Buying a house in Germany

I intend to buy a house in Germany this year and I will be funding the - whole - cost from my UK bank savings account (Sterling). I would like some advice if possible about the best way to transfer the money to Germany bearing in mind that I want, of course, to have control over the timing of the conversion to Euros in order to get the best exchange rate possible. Any related advice would be most welcome!

Thanks
Cruiser

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How about opening an Euro account in your UK bank? Maybe then you can get the best exchange rate. And then any transfers from an Euro account (in UK) to another (in DE) are free of charge.

A friend did that (actually the other way around: Euro -> Sterling) and was happy with the exchange rate.

The easiest/cheapest option seems to be to open an account with an international bank like Citibank as this may reduce the fees and complication for regular payments. The exchange rate will fluctuate and to make best of it you need to be able to make large transfers when it rises, to then be able to ride out the periods when it sinks (like it's currently doing). From what I've seen having searched the forums on this board (something you should also do) is there are various clever schemes that appear cheap from the outside but often give a poor exchange rate, research your options carefully. Most high street banks use the spot market rate for large transfers, ask for a transfer using the 'commercial rate'. Wait a minute, I posted this the other day in another thread. Go search for it, shoo shoo...

Look at www.moneycorp.com I have used them.

Thanks HEM, that looks pretty good. I might be needing their services myself soon.

You should contact in advance to get account set up (have to prove you aint a terrorist or drug smuggler) then when the
need arises you phone em up & they make you an offer then you get the Uk money to them - once it was
there the Euros arrived within 2 days.

Beware if you want to xfer money from UK bank viw online method they often only transfer max
10k GBP at a time (at leats true for Royal Bank of Scotland). Moneycorp made me aware of this.

Been there, done that, bought the T-shirt. I used to be an FX broker in London as well. I would recommend:

http://www.fxsolutions.co.uk

They will give you near as dammit live spot rates (you can check them yourself live on the internet these days).

PM me and I can give you personal contacts as well.

Yes, thanks HEM, this could be just what I need too, both for the one-off transfer (for the house purchase) and also for future UK pension transfers.

Edit: JE, I've just seen your post - will check this out too... thanks!

The best way, especially for a large sum, is to use a broker. JohnnyEnglish gave me the name of one (that I forget right now), and I used them. Would definitely recommend them to anyone. I know of no way to get a better rate than this. I had a euro/offshore account with Lloyds TSB that specialising in this stuff, and their rate was crap compared to these brokers.

Edit: I see Mr English has already replied. Use these guys.

I just updated the link above. It is the .co.uk you want as above (not the .com)

Website sucks but the boys are good.

AS you are doing your home work surf over to http://www.ozforex.com.
Todays exchange rate
1.00 British Pound = 1.46 Euros

Good luck

For checking and converting current rates I use:

http://www.oanda.com/convert/classic

1.46116 at the moment which is a bit down from recent highs of 1.51

Yeh, if you are going to bring money over for a house, you've really missed the boat. It was actually 1.52 at one stage in the last 2 months. Makes a huge difference on large sums.

@cruiser, I did that very deed a few months back. My bank in Scotland reserved a rate (which I was happy with) for 1 week within which I had to authorise the xfer. Advantage was if the rates rose you were still OK and if they dropped you could renegotiate...

You don't even have to use a special site for that. Google works just fine.

Google for "1000 Euros in US dollars" and it will give you the current exchange rate. ($1,320.10 right now, for what it's worth.)

It also works with other units. Google for "62 miles in km" or "6 pints in mL" and it will convert it for you. It even has some obscure units like "32 hogsheads in tsp". (32 hogsheads is 1,548,288 teaspoons. And 7 nautical miles is 3,062,362.2 picas. I'm sure you're glad you knew that now.)

Cheers,

Fairfax71

Yes, I'm kicking myself with frustration. Two months ago I just wasn't ready for the transfer, actually hadn't even taken the decision finally to buy, and now I'm a bit hacked off at 'losing' nearly 1000 euro on the sum I will transfer. Oh well, win some, lose some. Whose round is it anyway?

I lost a few hundred too cause I transferred when I thought it was high at 1.49 (I actually got 1.48), then the next week the interest rate annoucement was made and it went to 1.51. Still, I'm reasonably happy now cause it back down to 1.46..

And still falling. How I wish for that crystal ball...

Anyone got any guesses as to the chance of the pound strengthening or euro weakening in the next month or two, and why?

Well the €uro interest rates went up last month, which could/would account for strengthening of the €uro. UK interest rates stayed firm again at 5.25% after a rise in January.

So question is whether UK rates will rise again. Sounds like they may now have stabilised so personally I don't see that affecting things, but if they go anywhere it will be UP not DOWN (so strengthening the pound).

But its all bollox really. Just change the cash when you need it and move on.