Relocation & Expat Coach

Financing phase 1 rebuild!

Something to really focus your mind.  We knew how we would finance the rebuild of phase 1, but we didn’t fully appreciate the challenges and timeframes that this would take.

 

Working through the bureaucracy of the financial services took up a vast amount of time, paper, and money to release the finances we needed to start the rebuild.  Without the support of a colleague who fully understands the financial industry in the UK, we would have taken a lot longer.

 

We reflected back on the process so far.  In all things relating to buying the property in Madeira – residency, tax references, legal representation, notary requirements, opening bank accounts – it had all seemed so simple.  We recognised in our reflections the support and guidance we had received from Madeira Property Centre – it was fantastic.  We cannot recommend them highly enough, especially when you start to talk to others on the island and understand their experiences.  We were just very lucky in our choice of organisation to purchase through.  The challenges we have experienced to do with the purchasing and not to do with the rebuilding of the house were all based in the UK and the restrictions imposed on the financial industry.  At times I felt as though this industry was supporting the paper industry on it’s own.  The volumes of paperwork we’ve gone through – the time this has taken for us to read it and understand it (not that we really understood it at all), the background processing involved – it’s a huge paper and bureaucratic driven industry.

 

Eventually we were able to negotiate exchange rates and send the money over to Madeira to start the phase 1 rebuild!  Again we’ve been extremely lucky to be able to work with Tom Trevorrow (for all your foreign exchange dealings just email him on tom.trevorrow@torfx.com) – Tom and Tor FX have made the process of exchange rates and conversions so straight forward and easy to do.   

 

Our learning from this is to really make sure that you’ve got your finances in place before you find the property to buy.  We know that we were incredibly lucky to find the exact property that we wanted to purchase on our first trip, but it has left us finalising our finances after the event rather than being clear about where we are with them in advance.

Want to make a success of your plans to change your environment? 
Want to make a success of your emigration? 
Want to make a success of your repatriation?

Take this opportunity to work with someone who will not judge the reasons you want to make your move, who will not guide you down a specific path, who will motivate you to make the right decision!  You have this opportunity to work with a qualified and accredited coach who has done it!  Sign up to coaching with Barbara on http://nyasa.coachinginteractive.com - select 'click here for a free session - My Life'

Find Barbara's biog on http://www.internationalcoachinginstitute.org/coach_referral_service/display_detail.php?trf=91

Tip ten - What about those things that you really enjoy in the environment you are in at the moment?

The May Spring Bank Holiday in the UK reminded me of why I love living in Kent, and the reason it is known as the Garden of England. It also reminded me of the huge contrasts in the UK weather. Sunday was a glorious day. We were looking after a friend’s 14-month old Jack Russell – a dog that needs a huge amount of exercise. So off we went to Camber and onto the beach at 8.30am! What a fabulous experience. On the Sunday the colours were vibrant. Driving down - the greens of the fields, the blue of sky, the remnants of the rape seed – all these colours were so vivid. On the beach, the blue of the sky, the haze in the high level fluffy clouds and the warmth of the sun on the golden beach – all these things led me to think about the environment we were leaving.

Monday reminded me about one of the reasons we were leaving, as the puppy and I were walking along the same beach at Camber in the rain! Well have you ever tried stopping an energetic Jack Russell from running on the beach in the rain? There were one or two other people out walking too, but the beach was deserted. A huge contrast over the Sunday when, as we left, the crowds were arriving and the beach was filling up. I had a really interesting experience on the sands as I was walking across the beach following a frolicking puppy – I could hear the sands bubbling! Incredible! As I stood there watching the tide come back in and hearing the sand bubbling, the sounds became more magnified.

Take a moment to reflect over the things that you love about the environment that you are currently living in – those things that you will miss when you move:

- be specific about the things you love in the environment that you are living in
- be specific about the things that you will miss when you move?
- how will you measure the impact of those things that you will miss
- if you decision is still to move, what action do you need to take to ensure that the things that you enjoy in your current environment will be there in your new environment
- what action will you need to take to ensure that those things that you will miss can be found in your new environment
- being realistic how many of the things that you enjoy in your current environment are so important in your life that they will have an impact on your quality of life?
- being realistic, how many of the things that you will miss are things that you cannot live without?
- what timeframe have you allowed yourself to confirm that the things in your current environment that you cannot live without are found in your new environment?
- how excited are you about your new environment. It is true that if you cannot live, dream, breathe, be engulfed by our choice to move, you probably won’t do it!
- when will you record your reflections? It is important that you capture all your thoughts, your aspirations, and your dreams as you go through this process.

Want to make a success of your plans to move?  Want to work with someone who will not judge the reasons you want to make your move, who will not guide you down a specific path?  You have this opportunity to work with a qualified and accredited coach who has done it!

Just email Barbara on barbara.dalpra@nyasa.biz!

Sign up to coaching with Barbara on http://nyasa.coachinginteractive.com! Select 'click here for a free session - My Life'

Find Barbara's biog on http://www.internationalcoachinginstitute.org/coach_referral_service/display_detail.php?trf=91

Madeira - Porto Moniz!

It is believed that the name 'Porto Moniz' is related to that of Francisco Moniz who was married to one of the grand daughters of Gonçalves Zarco, the discoverer of the island. 

Porto Moniz is in the most north-western point of the island.

One of the attractions of Porto Moniz is its beautiful natural salt-water swimming pools.  These pools are filled by the tide with crysal clear salt-water and are surrounded by lava rocks.  They are a favourite bathing venue for the locals and the tourists.  An experience to try.

Porto Moniz's main source of industry are agriculture and fishing with a small number of tourist type businesses the downtown area.  At one end of the promenade is a Aquarium (the 'Living Science Centre' or 'Centro de Ciência Viva').  The promenade connects the two natural salt-water swimming pools, with seating areas, coffee bars, snack bars, restuarants, and view points.  Our restuarant of choice here is 'Orca' - fabulous menu, great views and a superb atmosphere.

Getting to Porto Moniz could be an interesting experience - it features a helipad.  Other routes include driving along the north coast road via Santana from Funchal; or coming up the rift in the middle of island from Ribeira Brava; or driving around the island past Ponto do Pargo.  You could also select to leave Porto Moniz and drive up to Paúl da Serra - a 1,600m high plateau!  The rocks and seas at Porto Moniz are incredible, but the views from Paúl da Serra are spectacular!

Want to make a success of your plans to move?  Want to work with someone who will not judge the reasons you want to make your move, who will not guide you down a specific path?  You have this opportunity to work with a qualified and accredited coach who has done it!

Just email Barbara on barbara.dalpra@nyasa.co.uk!

Find Barbara's biog on http://www.internationalcoachinginstitute.org/coach_referral_service/display_detail.php?trf=91

Phase 1 - the start!

Now that we were able to actually see the property we had bought, it was our opportunity to work out how to start the refurbishment.   How were we going to start this?

We were given a lot of advice and guidance on how to work with the local specialists and builders; and we made the decision to take this advice.  The first step was for us to work through our design.

We decided that we needed to start with our plans for the first half of the house and not try and design it all.  So we looked at what we actually needed to be able to stay in the house.  We decided that the first area of rebuild had to be the bedroom and bathroom.  OK, so why no kitchen?  Well in the climate that is there, a small fridge and a preparation area would be all we need with fresh vegetables and cold meats.  So we looked at the house and finalised our thoughts and made the decision that the single story part of the house becomes the bedroom, bathroom, storage room and car terrace.  Once we had made this decision we felt on top of the world. 

Now we had to sit down with our plans and really decide what we were looking for in this space.  After 10 design ideas, all drawn out using Microsoft Excel, we came up with our agreed plans.  December, 2008 saw us discussing these in detail with a recommended building company.  We gave them a copy of the plans and walked them through our ideas.  We then met up with them a week later and discussed the details of the quote.  One of the things we had become aware of was the lack of storage space in these houses - no lofts!  So adding a storage space to our design became very important.

As part of this process we also looked at and pulled an outline together of our design for the two story part of the house.  Building regulations allowed us to put a third level on this structure; and we included this in our design. 

In our exploration of the property in a lot more detail we found a hidden treasure - we found a wine press with only one piece missing.  We ensured that this building was locked up safely before we came back to the UK.

On our return to the UK, we then had to look at funding the first phase.

Want to make a success of your plans to move?  Want to work with someone who will not judge the reasons you want to make your move, who will not guide you down a specific path?  You have this opportunity to work with a qualified and accredited coach who has done it!

Just email Barbara on barbara.dalpra@nyasa.co.uk!

Find Barbara's biog on http://www.internationalcoachinginstitute.org/coach_referral_service/display_detail.php?trf=91