Job Discussion Forums

[QatarChic]

Manhatten eh? Have always wanted to go there (for a holiday that is) ...thanks to SATC (Why did they end that show?? ) - is it really that hip and chic as they make it out to be on that show??

India would probably be a good option then Goa is meant to be pretty good for properties

[Gregor]

Web fishing has a good point, and that is exactly the sort of thing my wife and I are hoping for with our purchase of a home in Shenyang.
We bough a "condo" in the center of the city. We have no children and don't expect to have any. So the land is owned by the Chinese government. What of that? There's talk of updating that system, but even if they don't, our land is leased for the next 70 years.
I'm not going to be alive in 70 years, and if I AM, I won't care - I'll be 110 years old.
We just want to have a home to rent out for income, and to live in if we go back to Shenyang...and to sell, if we get into a bad scene. We can already sell it for enough to pay off the mortgage and make a decent profit. In another year (with another year to go before we pay the thing off), we SHOULD be able to sell the thing for enough to buy another, cheaper, place and live off the rest in retirement.
Who knows if it will work out that way? But it might. Again, look at New York. Anyone who knows the city has plenty of reason to suspect that Shenyang might do a similar thing to property values.

[web fishing]

NY is an exciting city Nightlife, museums, restuarants, people, fashion... If you never been, go. It's just one of those cities you have to visit on one of your world travels.

Gregor, many of my friends are kicking themselves in the head for not buying property many years ago. One friend of mine bought a two bedroom condo three years ago and paid after taxes almost $600,000. If she or her husband lose their job, I feel sorry for them. The place looks nice, in a happening neighborhood, but for that amount of money...[to each his own].

The thing with real estate you never know, but you can make predictions. I don't know anything about Shenyang, but you probably did the right thing. China is changing...

[cmp45]

I dito that! New York City is as exciting as they make it look in TV programs! LOL I have been there a number of times on short trips. In fact when I returned to Canada this past summer the college provided a direct flight from Riyadh to NYC then up to Canada. I had about an 8 hour stop over so took a cab ride downtown had lunch and walked around midtown Manhattan. It was great! Always thought it would great to live in NYC but for the time being will settle for the excitment of Riyadh LOL at least I get the odd visit to NYC on the way back to Canada.

I also had been looking at Bulgarian property and noticed there are some really reasonable priced interesting properties. How ever they still get snow and am hoping to buy in a warmer climate. But it would be worth a visit to see first hand. So many places so little time (& money) I think I go with Goa!

[Gregor]

Thanks for the props, web fishing.
I don't know either. I wrote a week or two ago on this thread that I didn't really buy the house, my wife did. I'm happy enough to work and rent until I drop and see what happens from there. My wife is not, and buying the home was her gig. I just want to make her happy.
But I think you're both right. Hard to be sure, but I think Shenyang is booming. Well, it IS booming. Will our investment take off as we hope? It already has. Will it continue or will it deflate? Who knows?
It's a gamble, same as at Vegas (though my odds are a bit better). I say that because I am of the opinion that investment is all find and dandy, but it's foolish unless you can afford to lose. We can. It would be disappointing, but not more than that, if we were to lose every cent (fen?) of our investment. But it wouldn't ruin us.
As long as you can say that about your investments, you're fine. It's not until you drop everything you have and ARE to make a killing that you're in trouble.

[ContemporaryDog]

[ContemporaryDog]

[QatarChic]

[dmb]

Try Turkey

[QatarChic]

Turkey is already in my Top 5 list along with; Brazil, Malaysia, Sri Lanka and Croatia

[Volodiya]

One of Thailand's largest banks has started offering loans to foreigners for the purchase of condominiums in Thailand, through some of their foreign branches. They will finance 50% of the purchase price, under certain conditions.

http://www.phuketgazette.com/news/index.asp?id=4484

[richard ame]

Hi

Glad to see someone mentioned this place .The property market has taken off over here within the last 2 years I bought about 6 years ago and then more recently 2 years ago ,its a cast ıron investment as well as giving you a secure base .
Prices compare very well with other popular places for tefl teachers and there are still a lot of bargains to be had ,the banks are also offering loans to foreign workers. I would say within the next 2-4 years the place will be a lot more expensive to buy into ,but , theres always İndia a relative has bought in goa ,saw the place on some bbc programme ,just like Blackpool with sun ,only worse ,much worse .

[gordogringo]

Before I was in ESL I had a very successful career in international real estate.You can buy and hold property in most every country in the world.If not directly then through a holding company.Foreign companies in the US and Canada almost always purchase through holding companies.These companies provide all the legal protection necessary.As for people who are worried about being able to get lender permission to sell before the notes maturity,remember.A appropriate priming of the pump (read$$$$) always helps matters.Your local attorney can arrange all for a small fee.A far superior way of doing things to the inane rules and regs of the US and Canada in my opinion.I have property in Bali,Jakarta and Taipei as well as Rosarita Beach,Mexico.Never any problems.So if you feel like it,buy,buy,buy.

[Dragonlady]

deleted

unrelated to TESOL

[Chris_Crossley]

My wife and I will be moving out of our mortgaged apartment within the next few weeks despite the fact that we have lived here only 15 months. Are we in dire financial straits because I have been fired and cannot afford the mortgage repayments any more? Are we jumping before we are due to be pushed? Actually, no... neither of these questions has a "yes" answer, thankfully...

It's just that, in the week starting December 18th, my school is due to move to the same district of the city that my wife and I used to live in (for 3 years) when we decided to move to our current place in view of the fact that it would otherwise take me over 1 hr 30 min to commute each way to work five days a week. (What a horrendous experience it sometimes was to have to stand all the way on two buses, squashed up against other people!)

However, the lease on the current premises on the school is due to run out in December, so, given the fact that the school is a little (!) bit far out of the way of the action, the powers-that-be (i.e., the Chinese corporate sponsors) have decided that the school will relocate to the commercial district of the city - only 10 minutes' drive away from my wife's place of work!

Our property, which we acquired when new (and undecorated), would now be worth about 500,000 RMB (about US$63,340 at the current Bank of China selling rate) on the market, so we might as well hang on to it so long as we are still living in China (or even beyond any time when we might return to the U.K. to settle permanently, since my wife is Chinese and her parents, with whom we are going to live again, can oversee financial affairs relating to the property). A monthly rent of 1,800 RMB has been provisionally agreed, so at least that is a contribution to our mortgage... provided that the couple agrees to rent the place from us, that is ...

Before working for my current school, though, I could never have dreamed of actually co-owning private property (even if, so far, I have been the one to contribute every jiao!), since that was something that I never did (or else could do) back home, yet people in my country are always complaining that a first property is beyond many college graduates' financial reach owing to the staggeringly high property prices, especially in London...