noni

IF you had to take your money back, what would you spend it on?
Would you buy abroad again?

Daff

Pay off the mortgage and buy an upmarket caravan for the summer months. I would still travel and maybe spend the winter elsewhere (apart from Goa) but would rent or stay in a 3-4 star hotel. There are some excellent deals to be had for 28 days + around the EU and just beyond.
It was always my dream to own a holiday home but not anymore.

powerhouse

No, never again. We will never own our home in Goa we just have to hope that the lease renews every 5 years. One day if the rupee stops being a restricted currency we will sell, but I will never buy anywhere else, just rent, its too much hassell.

hemingway

If I could get our money out now, I would unhappily walk away. . . . . . . . . . . I don't want to, but that's how I feel at the moment! I just know it will do my "sense of wellbeing" (Blur - Parklife) no good for a considerable period of time if I end up getting financially fu**ked out of this situation. . . . . . . . .

I'd buy on a gated community in Gulf Coast Florida - it's not got some of the 'positive sides of Goa' but, save for the occasional hurricane, it's financially safe - as long as you didn't buy at the top of the US property market (before it crashed).

H.

David Gardiner

Interesting Question. We are flying out in 4 weeks to sell our Acron home (on renewable Lease) and in all honesty we have very mixed feelings. Yes we are looking forward to holidays elsewhere but we would like to purchase elsewhere. The problem is where can I purchase the same quality build with the same sort of running costs for the same sort of money??? I would only buy in Goa again if I owned the freehold as it always niggles at the back of your mind that you could wake up one morning and find you have lost your home for one political reason or another. Yes owning a home abroad does cause hassles but it has also given us a lot of pleasure and we have met some very nice people in Goa and will miss it very much warts and all.

a_f_d

.. and of course if you sell in Goa it's very difficult legally take any profit out of India (unless you're PIO/NRI).
AndyD 8-)#

emsirrah

At lease if you buy in the EU there will not be a visa problem. We have bought twice in Spain without any problems but have bought in well established areas and neither were new builds.

Remy-Ireland

I think there are limits and restrictions on profit being taken out of India for PIOs as well. I know it use to be that you could repatriate the original cost of your property but the profit was subject to RBI permission and capital gains tax etc.

Im not totally sure if this is still the case for PIOs / NRIs.
I read somewhere recently that there was a limit on how much each year a PIO could repatriate, (can't remember the figure).

noni

When the money was in my hand, that is when I would worry about
taking it out of India. Until then one bridge at a time.

k800mer

I would not buy abroad again. Overall if I can sell when I am ready to and get the original sum I invested back to the UK I would use it to buy a motor home and travel in the winter to warmer places. It would also be nice if I could bring any profit back to the UK but if not well at least I have had the use of the apartment in the mean time.

a_f_d

US $1,000,000 per year (for NRI/PIO's and Indian Residents) - capital gains tax has to be payed on profits (there may be ways to reduce this by investing the money in certain government bonds for a few years).

Well that's the theory!

AndyD 8-)#

k800mer

So in theory, I could make a loan of the money (profits after capital gains tax) I got for the sale of my property to a NRI or PIO, they could move it out of India to the UK then pay it back to me in the UK. Always supposing there is someone I could trust to do that.

a_f_d

without studying a couple of thousand pages of RBI regs I can't say for sure - but it might be possible - if you know someone . . .
Incidentally the limit has been $500,000 for Indian Residents for a while ("for any Capital or Current Account purpose")

AndyD 8-)#

Remy-Ireland

Thanks Andy.

David Gardiner

I expect to have around 15 lakh profit after paying all CGT etc. What is to stop me doing any of the following?
1) exchange into sterling and just take it out with us (3 adults) If I can bring sterling in when I arrive surely I can take it out too?
2) purchase travelers cheques with rupee for sterling and exchange in the UK.
3) Post it say £500/letter

Or has any one else got a better idea?

I do have a bank account with Axis bank but I cannot use the ATM in the UK to
withdraw sterling.

Help!!!!!!