|
| Cyprus Buying Guide Newsletter |
|
||
| Hello How have you been since I last wrote? How are your plans to buy in Cyprus going? The weekend before last...(in between moving offices and watching England annihilate Wales at Twickenham) I met with a couple Cyprus Buying Guide readers – Lisa and Neil. Lisa is 25 years old and has just announced her engagement to a wonderful guy - Neil (36 years old). They both seem very much in love and very determined to create a new life together…a new life in Cyprus, that is. Lisa purchased my Cyprus Buying Guide and subsequently filled out my property form asking for help to find a property in Cyprus (http://www.CyprusBuyingGuide.com/requirementsform.htm) I noticed that the couple live close to me, so I thought I’d meet them at a coffee shop for a chat. Over the course of discussions, I learned quite a bit about the couple. Lisa was diagnosed with cancer last year (can you believe that – at the age of 24!) The doctors were able to get rid of it, however it has come back. Lisa is going in for another operation this week. Lisa is a psychologist and works for the prison system. Neil also works within the prison system – he trains new recruits. After five minutes I felt as if I had known this couple for ages. They were full of life, excitement and wonderful dreams! Anyway – Lisa worked at a bar in Cyprus (in Paphos) spending a full summer there along with other visits and Neil has gone to Cyprus many times. When asked why they want to move, Lisa explained that if she has to evaluate another paedophile she’ll go crazy and Neil stated that there is nothing keeping him in the UK – especially after this summer (hehehe). Furthermore, they both think that a change of lifestyle will help them to conquer the cancer and enjoy life more. They had several questions, however all their questions really boiled down to this main one: “How the heck do we achieve our dream to leave the UK, move to Cyprus and make it work for us - where do we start?!” In this month’s newsletter, I’ve written an outline about what I said to Lisa and Neil along with articles/information on financial planning, how to create on a currency strategy, where to start with your research, a burning question answered and some other tid-bits. I’m positive that anyone with a dream to move to Cyprus can accomplish it. I know in my heart that Lisa and Neil will soon be sipping a drink while they relax by the beach… And if that’s your dream, you can do it too! Keep reading… Big Smiles, Kim Brown
|
||
First Steps - Getting a Cyprus PropertyThe Question:
When Lisa and Neil asked me this question, I explained that the first thing they need to do is make a firm decision and commitment to focus on moving to Cyprus. Many people dream and many people say that they want a better life, want a new job or want to live in a better neighbourhood…and most of those people still have those same wants in 10, 20, 50 years later. Many people find comfort in complaining about the weather, taxes, their bum-head boss and how terrible their life is… and many people say they want to move to Cyprus, but for some reason or another they always find a reason for it not to happen. So…the key first stage to doing anything is to determine that you’re 100% dedicated to making the life-changing step of moving to Cyprus. And it’s important to get clear why you want to do it. Is it for a more relaxed pace of life, better weather, to pay less tax, to live the island life or a better up-bringing for your children….? You don’t need to tell anyone what you’re doing…you need to simply make a promise to yourself that you’ve made up your mind and you’ll do what ever it takes to make it happen. This is the one step that will set you in the right direction, the one step that will take you closer to actually living in Cyprus. When I asked Lisa and Neil about their level of seriousness, they both said that they’re ready and willing to do whatever it takes. They know why they want to go and they are ready to do whatever it takes to make it happen. The next step is to sort out your finances. Many people skip this absolutely necessary step and that can cause HUGE issues in the future. Lisa and Neil were eager to chat about the type of property, the location, and even the design of pool they want HOWEVER these details need to be considered AFTER they know how much money they have to spend (and live on). Neil mentioned that he has a property he could sell with X amount of equity. Lisa has a savings account of X amount and some other small investments that her Dad has made for her. They both have pensions and personal items they’d need to sell. Neil also mentioned that he has considered re-mortgaging his house as there’s quite a bit of equity in it, using the money for a deposit and renting his UK property rather than sell it. After Lisa and Neil stopped talking I said…’So…how much money do you have available and how much do you want to spend? Considering it will cost you around 10% in buying costs (solicitor, taxes, fees, etc) and you’ll need money to live on until you start making money… Both Lisa and Neil looked at me and said, ‘It depends…It depends on what gives us the most freedom/flexibility and what allows us to make the move without worrying whether we have enough money or not...” We discussed various pros and cons to their options. We also chatted about the impact of the Euro replacing the CY£, options for ‘extra’ funds they could release and how to actually make money from their money/assets they already own and so forth. In the end, they realised that they have several ways to structure their finance, but were not sure which would result in the best situation for them. At this point, I told Lisa and Neil that the best thing they could do would be to contact a Financial Advisor – someone who could draw up every possible scenario and show them the actual potential outcome for each choice. Heck – an initial consultation is free, so I’m not sure why more people don’t check with them before doing anything… Anyway – Lisa and Neil were ready to get on a plane to view properties without fully comprehending the financial aspect of their plans. If they had gone to Cyprus with an illegal marketing companies (one with low cost inspection trips and hard sales tactics) at this stage, they may have decided to buy strictly for emotional reasons rather than buying based on knowledge. NOT A GOOD IDEA! Buying emotionally can mean that people to over-extend themselves. The last thing anyone wants is a fantastic property in a dream setting that they can’t realistically afford! There’s no fun in that… Anyhoooooooooo, my message for this newsletter is that there are many ways and means to pay for a property, avoid paying unnecessary taxes, and/or put extra money in investments that can help you to fund your purchase…BUT YOU NEED TO SORT THESE ISSUES OUT BEFRORE YOU BUY rather than after. Karen Gilbert – my workmate - has contributed an article this month about Financial Advisors – who they are, what they do and how they can benefit you… Check it out below! Or..if you want
me to put you in touch with a good IFA firm, please send me and eMail
and let me know what you're looking for. Kim@CyprusBuyingGuide.com |
||
How to Create a Currency Strategyby Smart Currency’s Charles Purdy.Currency strategy – what is this and why is it necessary? The last thing people want to think about when buying their dream home in their dream location is changing their hard earned sterling into local currency. This is a BIG mistake. One my clients called me after completing all his transfers and thanked me for saving him £20,000. This is a wonderful saving, but how did we manage it?! There is a simple answer - by working as a team. John contacted Smart Currency just after making the decision to buy his dream property - he was immigrating to France and moving funds in excess of £500,000. John had a reasonable idea of his projected timings: he knew the date of the sale of his property here in the UK, plus the dates for initial and final payments on the French property. Furthermore, John had already opened a French bank account. He had also worked out all his figures at a specific Euro to the Pound exchange rate and thus his aim in working with us was to get a better rate than estimated and, if at all possible, improve on it significantly. As we had time on our side, we were able to set up some target rates that were slightly on the optimistic side. The rates were not unrealistic, so we agreed that if the market moved in his favour, even for a short time, we would give him a ring and he could purchase the currency. Aside from offering poor rates banks are not proactive in this way, and waiting to the last minute leaves you open to vagaries of the market – not a good idea. Because of John’s decision to work with a really good team of specialists, and to USE TIME TO HIS ADVANTAGE, it all worked wonderfully. You can imagine how thrilled he was with his windfall of an extra £20,000 – at a time when extra funds would really come in handy. So a currency strategy doesn’t have to be complicated. You just have to have a reasonable feel for the relevant timescales, the amounts needed, a good idea of what your target rate is and to work closely with a team like Smart Currency Exchange. And How is the Cypriot Pound doing? As you know, the Cypriot £ is pegged to the Euro. The Cypriot £ is currently sitting at Cy.£0.858/£1 inter bank. It was only a couple of weeks ago that the Cypriot £ pushed up to towards Cy.£0.867/£1. At one stage, at the start of last week, we were close to Cy.£0.852/£1. The European Central Bank ECB, which controls the € interest rates, had made it clear that interest rates would be increased next month by 0.25%. However given the volatility in the market place and the need for the ECB to supply liquidity, the market is beginning to wonder if the expected increase in € interest rates will happen in the short term. However, we have to remember economically that Euro land continues to leave the UK in its wake. To get a Better-than-Bank
exchange rate and to discuss what options you have go to: http://www.smartCurrencyExchange.com/smartsquotation.htm
|
||
Burning Question - TAXQuestion:
Answer: The answer is reasonably
straightforward for resident and domiciled UK citizens. The applicable rate
depends on the individual’s overall income, so for basic rate
tax payers this would be 20% and for higher rate payers the rate is
40%. Any questions? Why not check out the forum at:
|
||
Just what DOES an IFA do?By Karen Gilbert – The Overseas Guides Company August 2007 I am often asked a plethora of questions regarding preparation for buying property overseas and / or emigrating. Common questions are around inheritance tax in various countries and options for the re-investment of equity from UK property sales. With increasing UK house prices and increasing wealth here in the UK, these both seem to come up more and more. I heard on the news only last night that the average price of UK property will reach £300k within the next 5 years! If this is the case, wealth management and the services of Independent Financial Advisors will be even more useful to an even larger number of people. Over time I seem to have picked up a fair amount of knowledge on some finance related topics – which I hope I’ll come to find useful at some stage soon! Where Overseas Guides Company readers are concerned though, I always suggest that they speak directly to an Independent Financial Advisor. I must say that I have always thought of IFAs as something only used by those will a lot of money. That said though, as I’m now working with IFAs, I can see their usefulness more and more. In fact, I am sorting my pension out with an IFA now. If you’re interested in the process of working with an IFA, I’ll cover this off towards the end of this article... Financial planning is an essential part of planning to buy a property abroad. My contact Antony, who works as an IFA based in the East Midlands, wrote the following piece for me as an overview of the ways in which an IFA can assist you when you’re buying a property overseas.
Setting up a personal pension – My experience… By Karen Gilbert I thought I would share with you my experience of working with an IFA in setting up my personal pension. I hope this short account is useful and acts as an introduction to the way in which IFAs operate… I had been considering for sometime moving my old company pension - which had been frozen for 12 months - across to a new personal pension. As usual though I’d been busy with one thing or another and had not found the time to do something about it. The perfect opportunity – Antony and I were discussing pensions not so long ago and I thought this would be a great chance to finally get organised and get things moving with my future financial planning! Antony and I had a few initial conversations over the phone. I actually knew very little about pensions (my previous company pensions hadn’t required too much thought!) so it was useful for me to understand the basic concept and the benefits of having one. We also discussed the various options from high risk through to lower risk and the type of strategy I might take. As far as pensions are concerned, an IFA works with you to understand your financial position – taking into account your income and outgoings - and then assists you in making decisions based on affordability, your current age and your financial objectives for the future (including your desired retirement age – I mentioned 32!). To instruct an IFA you need to fill in a set of forms. For my pension, I had to complete forms relating to my income and outgoings and also had to sign authority to Antony so that he could have access to the details of my previous company pension – the forms took me about 15 minutes to complete and cost me nothing. As I understand it an initial consultation, which includes the implementation of your pension, is free of charge. However, if clients want to receive ongoing advice and guidance on all aspects of their financial portfolio, a retainer fee may be charged. Within a week or so I had a document from Antony detailing the value of my old company pension and suggesting what I might like to do now. My desired retirement age of 32 just wouldn’t be possible without a small lottery win but none the less I agreed my pension plan and the funds in which I would like to invest. My signed forms and direct debit mandate went in the post today so all should be up and running for me soon. The count down to retirement is now officially on!
Antony and his team really are fantastic and I would be more than happy to put you in touch with the team there. They have successfully assisted numerous Overseas Guides readers with a financial plan for their overseas property purchase. Feel free to email me at: Karen@OverseasGuidesCompany.com
| ||
The Road to be Travelled!by Carol DunningTo my mind there is no point in setting off on a journey without having done a bit of reading first. It’s all about 'doing your homework'. I have learnt from bitter experience that it's a whole lot better to learn from someone else's mistakes rather than your own - and usually a whole bunch cheaper too... In my twenties – more years ago than I am going to share with you – I found myself in Corfu, having hitch-hiked there with a friend plus a couple of American fellows. One of them was travelling with a typewriter (I know….what DID we do without computers?!!) and had several guidebooks to hand. I often saw him pouring over them, planning out what he wanted to see and where he wanted to go – and how to get there! I later found out that, while I had been lying on the beach, he had visited the lovely church of St. Spyridon and indeed seen the Saint’s silver casket paraded through the streets of the town. Later, reading about the island in ‘My Family and Other Animals’ and ‘Prospero’s Cell by the Durrell brothers, I could have KICKED myself, reading about what I had missed seeing…lesson learnt! Of all the guide books available, I would have no hesitation in putting the Lonely Planet Guides top of the list. To find your dream property you cannot do better than take these guides with you on your journey of exploration. It will tell you the pros and cons of each place, list restaurants and things to see and do and, of course, how to get there – all things that may well affect your decision to purchase. There are many guide books, but in my experience none are as concise, as detailed and somehow as HONEST as these compact books. The first was written over 30 years ago by Tony and Maureen Wheeler. They are still actively involved with Lonely Planet as directors of the company, and still both travelling and writing. And I think that’s the point: there is a genuine love of travel, a deep sense of adventure and a real knowledge of the locality that comes through the pages of these guides to the reader. Today the company has offices in Melbourne, Oakland and London, with over 500 office employees and 300+ on-the-road authors. There are over 500 Lonely Planet titles, each one containing practical travel information plus concise background information on the culture and history of the countries. They have yet again won the Wanderlust award for “Best Guidebook Series” this year – the fourth year in a row Lonely Planet has received this recognition. Just as importantly, we at the Overseas Guides Company award them 10 out of 10! You will find Lonely Planet books if you click on: Lonely Planet Publications (they currenty have a 30% off sale) And then there is Amazon. Amazon is an addiction that I simply am not prepared to give up. Where else can you find almost every book currently in print, plus almost every CD or DVD? And the brilliant thing is that you can usually get it cheaper on Amazon than in most high street shops. I went in under ‘Books’ and typed in ‘Greece’: up came a list on Guide books, Cook books, books on nlearning Greek, stories of people who had moved to Greece, the history of Greece…the 2nd World War in Crete, Paddy Leigh Fermor’s wonderful book on Mani… There is also an endless number of things to buy: not only books and CD’s/DVD’s, but headings like Home and Garden, Toys and Games, Jewellery and Watches – it’s hard to believe that there is anything they DON’T have here! There are three things that have made me an addict: firstly, of course, the sheer range of products. Then there is the ease with which one can order…I have to confess that throughout our office I am known as a complete technophobe – usually I just don’t get it. Unhappily for my bank balance, I DO get Amazon – it’s so easy. Finally, there is the incredibly good service: mere days go by and there is my order – always correct, always on time… Next time you see a film that you enjoy, just pop on to your new best friend Amazon and within a few days it will be yours for ever! What more can I say other than ‘Amazon, you’re the BEST’!! You may want to get hold of the books I have reviewed in the past, or indeed one of the slew of other books available to guide you through the process of buying abroad – and don't forget to take an English / Greek language dictionary or phrase book with you. Amazon is a great place to try - click below to get more information.
By Olga Sladeckova
– The Overseas Guides Company August 2007 If you are just
planning your trip to Limassol in Cyprus and are searching for a hotel
to stay in then here is an option for you! The Louis Apollonia Beach
Hotel is located on the seafront, almost right on the beach. Kim and I arrived at the hotel at noon. It was just
before the checking-in time so our room wasn’t quite ready yet.
It didn’t seem to matter as we could wait in a huge air-conditioned
lounge with a lovely view of massive palm trees with the deep blue sea
behind them. Thirty minutes later
our room was ready! It had a stunning view of the beach and sea from
the balcony. We also had a great view of the hotel pool, surrounded
by people sunbathing, with its lovely outdoor restaurant and bar. The room was tastefully decorated in blue and yellow
– as we gazed around we picked at the delicious complimentary
fruit basket on the table! The bathroom was very spacious, decorated
in cool marble stone. We didn’t waste much time in heading straight
for the outdoor pool for a cooling swim and bit of sunbathing. Apollonia hotel is well equipped for every holiday makers’
needs. You can visit the gym, pop into the beauty salon or take an outdoor
massage right by the sea! The beauty salon offers anything from massages,
facials and wax to aromatherapy. After that you can visit the hotel
hairdresser and perhaps buy new clothes in the hotel shops…Cue
the film Pretty Woman!! In the evening,
Kim and I visited the outdoor restaurant called Thalassaki. It was by
the sea and our table was right on the beach. It would have been very
romantic if I was with my boyfriend, but Kim just didn't cut it! The
food was absolutely delicious, with some exotic treats that looked as
though they had been designed by an artist! You could also choose from
either a Japanese or an Italian restaurant if you fancied sushi or pasta. We only stayed one
night but I could easily have spent a very relaxing week or two in the
hotel, just relaxing and being spoiled rotten! This is a snap that Kim
took from the Balcony: I hope you've enjoyed
this months Newsletter... If I can help you further with anything, please
let me know. I'm going for a curry tonight - I think I'll have a Chicken
Rogan Balti (with mushrooms), a Pashwari Nan and some Bombay potatoes...hmmmmmm...I'm
hungry. Have a GREAT month. For help with finding
a property, please go to: CBG
Property Resources Form - help with finding mortgage lenders, solicitors,
etc. CBG
Services and Resources and Reviews The full version
Cyprus Buying Guide and Audio
Set - if you haven't purchased this yet, you're crazy! It has a
full money-back guarantee, so there is no risk in buying it. If you
don't think it will save you time, money and hassel, I'll give you your
money back with no questions asked. CBG
Forum - a community of people buying property in Cyprus Big smiles, Kim |
