Hello again!
I hope everything is ok with you and life is treating you well.
Following on from last week, we flew back to the UK so excited about our property purchase in Cyprus - but little did we realise how hard the new few weeks were going to be.
When I look back, how on earth we managed to do everything in 11 weeks amazes me. It was literally off the plane, put the house up for sale and start preparing for our big move.
The speed things progressed at was quite remarkable. We lived in a sought after area, so luckily, the house sold in 11 days. That was the first hurdle out of the way – or at least that’s what we thought. The sale ended up being fraught with problems as they often are. Not a surprise really.
It was the usual scenario, a solicitor not telling you what is going on, estate agents being careful with the truth – need I say more, you have probably been there yourself. It really was frustrating, to say the least.
Anyway, while all this was going on, we had to arrange our shipping. Having never done this before, we had a lot to learn very quickly. We really did not have a clue.
After we moved, I wrote an article about shipping to help others. It’s a minefield if you are not aware of what to look out for – particularly marine insurance.
I’m going to talk more about that next week.
In the meantime, have a great weekend.
Until next time.
Best wishes.
Jackie
http://www.cyprusbuyingguide.com
Friday 25 June 2010
Friday 18 June 2010
Finding a reputable Lawyer in Cyprus
Hello, how are you?
I hope you’ve had a good week and life is treating you well.
Following on from last week, having seen the bungalow we wanted to buy, the next thing we needed to do was find a reputable lawyer in Paphos. Not an easy job! You have to be very careful. Even we ended up changing our lawyer after the transaction had gone through, mainly because we found an English lawyer where we didn’t have any language difficulties. So do bear that in mind!
Having said all this, the lawyer we used initially was quite amazing. He was very helpful and laid back. When we first went to see him, we explained that we’d found our dream property to renovate, but the problem was, we needed a deposit in cash to put down to secure it. All we had was a credit card and we didn’t want to draw a substantial amount on that. Well, we couldn’t believe what happened next!
He’d never met us before, but he just asked how much we needed for the deposit – and he wrote us out a cheque for the person we were buying from there and then. He said “Go and buy your dream”. We couldn’t believe it! He just asked us to take our passports into the office the next day so they could be copied, and he would sort out the rest. I have to say, we were in shock. We couldn’t imagine this ever happening in the UK - but maybe it does?
Anyway, we were jumping for joy. Off we went with his cheque in our hands to the vendor – who was equally as pleased. This was on the Thursday. The deal was now secured for 30 days until we could send over a further sum of money, which we sent via Smart Currency Exchange, www.SmartCurrencyExchange.com to his client account.
Smart were great, they managed to get us a really good rate, and the money was with him in 2 days. We saved a fortune – the Bank rate was horrendous, we are so glad we didn’t take that route!
Two days later, as you can imagine, we flew home, both so excited - and started to plan selling our house and moving to sunny Cyprus.
That’s when the fun really began!
More next week.
Take care, have a great weekend.
Best wishes
Jackie
http://www.CyprusBuyingGuide.com
I hope you’ve had a good week and life is treating you well.
Following on from last week, having seen the bungalow we wanted to buy, the next thing we needed to do was find a reputable lawyer in Paphos. Not an easy job! You have to be very careful. Even we ended up changing our lawyer after the transaction had gone through, mainly because we found an English lawyer where we didn’t have any language difficulties. So do bear that in mind!
Having said all this, the lawyer we used initially was quite amazing. He was very helpful and laid back. When we first went to see him, we explained that we’d found our dream property to renovate, but the problem was, we needed a deposit in cash to put down to secure it. All we had was a credit card and we didn’t want to draw a substantial amount on that. Well, we couldn’t believe what happened next!
He’d never met us before, but he just asked how much we needed for the deposit – and he wrote us out a cheque for the person we were buying from there and then. He said “Go and buy your dream”. We couldn’t believe it! He just asked us to take our passports into the office the next day so they could be copied, and he would sort out the rest. I have to say, we were in shock. We couldn’t imagine this ever happening in the UK - but maybe it does?
Anyway, we were jumping for joy. Off we went with his cheque in our hands to the vendor – who was equally as pleased. This was on the Thursday. The deal was now secured for 30 days until we could send over a further sum of money, which we sent via Smart Currency Exchange, www.SmartCurrencyExchange.com to his client account.
Smart were great, they managed to get us a really good rate, and the money was with him in 2 days. We saved a fortune – the Bank rate was horrendous, we are so glad we didn’t take that route!
Two days later, as you can imagine, we flew home, both so excited - and started to plan selling our house and moving to sunny Cyprus.
That’s when the fun really began!
More next week.
Take care, have a great weekend.
Best wishes
Jackie
http://www.CyprusBuyingGuide.com
Friday 11 June 2010
Purchasing Our Cyprus Property!
Hello, how are you?
Well, this is an exciting week. I’m going to tell you the story of how we bought our property in Cyprus and renovated it. Phew, that’s going to take some time, but I really hope you will enjoy sharing all the experiences!
It all started in 2006 when we came over to stay at a friend’s villa. Well, we fell in love with Cyprus instantly. Cyprus is like that, so friendly and welcoming.
We did the usual thing, booking appointments from the UK with agents over here to view properties. But due to such a buoyant market, by the time we arrived, almost everything we wanted to see was sold. And off-plan wasn’t for us - we wanted to buy a resale, something to renovate - this was our dream.
So, after spending a few days with agents, we decided to set off on our own instead. We had already found an area we really liked – it was Tala, in Paphos. So we headed off in the car, and driving up a quiet cul-de-sac, my husband suddenly spotted a tiny for sale sign in the window of an old bungalow. And that was it!
It was perfect. The price was right, the area was beautiful, there were no building works around it – and it had the all important Title Deeds issued in the current owners’ names.
We negotiated a good price - bearing in mind there was a lot of work to do - and shook hands on the deal.
This was on the Wednesday. We flew back to the UK on the Sunday, sold our house in 11 days and within 11 weeks – yes just 11 weeks – we were emigrating. I can’t wait to tell you all about that, talk about life in the fast lane!
More follows next week, so stay tuned, we’re only at the very beginning ….
Have a lovely weekend and keep smiling.
Best wishes
Jackie
PS: I forgot to mention, before we even thought about getting a property in Cyprus, we bought The Cyprus Buying Guide – check it out, http://www.cyprusbuyingguide.com/guide.htm. Without it, we would have made so many mistakes that could have cost us thousands!
Well, this is an exciting week. I’m going to tell you the story of how we bought our property in Cyprus and renovated it. Phew, that’s going to take some time, but I really hope you will enjoy sharing all the experiences!
It all started in 2006 when we came over to stay at a friend’s villa. Well, we fell in love with Cyprus instantly. Cyprus is like that, so friendly and welcoming.
We did the usual thing, booking appointments from the UK with agents over here to view properties. But due to such a buoyant market, by the time we arrived, almost everything we wanted to see was sold. And off-plan wasn’t for us - we wanted to buy a resale, something to renovate - this was our dream.
So, after spending a few days with agents, we decided to set off on our own instead. We had already found an area we really liked – it was Tala, in Paphos. So we headed off in the car, and driving up a quiet cul-de-sac, my husband suddenly spotted a tiny for sale sign in the window of an old bungalow. And that was it!
It was perfect. The price was right, the area was beautiful, there were no building works around it – and it had the all important Title Deeds issued in the current owners’ names.
We negotiated a good price - bearing in mind there was a lot of work to do - and shook hands on the deal.
This was on the Wednesday. We flew back to the UK on the Sunday, sold our house in 11 days and within 11 weeks – yes just 11 weeks – we were emigrating. I can’t wait to tell you all about that, talk about life in the fast lane!
More follows next week, so stay tuned, we’re only at the very beginning ….
Have a lovely weekend and keep smiling.
Best wishes
Jackie
PS: I forgot to mention, before we even thought about getting a property in Cyprus, we bought The Cyprus Buying Guide – check it out, http://www.cyprusbuyingguide.com/guide.htm. Without it, we would have made so many mistakes that could have cost us thousands!
Friday 4 June 2010
How to Market your Property Abroad
Hello, it’s me again
I hope the weather is good where you are, it’s certainly hotting up in Cyprus. The smell of barbeques is everywhere now – the only problem with this is I feel constantly hungry!
Well, this week is the final week for ideas on how to market your property via your friends when you don’t live in Cyprus.
So by now, you’ll have found someone who can help you do your garden, clear your mailbox, air your property and look after your pool.
They can also help advertise your property too. At the beginning of my blogspot, I gave advice on how to prepare your own property details, so have a look at that, there’s lots of useful information.
Get your property details printed off and ask your friends and neighbours to put them up everywhere they can, for example in supermarkets. (See earlier blog for advice)
Also, ask them if they would mind putting advertisements in the local papers for you. These are very low cost and really work.
If you have your own “For Sale” sign up at your property and employ an agent too, you will find they might want your sign taken down when they are showing people round. This is because they don’t want the applicant to come to you direct, so is perfectly reasonable. Whoever is conducting your viewings will need to do this, to keep everyone happy.
If you look back on my previous blogs, you’ll find all the help and advice you need on how to promote your property, for example, which local publications to place your advertisement in – some are free!
I hope you’ve found this information useful, if you have, please tell your friends.
Oh, and if you become a follower (which I’d love you to do), you will automatically get my blog update every Friday – it’s really easy, all you have to do is put in your email address – here’s how.
You need to create a “google account” but that doesn’t mean get a “google” email. It just means you put your current email address in, and then a password. You’ll be asked for your birthday and to accept the terms and conditions and that’s it – you are then a follower, and can post a comment if you want to. I will respond!
Next week the fun really begins. I’m going to start to tell you all about our renovation project here in Cyprus. It took nearly 4 years, so there’s certainly plenty to talk about.
Stay tuned – see you next week.
Have a great weekend.
Best wishes
Jackie
http://www.cyprusbuyingguide.com
I hope the weather is good where you are, it’s certainly hotting up in Cyprus. The smell of barbeques is everywhere now – the only problem with this is I feel constantly hungry!
Well, this week is the final week for ideas on how to market your property via your friends when you don’t live in Cyprus.
So by now, you’ll have found someone who can help you do your garden, clear your mailbox, air your property and look after your pool.
They can also help advertise your property too. At the beginning of my blogspot, I gave advice on how to prepare your own property details, so have a look at that, there’s lots of useful information.
Get your property details printed off and ask your friends and neighbours to put them up everywhere they can, for example in supermarkets. (See earlier blog for advice)
Also, ask them if they would mind putting advertisements in the local papers for you. These are very low cost and really work.
If you have your own “For Sale” sign up at your property and employ an agent too, you will find they might want your sign taken down when they are showing people round. This is because they don’t want the applicant to come to you direct, so is perfectly reasonable. Whoever is conducting your viewings will need to do this, to keep everyone happy.
If you look back on my previous blogs, you’ll find all the help and advice you need on how to promote your property, for example, which local publications to place your advertisement in – some are free!
I hope you’ve found this information useful, if you have, please tell your friends.
Oh, and if you become a follower (which I’d love you to do), you will automatically get my blog update every Friday – it’s really easy, all you have to do is put in your email address – here’s how.
You need to create a “google account” but that doesn’t mean get a “google” email. It just means you put your current email address in, and then a password. You’ll be asked for your birthday and to accept the terms and conditions and that’s it – you are then a follower, and can post a comment if you want to. I will respond!
Next week the fun really begins. I’m going to start to tell you all about our renovation project here in Cyprus. It took nearly 4 years, so there’s certainly plenty to talk about.
Stay tuned – see you next week.
Have a great weekend.
Best wishes
Jackie
http://www.cyprusbuyingguide.com
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
