My story begins in Spain in 2002 when I moved there to change my life and got totally frustrated with the buying process and the system for getting things done and basically thought there had to be an easier way for people buying for the first time in Spain especially those who had aspirations to come and live in Spain like some good friends of mine were thinking about. So Spanish Hot Properties was born in 2007 with our business model to help international clients who had never bought in Spain before and help them relocate and generally make it much easier to fall in love with what is a wonderful country.

I lived in Spain until 2014 when I moved to the Philippines and set up Philippines Exclusive with the same blueprint we had in Spain, hoping to help International property buyers buy in the Philippines in as stress free manner as possible. To be fair the Philippines presents a lot more challenges than Spain but as an ex colony of Spain has a lot of similarities. Being based in Asia I got to know Thailand which is almost the Spain of South East Asia and decided that we should let the world know about this wonderful country as well and so rather than set up Thailand Hot Properties our holding company First Celtic International was formed in 2003. The creation of Gray Stuart website is so our clients only have to go to one site to find the best solutions in Philippines, Thailand, Cyprus, Spain, Portugal and so on.

We want Gray Stuart to be different to other international real estate companies so whilst copying the blueprint of Spanish Hot Properties we have set ourselves some important ground rules which include the following:

• Only offer properties and investments in countries where we have a real professional and knowledgeable understanding of the market so our clients get a real benefit in using us.
• In each country we must focus on Investment Properties, Lifestyle Properties and Citizenship or Residency for our clients. If we can’t do all three then we won’t sell properties in that Country.
• Make sure we only use the very best Lawyers, Accountants, Immigration Experts and Financial Advisory Companies. Only the best will do for us and our clients.
• Most importantly make a real difference to our clients and to this end we consider ourselves real estate consultants and not brokers.
• Make sure we are with our clients for life or as long as they need us. Our clients really should come First.

Clearly we still do what every other high caliber real estate company does i.e. get off market property deals and find the best deals for our clients but any decent company with the right connections can do that. We work with our clients to find the best property and if necessary we will use other agents in the country where our clients want to buy because finding them their dream investment or property is our number one goal and our clients should always know that we have their best interests at heart and they can buy safely and securely with us.

Finally, and most importantly we do all of this not because were the nicest guys on the planet because its good business practice. 75% of our business comes from referrals and repeat business so if we look after our client’s history has shown they will look after us.

I personally oversee every sale that is completed in some shape or form and take an interest with every client that buys with us or even those that don’t and I would love to hope that maybe one day I will get the pleasure to personally talk to you and have you as a happy client of Gray Stuart.