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

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

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

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

... 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

OK ... so where next?

One of our desires was to live in a country where the weather was reasonable - we wanted to be able to plan outdoor activites - BBQ, sight seeing, visiting friends, swimming, sailing, to name just a few!

In my business travels I had, had the opportunity to visit San Diego in California a number of times - both in winter and in summer.  My knowledge (very limited), my contacts (reducing over the years), and my research led me to think that this area of the world may just be what we were looking for.

Yes, out came the laptops - on went the research and we came upon Mexico!  At the time of our research, we were watching a number of programs on TV about buying property across the world.  We turned on the TV on evening and the program that evening was about a couple who were looking to buy a property in Mexico - our interest was raised and we watched with note pads at the ready to capture our own thoughts!  What we saw heightened our interest, so we carried on with our research.

After a couple of months we were talking about our move and one of the concerns we now had was how far away we were from everyone!  Family, friends, colleagues, acquaintances - it didn't matter who they were we really were looking to move away.  This didn't feel comfortable, so we stopped our research and decided that we would not visit Mexico at the moment (although we will one day, just to see what we could have moved to).

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

After Thailand ...

So Thailand wasn't to be.  One of the reasons pulling us to looking at Asia was the distance between Australia and Europe - both were reasonably easily accessible.  So we stayed looking in this area of the world.

Vietnam - wow, this seemed to be an interesting area to research.  A friend of mine who had emigrated to Taiwan many years ago (straight from University) had recently moved his family and his business to Vietnam.  Back to our research - so back onto the internet!  Now that we knew some of our pitfalls for moving to Thailand, we were able to restrict our research to reviewing those pitfalls first.  Again we found that purchasing property wasn't a simple process.  The difference here was that the length of the lease was more reasonable - in fact, we believe that the lease would outlive both of us!  So although this wasn't our preferred option to invest our finances, we continued to look. 

Philippines - a friend from my schooldays in Malawi moved to the Philippines which drew our attention to the Philippines.  Although we had not finished our research for Vietnam, we started to look at the Philippines as well.  I contacted them and asked what had drawn then to move there.  Interestingly one of their reasons was very similiar to our own - equal access to our families (Europe and Australia).

Our research continued and for varying reasons (one of the main reasons was the lack of information) we decided against Vietnam.  We felt that if we really had wanted to emigrate there we would have, at some time during our past travels, visited the country.  We hadn't ...

Malaysia - still researching the Philippines, we started to research Malaysia.  We could drive to Australia from Malaysia, and although the drive through Australia would be a long one down to Sydney - we knew that we would both enjoy that travelling.  Although on our trip(s) to Malaysia we had loved the country, we couldn't find an area that we would love to live in.  A lot of the information on the internet indicated that the 'expat' community lived in a number of areas, and we didn't want to live in an 'expat' community.  One of our reasons for emigrating was to participate in the local culture and learn the local language.

Continuing our research into this area of the world, brought up a number of concerns.  We took our research notes with us and went out to a fabulous and interesting area of Kent - Samphire Hoe (it's the newest part of Kent, UK, and is made from 4.9 million cubic metres of chalk marl dug to create the Channel Tunnel)! 

Following our pathway from our decision to the leave the UK, on the 1st January, 2007 (after 4 years of research) we walked and talked!  We sat outside on a beautiful sunny, but very cold, New Years Day at Samphire Hoe and talked through our research notes.

We made the decision that this part of the world wasn't what we were looking for!  It wasn't an easy decision - it did mean that we now had to think about how easy it would be to travel to our immediate families - Australia and the UK.  Family members outside the immediate family also live in Canada, UK, Europe, South Africa, and Zimbabwe - so travelling is still one of the concerns we have where-ever we decide to go!

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

Where next?

Our desire to leave the UK was still high ... so we now had the sit down and think about where we really wanted to go!  Out came the world map and we pinned it on the wall.  So where next?

We looked at what we wanted from life ... we wrote lists ... we jotted ideas down.  We started to think about which countries met our requirements.

We knew someone who had emigrated to Thailand.  A client of mine was in the process of buying a property in Thailand - so we looked.  One of the draws to Thailand for us, was that it was half-way (reasonably) between Europe and Australia.  We still want to be able to visit both families. 

We spent many hours on the internet (a great resource for information, but very time consuming) researching Thailand.  We got out our photographs and our journals from the times we had visited Thailand.

After about a month of independant research, we sat down over a glass of wine and started to discuss what we had found - what our research had uncovered.  We looked at Thailand from all aspects.

We started by reviewing what we wanted from our emigration plans and Thailand seemed to meet most of our requirements - as high as 90%!  We knew that we would need to 'start again' with building our social life and we looked at ways in which we could do this.  We looked at running a business in Thailand and although there are restrictions, we felt that we could meet these.  We looked at purchasing property and this was the one thing that stopped us in our tracks!  Although we fully understood the reasons for the local property ownership legislation, we felt that we could be investing in leasehold property with no asset at the end of a reasonably short leasehold.  We reviewed our own financial situation - selling the house, our investments, pensions, etc. - and knew that we did not want to put ourselves in this type of financial position.

So back to the map ...

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

So what were our reasons to want to move to Australia?

After talking to our agents and working through what type of visa we could emigrate with, we sat down with a real feeling that we could do this.  We now knew exactly what we had to do.

Then we looked at the reasons we were selecting to move specifically to Australia.  We looked at what we wanted from our lives, and we looked at the business I have set-up in the UK.  How were we going to make this move?

When we followed the questions in tip two, we understood the real reason we were looking to move to Australia.  This was to allow us to live closer to my parents, and my brother and his family. 

We then asked ourselves if this was the right reason to uproot ourselves from the life we had in the UK to move to Australia.  What impact did this have on what we already had in the UK?  What were we ready to give up?  How easy is it to fly to Australia?

We looked at the work we had to do to fulfil the visa requirements.  We looked closely at the impact it would have on my business and our income stream.  We looked at, within the visa requirements, what changes we had to make to our business plans.  We researched the changes we needed to make to our business plan.  We looked closely at the simplicity of flying to Australia. We looked at our reasons.

We asked ourselves if Australia and our reasons for moving there specifically, met the reasons we wanted to move away from the UK.  We had a long discussion and we made our decision.

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

Decision time!

Knowing the requirements to move to Australia, we looked at New Zealand, we looked at the islands around Australia and New Zealand.  Although this research took months, once we had completed it - we knew we were ready to make our decision.

Now that we knew the reason we were looking at Australia and the countries close by, we had to ask ourselves that very difficult question ... was our reason to move to Australia the right reason?

Was the grass 'just greener on the other side of the world?'  We looked at what we were giving up.  We looked at what we had to start or was it re-start? 

After five years of research, studying, flying, visiting, exhibitions, conferences, we had to admit that the reasons we were looking to move to Australia were not the right reasons.  We could fly to Australia at any time we wanted, but we had to admit that it wasn't our choice to move away from Europe or Africa; and that in selecting Australia we were selecting to follow, we were just following the decisions others had made.

It wasn't a comfortable time or happy time in our lives, but just knowing that we had made this decision helped us move our emigration plans forward.  We still knew that we wanted to move away from where we are living now.  What we didn't know, was where to.

We seemed to have spent our married life travelling - both of us had travelled extensively for work.  When I started by own business it was to find a career that would allow me to 'live from home'.  When I re-trained (as a coach) and changed the focus of my own business to coaching, I suddenly realised that I could work from anywhere.  Our opportunity to work from home and live where we wanted to live, suddenly became a reality.  Living in the UK was fabulous for the time when our careers had us travelling around the world, but we knew that this was not the life we wanted to continue to live ... so now started the fun - where to?

As part of our decision not to move to Australia, we not only had to tell my family, but also knew that we had to get the map out and start looking.  Our reasons for wanting to move were still valid and now very clear.  To start looking for our own destination, we went out and bought a world map that we could hang on the wall of the office.

Want to make a success of your 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