Hi. Well we made it back home to the UK! If you've read my previous posts then you'll know that we emigrated to Canada in June last year, but decided to move back to the UK and we landed at the beginning of this month. So, I thought some of you might be interested in what it feels like to be back? Well, to be honest, it feels like we never left. We're so happy to be back in a place where we know where we're going, we know where to shop for what we need and we don't feel conscious of our accents! Everything is so familiar and comforting and I know we made the right decision. Being so close to our families and friends is amazing and the old saying "you don't know what you've got til it's gone" is absolutely true.

However, the biggest downside it that we can't get a mortgage. Unfortunately neither myself nor my hubbie have jobs yet (although I don't think we'll be out of work for too long) and even though we have a substantial amount to put down as a deposit (about 80% of the price), no one will give us a mortgage. This is depressing as we're staying with family and don't want to get priced out of the housing market. We thought that because we had such a large sum to put down that the positive equity of a house would help us, but no - we're stuck! Some mortgage companies even want 6 months proof of permanent employment!!

Anyway, enough waffling on, we're home and incredibly happy to be here!

Good luck to all of you making the move back - it's worth it.

Cheers

Good to hear from you, JoD. I'm glad the move went well and that you are settling back in just fine. That's very encouraging. I hope you both manage to find jobs soon. I'm sure once you do you'll have no trouble getting a mortgage with an 80% deposit! Good luck, and in the meantime just enjoy being back.

Can you not just buy a house that is 80% of the value you were looking at and thereby have no mortgage ?

can you not go for a self cert mortgage ,i find it hard to believe they wont give you a mortgage as there is no risk to the bank you maybe better off using abroker .We will be in the same boat soon but fortunately friend of a friend is a broker at it seems to me its who you know and how much cash you are willing to pay to get what you want ,well thats the uk for you its never been any different .Thats one thing i will give credit to the australian banks for is they are helpful and look at you as if are they going to make money out of you or lose money .When i was back in the uk for six months last year i went thru all this rubbish and found the brokers to be helpful but the banks the usual high and mighty attitude they havent shaken loose from .

Hi Glad to hear your back safe and sound,
Although its a struggle when your with family, it helps to have familiar surroundings we've been back from canada nearly six months every day gets better, it wont be long before the banks will be throwing mortgages at you
Stay positive you've make the right move
Welcome home
shelly

Thanks guys. It's great to be back! After moving to another country and back again we want to get a house that we can settle in and stay for years to come and unfortunately they cost more than we have in cash! I'm sure that someone somewhere will give us a mortgage eventually - like someone said, it's who you know!

If anyone knows a company or independent advisor who has sorted them out with similar circumstances then I'd be grateful to know.

I have an agreement in principle from a bank through a broker - and I don't have much to put down. If the application is successful I will let you know who the broker is. Similarly, I would be grateful for the same information as JoD in the meantime!

I'm not sure weather you are in a position to go for a new build, we've gone for a new build because we didn't have a deposit but we both had jobs, they just required us to have three months wage slips so we needed to find a builder that was putting %5 deposit in, the company have sorting us out with everything we need, hoping to move into our new house end of may begining of june, they appointed a financial advisor he's been fantastic sorted out the mortgage lender, insurances the lot
good luck
you'll get there a day at a time

Excellant !! Am glad your home safe , sound and happy !
Enjoy !!
All the best,
Tass.

i rang the HSBC bank in poole in dorset from australia ,i opened an account with them in sept 05 they where very helpful we will be in the position of having a large deposit ,they didnt see a problem as long as you are working the impression i got the critical factor is as long as you have 50% plus there is no issue and there are a lot of options available including the self cert mortgage i have mentioned

glad you are happy. good luck to you, and hope the mortgage sorts itself out soon
c xxx

Thanks everyone. I'll keep you all posted on the mortgage situation in case it helps others too.

Exactly how I'm feeling right now too.....it's great!

JoD
Hi

Sounds like you are in Gods country in many respects. Glad to hear its working out.Curious to know if you had the chance to immigrate to canada all over would you have done it?

"Hi. Well we made it back home to the UK! If you've read my previous posts then you'll know that we emigrated to Canada in June last year, but decided to move back to the UK and we landed at the beginning of this month. So, I thought some of you might be interested in what it feels like to be back? Well, to be honest, it feels like we never left. We're so happy to be back in a place where we know where we're going, we know where to shop for what we need and we don't feel conscious of our accents! Everything is so familiar and comforting and I know we made the right decision. Being so close to our families and friends is amazing and the old saying "you don't know what you've got til it's gone" is absolutely true.

However, the biggest downside it that we can't get a mortgage. Unfortunately neither myself nor my hubbie have jobs yet (although I don't think we'll be out of work for too long) and even though we have a substantial amount to put down as a deposit (about 80% of the price), no one will give us a mortgage. This is depressing as we're staying with family and don't want to get priced out of the housing market. We thought that because we had such a large sum to put down that the positive equity of a house would help us, but no - we're stuck! Some mortgage companies even want 6 months proof of permanent employment!!"

Anyway, enough waffling on, we're home and incredibly happy to be here!

Good luck to all of you making the move back - it's worth it.

Cheers [/QUOTE]

Knowing what I know now, then no I wouldn't move to Canada, but hindsight is a wonderful thing. I'm very glad that I had the opportunity to do and it definately taught me alot about the sort of person I am. I wouldn't have wanted to look back in a few years and wondered "what if?" if I hadn't had gone and tried it out.