It is a sad fact of life, but often when one person suffers another person gains through this suffering.

Since the start of the credit crunch many households have had their incomes seriously decreased by such things as a cut in working hours, the doing away with paid overtime, and in extreme circumstances by redundancy.

The credit crunch started well over two years now and it not only those who work for someone else who have started to struggle financially, but also those who ran their own business have been affected.

Some of these individuals owned second homes abroad in such areas as Spain, Italy and France. Tragically through no fault of their own, they can no longer afford these properties and have been forced to put them on the market for sale at low prices. The even more unfortunate have had their homes repossessed by the mortgage lender, and when this is the case the price of the property for sale will be even less.

For those among you who always wanted a second home but thought it was beyond your financial means, you really should reconsider, as prices of these second homes will not have such low values for ever. Therefore it is a case of striking while the iron is hot.

There are mortgage lenders who lend on properties abroad, and in fact it is what they specialise in.The drawback is that the maximum mortgage available is 70% LTV.

If you are a homeowner, a good way to buy a second home at home or away is by arranging a remortgage or secured loan on your current property. These are both forms of homeowner loans which release equity on your property which can be used for almost any purpose, including the purchase of a second home.

Secured loans , before the credit crunch, were available up to as much as 250,000. However now secured loans are restricted to a maximum of 100,000 which is still more than enough to give you a fair choice of properties.

If a secured loan does not enable you to buy the foreign property you want you can always seek a remortgage instead.Remortgages are available up to 90% LTV .

Buying a dream home abroad to give you wonderful holidays forever is a great use of a secured loan or a remortgage.

Looking to find the best deal on secured loans, then visit www.championfinance.com to find the best advice on remortgages.They are so friendly an efficient.