Questions that I would like to ask before moving to Cyprus

Hello Dyfi,

Welcome to Expat.com 

I would suggest that you give us a brief introduction of yourself to get started. 

Also I moved your post from the Cyprus forum since it need more visibility on the forum.

Hence i created a new thread to promote the interactivity.

Best regards,
Gavind

these are difficult questions to answer not knowing the person you are and the likes n dislikes - and the level to which you live your lifestyle.

to cover the range id say €1200 to €1800 per  month....it all depends what you want out of your life here


again its lifestyle driven... am not sure anywhere is a good place to buy if your in any way not sure of the areas... best advice i can give you is rent for one year and give yourself a chance at finding the right place for permanency. Things change, peopel change and locations services change all the time.


as for the best estate agent  - we have only used two in the Paphos district but not knowing or not having tried many more it wouldnt be fair of me to say theyre the best

and as for the market  -  it is still very slow  = thousand upon thousands of people are wanting  to sell and cant  - hence the caution about buying unless you are 100% sure of staying for the long haul  - it could be a long time before you sell..... besides many who cant sell are now renting to long term renters... such is the state of play.. i know too many people what wish to sell their houses and cant  - including those who are continually bothered by 24 hr howling hunting dogs so beware of commitment until you have lived in the areas you want to investigate

Personally i would never import a car - too much hassle - we bought a new Fiesta 3 here for €10k on the road - and recently saw a Nissan Qashqui brand new for €14000.... and with guarantees etc...

Cheers Toon, sound advice.

It's just an idea of general outgoings to see if we can live on a pension alone. 

I planed to semi-retire after leaving the civil service in 2005. However, I discovered starting your own business is quite hard work, especially as it expands. 

We're now going to give it another go and this time retire properly!

forward planning my friend  - planning and research  -

any questions please feel free to ask away

a fair chunk of cash out of the budget will be for the place you live in.... bit in all honesty in terms of rental property you get a lot for your money here ,,, we would never ever consider buying here as it doesnt suit our plans - we like the ability AND FLEXIBILITY to do what we want and go when ever we want and renting suits us a lot - we lived in Malta for 6 yrs after we retired early at 50

We've gone over what you've mentioned in your post this weekend and it certainly make more sense than our ordinal plans.  The figures look good as well.

Did you rent from an agency or a private individual? And can you recommend a place to look at rental prices, there are a lot of agencies and properties out there on the web.  We work in the tourist industry running a holiday letting agency, some of the things I've seen tends to make you wary of and agent unless that come recommended.

we did one thru an agent and our second one  - the one we live in now - was done via a private agent - a friend of a friend - and to be fair both have been fabulous....  but like everywhere else be firm on your requirements  - be blunt even - sometimes they just want to shift dormant properties..... but at least here there is no agent fee...the landlord pays that.....the usual one month rent in advance and one month rent as deposit.

water can be and usually is (in our experience so far) included as its so cheap, similarly on complexes the rent can included the rubbish taxes (ie council tax), and communal fees too...... - elec and water connection deposits are now €200-300  depending on area - most properties have solar panels for water heating and saves a lot.

to be honest as far as rental prices are concerned and properties we still look at the buy and rent in Paphos pages on facebook - they give a good idea of whats available and where and gives a fair representation of pricing. many get reduced as theyre not moving  - many people cant sell and are desperate for a revenue stream too so it all helps

its also a good idea to watch the Facebook wanted and buy and sell pages for the area for household stuff too - we ve have had lots of stuff sold and we ve bought loads of good quality stuff there too