Relocation & Expat Coach

Another day ... another property!

The following day saw us back with Martinho of Madeira Property Centre and in a little village called Ribeira da Vaca.  Slightly further north than we expected to buy, but as we explained to Martinho - we were in Madeira and really wanted to see all the properties that we could.

We met in Ponto do Pargo and drove north for a few kilometres - around more winding and twisting roads - further away from the developed areas.  This appealed, as we are looking to live here and not vacation here!

We parked and saw the house!  What a green surrounding.  We walked down the track towards the house thinking about our options ... our choices ... our requirements ... our absolutes ... our compromises.

We walked down the steps at the side of the house and what a view!  OK - but we were not buying this house to vacation in it, we planned to live here!  So we started to look through the house and the grounds to see what we were truly being shown.

As we had talked Martinho into showing us this house in a gap in his schedule, we didn't have long.  On our drive back to Funchal we talked about the house and couldn't find a reason not to buy it - so we turned round and went back. 

After passing the pig sty which we both agreed would go ... we walked around the grounds.  Sounds grand, but not at all.  We understood that this house came with a lot of land and that ticked one of our boxes.  It had a shed - another box ticked.  The house itself wasn't big - another box ticked.  It was a renovation project - and another box ticked.  As we were walking around individually we found that we were mentally ticking all the boxes. 

Standing away from the house we found that with all the overgrowth you really couldn't see what was there.  So we had to get up close and really look at the layout of the house - a single story and a double story building.  It was fairly obvious that it was a traditional house built many, many years ago.  We later found that it had not been lived in for about 10 years, and this explained the state of the toilet and shower block (an obvious add-on). 

After many hours of wandering around, sun shining, beautiful views, incredibly fertile land, we left and drove into Ponto do Pargo.  We sat on the wall at the bottom of the lighthouse and talked about our own individual feelings about the house.  In our own minds we had both said 'YES', but not wanting to put words into each others mouths - we didn't tell each other. 

This gave us the opportunity sitting with the sun on our backs, looking due west, to talk about the positives and to raise the concerns.  After a couple of hours, we both agreed that this property ticked all our boxes and more. 

WOW!  What a feeling - after so many years, so many disappointments, so many challenges, we both felt a little deflated.  We had in a very short period of time found both the location we wanted to live in and a property!

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 [email protected]!

Find Barbara's biog on http://www.institute-of-coaching.org/coach_referral_service/display_detail.php?trf=91

Tip seven - budget!

One of the challenges of any move - locally, nationally or internationally.  The difference is that internationally you need to consider additional costs, over those you would have if you were to move locally or even nationally.

1. Visas - the cost of these is dependant upon where you have selected to emigrate to.
    Residence - if as a European, you are staying within Europe, then you will need to gain residence in the country you have selected to move to.  This incurs a cost - a lot less than visas for countries outside of Europe.

2. Property - what budget do you need to allocate to purchase the type of property you are looking foat your new destination?

3. Purchase costs - what are these?

4. Mortgage/Loan - what sort of mortgage or loan do you need to secure to purchase your property.  Advice we were given was that it was easier to organise this from your current country of residence, as you have a credit rating - in your destination country you do not have this.

5. Schooling - what costs will you need to cover in order for your children to attend the local schools, colleges, or universities?

6. Transport - what is the cost of purchasing a new car?
    What is the benefits and costs of taking your current car?

7. Flights to/from your country of destination!
    How many times do you have to fly in/out of your country of destination before you actually move?

8. Moving costs - what will it cost you to move your possessions to your country of destination?

9. What other costs should you have included in your budget?

10. What contingency have you added for those hidden, unexpected, not known costs?

Now is the time for you to capture in as much detail as possible your budget:
- be specific about all costs
- how you will measure that these costs are complete
- agreed / action-oriented - keep this list up-to-date.  Enter any new budget costs.  Enter all actual spend.  Acknowledge when the actual spend is higher than budget - update your contingency.
- realistic - be realistic about what it will cost you to move.  This is not the time to incur unexpected costs and start your new life with a debt.  Against each cost, enter the detail as to where the monies are coming from to cover the cost.
- time framed - clearly document what your timescales are for each cost associate with your move. 
- exciting - It is true that it we cannot live, dream, breathe, be engulfed by our goal, it probably won't be achieved.  Now that you know what it will cost you to move, yes it's probably scary! but holding onto the excitment of your dream, your goal, your aspiration, will allow you to address each element of this hint and tip.
- recorded - at no point in your whole process is it more important to capture the detail.  Write it ALL down - expected costs, actual costs, over-spends, under-spends, continually update your contingency!

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 [email protected]!

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

Continued property hunting in Madeira!

Not being a bank holiday, the following day found us meeting up with Maria - another realtor in Madeira.  Maria was from South Africa and had recently returned to Madeira.  We started our day with a coffee and a chat about the type of properties that we were looking for.

Marie took us to see a fabulously located house owned by a Dutch couple in their 90's.  After many, many years in Madeira they were returning to The Netherlands to be close to their family.  The house was divided into two, with the upstairs being set-up as a separate flat - for guests, bed & breakfast, etc.  The house was on about 600sqm of land, with a developed apple orchard.  The views were great.  We discussed whether the views could be changed with further development below this house.  It was confirmed that property cannot be sold in Madeira if it does not have access.  The land below this house has no access, therefore we believe that the views were protected.  This was a house that we could move straight into and unless we wanted to, there really wasn't anything to do to it.  A great benefit of this house was that it was on the edge of the lower tree line, so looking at a tourist business, the bed & breakfast facility provided as part of the design of this house could be used by those wanting to walk the levada's.  '

'Levada' is a Portuguese word which is derived from the word 'levar'.  'Levar' means 'carry'.  In this way levada is translated into water carrier or mini-canal; but are actually irrigation systems developed to move the water from the wet/rainy regions on the north of the island to the dryer regions in the south of the island.  The levada's date back as far as the early 16th century and now criss-cross the island and cover a distance of approximately 2,500kms.  The Levada Walks are well known with tourists as walks beside these mini-canals, which are not accessibly by vehicle, and allow you to meander across the island, up-down the mountains, at your own pace.

We stopped on our way to the second property we were to see with Maria to sample a local delicacy!  Freshly baked local sausage and bread on the side of the road.  Fabulous!  We had to wait as this is a popular stop for the tourist trade and the baking is done through-out the day on an open fire.  We sat in the open sunshine, chatting and enjoying our impromptu cultinary experience.  

The next property we saw was in Arco da Calheta - on the south west of the island.  It was two smaller houses being sold as a single property.  Fabulous idea, as we thought that this could be designed as our home and 'guest' accommodation - family, friends, guests - giving each party their own privacy; but on a single property.  The size of the land was good for the price being asked - approx. 1800sqm; but would need a vast amount of terracing as it was all down the slope in front of the house.  The views were incredible, and due to the steepness of the incline no-one could build in front of the houses and disturb the view.  There was a small piece of land beside the houses that would accommodate a small pool, BBQ, and seating area.  Parking here was a small challenge and again we would need to build a full drive-way/garage to allow us to park off road on a flatish piece of land.

Although these were two great properties, neither ticked all boxes.  We had made the decision last night that the only properties we were going to pursue were those that ticked all boxes - at this stage in our investigations we did not believe we need to compromise.

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 [email protected]!

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

Tip six - decision!

Now you've made your mind up - you are going to emigrate!  It really doesn't matter the reason that you are going to emigrate - be it for work, projects, new environment, grass looks greener on the other side - you've made your decision!

1. Where are you looking?

2. What type of environment are you looking for?

3. What social life do you want?

4. What are the impacts on your immediate family (those travelling with you)?

5. Work - school!  What do you need to do to ensure that these requirements are met?

6. How does this decision impact the family remaining behind?
    How does this decision impact your relationship with the family remaining behind?

7. What research do you still need to do?
     When will you visit your country of destination to complete this research?

8. Who do you now need to start to talk to?

9. Who can help you make this move?

10. Which action will you select to do first?
      When will you complete this action?
      Who do you need to discuss this with?  Who can help you?
      How long will it take you to do?
      When do you need to start?

It is probably more important now than any of the writing in your journal that you've done to:
- be specific about what your answers.  It's probably the right time to write in bullet point format rather than in paragraphs.
- clearly document how you will measure the success of each of your actions
- agreed / action-oriented - be absolutely clear on the actions you need to take to ensure that you keep on your select path
- realistic - how easy will it be to keep on your path.  What will you do if you find that something stops you.
- time framed - clearly document what your timescale is for each task/action, and what your timescale is for each decision you need to take.
- exciting - now that you have made your decision, how excited are you?  It is true that it we cannot live, dream, breathe, be engulfed by our goal, it probably won't be achieved - so being clear about your decision is important. 
- recorded - it's important to capture your goal ... write a sentence (preferably not a paragraph) about your reason for selecting this destination.  This will allow you to focus - clearly focus.  Now write it on something or put it somewhere where you will see it regularly.

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 [email protected]!

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

The fun starts now in Maderia!

The next day was a public holiday, so we thought that we might have a chance to 'be tourists' and visit some of the sites.  See a little more of the island - understand more of it's history.  This wasn't to be.  10am the mobile rang and it was our first estate agent (or realtor as they are called locally).  We hurriedly got up and left the hotel to meet with the local representative from Madeira Property Centre.  Wow this was an experience. 

We had explained exactly what we were looking for - a refurbishment project with land attached.  

The first property we saw was exactly what we asked for, but ... not what we expected!  The buildings were all but derelict and probably had to be pulled down.  Yes, it had land; but from the house, the land disappeared over the edge.  It was now that we realised that all property on Madeira is on a slope - after all Madeira is a volcanic island.  Price wise this property was within our budget.  One of the reasons we turned this property down was that the road to the property was a challenge - no off-road parking without breaking into the boundary wall and putting in an underground garage.  OK, we asked for a refurbishment project! 

The next property we saw was in Ponto do Pargo - a fabulous property if you were looking for an investment or holiday property.  Ponto do Pargo is on the west of the island (about as far west as you can go), with views over the seas to the USA!

One of the things that was a surprise was that we were not handed any details about the properties, so to keep a record of each property we saw we took masses of photographs - external and internal.  This property was in a reasonably good state and with a little work you could move right in.  Great views!  This property overlooked the new golf course development.  The whole area is in great need of development and the new golf course dsigned by Nick Faldo will bring this in.  This property looks over this course, so the views are guaranteed; but the price (albeit within our budget) reflects this.  Although a fabulous property, it didn't have the land that we were looking for with our new environment.

There are very few days, from our experience, where the skies aren't this blue.

After having a drink with Martinho (Maderia Property Centre's local representative) we wound our way back to the hotel in Funchal.  We started to talk about what we had seen.  There were two topics of conversation - the first was about our cars - we planned to bring at least one of them with us and having experienced some of the roads we had been on today, we wondered if the car would actually be narrow enough to get down the road!  More learning.  The second was about the properties we had seen.  We made a decision on the first and the decision was 'no'.  For the second property we sketched out plans of how we could redevelop the house - the only reason we did not pursue the house was the lack of land that went with it.

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 [email protected]!

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

Tip five - the 'why not's!'

Take this time to clearly understand what is good in your current environment, relationships, work/career/business, social life, hobbies, and any other area that you are currently experiencing.

Take some time out to be very clear about what you and only you want to change in your future.

Now think about the reasons why you should not move.  Sounds like a strange suggestion, but getting absolutely clarity on why you want to move will truly make it happen.  Thinking about the reasons why you should not move will help you identify what you need to find in your future.

It is probably more important now than any of the writing in your journal that you've done to:
- be specific about why you do not want to move
- be specific about why you do not want to change your current life
- know how you will measure finding these elements/areas in your future life
- agreed / action-oriented - be absolutely clear on the actions you need to take to ensure that you keep in your future life what you do not want to leave behind from your current life
- realistic - how easy will it be to keep what you do not want to leave behind?  If you have any concerns about one of your 'why not's', then you need to include the research you need to do in your actions/tasks.
- time framed - clearly document what your timescale is for each task/action, and what is your timescale for each decision you need to take?
- exciting - looking at the 'why not's' - do you still feel excited about your moving?  It is true that it we cannot live, dream, breathe, be engulfed by our goal, it probably won't be achieved - so knowing that what you do not want to leave behind/lose won't be - will help! 
- recorded - it's important to capture your goal ... write a sentence (preferably not a paragraph) about your what you want to keep when you emigrate.  This will allow you to focus - clearly focus.  Now write it on something or put it somewhere where you will see it regularly.

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 [email protected]!

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

Excitement ... !

Madeira!

In February 2008 we came across Madeira.  There is no other to describe how we found the island. We spent many hours on the internet.  We got out our list of 'what do we want from our new environment' - it ticked all the boxes!  We got a bit wary - what were we missing?

After we booked our flights, accommodation and car hire we started letting people know we were 'going on holiday'.  As soon as we said 'Madeira' we got a number of reactions - all positive!  Often people said 'I haven't been, but know of someone who has and they loved it.'  Occassionally we got 'we loved it when we went.'  Very close friends explained that they had looked at buying property there over the years. 

We made the decision to go and find out whether what we understood of the island was true and what was missing.  As it was described - we went to see what the reasons were that we should not move.  This was an interesting approach.  We both knew exactly what we were looking for in our new environment - location, house, land, work/career/business, friends, social life, interests, ease of travel, legislation, regulation, taxation, eco/green, and the list goes on.

After a challenging month we boarded the plan to fly out to Madeira on 19th May, 2008.  This date is clearly etched in our memories.  Flying into Madeira is an interesting experience.  We had been warned about the airport, but until you experience this - it isn't something I can describe.

The next day saw us driving out of the capital city - Funchal, around the south and south west of the island.  We spent the day going into and out of villages.  We spoke to a number of people - some visiting (like us) and others living there.  We were given some great tips - so got out the journal and jotted these down. 

The following day we left Funchal and drove around the north and east of the island.  Today was an overcast and blustery day.  Although a number of visitors weren't happy, we didn't mind as this did show us what type of weather we could experience if we chose to live here.  Again we spent the day visiting towns and villages, and meeting people.

Madeira is truly an island of nationalities - although Portuguese, we had already met not only with a number of Portuguese but also with English, Germans, and South Africans.

We got back to the hotel and we agreed that we should investigate further while we were on the island.  So out came the laptops, into the internet we connected and started looking for Estate Agents.  That evening, we sent out many, many emails asking about specific properties, land and building, and towns and villages.

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 [email protected]!

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

TIp four - time for reflection!

It is important that before you select to make any decisions that you take the time to reflect on your decision.  You have answered many questions in the previous three tips and now is the time for you to sit down, quietly and reflect on your answers to the questions asked and to your own questions.

It's important to remember that the answers you give to your own questions and to the questions asked in this blog or by your Expat Coach are answers that you only share with yourself.  It is your decision if you decide to share these with anyone else.

- What was the real reason that you want to move away from where you are living now?

- What are you truly looking for in the environment that you want to move to?
   At the same time, what are you truly looking to move away from in the environment that you are now living in?

- What do you want from your lifestyle?
   At the same time, what are you looking to change in your current lifestyle?

- What do you want from your new property?
   At the same time, what are you looking to move away from in the property you are now living?

- What do you want from your bank accounts?
   At the same time, what are you looking to change in your current bank accounts?
   Strange question you may say, but have you truly looked at all elements of moving? 

What benefits have you got now that you might lose?  What benefits have you not got now that you might gain?

- What do you want from your social life?
   At the same time, what are you looking to change in your current social life?

- What do you want from your working life/requirements/career/business?
   At the same time, what are you looking to change in your current job/career/business?

- What do you want for your health?
   At the same time, what are you looking to change in relation to your health now?

- What do you want from your cost of living?
   At the same time, what are you looking to change in your current cost of living?

- What do you know of the legislation, regulation and tax systems in the country you are looking to move to?
   At the same time, what are you trying to get away from in relation to legislation, regulation and tax?
   OK - so we are all trying to get away from paying tax, but it is worth being very clear about what tax you are paying now and what you will be paying.

During your reflection, please remember to be:
- specific about your answers
- where you are looking for something, be clear about how will you measure what you are looking for
- agreed / action-oriented - you've heard the phrase 'if you fail to plan, you are planning to fail'.  When writing in your journal be absolutely clear about what you have to do to get there.  Now is the time for you to really document your tasks, your actions.  If you need to do more research - do it.  If you need to visit, visit!  If you need time, take the time!  It's important now to identify exactly what you need to do to achieve your goal.
- realistic - looking at what you have now written down, what draws you to want to move?
- time framed - what is your timescale for each task/action, and what is your timescale for each decision you need to take?
- exciting - looking at your answers, how do you feel?  It's true that it we cannot live, dream, breathe, be engulfed by our goal, it probably won't be achieved.  If you are not feeling absolutely overwhelmed by excitement, now is the time to ask yourself 'what is the reason or reasons that I'm not sure about emigrating?'  Once you've written these down, if you have to go back to the beginning and reflect in your journal about these answers - this is the time to do it.  Once you know that this is your goal and no longer your dream, then move on!
- recorded - it's important to capture your goal ... write a sentence (preferably not a paragraph) about your emigration goal.  This will allow you to focus - clearly focus.  Now write it on something or put it somewhere where you will see it regularly.

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 [email protected]!

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

... a little focus on Europe!

After many discussions and real hard talks, we decided that really we didn't want to be away from Europe.  Although my family live in the Southern Hemisphere - Australia and Southern Africa - John's family mainly lived in Europe.  My business was all based around Europe, with one or two clients further afield.  Although a very hard decision, and after many, many years of researching Australia and the southern hemisphere, we found ourselves understanding that although we wanted to move out of the UK - we may not have to move that far away to get the life we wanted to live.

So back to our research ...

Cyprus - this was our first point of research.  I have many friends from the southern hemisphere who have moved here.  John wasn't so keen.  So we looked at Cyprus, but did say 'no' after several hours of research.

Malta - part of the reason we visited Malta in 2007 was to understand if we could live there.  We have a number of friends who have visited the island and can't wait to move.  As with every decision that you take, this was a personal decision for us, and although we had a fabulous holiday there - loved our trips to Gozo and the clearness of the water - we very quickly decided that it was not for us on a permanent basis.

Sardinia - although John's family originated in northern Italy, our research didn't encourage us to go and visit Sardinia.  Part of the reason was the distance of travel Sardinia is from mainland Europe ... the ferry journey's (if you wanted to drive) were very long!

Corsica and Sicily - although we spent a lot more time (many, many weeks) researching Sicily mainly and the distance from mainland Europe wasn't so far, our research eventually showed that it wasn't a destination for us.  We did look into travelling there to understand exactly what Sicily and Corsica had to offer and will do so in the future.

Back to the internet to do our research! 

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 [email protected]!

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

Looking for a new environment!

It's Christmas 2007 and with a few days at home we started our research again!

Now we were back with the world map and having addressed a number of concerns that had come up as we had followed through with our research, we made the decision that we really didn't want to leave Europe.

This was a huge decision and we did talk about it many times over many weeks just to be absolutely sure that we on the right track!

What was the reason that we investigated, over many years, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Thailand, Vietnam, Philippines, Malaysia, California, Mexico before really knowing that we didn't really want to move that far away?  It was the experiences that we had both had during our lives while travelling both for business and for pleasure.  We knew from this that there are many countries in the world that can offer a fabulous way of life.  We had to now be realistic and admit to ourselves that some of the things we have now we didn't want to change!

Both of us have travelled extensively in Europe, but not always to the same place.  Our work had taken us to different environments and to different countries and towns.  Before we met and got married, we had both done a lot of travelling and again this was to different countries, different experiences of culture and different towns.

So now knowing that what we were trying to change was our environment - home, weather, lifestyle - and not our jobs, friends, access to our family - we had to move on.  It wasn't an easy decision, but we both agreed that we do fly to Australia now to see my immediate family, what's to stop us continuing to do this?

So we were emigrating for a new environment.

So we got the map of Europe out.  One of the things that we really, really want to change was the weather.  We know that rain happens everywhere and we've experienced rainy summers throughout Europe; but we also know that Southern Europe offers a better chance to be able to do the outdoor things that we wanted to do!

As we had both experienced Northern Europe in summer and winter, we both agreed at the beginning of this research that we wanted to live in Southern Europe.  So we started to look at the Mediterranean, but where to start?

Spain - although I had worked in various cities in Spain and I had thoroughly enjoyed the experiences, met some lovely people, have some great Spanish friends, it wasn't a country that drew us to live in it.  So having had a look at Spain we both agreed that it wasn't at the top of our list.  Yes, we may be wrong; but we went with our intuition and moved on.

Greece - I have a lot of Greek friends (some from school and some met during my working life in/around the world) and have visited Athens with some of them.  I haven't spent a lot of time in Greece.  One of my clients organises fantastic holidays (www.elysianholidays.co.uk) to the Greek Islands and seeing the feedback from their clients does make us want to go there.  We researched mainland Greece and then some of the islands.  Again using our intuition, we felt that it wasn't the right place for us.

Turkey - we spent our honeymoon in Istanbul and we loved it!  My parents have travelled through Turkey and good friends of ours had been there many times.  We got out our photographs, our notes, our memories and we reminisced.  We asked ourselves 'what was the reason we hadn't gone back?' - after all it was nearly 13 years since we had last been there.

We agreed to spend some time thinking through our Europe decision, as in a short few hours we had turned down a number of countries.  So back to the research and to the journal ...

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 [email protected]!

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