Where to buy on a budget?

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Where to buy on a budget?
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Nick

Joined: 02 Nov 2004
Posts: 34535
Location: Hereford

Posted: Thu Aug 11, 11 5:58 pm Post subject:

marigold wrote:

When you say "land", how much land do you want? This looks nice to me, is near a school and would leave you plenty of change from your £120k.

Quote:

There are road connections to Scunthorpe, Hull

marigold

Joined: 02 Sep 2005
Posts: 12458
Location: West Sussex

Posted: Thu Aug 11, 11 7:53 pm Post subject:

Nick wrote:

marigold wrote:

When you say "land", how much land do you want? This looks nice to me, is near a school and would leave you plenty of change from your £120k.

Quote:

There are road connections to Scunthorpe, Hull

Yeah, I deliberately searched around Hull, knowing property is as cheap as chips around there, but, hey, you can't have everything and it is quite a cute cottage with a big garden...

. If you want a cheap property you have to look in wild places...

chez

Joined: 13 Aug 2006
Posts: 35934
Location: The Hive of the Uberbee, Quantock Hills, Somerset

Posted: Thu Aug 11, 11 7:54 pm Post subject:
Hull. Where no-one can hear you scream.

Katieowl

Joined: 01 Jun 2006
Posts: 4317
Location: West Wales

Posted: Fri Aug 12, 11 9:47 am Post subject:
I think the million dollar question is the one posed by tim and nicky. You HAVE to have your income source as more than a vague plan before you commit. You can be as self sufficient as you can be...but you still need some sort of income, and if you are an 'outsider' it will be harder to do. Kate

Mary-Jane

Joined: 13 Jan 2005
Posts: 18397
Location: The Fishing Strumpet is from Ceredigion in West Wales

Posted: Fri Aug 12, 11 9:57 am Post subject:

Katieowl wrote:

You HAVE to have your income source as more than a vague plan before you commit. You can be as self sufficient as you can be...but you still need some sort of income, and if you are an 'outsider' it will be harder to do.

Seconded. With knobs on.

Andrea

Joined: 02 May 2005
Posts: 2260
Location: Portugal

Posted: Fri Aug 12, 11 11:03 am Post subject:

Cath123 wrote:

I have a 10 year old and wonder if I would be able to find a really good school for her abroad, or even an international school? That's what put me off France as their mainstream system is so traditional and stressful for young children.

A 'really good school', can be find to hard in the UK too!

Portuguese schools are very different to UK ones, in both good and bad ways. In a rural area, you will have a very limited choice. In our area, the closest school for your daughter's age group would involve a school day including travel starting at 7.20am and returning at 7pm. This would be until the end of secondary level. After that, choice becomes even more limited. Our nearest school offers post 16 courses in only three vocational subjects. Most foreigners I know send their teens back to the UK age 16.

Attainment wise, I think the local school has lower expectations than I would like.

There is also the difficulties of communication with the school to consider when you're doing so in a second language. And of course working your way around the school system (registering, subsidies etc).

I guess there must be international schools, but I'm not aware of any anywhere near us. It's worth bearing in mind that an International school won't integrate kids into the local community (language, culture, networking) in the same way that a local one will.

Cath123

Joined: 06 Aug 2011
Posts: 10

Posted: Fri Aug 12, 11 12:59 pm Post subject:

Great thanks to all of you for your input and advice on this!

Alice, I hear you now; I must admit I was only looking at Mainland Orkney - I wwoofed a few years ago there and was advised to stick to mainland, but as you say the prices are way higher there, and there is so little availability. Sanday does seem to be a happy island, but only does school up to 16. I guess having a family poses problems. Where abouts may I ask are you?!

Marigold - gosh that IS cheap, thank you so much for taking the trouble to post that. I was hoping however for a few if not more acres - originally I figured out 12 would be ideal (but it doesn't have to be good land, infact better if not) now I'm not so fussy, but would want at least 2.

Hello Bayandgrey and thanks for your comment and pointing me to the aberdeenshire website. I did look at Aberdeenshire very closely about a year ago as I have friends down the road near Aberlour, but again couldn't find anything in budget! Sounds like a good place to live if a bargain comes up - do you do school locally?

Boisdevie1 - thanks for your comments and no kidding - I have seen and heard of lots of people coming back for those reasons. I do speak French and my Spanish is ok, but not a word of Portugese; but even speaking the language doesn't automatically integrate you as lifestyles can be so different.
As you and others wisely say making an income is an issue. I wasn't expecting to really make a penny out of running a smallholding/croft but did think if it was in a nice area the house might be rent outable for holiday lets for a while while we lived discreetly in a caravan or similar (bang go the planning people!) on the land, or converted an outbuilding for holiday lets, just to get money in. I've been out of the workforce a bit for the last 10 years while home schooling my daughter, so will need to be making some new steps.

Cath123

Joined: 06 Aug 2011
Posts: 10

Posted: Fri Aug 12, 11 1:14 pm Post subject:

And thanks Katieowl, it's true. I need to work on this, at least staying in the British Isles I still get child tax credit, etc., and I think may be eligible for working family tax credit which I believe tops up a low income.
Andrea I am fascinated to hear your story! It is also very inspiring. I am familiar with the local school = integration perspective and do appreciate its truth! How have your children got on? How do you find the Portugese system? That is quite a commute - longer than the option we had in the highlands Lochinver to Ullapool. I don't think I could put my daughter into that, but I guess they get used to it? And it seems to be a truism in so many places I've looked at, any where nice to live i.e. rural, you face a long commute to school - which seems to be in some ways counterproductive of the kind of life we are looking for - what a world!

marigold

Joined: 02 Sep 2005
Posts: 12458
Location: West Sussex

Posted: Fri Aug 12, 11 1:24 pm Post subject:

Hmm, well, I don't know all your circumstances, what your personal qualities are, where your income comes from and how big it is, or what your future expectations are (potential inheritances etc), but £120k doesn't sound like a huge amount of capital from which to start a one-woman smallholding enterprise from scratch (ETA - in the UK).

Maybe you already have a business plan, but if not you need to ask yourself a lot of questions. What will you do with your 2-12 acres? How would you finance converting buildings into holiday homes? How will you fund your ongoing expenses such as council tax, water, fuel, transport, clothing, insurance, essential tools and household equipment, repairs, education-related expenses, animal costs?

The rural idyll is a nice dream, but a small cottage with a large garden where you can keep chickens and grow veg, on the edge of a thriving village or small town might be more realistic and less stressful at least while your daughter is dependent on you.

Last edited by marigold on Fri Aug 12, 11 1:56 pm; edited 1 time in total

Bulgarianlily

Joined: 01 Jun 2008
Posts: 1667
Location: South West Mountains of Bulgaria

Posted: Fri Aug 12, 11 1:43 pm Post subject:
Land is very cheap here, but you don't need much, as the village grazing is free if you go with the animals yourself, or for 3 euros a month a man will take your cow out. Comes down to what are you doing for income and what do you want to do with land?

Cath123

Joined: 06 Aug 2011
Posts: 10

Posted: Fri Aug 12, 11 1:56 pm Post subject:

Hi Bulgarianlily, thanks for your reply. Wow that is cheap beyond belief. I had heard of Bulgaria being a place to move to but not sure I'd be brave enough with such a different culture and language and especially with a child.
How do you find the language/culture and do you have a family i.e. children who (may) need to go to school at some stage? All I've ever really wanted was a croft like piece of land with common grazing rights or similar to have a few native suckler cattle/ponies/goat,etc., to provide as much home grown untampered with food as possible and the lifestyle to match. It would be great to trade food/labour with neighbours. Income is an issue as you say, I have lots of good qualifications in English Lit at postgrad level - still wondering what I can really use them for!

bayandgrey

Joined: 23 Aug 2005
Posts: 42
Location: Aberdeenshire

Posted: Fri Aug 12, 11 2:55 pm Post subject:
hi Cath123, we dont have kids but there are plenty of schools around and talking to friends who do have kids there doesn't seem to be any problems with education. It took us 7 years before we brought here as aberdeenshire prices seem to fluctuate a lot over time, usually reflecting how the oil industry is perfoming. Andy

alice

Joined: 18 Feb 2006
Posts: 2820

Posted: Fri Aug 12, 11 3:25 pm Post subject:
Cath123 - have pm'd you.

Andrea

Joined: 02 May 2005
Posts: 2260
Location: Portugal

Posted: Sat Aug 13, 11 8:06 am Post subject:

Cath123 wrote:

Andrea I am fascinated to hear your story! It is also very inspiring. I am familiar with the local school = integration perspective and do appreciate its truth! How have your children got on? How do you find the Portugese system? That is quite a commute - longer than the option we had in the highlands Lochinver to Ullapool. I don't think I could put my daughter into that, but I guess they get used to it? And it seems to be a truism in so many places I've looked at, any where nice to live i.e. rural, you face a long commute to school - which seems to be in some ways counterproductive of the kind of life we are looking for - what a world!

My kids are in local school here. The elder gets very tired with his commute, particularly in the winter. When he first started it it used to scare the pants off me as it's a public bus he catches for the main part of the journey, and if he misses it there isn't another. The one time he missed it my phone wasn't working and neither was our car ....! Thankfully someone picked him up, phoned someone else, who phoned someone else, and eventually someone very kindly drove him all the way home (whilst I was frantically trying to track him down / borrow a car / panic, panic!)

I have a decision to make next year about whether the younger also starts there, or goes to a slightly more local school but then has to change schools again in a few years.

When we first came to Portugal I intended to homeschool. I changed my mind very rapidly when I realised how isolated we would become. It's been the right decision as the kids are now looked upon as locals whilst I will always be a foreigner.

clydesdaleclopper

Joined: 22 Jun 2009
Posts: 100
Location: N E Scotland

Posted: Sat Aug 13, 11 11:38 am Post subject:
I'm in Aberdeenshire and it's great. We are literally on the border with Moray and I'd say Moray is that bit cheaper as it's not commutable to Aberdeen so you don't get the inflated prices from all the oil people. I've got round the schools issue by home edding. The Moray Solicitors Property Centre is https://www.spcmoray.com/ and the Aberdeen one is https://www.aspc.co.uk/

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