coastieexpat

Completely off topic, but I just found this place , ( northern CA ),

http://www.trulia.com/property/30529...alala-CA-95445

It's these kind of deals that are making it difficult to look at the UK prices.

sallysimmons

Only problem is, you'd have to live in Northern CA

coastieexpat

I've spent 18 years here on the coast, if it wasn't for this place I would have left years ago

cheers

Yes I'm turned off estates and especially if I see a lot of cars and caravans parked in the area.
Now to contradict myself a little because I notice that people have bigger backyards than we have in the "wide open" west US. This is a generalization I know.

I agree also about the open door policy to Europeans. It should be closed!
Two things, they have too much unemployment and immigrants in general lower living standards. GB also has limited amount of land and less land means less food and higher prices.

Just sayin'

Cheers

Pistolpete2

Too late for that cheers and you couldn't do it anyway under bonkers EU laws which are at the very root of the point of the EU.

Stable door was left open and the horse is long gone. Two million have already arrived in the last ten years. The bed has been made so we (if we move back) have to lie in it.

Excuse the metaphors!

The problem now is that as a gesture to try and reduce inwards migration they will probably cut off those migrants that the UK actually needs to sustain the technologies that are needed for the UK to stand a chance of recovery.

cheers

Good price for California. I know that area and I have been there many times. One, I don't like dealing with all the pine needles from the pine trees (I'm a grass man) Second, it takes too long, hours, to get in and out of there and to the freeway. I sometimes like being isolated but not in a place like that.

cheers

You, in the Caribbean, have a situation of people moving in and living there and they have a lot more money to spend than the local people so they drive up prices and the locals, end up in poverty. Not good. I agree the newbees do make work for the local people but I don't like a two tier social system.

Back to the UK! I read the Daily Express sometimes and they want out of the Europe EC.

Pistolpete2

Foreigners might have an impact on the cost of living in Barbados but not much.

Those who have moved into St Lucia who do not have some sort of connection are in a tiny tiny minority (1%). There is a two-tier economy but that's due to tourism. A local can get a simple tip from a tourist (USD10) which would amount to a day's wages for somebody working the land.

Locals were already in poverty here as a result of poor/corrupt leaders*, lack of proper education and the brain drain. Some areas (but foreigners tend to live in white ghettos for social and security reasons) have higher property prices but this does not tend to impact on the cost of living for the locals. Because the rich locals tend to hide their wealth and profits from tax, the government levies high import duties and consumption taxes (all the islands do it) on everything so even the poor pay taxes on food items. Actually the Caribbean needs to get rid of the shackles of post-colonial protectionism and open the door to well thought-out opportunities presented by foreign entrepreneurs that take the long-term interests of the locals into account. Only then can they move out of poverty and deprivation and dependence on drug-trafficking as a source of income.

The UK does have a problem with wealthy migration into low-salary areas which price the locals out.

I cannot for the life of me think of one good reason why in the long run the UK should have joined the EU assuming that instead the UK spent its EU funds on a better quality education for the less advantaged. The UK would still have had to have had some sort of free trade agreement but not free movement of labour. Britain would have been like Norway, with a fishing industry!LOL

One draw-back - supermarket shopping would have been really boring without the plethora of European food items at their current prices.

*last week in parliamentary "debate" we actually had one side admitting that they were corrupt, but so were the Opposition proven to be so - "Judge not that ye be not judged!"

cheers

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-...-33769562.html

Ledbury.

£190,000

Pistolpete2

I got into trouble for posting one of these retirement properties the other day:

1. Due to the lifestyle (waiting to die) and
2. Due to the maintenance charges which in this case are also high and the sinking fund charge is separate as an add-on

Nice layout though! I think one of the reasons there are so many of these now coming to market is due to the lack of control over the service charges which are about double or more in this case what they would be for a simple leasehold property under management, due to the warden element.

cheers

1. That could be but I look at as a place to drop my bags down and explore. I would leave if they start treating you like you were little children though.
2. Good point.

Pete someone posted on here the closing costs you would pay when you buy so could you come up with an estimate of what they would ad up to. I know they would vary by property but you may have a percentage in mind which would be a ballpark figure. 20%-30%?


http://www.home.co.uk/guides/buying/one_off_costs.htm

Pistolpete2

Lawyers typically work on a scale fee basis so factoring in the survey, stamp duty and the lawyer and their disbursements it should be around 2% for anything under 250,000 unless you can show that you have never owned anything before in which case it is 1% (stamp duty waived until 24 Mar 2012). It is possible to get lawyers who do the work for a flat fee of say 500 quid instead of roughly .75% of the property value (incl VAT) and this will help, if you trust them.

aries

At least it has a walk-in shower cubicle for safety. All retirement places should have this, but rarely do in the UK.

The sinking fund seems to be double dipping when they already have a service charge

aries

Is there a fee in the UK when selling a retirement property?

Here when you sell, the return could well be only 75% of what you paid. It then makes it difficult to buy elsewhere.

Pistolpete2

I agree, that alone is around 1,250 per annum.