Do you know any one who has emigrated??

[w1z4rd]

Yes, I probably could.

I guess the real estate pricing Im looking at online is wrong then. 2 million here buys a lot more than 200 000 pounds there. Perhaps I am looking in the wrong places? Where do you get this really affordable housing from in the UK? Which property mag?

Could you link something to give an example?

 

[Sinbad]

affordable = 250K, 200K, 150K, 100K, 75K (in GBP) ? Just need to get perspective

On a 60k GBP gross salary you could probably get a 300k GBP mortgage.
A 280k mortgage on a 300k property would probably cost you about GBP1800 per month.

 

[Sinbad]

I guess the real estate pricing Im looking at online is wrong then. 2 million here buys a lot more than 200 000 pounds there. Perhaps I am looking in the wrong places? Where do you get this really affordable housing from in the UK? Which property mag?

Could you link something to give an example?

How do you define better though? Bigger? Or better serviced (piped gas, reliable electricity, reliable public transport nearby and 100mbps internet)? Better constructed? (double glazing etc...)

 

[Maverick Jester]

I guess the real estate pricing Im looking at online is wrong then. 2 million here buys a lot more than 200 000 pounds there. Perhaps I am looking in the wrong places? Where do you get this really affordable housing from in the UK? Which property mag?

Could you link something to give an example?

Affordability != outright cost. That's Sinbad's point.

 

[w1z4rd]

How do you define better though? Bigger? Or better serviced (piped gas, reliable electricity and 100mbps internet)? Better constructed? (double glazing etc...)

Say I have 200 000 pounds, forget about the extras. Just 200 000. Its not a hard request. Im talking about housing pricing, not how much it might cost you to live there when you go grocery shopping. Just a link to a decently priced house in the UK. One that you think is more competitive than here.

 

[Sinbad]

Say I have 200 000 pounds, forget about the extras. Just 200 000. Its not a hard request. Im talking about housing pricing, not how much it might cost you to live there when you go grocery shopping. Just a link to a decently priced house in the UK. One that you think is more competitive than here.

Invalid comparison. You need to look at the whole package.

Anyway -
http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-30801810.html

And no, I can't afford a R2m house in SA, just by the way.

 

[Jola]

I have friends with a nice small house almost 2 hours out of London (Near Farnborough).

Commuter type distance, close to rail, and nothing special, just a nice small house. Newish.

Used to be GBP550 000, could be more now.

 

[w1z4rd]

Invalid comparison. You need to look at the whole package.

Anyway -
http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-30801810.html

And no, I can't afford a R2m house in SA, just by the way.

My god, that house is hideous. Is that considered a good house there?

I prefer local thanks For the same price:

http://www.property24.com/for-sale/...eth/eastern-cape/8349/101919011?Branded=false
http://www.property24.com/for-sale/port-alfred/port-alfred/eastern-cape/8386/101923160?Branded=false

Yes, they dont come with 100mb adsl I accept that. They do come with more sunshine though.

 

[Sinbad]

My god, that house is hideous. Is that considered a good house there?

I prefer local thanks For the same price:

http://www.property24.com/for-sale/...eth/eastern-cape/8349/101919011?Branded=false
http://www.property24.com/for-sale/port-alfred/port-alfred/eastern-cape/8386/101923160?Branded=false

Yes, they dont come with 100mb adsl I accept that. They do come with more sunshine though.

Was the first one I found.
UK houses generally aren't pretty from the outside, anyway.

 

[w1z4rd]

Was the first one I found.
UK houses generally aren't pretty from the outside, anyway.

Based on that house and garden, that would be in a very ****ty poor suburb here. I guess people in the UK dont need big gardens for their kids to play in because of the really bad weather there. My house is a km from a great beach... but that would be pointless there because their beaches are often made of pebbles and you dont want to be swimming in that water!

But at least they have 100mb dsl

In that first link, it shows you the price of a bond. For that 2.2 million rand house you going to pay around R19 900 per month for my bond. Not far off the 1800 pounds for that dodgy home you posted

 

[Spizz]

Based on that house and garden, that would be in a very ****ty poor suburb here. I guess people in the UK dont need big gardens for their kids to play in because of the really bad weather there. My house is a km from a great beach... but that would be pointless there because their beaches are often made of pebbles and you dont want to be swimming in that water!

But at least they have 100mb dsl

That is a classic old council house. Sold off cheap in the 80s to tennants who now sell at a big profit.

 

[bwana]

I have friends with a nice small house almost 2 hours out of London (Near Farnborough).

Commuter type distance, close to rail, and nothing special, just a nice small house. Newish.

Used to be GBP550 000, could be more now.

Farnborough Hampshire? That's barely an hour outside of central London.

 

[w1z4rd]

That is a classic old council house. Sold off cheap in the 80s to tennants who now sell at a big profit.

If I was spending my money and I had R20 000 to spend and I was choosing between buying that old council house in the UK or buying this house:

http://www.property24.com/for-sale/...bay/eastern-cape/10545/101960135?Branded=true

No prizes if you can guess which house I would invest my money in

 

[bwana]

Based on that house and garden, that would be in a very ****ty poor suburb here. I guess people in the UK dont need big gardens for their kids to play in because of the really bad weather there. My house is a km from a great beach... but that would be pointless there because their beaches are often made of pebbles and you dont want to be swimming in that water!

But at least they have 100mb dsl

In that first link, it shows you the price of a bond. For that 2.2 million rand house you going to pay around R19 900 per month for my bond. Not far off the 1800 pounds for that dodgy home you posted

Not all the beaches are shale but even those are extremely popular. My kids love swimming there. They're also safe to walk down to them unescorted to buy an ice cream etc during those long summer evenings. Depending on where you live your garden might be huge, moderate, or downright tiny but they also tend not to have electrified fencing surrounding them either.

I could personally care less about the broadband speed here or there.

 

[Midnight_choir_drunk]

SAP Consulting never pays poor


Thanks Sinbad couldn't have said it better myself.
Not every home in the UK is a shoe box with no yard, there are some really nice homes and they are affordable.

I don't believe comparing ZAR vs GBP amounts adds much value. The current exchange rate is R18.34 to the pound so any conversion is going to be skewed. A one to one comparison has always worked well for me, so if i earn a R1000 in SA what can i get for it and if i earn £1000 in the UK what will that get me. In most cases you get more for what you earn in UK than what you could in SA, IMO anyway.

That said its not all roses living in the UK, as with anything in life there are negatives. Its just depends which negatives you are willing to accept. For now I'm happy accepting the negatives here over the negatives of living in SA.

R1000 versus 1000£ and you think that is an apple with apples comparrison ? That so absurd its funny. Unless for example you suggest we earn on average something like R3500 rand a month here?

 

[Elro]

My god, that house is hideous. Is that considered a good house there?

I prefer local thanks For the same price:

http://www.property24.com/for-sale/...eth/eastern-cape/8349/101919011?Branded=false
http://www.property24.com/for-sale/port-alfred/port-alfred/eastern-cape/8386/101923160?Branded=false

Yes, they dont come with 100mb adsl I accept that. They do come with more sunshine though.

I'm with ghoti on this one.. every country has it's issues. You have to pick the ones you are prepared to live with in the end.

 

[zippy]

Was the first one I found.
UK houses generally aren't pretty from the outside, anyway.

Neither are SA houses "generally". But then "generally", "most" SA houses are in squatter camps or in very low income areas.

You can get quite large houses, 4 to 5 beds with garden and garaging from £300k. While the prices might look high in comparison to SA, the mortgage rate in the UK is very low in comparison, which makes a £300k house affordable. And the interest rate in the UK doesn't fluctuate as wildly as it has in SA. Same goes for other European countries.

When you compare affordability you also need to take into account the mortgage rates and their stability.

 

[zippy]

If I was spending my money and I had R20 000 to spend and I was choosing between buying that old council house in the UK or buying this house:

http://www.property24.com/for-sale/...bay/eastern-cape/10545/101960135?Branded=true

No prizes if you can guess which house I would invest my money in

I doubt R20 000 would cover a single garage in the north west

 

[OrbitalDawn]

I'm with ghoti on this one.. every country has it's issues. You have to pick the ones you are prepared to live with in the end.

Unless one of the 'issues' is a high murder rate. You can't 'live with it' if it happens to you, after all.

An 'issue you need to live with' is something like culture, or weather. Not getting killed in a hijacking or house robbery.

 

[S1ght]

Interesting thread. I've been researching the idea of moving to Australia over the last couple of weeks

For anyone who does happen to post their (or friends) experiences of moving overseas, any chance you could be specific about what made you return or stay?

Unfortunately when you haven't traveled much, when people say how much better it is in the 1st world it's a bit difficult to grasp since SA is pretty much all I know From brief conversations with colleagues at work, they all seem to say the biggest factor is the stress factor and how you don't realise how much you're on edge when you're in SA. For instance the 1 guy visited the UK for a few weeks and he said the moment he got back, he immediately noticed how quickly at to switch back to being more aware of what was going on around him...Maybe that's just Johannesburg though?