We have done it
#16
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Joined: Mar 2017
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Re: We have done it
I retired 6 years early & took the hit on my pension. Nevertheless we had sufficient to buy a decent apartment and an income which gives us a pleasant (but not exotic or extravagant) lifestyle which suits us well - life is too short and I am very pleased we took the plunge when we did - I have a colleague who had a similar opportunity, didn't take it preferring to hang out for the maximum pension and now regrets it.
#17
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Joined: Dec 2009
Posts: 2,774
Re: We have done it
I retired 6 years early & took the hit on my pension. Nevertheless we had sufficient to buy a decent apartment and an income which gives us a pleasant (but not exotic or extravagant) lifestyle which suits us well - life is too short and I am very pleased we took the plunge when we did - I have a colleague who had a similar opportunity, didn't take it preferring to hang out for the maximum pension and now regrets it.
As most of you say ... life is too short ... I'm getting nearer to this .... it doesn't help, myself being deaf and colleagues being flippant about excluding me from chit chat especially as they are black or muslim! I am not racist but feel equality and diversity should apply to everyone but feel myself as a deaf person I am finding myself lower down the equality and diversity hierachy! My employers shout from the rooftops about racism and discrimination against LGBT employees .... but myself as a deaf person I don't seem to be considered important enough!!!!
Sorry to hijack this thread ... I'm feeling very frustrated with life in UK!
I'm adding a correction ... 30 years ... should be 45 years ... because I used to go to a boarding school in Surrey and had to travel through London to get home and back to school for school holidays.
Last edited by FenTiger; Jun 4th 2017 at 6:19 am.
#18
Re: We have done it
Thanks for the good luck wishes, life is peaceful
Plenty of gardening to do, lucky we purchased a ride on mower a few years back.
Just going to take it all in our stride, won't get my pension for 6 years yet, so hope what we have here will suffice. If not can sell house in the UK once the kids have decided what there going to do, they are both 18 and 19.
We are the only Brits in the village and have been made welcome so far ..
Michael/Julie
Plenty of gardening to do, lucky we purchased a ride on mower a few years back.
Just going to take it all in our stride, won't get my pension for 6 years yet, so hope what we have here will suffice. If not can sell house in the UK once the kids have decided what there going to do, they are both 18 and 19.
We are the only Brits in the village and have been made welcome so far ..
Michael/Julie
#19
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Joined: Mar 2017
Posts: 0
Re: We have done it
I can see your point. Couple weeks ago neighbours had a rowdy loud party. A bottle was thrown into our garden. Could have hit me, the wife or our two dogs. Last weekend noticed extremely loud music coming from somewhere but couldn't identify the source, turned out to be our immediate neighbours. Not the same neighbours from couple weeks ago. I thought ... what the hell ....why am I putting up with this. Same happened this weekend!!!! Grrrr... it's becoming very tempting to quit the rat race and UK. Following the Manchester bombing .... and myself working in central London ... I'm reaching the point whereby I'm thinking .... is it worth taking a risk every day commuting to work. I've been lucky for past 30 years commuting and socializing in London ...several places I've been have been bombed. I don't feel luck is going to be on my side forever.
As most of you say ... life is too short ... I'm getting nearer to this .... it doesn't help, myself being deaf and colleagues being flippant about excluding me from chit chat especially as they are black or muslim! I am not racist but feel equality and diversity should apply to everyone but feel myself as a deaf person I am finding myself lower down the equality and diversity hierachy! My employers shout from the rooftops about racism and discrimination against LGBT employees .... but myself as a deaf person I don't seem to be considered important enough!!!!
Sorry to hijack this thread ... I'm feeling very frustrated with life in UK!
I'm adding a correction ... 30 years ... should be 45 years ... because I used to go to a boarding school in Surrey and had to travel through London to get home and back to school for school holidays.
As most of you say ... life is too short ... I'm getting nearer to this .... it doesn't help, myself being deaf and colleagues being flippant about excluding me from chit chat especially as they are black or muslim! I am not racist but feel equality and diversity should apply to everyone but feel myself as a deaf person I am finding myself lower down the equality and diversity hierachy! My employers shout from the rooftops about racism and discrimination against LGBT employees .... but myself as a deaf person I don't seem to be considered important enough!!!!
Sorry to hijack this thread ... I'm feeling very frustrated with life in UK!
I'm adding a correction ... 30 years ... should be 45 years ... because I used to go to a boarding school in Surrey and had to travel through London to get home and back to school for school holidays.
#20
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Joined: Dec 2009
Posts: 2,774
Re: We have done it
I can sympathise & identify with most of your comments, except that I am lucky not to suffer from deafness or other similar problem. The quality of our life out here is way, way better than in the UK and as I have implied, not because of financial issues but because here we are respected, treated with kindness & consideration and feel safe, very safe.
#22
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Joined: Jul 2016
Location: Szeged
Posts: 284
Re: We have done it
You need to weigh up the pros more positively. Example: £100,000 might buy you a 40m2 outer-London property (flat) if you are lucky whereas £100,000 in Hungary would buy you at least a 100m2 house in outer-Budapest for example with land. Renovation costs and materials are generally cheaper too. So those savings alone are worth the move even with pension gains or losses. The better quality of life in Hungary is priceless compared to rainy, polluted, depressing London. Less crime and so on. And, if after a few years you do not like it in Hungary, you can always move back to your own country or invest elsewhere.
#23
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Joined: Mar 2017
Posts: 0
Re: We have done it
You need to weigh up the pros more positively. Example: £100,000 might buy you a 40m2 outer-London property (flat) if you are lucky whereas £100,000 in Hungary would buy you at least a 100m2 house in outer-Budapest for example with land. Renovation costs and materials are generally cheaper too. So those savings alone are worth the move even with pension gains or losses. The better quality of life in Hungary is priceless compared to rainy, polluted, depressing London. Less crime and so on. And, if after a few years you do not like it in Hungary, you can always move back to your own country or invest elsewhere.
#24
Re: We have done it
WOW talking big bucks there .. out of my league .. lol
We paid £8200 for our 100 m2 house with barns and a 2000 m2 garden and that included all the 60s furniture and tools galore ...
Glad we live this side of Budapest, were an hour from Austrian border
Michael/Julie
We paid £8200 for our 100 m2 house with barns and a 2000 m2 garden and that included all the 60s furniture and tools galore ...
Glad we live this side of Budapest, were an hour from Austrian border
Michael/Julie
#25
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Joined: Mar 2017
Posts: 0
Re: We have done it
That's the beauty of it - both sides of the spectrum catered for!
#26
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Joined: Jul 2016
Location: Szeged
Posts: 284
Re: We have done it
Yes, even in Hungary there are differences. In Szeged City the current average apartment (from 48m2 to 65m2) price is 8-10 million forints whereas in the countryside that price will get you land area of 100m2 with a village house on it!
My HU GF went up to Miskolc two weeks ago and saw house prices as low as £3,500+ - Miskolc was once a thriving industrial place, but now house prices are at an all time low. Ironically, it now has a reputation as "Gypsies live there, so don't go (live) there" but she said it is the total opposite. Yes, they were "Gypsies about" but not by any significant amount. The place was not swarming with them, so do not always believe the internet stereotypes. As the big nature park is close by, with beautiful views/landscapes, Miskolc would actually be a perfect place to invest in while enjoying Hungary as a whole.
My HU GF went up to Miskolc two weeks ago and saw house prices as low as £3,500+ - Miskolc was once a thriving industrial place, but now house prices are at an all time low. Ironically, it now has a reputation as "Gypsies live there, so don't go (live) there" but she said it is the total opposite. Yes, they were "Gypsies about" but not by any significant amount. The place was not swarming with them, so do not always believe the internet stereotypes. As the big nature park is close by, with beautiful views/landscapes, Miskolc would actually be a perfect place to invest in while enjoying Hungary as a whole.
#27
Re: We have done it
I once read or was told the best way to size up living in a village was by it's church.
If it is maintained to high standard, a good sign .. whereas a tatty one is not ...
Ours is excellent, I've been inside it and it is lovely
Michael/Julie
If it is maintained to high standard, a good sign .. whereas a tatty one is not ...
Ours is excellent, I've been inside it and it is lovely
Michael/Julie
#28
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Joined: Nov 2012
Posts: 2,096
Re: We have done it
When we were looking we looked at the pubs during working hours and the ditches around the village, after that the school playgrounds during break time.
criteria - empty pubs, clean ditches and well behaved school kids - for want of any other yardsticks, but that was 23 years ago with no internet.
Today I would be looking at the village / town website to see what the village does and how active it is.
With regard to the Gypsies, and any other ethnic minority there can be problems but frequently confined to a particular area so some parts of a city can be an issue but other areas OK.
criteria - empty pubs, clean ditches and well behaved school kids - for want of any other yardsticks, but that was 23 years ago with no internet.
Today I would be looking at the village / town website to see what the village does and how active it is.
With regard to the Gypsies, and any other ethnic minority there can be problems but frequently confined to a particular area so some parts of a city can be an issue but other areas OK.
#29
Re: We have done it
Does anyone know anything about Alsómocsolád. I cant find out much about what facilities it has . Doesn't look like public transport but that is not an issue. Also looking at Karad, which seems to have good links to everywhere
Peter. like your thinking & it is stall valid today I would imagine
Peter. like your thinking & it is stall valid today I would imagine
#30
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Joined: Dec 2009
Posts: 2,774
Re: We have done it
I hear what you are saying & my hubby is 12 years older than me, so if we wait till he retires he wont want to do it. It may be foolish or reckless or maybe both but we are just going to go for it. We wont be well off by any means but the quality of the life we will have will certainly make up for the daily grind here to pay ever increasing bills. We have weighed it up from all angles & the way the world is changing & we go to work every day to pay for all the neighbours who don't, its time to change something.