Turkish Living Forums - Cost of Living

11th June 2008, 11:15

#21

pldouglas

Senior Member

Re: Cost of Living

Quote:

Originally Posted by andy brown

Remember those medical insurance prices will rise dramatically the older (and more likely to need medical attention) you get.

In later years if (touch wood this does not happen) you have a serious medical condition you may be glad that if you had rented and not sold your UK property, you would be able to return.

don't want to be a pessamist, but keep all your bases covered..

Andy

Good point and one I think people forget when gazing at the blue sea and a pretty whitewashed villa in the sun! our dear old NHS isn't always great, but it is there for us all. I also wonder about mobility as one gets older - everything is on a vertical hill in Turkey! You also need to cost in things like Residents Permit fees and return trips to GB. I know we pay an awful lot in council tax in GB (we pay around £1600 per year) but you get what you pay for, we have good roads, excellent facilities for elderly, children and disabled people, clean streets and petty crime decreasing. If I'm lucky enough to live to old age then I know where I would rather spend that time.

11th June 2008, 17:51	#22
lilacdiana lilacdiana	Re: Cost of Living The thing that gets me about all the talk about house prices going down is that most of us who are lucky enough to be on the property ladder have made a good profit over the last few years. Prices could never keep rising like they had been,outstripping any other price increases. If you have to sell for less now than you would of done a year ago then so be it. If the money had been sat in a high rate account in the UK it would not of risen to the extent that property has. The people i feel sorry for now are the ypungsters who are trying to get on the property ladder still. Some of the mortgages that friends children have taken out is very scary. We are not in a position to help out my 3 daughters with a deposit for a house and for them getting on the ladder seems inpossible. And it is all very well saying stay put for a couple of years and wait and see. Well who knows what the next two years will bring!!!!

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11th June 2008, 18:00	#23
Martyn Senior Member	Re: Cost of Living It's a no win situation for people that should have been dealt with years ago. Already anyone who bought with 100% mortgage in the last 12 months will be in negative equity, and the more prices go down the more people who will be trapped. There should have been something done about the buy to let market with people buying multiple properties which in turn drove the prices up. Personally I doesn't affect me as I finish my mortgage this year and my two eldest sons are on the ladder so they are ok but the youngsters(including my youngest) haven't got a chance.

11th June 2008, 18:02	#24
saoirse Senior Member	Re: Cost of Living Cant agree Lilac. We are basically in a world recession and only those who have to sell right now should. Of course people should hold on for the better price. As regards getting on the property ladder it is tough but every generation faces the same problem. All part of life.

11th June 2008, 18:33	#25
Terry&Sue Senior Member	Re: Cost of Living I had some shares in an ISA worth about £14000 just before the catastrophic events of 911 and immediately afterwards people were running about selling shares like headless chickens as confidence was rock bottom. The share nosedived to £7000 overnight and others said to me "For Christs sake sell and cut your losses" to which I said "No you only make a loss when you actually sell and the bottom of the market is the wrong time to sell". Those shares have since recovered the whole of my £7000 loss and made profit. Its the same with property and it all relates to demand and consumer confidence. You dont sell a property when that is low because the only people buying are going to fleece you and bank the profits themselves when the market picks up. The timing of decisions you make in life, particularly financial ones, can make or break you and if the dream has to wait, so be it. We are talking about a move to a different country as soon as possible but why does rational logical thought go out of the window when some of us know there are a few bad years followed by a few good ones and timing is the key. There is far too much of a "lemming" attitude in life where "Oh if they are doing it,I had better do it too" Act in haste,repent at leisure!

11th June 2008, 18:55	#26
Manda New Member	Re: Cost of Living We were really lucky, we sold our house when prices were at the peak last summer. Unfortunatley for alot of us living in Turkey & keeping a house back in the UK isn't an option as we need to use part of the capital to buy our new home. So it's either stay in England or move lock stock & barrel. Yes theres always a chance that we could fall ill & have to hope that our medical insurance covers us, but I can't personally justify spending the rest of my life not doing what I really want to just in case of illness. If you need expensive drugs nowadays it depends on your postcode whether you will be prescibed them. I'm personally sick of paying a fortune in tax so MP's can furnish their second homes & employ there families. I don't want to be on my death bed at an old age wondering how my life would of been if i had followed my dream. I may end up with regrets, but at least I won't have the regret of never having tried. Everything in life worth doing is a risk. All you can do is put as much financial back up into place as possible. England does have things going for it, but for us now the bad far out weighs the good. Its a decision everyone has to make for themselves. Inflation is sky rocketing far quicker in England. It now costs me £250 a month just to go to work. Yes, it would be nice to work locally & cut costs but unfortunately businesses in my town are going to the wall daily. About a third of the shops in our high street have now closed. The crimes reported in our local paper are no longer of the petty variety. It's stabbings, muggings & people being attacked when walking home from going out for a drink. Its a risk to chuck it all in & move abroad, but as long as its a calculated one, sometimes you just have to go for it. As long as you don't have rose tinted glasses on thinking life's going to be just one long holiday, its worth trying. It is for us anyway.

11th June 2008, 23:05	#27
Miss Money Penny Senior Member	Re: Cost of Living "Unfortunatley for alot of us living in Turkey & keeping a house back in the UK isn't an option as we need to use part of the capital to buy our new home. So it's either stay in England or move lock stock & barrel. Yes theres always a chance that we could fall ill & have to hope that our medical insurance covers us, but I can't personally justify spending the rest of my life not doing what I really want to just in case of illness." Well said Manda my thoughts exactly! and at 52 & 64 I dont think we can afford to wait too long to give our dream a try! Last edited by Miss Money Penny : 11th June 2008 at 23:08.

12th June 2008, 08:58	#28
sandyhelen sandy	Re: Cost of Living Hi all Ceratinly I have some sympathy for the people who feel that the current valuations of their property has fallen since they purchased. But what you have to realise that due to greed on the part of some sellers and desparation on some buyers who were apparently determined to purhase at whatever costs. Which resulted in vastly overpriced property coupled with up to 30% over the market value offers, then we find ourselves in the position of housing values dropping to what appears to be a more realistic price, and probably the true value of their property. Remember at the end of the day, your property is only worth what someone is prepared to pay. I know that from a personal view that I will make a profit, when and if we sell, after all we have lived in our house for 25 years, so even at the current level, I will profit. But!!, then I will still have to purchase somewhere to live. Cheers Sandy

12th June 2008, 10:01	#29
Mark and Wendy Wendy and Mark	Re: Cost of Living Well said Manda. I thoroughly agree. Why stay here with all that is going on. I'm ready to move now, I want to be out of the rat race. Anyone want to buy a house? ? ?

12th June 2008, 11:35	#30
Terry&Sue Senior Member	Re: Cost of Living Well ,we live in a lovely part of Kent in a quiet close with wonderful neighbours. It has easy access to London if you fancy a show or a special night out. All the local shops are friendly places and you often meet neighbours or friends there. We have parks,a river,a castle and have many craft fairs,carnivals etc each year. Summer open air concerts take place on the castle lawn. The coast at Hastings,Eastbourne or Brighton is just an hour away. Up on the Weald of Kent or on the South Downs in Sussex there are tremendous views and plenty of room to walk or picnic There is no "rat race" as far as I am concerned because we do what we want,when we want. If any one us get taken ill or have an accident we know that A&E or our local emergency doctors facility is just a short drive away. We have wellman and wellwoman clinics at a large local doctors practice(8 of them) just up the road. We understand and can communicate with people. We havent got to spend hours filling in forms or queue up to see one man in a hot office surrounded by mountains of papers and speaking in a language we dont understand. We have no litter problem in our close at all yet spent at least 2 hours last week in Fethiye picking up bottles,cartons and tissues near our apartment which a couple of Turkish families had decided were better there than outside their apartment. Our grandchild lives 12 miles away and we are in close contact with our son and daughter on a regular basis. Having spent last week in Fethiye speaking to various expats it was amazing how many were fed up with not doing anything and several talked about wanting a UK base again as there was only so much sea,sand,sun and bar lunches they could take. Dont get me wrong,we love Turkey but we love Kent and our home country UK more. We have problems here of course but so does everywhere right now and picking a sunny country and thinking it will be always paradise compared to the UK may not be wise. Having had numerous posts on here from supposedly disillusioned UK residents desperate to get the "paradise" life at all costs,I thought I would give support to us happy UK people. God save the Queen!