MrGreen

Sold our 2 old terraces in the north east for just about double than we paid for them - best thing we could have done. There's nothing like a fresh start after all and the money's set us up for a great start in Canada.

My opinion is that it's daft to keep a house in the UK as some sort of comfort blanket, although if you can afford to do that then I guess it doesn't matter. It's not the end of the world if you have to come back and start again though - unless you're a snob and refuse to live in anything other than a huge house in an expensive area/part of the country. I couldn't be arsed with the stress and hassle of renting either, so for us selling up was the only way forward.

Iain Mc

We'll be hitting this decision next spring I think. Aiming to move over to Canada next summer and (currently) intending to rent out the property we own here. We've about 50% equity and rental should cover the mortgage if it's let for about 75% of the time.

Primarily, I want to keep the flat as a "pension", and, if it's at all affordable, I think that's a reasonably good use of our funds. However, the way house prices are going in Western Canada we might have no option to sell but... we'll see what the markets/exchange rates do over the next year.

There's also the long term issue many seem to face of what to do if parents get ill, etc., later in life and wanting a base in the UK from which to spend time.

I don't really see a problem with being, to invent a word, bicontinental in terms of property if it's at all acheivable. I'm just not sure we'll be able to afford it! We love Canada and want to live there / raise kids there etc., but despite all the headlines Britain has it's plus points too and you never really know what the state of the world'll be in twenty, thirty, forty years time.

Options!

Cheers, Iain

KennyJosie

Our only regret is selling too F****G early!
As soon as we applied, we put our house on the market, but put quite a high price on it with "offers over", thisnking we'd be waiting a while!
3 weeks and we got an offer from (would you believe) the Sally Army for one of their "majors" or summit! lol. The offer was way beyond what we had expected, so we sold!
Only to be homeless for the last 17 months or so, staying with my parents and then in rented for a while.
Put some of the ££ to good use and bought a Duplex in CA and renting both out, so getting a good income from it!
If I thought there would be the extra delay, maybe I wouldn't have sold, but then I wouldn't have the duplex and I suppose this would go a long way to proving to the CIC that we're serious about the move!
Hope this helps,
Kenny

Tiaribbon

We sold our property in Hampshire; same situation as another poster. Put a ridiculous price on the farm as soon as we applied to CIC, darned thing sold in 10 days! Thankfully a friend of mine owns a huge farm in the same village and he rented us one of his cottages to tide us over for the next year.

One good thing about selling ours though was that it did enable us to buy our farm here in Canada the following year, with a quick completion.

Personally I am glad we did sell our place in the UK as I don't want to go back and it would always have been a pain in our butt I think. We are planning to purchase a rental property over here though for investment and rental.

Rich_007

So the sense of humour bypass worked ?

Maybe the stress of the situation switched off your radar but it was humour on my part, crap maybe, but still humour.

BritishExpats - sucking great big hairy ass again.

Rich.

Gray C

Radar working perfectly thank you. Never took it as anything other than humour, really. Sarcasm in reverse on my behalf. Some say I do have a funny sense of humour sometimes. If I had been really upset by your comments you would have definitely known about it, believe me.

I am not that sensitive!

Cheers

Graham

shelly1

We Did sell our house in the UK and have regretted it ever since,
We moved out to Canada on the PNP program, unfortunately for many different reasons things in Canada didn't work out.
When you take such a major step in life you don't take it lightly, we honestly thought the move would be for a lot of years.
I would say now knew i had a gut feeling before completion of the house sale and thought it was just nerves.
We are now back in the Uk renting thats costing us double what our mortgage was, and we are deeply regretting the house sale. it is harder than you think to get back onto the property ladder, especially when you have no deposit.
Shelly
I would say maybe don't burn all your bridges if you don't have to.

Gray C

Go and have an oatcake and do not let it bother you too much

Rich_007

Maybes you'll be more chilled when you get over here

Or maybe not.

Rich.

Craftybanshee

Anyone for a bun? **random**

Gray C

Chilled enough at the moment thanks.

I really do not think you can comprehend my odd sense of humour. Off to a birthday party shortly so will get even more chilled

Rich_007

So I was being funny, you were being funny, and I was being funny, now...you're being funny ?

Too funny

Rich.

Gray C

I am sure I will be even funnier in a few hours time when I have had a few Marstons Pedigrees, Pimms cocktails and a few (a lot) glasses of red wine

Rich_007

We have tylenol as a cure for that headbanging mixture

Rich.

Gray C

My cure will be a lie in tomorrow and then fried bacon, sausage, mushrooms, toast and beans for breakfast about 11.30 am. Then off to the Helter Skelter in Frodsham later in the afternoon for a couple of pints of real ale

Cheers

Graham