Moving abroad can turn expats into accidental landlords and property speculators. If you own your home, what do you do with it if you leave the country? Hanging on to our flat in Edinburgh was a mixture of maths, cowardice and indecision. Only time will tell if it was the right thing to do.
When Barbara and I moved to Ibiza we hadn't planned on a long stay. Letting our UK home was part of the deal. The rent was supposed to cover our Spanish accommodation costs -which it did. Almost.
Everything became more permanent when we decided to buy a place in the sun. The obvious thing to do was sell up in Edinburgh, but that meant stepping permanently off the UK property ladder. Instead we took out the biggest interest-only mortgage we could and put the cash towards our Ibiza house.
Read the full article on my website A Desk In The Sun
Friday, January 26, 2007
Friday, January 19, 2007
Could you live and work overseas?
I put this quiz together for people who are thinking of leaving Britain to live and work abroad in countries such as: Australia, Spain, Canada, New Zealand, USA, France, Italy, Greece, Portugal, Germany, Cyprus, Ireland, South Africa, Austria and China.
What I hope is that these questions will make you think about the challenges of living and working abroad. Some of the answers aren’t obvious, but there’s no right and wrong.
So you know what to expect, here are the questions:
1. How do you generally feel at the end of a two-week holiday?
2. How concerned are you about job security?
3. How is your health?
4. How do you feel about your present job?
5. How is your relationship with your family?
6. What is your favourite restaurant?
7. Some friends invite you to meet up for a meal. What sort of restaurant would you suggest?
8. What is your ideal Christmas?
9. When did you last give somebody your home phone number?
10. What’s your favourite way of spending an evening?
11. How do you react when bureaucrats make your life difficult?
12. Where do most of your friends come from?
13. If you moved abroad what sort of friends would you hope to make?
14. Have you ever been to a social event in Britain with somebody who’d be classed as from an “ethnic minority”?
15. What would you normally find in your shopping basket?
16. When on holiday abroad do you hire a car and go off exploring?
17. What do you think of credit cards?
18. How do you and your partner get on?
19. How long have you and your partner been together?
20. As you come to the end of this quiz what do you think now?
Click here for the link to my "A Desk In The Sun" website where you can try the the quiz.
What I hope is that these questions will make you think about the challenges of living and working abroad. Some of the answers aren’t obvious, but there’s no right and wrong.
So you know what to expect, here are the questions:
1. How do you generally feel at the end of a two-week holiday?
2. How concerned are you about job security?
3. How is your health?
4. How do you feel about your present job?
5. How is your relationship with your family?
6. What is your favourite restaurant?
7. Some friends invite you to meet up for a meal. What sort of restaurant would you suggest?
8. What is your ideal Christmas?
9. When did you last give somebody your home phone number?
10. What’s your favourite way of spending an evening?
11. How do you react when bureaucrats make your life difficult?
12. Where do most of your friends come from?
13. If you moved abroad what sort of friends would you hope to make?
14. Have you ever been to a social event in Britain with somebody who’d be classed as from an “ethnic minority”?
15. What would you normally find in your shopping basket?
16. When on holiday abroad do you hire a car and go off exploring?
17. What do you think of credit cards?
18. How do you and your partner get on?
19. How long have you and your partner been together?
20. As you come to the end of this quiz what do you think now?
Click here for the link to my "A Desk In The Sun" website where you can try the the quiz.
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