Mummy in the foothills

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No here he is.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/NEW-St-Joseph-Statue-Home-Seller-Selling-Kit-Saint-House-Figurine-Instruction-/191200467204?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item2c846f9904

windsong

Ahhh!!!

The patron saint of selling real estate lol!

feelbritish

Well he has not done much to help us. Got back couple of days ago from UK holiday! At least we had 3 viewings while we were gone. The comments were quite good, nothing negative but one had to sell their house, one found the entrance too restrictive and the other decided to buy their aunt's house! No more viewings at moment but that can change at a drop of a hat, but now that we have decided to go next summer rather than rush over when we sell, we are not so worried.

The reason we have decided to wait is that OH only really wants to retire at 65 when he gets his OAP (found out we get practically nothing from Canada and still have to pay them a fortune in capital gains) and that we still have tenants in our house who will probably renew come September, they will be giving us an indication mid July and we would rather they stay on another year so as to make some more money.

Second reason is that now I come into my busy season and make my money from now until September so if no one looks at house, I am not too bothered because I don't really want to tell people who have booked their holidays that they have to find alternative accommodation

We can enjoy the summer here relaxing and not stressing about visas and house sale.

Should we sell, we have decided to rent until next June which just makes more sense. Checking out the Queen Mary for return trip.

If our house in UK is not available when we go over, we were planning on buying a caravan and will spend the summer in UK travelling like gypsies!

Because we have now made our decision about where we want to live, which visa I am going on, and to stay on here for a while yet, we both feel a lot more relaxed about all of this. It is such a process sorting this out in one's head and I cannot thank this expat forum enough!

We are still however, planning and cleaning up all our stuff. One lot of friends in UK came over from USA a few years ago and they have told us we can have all their transformers and adaptors which is great as they have now upgraded to new!

spouse of scouse

I love reading all your 'doings' and plans - it's great that you can relax a bit now. Good luck with the house sale!

PS dead jealous about going over on the QM2 - wish we could do that from Oz.

Perth

Sounds much more doable and relaxing at this pace.

I like the idea of getting a caravan! Might look into that ourselves. Honestly, if I could find a comfortable one, I wouldn't mind living in it permanently - or even a house boat. Only issue is not being able to sign up with a GP without a fixed address.

My only British friend here in Florida is leaving to go back home on Wednesday after 12 years in the US. We said our goodbyes today. I was too excited for her to be sad about it. She's promised me of lots of photos of the lovely countryside up by Macclesfield where she's from.

feelbritish

If you don't mind staying in a caravan you could always look for a static home type in one of the retirement parks, that way you have an address and some are open all year round!

Perth

You know, I did have a gander at some of them, but the nice ones are just as pricey as standard homes - and we are looking to rent and there are not that many of those available. Honestly, I think the moving around part is more enticing. But ask me again in a couple of years when we are actually going back. Will probably feel way too tired to think about following the gypsy lifestyle after all

feelbritish

Another of the reasons we are going back to our house in Marlow is that it is familiar! When you get older, my OH perticularly, hewants to settle in one place but our caravan idea is that when we want a break to leave the humdrum and fast pace of the area we can pack up and go to quieter parts.

We met a friend of our friend's who has this flat near the area they live and who also belongs to the sailing club and he has this cute little caravan which is so small it fits into the garage at the block of flats and he goes away almost every two weeks and in summer now is planning to go to France and then will park off in a site for at least 6 weeks he said! When his wife was stilll alive they retired and for two years travelled around Europe leaving the van (a much larger one) on the continent to come back on occassion to see family and friends.

feelbritish

We are still here and it seems will be for some time to come!

Our house just did not sell despite reducing price twice, offering a cash incentive and having open houses etc! Maybe someone is telling us something?

We had a lovely summer here and both OH and I had some serious soul searching and we decided that we will stay here in Canada for a bit longer, probably a good 5 more years or longer depending on circumstances. All the reasons we were moving back to UK have changed for us and we now believe we are better off financially staying here and visiting our families every year!

Our Realtor has just left and we have terminated our contract!

I am determined to make a life here for myself but if it does not work out over the next 5 years then we will re-think moving back to UK!

For over two years all I have been concentrating on is moving back and now I have to change my thinking again!

What a roller-coaster ride this has been

Editha

When does your husband reach 65? If it is after April 6th 2016 he will need 35 years contributions for a full pension, not 30 as previously, but the pension will be higher. It might be worthwhile enquiring about paying extra contributions.

Apologies if I'm going over old ground. I know that you, like me, have been posting on the forum for a long time, and this is likely to have come up before.

feelbritish

Editha, he is 65 in 2015 and a few years ago got a letter to say he could stop his payments as he had 40 years NI

Editha

OK! If you are both deferring retirement now for a few years, he will get more when he does claim the pension. He'll get a 10.4% uplift for every year he defers.

spouse of scouse

I admire your positive attitude so much, FB. I know how much you were looking forward to moving back, but now you're just as determined to make sure your life there is good.

You gave it best shot with the house, and yes, it just sounds like it wasn't meant to be for now. Whether or not you stay there for the next five years, you are going to be just fine. With your can-do attitude, you can't fail to be!

I'll be following your journey and wishing you all the best every step of the way, whether those steps be in Canada or the UK

feelbritish

Six month update! Had a really horrible winter here but tried my best to be happy staying. I got into terrible depression to the extent that I was making myself ill - hives, irritability, bursting into tears for no real reason, even some days almost suicidal. This is in spite of us booking a three month trip to Cape Town Dec,Jan.Feb. I have really tried to be positive and settle here but I think that OH and I has finally realised I am not happy here and never will be. We had thought of retiring to Cape Town where my family was but the political turmoil is too great to invest all our hard savings in property there and OH is resigned to move to UK again! As soon as he said he would (it was that or lose me as I gave him ultimatum) I suddenly felt a lot better! I perked up and started my plans again and my family would be happy with me being in UK rather than here as it is more accessible for them to visit. It may still take a long time.

We are now once again getting house sorted. We learnt a great deal from having it listed last year and have invested money in oak hardwood flooring in all rooms upstairs, changed kitchen making it more open plan, going to frame in a fourth bedroom, put in a lovely green house and make garden more lovely and easy maintenance and now I have lots of work to do to keep me busy.
As soon as all of this is done, around August hopefully we will list the house again. Houses are not selling fast in our area so it could be a long wait but I don't mind now because one day I will go home! I do consider England home!

We have some English friends visiting us in June for a week so I am looking forward to them arriving. I know they will think we are mad to leave this beautiful house and area and he will verbalise it to OH but she will understand me because she knows how important it is to have your family and friends close by or at least accessible.

We will not probably be going to the town where our house is rented out because it has gone up in value quite a lot and rentals are now very good there and it will be the basis of our income. We will have to get the best price for this house and use savings to buy a small bungalow somewhere else preferably near the coast with lots of sunshine and less rain so I am investigating areas again and North West Norfolk at moment comes up trumps.After living here we want a quiet place to live with access to walks, sea and small villages with also with access to quick journey into London.

This is certainly not the end of our journey and I expect lots of ups and downs along the way and OH to dig his heels in again but we are going to have to just overcome them.

This time we are not telling anyone we are returning to UK. Last time our friends here dropped us stone cold and all Brits my OH met told him he was mad! We are just saying that we don't know what we will do when sell house and hint that we will buy a small place but not say where!

Whew I am feeling better already!

Rosie Lee

Goodness, you have been through the mill. I don't know the market on the island, is it usual to have this much trouble? It does sound like your just not going to rest easy until you return. Your right, having a house to rent out in the UK is a good position to be in at the moment. Good luck, keep us posted.