How to Check an Overseas Property Marketer or Group Purchase Organiser: 15 Questions Before You Transfer Money

Many Israelis come to property abroad through a marketer: a company that finds projects, organises a seminar or a tour, presents a forecast and accompanies the purchase until signing. Sometimes the marketer also organises a group purchase. This can be a professional and efficient service. But the marketer adds a third party to the deal, and is usually paid by whoever is selling.

This guide brings together 15 questions worth getting a written answer to before the first transfer, and next to each one, the way to verify it yourself. It complements the 12 questions before investing through an investment company, which focus on what you are buying, and focuses on whoever is presenting the deal to you. The information is correct as of November 2026.

1What is the difference between a marketer, a group purchase organiser and a seller?

The seller is whoever is registered as owner of the property or the land in the land registry, or the developer who signs the contract with you. The marketer is whoever presents the deal to you. A group organiser brings investors together, and sometimes also manages the money or the company that holds the property. One party can fill several roles, so the first question is what role the person facing you plays in this transaction.

A marketer who receives a commission from the developer is not a neutral party, even if they accompany you in good faith all the way. That is not improper, but it means the deal should be checked by someone who represents only you. If it is a group purchase, see also the legal guide to a group purchase abroad.

2What questions should you ask an overseas property marketer before transferring money?

The table is a checklist you can print and fill in. Each row shows the question, the document to ask the marketer for, and how to verify it without them.

3How do you check who owns the land abroad?

You order an up-to-date extract or registration summary from the land registry of the country of the property, and do not rely on a copy the marketer sent. Land registers in the European Union make information on location and ownership available to the public and to professionals. A few examples from the countries where we work:

• Romania: a land registry extract (Extras de Carte Funciară), which can be ordered for information purposes on the ANCPI ePay website. Its third part shows mortgages and annotations. See the guide to reading a Romanian land registry extract.
• Cyprus: a search certificate from the Land Registry, which since December 2023 the seller must attach to the contract. See the guide to title deeds in Cyprus.
• Italy: a visura catastale and a visura ipotecaria, which show the registered owners and the mortgages.
• USA: there is no state guarantee of title. You rely on a title search by a title company and on title insurance, as explained in the guide to title insurance and escrow.

In an off-plan project you check the land, not the apartment that does not yet exist: who owns it, whether there is a mortgage in favour of the financing bank, and whether annotations in favour of other buyers have already been registered.

4Does an overseas property marketer need a licence?

In Israel, according to a judgment of the Tel Aviv District Court reported in Calcalist in July 2012, the Real Estate Brokers Law does not apply to property abroad. In other words, an Israeli brokerage licence, if there is one, says nothing about the quality of the deal abroad, and its absence does not necessarily indicate a breach. On the other hand, when the marketer offers a financial investment rather than an apartment, for example shares in a company or a fixed return, the Securities Law and the law regulating investment marketing may apply. This is covered in the guide raising money from Israelis and the Securities Law.

In the country of the property the position varies. In Romania, for example, as of November 2026 we found no indication that the bill to regulate the brokerage profession (L162/2024) has been enacted, so a "broker" can be anyone. Other countries have licensing and a register. The practical question is not only whether there is a licence, but who is liable to you if something goes wrong, and whom you can sue.

5What does "below market price" really mean?

It means someone compared the price with something. The question is with what. A comparison with asking prices on portals, with the same developer's price list or with the price "after completion" is not a comparison with the market. A real comparison is made against transactions signed for similar properties, in the same area, at a price per sq m calculated the same way.

And a low price is a question, not an answer: it may come from a seller who needs liquidity, but also from a planning problem, a mortgage or missing infrastructure. See a bargain property deal abroad: opportunity or trap, and for Romania, how to check whether the price is fair.

6How do you verify that "70% of the apartments are already sold"?

The marketer's sales table is not evidence. What counts as "sold" may be a reservation agreement, an expression of interest or a registered preliminary contract, and each carries a different weight. Ask how many signed contracts there are, of what type and on what date.

In countries where the preliminary contract is registered, part of this can be verified. In Romania, a preliminary contract for a future unit from a developer is signed before a notary and registered in the land registry, so the unit extracts show which ones have already been sold. In Cyprus, a sale contract deposited at the Land Registry creates a charge on the property in favour of the buyer. In any case, a high sales percentage does not replace checking the land, the permit and the account.

7How do you check the track record of the developer and the marketer?

Ask for a list of completed projects, with addresses, and check them: whether they were built, whether the apartments were registered in the buyers' names, and when. In the companies register, check when the company was set up, who owns it, and whether it has financial statements. Check the courts portal and the insolvency register for proceedings. In Romania most of these checks are free, as explained in the guide how to check a developer yourself.

Note that an established company with a well-known name may operate each project through a new special-purpose company. What matters is who signs your contract, and what assets that entity has.

8Why do the language of the contract and its governing law matter?

A marketing document in Hebrew is not the contract. The binding contract is usually signed in the language of the country of the property, and sometimes in two languages, with a clause setting out which version prevails. If you have not understood the binding version, you have not checked the deal. The governing law and jurisdiction clause decides where you will sue if something goes wrong: against the marketer, who may be registered in Israel, or against the seller, in another country and in another language.

9How do we assist with the check?

We represent the buyer only, and receive no payment from marketers, developers or sellers. We go through the answers and the documents against the 15 questions, order the extracts and register summaries, read the contract in its binding version and mark what is missing before the transfer. In the country of the property we work with lawyers and notaries licensed locally. On choosing a lawyer, see how to choose an international real estate lawyer.

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