Type of Work I can do that will satisfy a FSW enough.

[Trenchcoat]

I will be looking to take out a personal loan in the next 12-24 months for home improvement, (loft conversion), so i was interested to see the market for personal loans.

One of my two credit cards is ultimately owned by Lloyds bank. In the terms and conditions they are quite firm that a personal loan cannot be used for buying property - neither for the capital, nor as a deposit.

Whether you are accepted or not i think a mortgage on your UK house makes more sense. The lender needs to be confident they can get their money back and homes are safe as houses. With your improvements to it the value of the house exceeds the value of the loan.

8 years is frankly an insane time period to repay £50,000 (£62,500) on your income levels. It would be a knife against your throat.

As well as giving you easier repayment terms you would get a lower interest rate for a mortgage on a secure asset.

As a quick illustration a 15 year mortgage with Halifax is currently 5.5% with a two year fix (no fees) and a £389 monthly payment. If the house had two tenants that would be double the mortgage payments. If the Bank of England manages to tame inflation interest rates might come down in future. But they can of course go the other way.

You get your arse kicked here a fair bit, but it's only because we don't want you to go into something with blinkers on.

If you borrow money against an asset to utilise the skills you have to do something productive then good for you. I think there are many here who would say you have had 5 days a week to do your house in the UK  and progress has not been lightning quick on that. No one wants a bodge job though and building work isn't a long tranquil river and I imagine you have learnt lessons along the way.

I say at work throw enough darts and eventually you will hit the bulls eye. Just make sure none of them don't boomerang back and hit you in the arse.

You have a good point there Stephen, I think you're probably right. Thing is it kind of worked before when bank interested rates were about half of what they are now but with the higher rate the greater the monthly repayments. In theory if it was a quick doer upper and sell on then I could repay the bank loan with a small extra early repayment fee and take the profit. My strategy tends to be more to buy and hold and rent out the rooms or Airbnb at least the outlook to date. Hopefully my house conversion rooms will rent out ok as the house is only one stop down the rail line from a Uni, all the rooms (will) have ensuite W/C and is also near to a town centre. That and a lot of Landlords are selling up so less competition in the market place at least for now. Anyhow if I'm bringing in around £1k paying a good £600 a month in repayment charges then spending about £100 a week in food, then on top of that fuel for my car, materials to do the place up I'll be running into the red each month and with interest rates going up on credit cards and less good offers on their rates it could soon get overwhelming.

So yeah probably better to take out a mortgage, a bit more fuss but better terms that would be more suitable. As I'm looking to expand a bit then this that would likely be a better route than messing about small scale with bank loans. For that like you say a brief increase in hours at work is a good idea for the mortgage application and also to pay off existing small debts.

Well with my house conversion I was doing about 2 and a half days per week for about the first three years plus some holiday time. Then about 3 and a half days per week for the next two and a bit years plus some holiday time to present date. So hence why it's taken so long. Plus on top of that its been more of a conversation job than a renovation job so that adds to the time significantly.

No other way around it though, if I had gotten people in it would have costed me a fortune and I could have even been in a negative equity situation or near it. If I didn't bring in enough from work then that would have slowed the project and if I borrowed money instead of work then I would have been racking up too much debt I think. So it's been a slow grind but is starting to look good. I also could have done a simpler job by just partitioning off rooms into small rooms and trying to rent out tiny rooms (it can sometimes work) but the value of the house would have been much less so would the desirability and money and can ask for room rent also.

So in theory with my hands untied by work I can work 7 days a week and on a house renovation rather than conversion that's really going to speed it along a hell of a lot faster which is going to be a much more pleasing place to be Usually there is work that costs very little to do (painting walks, tidying up, etc) and then work that's more expensive (fitting in a new bathroom, kitchen, etc) so if I balance the two then it should all be good.

Anyway, Asda Loans & Marks & Spencer loans might also be worth a look for you Stephen if not already. As you know all the terms vary of interest rates they charge, how much they lend you and how thorough checks are, etc so worth looking around. I've only used NatWest for personal loans. The one I took out almost six years ago now they never checked into me using the money for what I said I was using it for. Sone possibly might possibly ask for car reg no if buying a car, etc but I don't think that many do though can't be sure. Putting down home improvement I would be surprised if they would check as it's not an easy one to check into as people would be getting it in advance of doing the work and could be doing the work themselves for all they know. I think it's only if you default they might start asking questions then it could get tricky and while it's unsecured my guess is they would go after any assets you have anyway through court to recoup the money. Main thing I think is a person's record on repayments and their income. I've never missed any repayments so I would likely get one easy enough though like you say Mortgage would probably be a better option.

[Trenchcoat]

No one wants a bodge job though and building work isn't a long tranquil river and I imagine you have learnt lessons along the way.

Absolutely correct Stephen, I don't like to do bodge jobs as I don't like stuff coming back and biting me on the ass. That said if I'm selling something on then there's no point going overboard as I won't be holding onto it so as billing as it doesn't stand out in a bad way I don't necessarily need to be belt & buckles on it all. While you're correct that I've learnt a fair amount along the way I would say these days my problem is less not doing a job well or not knowing how (You Tube is great if a complex job also Google these days) but in finding out that a job is going to be more complex and long winded than hoped. Again conversions tend to bring up more of those issues than renovations as you are changing more.

I appreciate the advice you have given though Stephen I have realised along the way that what sounds like criticism isn't necessarily just criticism but something I (or anyone else) may not foresee as a problem but actually is one if personal ego, sentiment or whatever it is, is put aside and realise that sometimes ourselves can get it wrong even if we think we have it right.

The DIY work I don't mind, it can sometimes get a bit relentless though the stress isn't usually too bad apart from if an odd occasional issue pops up.  It has a nice do it in your own time and how you like it feel, though DIY can be a little money hungry at times but can pay off well long term. Sometimes though it can be a bit isolating moreso if not going out getting stuff but just doing the work, the focus in the job tends to take a lot of that away but days at the work without seeing much of others can isolate a fair bit I think, kind of like being a WWII Japanese soldier still left out in the jungle as if the war is still going on. So at some point doing something social is usually a good idea to compensate, quiet what I'm not sure.

[Steven1971]

I can understand in your shoes you could become overly defensive to feedback on this board. I have done a few things along the way in life and looking for love in Ukraine where people would say: "What the hell are you thinking?" Experience is the name we give to our mistakes as we say. You're a braver man than me contemplating this, but worse comes to the worst you can always sell the Greek property.

For the maisonette I rent out i base the rent on paying back the capital in 15 years as a minimum. I should get more than that in this time frame. I was lucky to only pay £52,500 when the market was low in 2013 and spent £10,000 modernising it. Since it was rented out in April 2014 then I have received £40,000.

I think for Air BnB I would be conservative and assume it would be rented for 130 days a year. Put aside the opportunity cost of your free labour to repay £70,000 in 15 years (I'm guessing £20,000 interest) you would need to charge £36 a night.

The cheapest property I can see in Corfu in the second week of July is £47

http://www.airbnb.co.uk/s/Corfu--Greece/homes?adults=1&children=1&checkin=2023-07-10&checkout=2023-07-16&tab_id=home_tab&refinement_paths%5B%5D=%2Fhomes&query=Corfu%2C%20Greece&place_id=ChIJfwotqt1eWxMR0CErp-YUlAE&flexible_trip_lengths%5B%5D=one_week&price_filter_input_type=2&price_filter_num_nights=6&channel=EXPLORE&ne_lat=41.61082800846629&ne_lng=22.576330914877985&sw_lat=36.81665711850194&sw_lng=16.59619772412691&zoom=7&zoom_level=7&search_by_map=true&search_type=user_map_move


PS It's Steven with a V.  Next time it's a yellow card... 

[krimster2]

The dreams of mice and Trench...

[Trenchcoat]

The dreams of mice and Trench...

Lol, very funny Krim

[krimster2]

consider this, the US central bank (Federal Reserve) has signaled there will be 2 more rate increases and the M2 metric (total money supply) shrank considerably (4+%)
this only happened 4 times previously in US history, and each time it did, it was followed by a depression that led to large unemployment
I know the USA ain't the UK, but even your little island is gonna have some similarity to what's happenin in the USA
conclusion: not the best time to take out a loan and put it into real estate

if'n I were you, while you're still young and energetic, i'd look into "side hussles" for makin some of that sterling (did they put Charle's face on it yet EWWWW) and choose ones that don't require major capital
when I wuz a kid age 12-13 my side hussles were lawn mowing  and snow shoveling, big advantage livin' in a neighborhood with a bunch of old rich people
cash money - tax free

surely you can find some cash side hussles....

[Trenchcoat]

consider this, the US central bank (Federal Reserve) has signaled there will be 2 more rate increases and the M2 metric (total money supply) shrank considerably (4+%)
this only happened 4 times previously in US history, and each time it did, it was followed by a depression that led to large unemployment
I know the USA ain't the UK, but even your little island is gonna have some similarity to what's happenin in the USA
conclusion: not the best time to take out a loan and put it into real estate

if'n I were you, while you're still young and energetic, i'd look into "side hussles" for makin some of that sterling (did they put Charle's face on it yet EWWWW) and choose ones that don't require major capital
when I wuz a kid age 12-13 my side hussles were lawn mowing  and snow shoveling, big advantage livin' in a neighborhood with a bunch of old rich people
cash money - tax free

surely you can find some cash side hussles....

I know they said unemployment figures had risen here of late, but until that they were having trouble getting enough people. The interest rate rises here are a concern, the Bank of England meet again in early May, 11th I think and it looks very likely that they will raise interest rates again. Already most of the good low or zero percent interest rate offers on most of my credit cards have been pulled and back up to around a high 24 percent something. So the good old days of getting cheap credit are looking like they are over. Bank Loans and Mortgages are more than the good deals they have web but still aren't too bad so long are you can cover them ok, around 7-8 percent in a loan, 5-6 percent on a mortgage. Even still people coming off their fixed term mortgages and tracker mortgages may get a shock as they will be going onto a higher interest rate and won't be able to remortgage at a lower rate.

Add to all of that of course that higher interest rates tend to effect businesses badly as business loan costs go up and people spend less. So if job losses really start to mount as a result then we could be in for an unpleasant time. Housing market wise here it's difficult to say, odds are mortgages will become harder to get as lenders become more conservative in an unsteady economic climate. High inflation will eat away at what is often seen as a long term overinflated house price market so that might help to cushion any fall. The danger of course is any sell off in the housing market turns into a fall blown fire sake as people panic. It's been a long time since we had that, not really since the early nineties. The high number of people needing housing in the UK may prevent that but if huge numbers become unemployed we might have a very strange situation on our hands of empty repossessed houses that there are not enough/any buyers for and people street homeless who are needing housing. That is going to be a major headache for any government in power as well as pretty poor for the people concerned. The credit crunch crash wasn't too bad to be honest so we can really only hope that matters don't get too bad, but we have of course been through a major pandemic and supported the war in Ukraine meaning a big government debt burden, high inflation, what was high oil prices and a cost of living crises for some.

The usual time that house prices have historically hit the sh*tter have been roughly around Autumn on to Winter before Christmas as the housing market naturally usually slows up in the UK due to the not so good weather. Add to that the winter fuel issue, cost of living stuff, etc and for sure this Autumn/Winter could do it.

For me I should have my house finished by then, my job well it was around the time I was hoping to become a 'freeman' but I am in no hurry to get rid of the job until I've got the next stage if my life lined up, though I did expect to do that this year. Should I go through with the Corfu idea? Well as Steven has shown me it looks like they tax a fair bit out there the proper market, holiday let's, etc but I guess it's because it's Corfu's and Greece's main source of income so I guess its understandable. The income from holiday let's seem pretty good though if you can make to let it out enough so it's still something that draws my interest, so see how the economy is going when my house is finished in a couple of months I guess.

Anyway, many thanks for the heads up Krim I appreciate your thoughts on this as I know from when I was a youngster back in the nineties how badly a recession/depression can hit people so any warning is definitely something to take real seriously.

[Trenchcoat]

Also Coronavirus seems to be coming back a bit at the moment, looks like we're moving back to face masks in supermarkets, etc as a result of the Arcturus varient. Apparently about 1.2 times more transmissible than it's earlier Omicron varient. Just seems to be getting more & more transmissible all the time but no less potent necessarily. Many people have done protection but it seems an ongoing threat. If it continues in a not good way then it might call into question making any further investments as matters could get difficult, but we'll see.

[krimster2]

taking out a loan at peak interest rate to invest in a market that is set to decline
is NOT a top-notch financial plan

nevertheless, this idea appeals to you 'cuz it's a passive investment...
which you are drawn to by your nature and so hard for you to let go of...

i'd seriously get into some tax free side-gigs with low/no startup costs if'n I wuz you
but you'd have to do some actual work

I know sucks, trading slack for money...
but what else ya got to trade

[Trenchcoat]

taking out a loan at peak interest rate to invest in a market that is set to decline
is NOT a top-notch financial plan

nevertheless, this idea appeals to you 'cuz it's a passive investment...
which you are drawn to by your nature and so hard for you to let go of...

i'd seriously get into some tax free side-gigs with low/no startup costs if'n I wuz you
but you'd have to do some actual work

I know sucks, trading slack for money...
but what else ya got to trade

Thanks Krim you're just what I need:



 

[Trenchcoat]

taking out a loan at peak interest rate to invest in a market that is set to decline
is NOT a top-notch financial plan

nevertheless, this idea appeals to you 'cuz it's a passive investment...
which you are drawn to by your nature and so hard for you to let go of...

i'd seriously get into some tax free side-gigs with low/no startup costs if'n I wuz you
but you'd have to do some actual work

I know sucks, trading slack for money...
but what else ya got to trade

Just joking Seriously though you have a good point Krim, a business where you don't have to put too much money in but might generate money is a lower risk investment on the surface at least. The issue I have is that while I might give that a try there is only a 'might' generate money for me. I'm not you and likely don't have your aptitude for knowing what to do with what, who to sell to and having those contacts to sell to, it's just not the way I am. Sure I could start some business and it may pan out or it may sink like the Titanic. I'm just not that confident that a business will work for me, I've tried it before but not much joy and I have an idea or two to try again but although I think it might potentially be better thought through it still may or may not work. I might surprise myself and it may really go well or it may just tank it.

So yeah the situation isn't necessarily the best it's been in the property market but it's a market I tend to know reasonably well and gained experience in along the way. Not saying I always get it right but think  I am more suited to it, though I could be wrong. The Arcturus virus in India has gone down slightly the past day or so and if it means it's peaked then potentially cause for hope. If it doesn't occur too bad then I will be more content with considering investing abroad in property. Interest rates are higher at the moment but aren't the highest they've ever been (in my parents generation they apparently reached double what they currently are if not more) so a mortgage for not a huge amount at 5.5 percent or so isn't necessarily too bad. If I end up adding value to the property and generating further income then I could soon pay it off. I'm not fully decided on it yet but I can't afford to hang around so business or property I reckon I'll have to make the move in one or the other.

[krimster2]

Oi Vey!


obviously, I don't REALLY know the fine details of your life nor do I wish to
but, you also have a risk that during an economic downturn you could lose your job (along with gazillions of other folks - which is the purpose of the high interest rates layoffs = less inflation)
and that's in addition to the high interest rate and falling market issue for your investment idear (I like the way Brits say "idear", as in "I had an idear while I was in hospital", that's cool!)
I'd suspect that it's not so easy to replace that job in a reasonable time in 'yo mama's village
combine all these factors, feed it into a computer, andddd "computer says no".....

mazaltov!

[Trenchcoat]

Oi Vey!


obviously, I don't REALLY know the fine details of your life nor do I wish to
but, you also have a risk that during an economic downturn you could lose your job (along with gazillions of other folks - which is the purpose of the high interest rates layoffs = less inflation)
and that's in addition to the high interest rate and falling market issue for your investment idear (I like the way Brits say "idear", as in "I had an idear while I was in hospital", that's cool!)
I'd suspect that it's not so easy to replace that job in a reasonable time in 'yo mama's village
combine all these factors, feed it into a computer, andddd "computer says no".....

mazaltov!

Well while almost any job can go during a recession/depression I am probably pretty fortunate in being in a pretty stable almost recession proof number. That said it's low pay and the benefits not great but it being a usually sound enough number. So in theory it's one to keep on during a time of recession, I did so during the credit crunch and it saw me through well. I know how things go in a bad recession from the nineties so while usually I would be able to pick it up again, in recession time I likely wouldn't as all the jobs would be full most likely. However, I kind of planned on giving up the job in a few months once my finances were good and any mortgages I wanted already agreed with the idea of money from room rental of my place taking over as income for my job. So if it all sorts well then theoretically I wouldn't need a job as I would have income and be working towards building up assets/more income in my involvement in property.

So not in any hurry to chuck my job in until I'm sure I'm on sound ground but to be able to move on I probably will at some point. Looking at Corfu properties I'm thinking somewhere around £40k buying a place that has good stone walls but may look in a bit of a ruin in some way is likely the way to go. I can sort such a place out reasonably quickly as a lot easier for the most part than a conversion. It should allow me to be in an area where tourists would readily go enough but be a good cheap way in and allow me to do the place as needed. £40k shouldn't be too much bother to borrow while keeping risk down. I think with a chick so long as you put across the Bill Gates vibe (not the geeky side but the wealthy feel)  then she would probably be stoked. A decent sized place in the sun does that I think without the guy being a millionaire, basically to just have the trappings of wealth around you that the wealthy do. Women see that and that makes a guy attractive in their eyes, I think so long as I have that, can support the girl well enough and look busy with small enterprises even if they don't make any real money then that would likely do it for her.

[Trenchcoat]

Think the more immediate thing for me after finishing my house in a couple of months is to then get over to Chișinău and see what women I can turf up and go from there. I kind of just want a bit of fun time after finishing my house before getting involved in another project. Ideally I guess I would like to meet a girl who is not only into me but gets onboard with my outlook, as had been said if a woman is interested in a guy she often follows on with almost whatever. I'm not actually sure of the ins & ours of it all, as Daveman said just kind of chill out and have fun and not take it too seriously. I think a lot of that will depend on the woman and trying to pin down a scenario with a woman can probably be difficult as they can vary with what their outlook is. For me if she doesn't want to stay in Chișinău that's ok now I think but I kind of want some commitment from her as taking a woman out of her environment as we have seen with Scott can be troublesome though depends in the woman of course. So for me I think commitment from her would have to go hand in hand with what I am giving up in exchange. The Corfu idea is at the moment just really an idea, it's one I like but not one I'm committed to at the moment. A lot will depend on what else may go down in the next few months before setting course for any period of time ahead I think.

[Steven1971]

Are you not putting the cart before the horse? Wouldn't it be better to use any forthcoming vacation time to spend a few days in Corfu and get more of a lay of the land?

[Trenchcoat]

Are you not putting the cart before the horse? Wouldn't it be better to use any forthcoming vacation time to spend a few days in Corfu and get more of a lay of the land?

Well pretty good idea now of where I want to plumb for if I did go ahead with it. I've been there on holiday before, I went to a small resort a few miles to the south and Google & Google maps gives me a pretty good idea of where to aim for. Any purchase would of course be a trip out there just to confirm and get the ball rolling. The whole thing with a FSW though would be I think either based in the FSU, i.e Chișinău or in the UK. Corfu is really just a winter retreat and holiday let income generator. Handy to paint a FSW in the picture as to outlook/lifestyle but I wouldn't be out to live out there full time even if I did were able to (i.e the 90 day limit). So first and foremost is probably to try and source a FSW and along the way inform her of my outlook. It would be handy to have a partner along on such ventures not obviously to do the manual work but really to have as company and go out with when the day's work is done & possibly do a bit of cleaning Its really all depends on how things progress with a FSW as the whole house conversion was in part or at least became in part a way to fund a life without being tied down to an Employer so as to allow a bit of flexibility to manoeuvre if/as needed.

So if possible kicking off some sort of a life would be good first really as otherwise I can see myself stuck out there for the next three months alone hammering away and I've kind of done a fair bit of that these past few years with the house. More of the same and to some extent I like doing it but can be hard going at times. If necessary I don't mind doing that if means providing a better lifestyle for myself even if still a single guy but really I think trying to find a decent girl would be putting the horse first for me potentially now.

[Shadow]

What you need:
- make enough money to support your family, including potential extensions- have enough time to spend with your family- be at home whenever possible
Your life goal is to have children, own a house and plant a tree.

[Trenchcoat]

What you need:
- make enough money to support your family, including potential extensions- have enough time to spend with your family- be at home whenever possible
Your life goal is to have children, own a house and plant a tree.

Lol, well I hope not in that order since I've so far missed out on having children, moved onto owning my own house the planted a tree.

I know I think you're right Shadow, it's good to have your input. In theory doing all the property stuff and having a wife & children, and having time for them is the real deal. However it's also the deal that often means a lot of funding and my risk is that it is too much in its entirety for the funding I have. Even in the UK with potentially the welfare state benefits it could be a bit too far.

One of them may have to give, not doing the property would give me enough for the rest but doing the property stuff would potentially set me up well in life.

If I was a younger guy I would likely do the property stuff first as plenty of time for wife & kids and time for them after. As it is I'm getting to the point I feel where I putting off finding a partner, kids etc would push me to an age that is getting on a bit much, not impossible in theory but not a great age to be doing it.

So some careful thought and manoeuvring on that one.

It's really why I need a FSW who will play ball a bit with what I'm doing and not get too uptight about the specific order stuff happens in.

In theory when the house conversion is done in a couple of months if I found a girl in Chișinău I would be in a good position to be set up with her and have the time available to be with her, work a small business that probably would be more of a hobby business and nit being great money in but survive mainly of income from my house and any welfare benefits that the gov gives for having kids, etc.

That in itself is potentially a good place to be but puts being really set up in life in property many, many years, probably well over a decade or so.

Achieving all that I have mentioned I'm not saying is impossible but is probably a tall order.

[Shadow]

It all depends on what you want, and what she wants.If you find a woman who wants to escape poverty, the lifestyle she finds with you might not be enough. Once she discovers there are better options, she could go for them. But a woman who has no reason to leave except for you will stand by your side even through the hard times.Having a castle, driving a Ferrari and your own helicopter is what many people would want to try, but it also has a downside.Keep your expectations and goals real to what you can achieve, and then try to reach higher.

[Trenchcoat]

It all depends on what you want, and what she wants.If you find a woman who wants to escape poverty, the lifestyle she finds with you might not be enough. Once she discovers there are better options, she could go for them. But a woman who has no reason to leave except for you will stand by your side even through the hard times.Having a castle, driving a Ferrari and your own helicopter is what many people would want to try, but it also has a downside.Keep your expectations and goals real to what you can achieve, and then try to reach higher.

I think you've pretty much crystallised it there Shadow, you have a lot of experience. Well I would only bring a FSW back to the UK if she was already expecting my child, unless an everyday guy like me goes for a nit so attractive girl the risks are way too great. I'm not saying that a FSW having your child would stop her from leaving you in the West butI think it helps balance the hypergamy equation back in your favour. Many men unless they are desperate (many are in the west) don't want to bother with a woman with a kid, at worst some may just want quick sex but many aren't wanting to bother with a full time relationship less so if the father is still a n the picture. Avoiding living near social housing and where there are a lot of young people can lessen the risk of course. Getting her to have more than one child within a short space of time tends to learn the risk still further as many more men don't want to bother then as if two or more children it's even more like you're just lodging in someone else's family.

So if she doesn't want that then the relationship will just have to take place in the FSU, in Chișinău, etc when I'm there. She's basically going to have to go along with something along those lines or itsa no go for me and if she rejects it then it's likely me finding another woman that will.

If course from the outset or will just be going out to Chișinău to have some fun and not getting too intense. I think in the past I've gotten a bit too intense too soon. For me though it will either follow on how I like as outlined or I'll carry on looking.

In Chișinău I'll just start of telling the woman broadly how stuff is without putting my foot in it hopefully or going to deep. Ses what the pick up is like from the first few women. If it's not great then I'll go back on another trip and give a more glossier side to it, not bs but a more fancy edge to it. Hopefully they should pick up by then and I think they will but if not I don't want to bs a woman or try and get her with me because of purely money. I'm not a millionaire and like you say Shadow being such has its downside as I don't want to attract women that are solely witbne because of being a millionaire. If anything going in without that at least gives me a more eyes wide open view of it all as vest as that can be.

Possibly if a girl was into interior design or something like that it might help in terms of having a similar interest, any similar interest I guess could be good so there's more reason to be together in terms of doing stuff together or talking about stuff both are interested in.

[Trenchcoat]

One problem I've got though is kind of a lot of women I think have a very low tolerance for building work. Even a place where there is not much to do or doesn't look great women I think would not like. Thus any place I take on is probably going to have to be near complete before the woman stays there, i.e primer on the walls, probably some reasonable bathroom & kitchen stuff done, so just the tarting off left. That's is likely to be a strain on the budget if putting her up somewhere else and the early stages of getting a property portfolio built up. Women unfortunately I think tend to expect stuff to be near enough ready done. I've known of marriages to break up over DIY/Building work stuff so for me I guess I would either have to do a couple of places first or just be content with what I have and go in with that. Just have to see how things pan out I guess.

[krimster2]

so what's the plan in kitchenev?
apartment vrs hotel?
will you rent a car or are ya left/right side driving impaired, so taxis (don't take public street transport)

do you have "contacts" or are you "cold calling"?

are ya lookin for a particular "type" of woman?
I'd kinda divide the moldovan girls betweem city/village dwellers
and educated white collar worker, vrs uneducated blue collar ones
similar to ukraine

in fact moldova is VERY similar to the poorer pre-war regions of ukraine, except for signs in a different language which you'll find more readble than cyrillic

did you learn any Moldovan or just englisski and maybe choot-choot ruskie?
if you're cold callin, check out the poor apartment blocks, should be lotsa ukrainian refugees and poorer moldovan girls
for example, in Odesa, it's a district called Moldavanka and ya wanna take the devs to arcadia
don't know the names in kishinev

if this is an educated woman, ya better acquaint your fine self, with the local cultural attractions, if you know her musical tastes, look for concerts, etc

rule #1, NEVER, NEVER, NEVER do or say anything negative, even if provoked
always smile
if you commit "some transgression" say you're sorry, with sad puppy dog eyes
and blame it on your misfortune of being british, and the fact that you're ALMOST a virgin and so are therefor just not equipped with much knowledge of dating (and don't forget all THE HARD WORK keepin ya busy on your real estate empire overwhelming your social life)

This "brutal honesty"   will win ya big points over there! cuz lying or not giving a damn is how the local men behave

at first, you should pull out your picture book, show 'em the amazing life of Trench in the middle of the midlands, and for Aryan Jesus's sake do I gotta tell ya how to stage the photos
fer your mom, have a snap of her in some ole royal home turned over to a public Trust
tourist trap, just say my mom never leaves home, here's picture of her

anyway, Israelis callin me today, peckerwoods want me to come back to work on a "Ukrainian project"
waiting on their call, thinkin about it
cuz ukrainians ain't comin up with diddly doh-dah for me to do, unless I wanna work under somebody else, which I don't
Israel = carte blanche


PS
back in the day, I met a TON of Moldovan girls (my wife is half Moldovan)
a very common type is one that guys MOSTLY overlook, cuz they're dumb phuques
they're kinda plain lookin, skinny, dark eyes/hair, flat chested
BUT...
very educated, I met doctors, concert piano players
and these wimmin were smart as hell
AND (Sweet Arayn Jeusus) emotional empaths

but, because they don't "present" very well optically, get passed over, like somebody else I know
i'm guessin you never had sex with an emotional empath
given a choice between a cold, bithchy megan fox, and a war cuddly empath, which choice would give you the happiest life
Megan Fox!  right? nobody's that big of an idiot!!!

do ya understand what i'm tryin to tell ya here?

good luck Trench
persistence is omnipotence
fail until you succeed
and you'll never fail again

[Steven1971]

 more of a hobby business and not being great money in but survive mainly of income from my house and any welfare benefits that the gov gives for having kids, etc.

The point of the £18600 minimum income requirement is that below this level you are entitled to benefits. At and above this limit you get nothing.

If a partner is with you for at least 5 years as part of indefinite leave to remain, a necessary process for her to gain citizenship, you would have to pay £3,120 towards treatment on the NHS:

http://www.gov.uk/healthcare-immigration-application/how-much-pay

[ML]

In USA, a good private health insurance plan costs $12,000 - 15,000 per year each.

Ethnic Ukrainian professors here in my town are paying this for their parents who are here during the war.

Fortunately they have good paying double incomes.

[Trenchcoat]

The point of the £18600 minimum income requirement is that below this level you are entitled to benefits. At and above this limit you get nothing.

If a partner is with you for at least 5 years as part of indefinite leave to remain, a necessary process for her to gain citizenship, you would have to pay £3,120 towards treatment on the NHS:

http://www.gov.uk/healthcare-immigration-application/how-much-pay

Forgot about the £18600 income threshold to get the girl in the country, that's a pain as unless my business takes off I am just stuck with work. Work I can do it on but the type of work I do at present is not going to impress a FSW even less so a hot one. So yeah kind of going to have to be careful of not running into roadblocks particularly if chucking my job in.

I think you're right that the £18.6k was so the citizen supports the spouse. Surprised they haven't upped the limit now as would be quite easy for many to reach though think there was a bit of criticism at first that some thought it to high.

Think the child benefit I would probably still get as I would be a UK born parent of the children.

So yeah have been thinking about setting up a small business as Krim suggested. I would kind of view it as a hobby business as I don't know for sure if it would make any decent money or not.

The property stuff I still like the idea of but various issues are cropping up as to how a girl would fit in to whether the property market might crash (as Krim pointed out) and me being in negative equity for a while and be unable to mortgage up the property as a result. If I wait until after a crash at  least most property will be at a lower level so can buy then and avoid negative equity plus gain out of any future property price rise. Just going to have to pick my way through it I think.