mikelincs

With Council Tax as much as it is, and food etc as expensive and the high cost of housing, I doubt we could afford to go back to the UK, it's bad enough when we go back for holidays, and we get free accomodation.

scampicat

Yes, same here Beachcomber.

Our English house is paid for and it is lived in by our son and two mates; their rent pays the bills with some to spare for maintenance. So it is self-financing - it has to be, we can't aford the upkeep of two houses! It does mean we have to sleep on airbeds in the living room whenever we go there, but hey, one can't have everything.

We bought our Spanish house outright with the proceeds of the sale of a small ex-council prefab, which my husband inherited from his mother.

We have my husband's reuced but adequate Teachers' Pension to live on, which although not a huge amount of money arrives in his bank every month without fail without him having to jump through hoops to make enough to live on.

These things in themselves make it viable for us to live here, we don't have to have a job to make ends meet, we don't have to find vast amounts for a mortgage or rent, and we have a bolthole if it all goes pear-shaped, or if we chose to return.

We would not have done it otherwise.

chasandange

we are at present living in new zealand and we are going back to the uk next year i just wish i could put my finger on why but we hope that is a short stay as we would like to move to europe can you give us any advice please

TheArmChairDetective

Yes, stay in New Zealand or try for Australia.
Why bother with a short stay in the UK, surely it'd not homesickness?

TheArmChairDetective

Can you say what it is you do please cbandy or is that too sensitive to answer?
I think that you might find that your ratio of income against outgoings might not be as appealing once you get back here. Also, Im not sure of the rules but you may find that you owe DWP some money to bring you back in line with contributions (dependant on how long you have been away)

CBANDY

At the moment i work on a golf course. I earn 20,000 euros a year before tax but it still does not seem to be enough. My actual trade is bar management, I was a manager with scottish & newcastle for 5 years but would really not like to go back into that trade. Also i have been away for 10 years so i know i would owe some national insurance but that is not the problem. I also now feel the need for some "normality" if that is the right word. As i said i do speak spannish but you will always be an outsider here. Never really fit in.

Jorgi

I think the need for "normality" is probably a better reason than the purely financial problem. I know that if one lives in another country there is always this slight feeling of not fitting in but is this not part of the challenge. I have lived in Wales for a large part of my life, speak reasonable welsh,was a tenor in a totally welsh choir but I am still an outsider to many. The important thing is to be accepted and this takes work.
Incidentally,on the finance side, a young friend of ours(well young to us,he is 32) works in London earning £45000pa.
He tells us that he simply cannot afford even a small flat in a decent area.

SoJohn

I live near Leeds and could afford a house or apartment if I saved a reasonable deposit for a year. However, I'm unwilling to pay the current prices. A correction is inevitable and it's best to wait a few years to see what is happening.

CBANDY

We would be moving back to the Leeds area (around Garforth) But when we sell the house here and pay all our moving costs and 6 months rent on a house that will leave us with around 40,000 pounds to bank for a deposit on a house when we can start looking to buy again. The trouble is that although we have both kind of made our minds up that is what want to do te thought of selling our "home" here and trying to find something similar is very worrying. And i don`t really know what i would do for work as i have been away so long (10 years).

CBANDY

What do you do for work? If you don`t mind me asking and what are the better industries around Leeds?

SoJohn

I work for a webhosting company (remotely)

Industries in Leeds? An interesting question! Not sure really. You have numerous call centers that you could quite easily find work in. If you put enough effort into it, you could be a manager within 6 months. Not sure if you want to go down that route though.

CBANDY

Call center would not really be my thing but it could be a start. The problem here is that there are very few jobs now. And even less good paying ones. In England i know i could get work. I also have a wife and small child and think, job wise, There is more security in the uk. But as i said we have a lovely home here and we are frightened to give that up and find out we made a mistake. But it is a gamble and one that we might take.

rugbymatt

Can someone tell me what's going on please?

CBANDY

Sorry. Don`t understand the question!!!!

rugbymatt

what don't you understand about my question?