Yahoo UK has a good article on buying property abroad which highlights the pitfalls and the checks one should make. Similarly check ThisIsMoney .
There are several overseas property blogs around, TravelFinance is certainly worth perusing. Others include OverseasProperty.
Barclays Bank, a UK bank with branch offices in most countries, now provide finance for properties abroad. This particular site covers main EU countries such as Spain, Portugal, France and Italy. It also gves a brief overview of the legal issues and steps necessary to safeguard your property purchase. Others UK banks include RBS, HSBC and Abbey which is part of Bank Santander, Spain.
More info. will follow soon.