the cases that aren’t…too good to be true I mean. An example, a few years ago I was offered an Overseas Investment Property in St Lucia, I turned it down but a colleague went for it. Now there was no particular reason for me turning it down other than "it sounded too good to be true", well it wasn’t, in 2 years its doubled in value and now provides my colleague with an income of £40,000 per year.

I think the secret might be simply due diligence, if you put together a spreadsheet of questions that need a positive answer before you will consider investing this will give you a base to go from.

Don’t be afraid to check out the "facts" that agents tell you. There are no hard and fast rules when it comes to an agent marketing a development, their job is to persuade you that this investment is the best opportunity out there and some will tell you anything in order for you to believe it!

I have just purchased my first Overseas Investment Property, funnily enough in St Lucia; hopefully I will do as well as my colleague did!