Tips for moving abroad from a CFP who specializes in it [Video]

What started as a fun side project for Tommy Sikes has become a big part of his business.

With the youngest of his three children about to enter law school, Sikes began thinking about the next chapter for him and his wife — namely, the ever-more popular possibility of spending at least part of their retirement in Europe.

“We had this looming empty nest. We love Italy and France and started thinking, ‘What’s our next step?'” he tells CNBC Make It. “How can we make this more of a reality?”

Sikes started researching properties across the Atlantic, focusing on inexpensive locales away from the major cities where he and his wife could pursue their outdoorsy hobbies, such as hiking and kayaking.

When he began sharing the properties he found online, Sikes, a certified financial planner, found a new base of potential clients who were excited about the prospect of owning property abroad but unaware of how to go about …