Moving first, buying second

People often shop for a house in a country they have visited twice. The visit was a holiday. The house is a working week, a school run, a visa appointment and a summer that lasts longer than the fortnight they spent there.

A more durable sequence is to test whether a household can live there: work, healthcare, schooling and the right to remain. Renting first is common. A purchase comes later, if it still makes sense once the city is ordinary.

Residency is not real estate

Some countries sell a path to stay that happens to sit near a property purchase. The path can close, tighten, or change its price. A home should be holdable even if the immigration product moves. Treat them as two files on the same desk, not as one product.

A working weekday out of season is the city a household would actually inhabit.