Buying without being here
Most of our buyers see the property in person once, or not at all. That is workable — but only with the paperwork arranged in the right order.
The power of attorney
A properly drafted power of attorney lets someone you trust sign at the notary and register in your name. It should be specific — naming the parcel, the price ceiling and the acts permitted — rather than general.
Executed abroad, it will usually need notarisation locally, then authentication at the Lebanese consulate, then translation. Build three to six weeks into your timeline for this, and start it before you have found the property rather than after.
Choosing who holds it
This is the decision that matters most and gets the least thought. A power of attorney over a property purchase is a significant instrument, and family relationships have been damaged by it.
A lawyer, engaged and paid, is usually the better holder than a relative doing a favour. If it is a relative, keep the power narrow and time-limited.
Funds
Transactions are in cash US dollars. Plan the transfer route early, and expect your own bank abroad to ask questions about a large transfer to Lebanon. Documentation of the source of funds and the purpose of the payment should be prepared in advance, not assembled under time pressure.
Never send funds to an individual's personal account against nothing more than a WhatsApp message. Payment should follow a signed promise of sale, and ideally sit with the notary.
Seeing it properly from six thousand kilometres away
Ask for filmed walkthroughs rather than photographs, taken continuously and without cuts, including the access road from the public road to the boundary. Ask for the cadastral extract, the survey and the zoning confirmation as documents, not as assurances.
Anyone unwilling to provide those is not equipped to sell to a buyer abroad, whatever else they may be.