scrawni

We may head back to the uk within the next 6mths and I just wondered how people cope with it finacially?

For most, no job to go back to, no house etc and on top of that you have the expense of the removals etc.

How do you manage it?

Mandy

psb182

personally I asked myself this....do I want to be "financially" better off or do I want "happyness"......it will cost me a bit to move home but the price is greater if I don't.......I am financially doing well where I am but socially bankrupt and missing family and friends

IN THE YEAR 2525

sell the property you own here or sell all your possesions and use that.

SimonG

Good question.

I won't have a job to go back to (unless the endless hours of searching pay off - people not interested when you are 'out of country'). The wife however will. She will be able to straight back to her old job.

House wise will be slightly more straightforward, I hope. THe wife and kids are going back sooner than me, to find a rental. In the meantime I will sell the house, ship the furniture etc etc.

I am in the good position of getting my works bonus in the next couple of weeks, which will cover airfares and furniture transport. Plus the amount of deposit we put down on the house will now come in handy. It was a real pain to put that much down on the house when we bought it but it is really going to be a benefit when we leave.

I don't see it being very easy but I do see everybody being much happier.

Good luck with your return.

callé

Hi. It's going to hurt us a lot. We do have a house to sell which will cover shipping and airfares and give us a start when we arrive. But coming from the US the exchange rate will wipe out half of what we have. That hurts! especially as we are middle aged and feel like we will be starting over. My husband will have a job to start. Luckily my cousin can employ him. I will have to look for a job. We will have to rent until we can establish ourselves (really hoping the house prices will drop some more) and I worry that it will be hard to rent with two dogs.(?)
BUT... If we dont do it now, it probably wont happen. I still have quite a lot of strength energy and determination. So we will just deal with it. The rewards will be worth it. Happiness on the inside is more important than doing well financially. As long as you have enough to get the basics then you just start from there.

Merlot

We came back to the UK on the bones of our butts after selling what we could in Australia. It cost us more to set up here than we anticipated, but have a lovely rental now, both working and around family.

I do reflect sometimes on what we gave up in Australia as far as lifestyle and the cost of moving back, but we have done it and we make the best of everything we have. We were not happy in Australia that is why we are back, so on the darker days I have to remember this. On the whole life is good.

Having family and friends who love you is priceless. I could not face having to go anywhere for a couple of years yet.

Good luck
Merlot

julius smith

hello calle! we are in the same boat as you--we have been in canada for around 5 mths and have just had enough. so we are moving back to the uk very soon. just like yourself, we thought that during our move over to canada, we had been boosted by extra energy reserves, which we needed in order to settle down here, so its to our advantage if we move back while we still have that energy left, as, like yourselves, we are also middle-aged! as rgds housing, we did not buy a place here, so all i have to do is sell up all the furniture etc and then fly back to the uk --the kids will be going back next week. we have a house to go back to as well as jobs for me and the wife, but in your case, i would advise you to try and get a 2 bed flat as a starter and then move up slowly but surely, as house prices are not going to drop very soon! if you want, i have very good contacts in the estate agency field who can look out for you with prices etc--which area will you be moving to? we are going back to streatham to our small terraced 3 bed house--small but cosy and its home!

scrawni

Now, here is our problem.

We may head back to the uk within the next 6mths. Yet we have a buyer for our house back in the uk, do we still sell it or keep it for when we move back?

If we do sell, it will free up some cash to go back with but then we will have to start again and go back to a rental. Decisions, decisions


Mandy

scoobydoo

We are lucky as we still have our house in the Uk and we had a bit of savings which we decided not to touch. We are still trying to work out if we need to sell all our furniture or if it is better to ship it all back. My visitors brought me an Argos catalogue so I can do a bit of costing!!!!!

We can live in an empty house with the help of camping stuff from friends if we need to!!

I would be very reluctant to sell the house Mandy, if I was in your shoes.

Good luck with your decisions. x

scrawni

I am reluctant! Going round in circles hubbie and I. He wants to sell, I want to keep it! Yet it is the cost, we will have to borrow money to get our stuff back, we had a reasonally high mortgage and hubbie is worried about going back with no job.

Oh, and we have got about a week to make the decision! :scared:

Mandy

dunroving

If you have a good offer and think prices will either go down or stabilize for a year or two where your house is, then sell. If you think prices will go up, keep it and rent it out to pay the mortgage/provide some income.

You can always borrow the money to get back (credit card, bank, freinds/reatives). But selling or buying a house is not something you can do in a hurry. In other words, if prices are going down and you don't sell now when you have a chance, it could be 6 months later (and 20,000 quid less) by the time you sell it. If prices are going up and you sell, by the time you buy when you get home it could be another 6 months and you're looking at 20,000 more money you need.

dunroving

I've taken a bath every time I've moved and expect to do the same next time when I finally move back for good. But you can't put a price on moving if it's the right thing to do for you. It's like shopper's remorse - if you really want it, don't worry how much it cost you, just enjoy it.

I've sat down with my calculator before and figured, in comparison to if I had stayed put in Tennessee in 1999, I'd be at least 20,000 dollars better off and probably considerably more (and although to some people that's peanuts, believe me, I can hardly afford it). That's all well and good but I don't lose any sleep over it - I'm glad I moved both times, and I know I'll be glad (and finally settled!) next time I go back to the UK. Sod the money, I'd rather be in a terraced house in Warrington, happy to be back, than ensconced in my 3BR detached in NC, pining for the UK.

julius smith

quite right, dunroving! i totally agree with you--what good is it having a massive house, big car or even big salary, when you dont get given enough leave to enjoy it? rushing around like a blue-a_se fly at the weekends trying to fit everything before the work week starts again--no way, not for me. as you say, i am going back to my terraced house in london--small, cramped or whatever, but its home and i'll be back home! sod everything else!

marbles

[QUOTE=scrawni]I wish we hadn't sold our house in the UK but like everyone we did to pay to get out here to NZ, now we are selling this house to get us back. We will have to rent again and start saving to buy anywhere in the future and that will probably be a long way in the future. I did learn one lesson, when we left we left everything, furniture the lot and i won't do that again so we are using our pension money to take everything back with us so at least we'll have something to start with. and were young enough to start saving again. It would have been a dream to have our old house to go back to instead of landlords again.... how i will miss my lovely house here but its just not worth staying for. I'm hoping the open home this weekend brings me a nice buyer to i can set that wonderful date when me and my family can fly home.

bridiej

Dont you think that by keeping the house it would make it easier to decide to come "home"? Just a thought...