marcusthe

Some people would like a proper career with real prospects or jobs where they actually help people. Selling rubbish might pay more than a mcadmin job but this is hardly going to replace the satisfaction of a worthwhile career.

I run a business that can be relocated very easily and with every passing year I am thinking of a permanent life overseas. I travel a lot already and have lived overseas before, there is a grass is greener thing going on for sure, but I fear for the future of the UK, and to be honest the whole of Europe. Whenever I come back to the UK I am almost instantly depressed when I see the miserable faces staring back at me. The only thing that keeps me here are a friends and family and favourable corporation taxes. If I was an employee I'd have long gone. Technology has made it much easier now to relocate and stay in touch, much easier. I am always shocked how friendly other countries are, particularly the ones that are perceived as poor or third world! People just seem more upbeat and positive which is the opposite to here, and I partly blame the media for making everyone miserable, the BBC is one of the worst at this and I am sick of the organisations being run by champagne socialists. The only people who benefit from living in the UK are the very wealthy or the very poor. I have long given up buying a house in my home city, the only affordable ones are in areas where you need a bodyguard or you'll end up living with immigrants and scroungers. So where to? America is looking West these days over the pacific and the future I think is very much the pacific rim and if I ever had a family i'd want my children to grow up in that part of the world and not here. Lots of articles recently about other Europeans fleeing to countries in S.America / Australia / Asia too so it's a pan-European feeling. Who wants to support the greedy older people in their old age while they sit in massive houses paid for by their luck? There must be lots on this forum who are considering fleeing this sinking ship. The Captain has already fled, so whats stopping you?

I know three couples that have moved to brislington in the last couple of years because they couldn't afford to buy where they rented (Glos Rd & Hotwells) and while they love their spacious houses they all have the same complaints. There are no decent pubs or cafes within walking distance so they always have to drive everywhere (they are East side of Brislington and still a long way from Boca Bar which would be their closest. Even in areas which are just a bit deary e.g. Bedminster, WIndmill Hill, Ashton you are still very close to some pubs that are pretty much chav free (although North St on a weekend is like Whiteladies Rd and very chavvy when all the low life/benefit scroungers from outer Bristol estates roll in for their posh night out). Bristol is hopeless unless money is no object or you are a chav and don't mind living in crap areas.

How about areas around Bristol that are afforable and offer better value for money than within the city itself? Been looking on rightmove this week, still the same old over-priced crap in the nicer postcodes of Bristol, it's really becoming depressing out there!

Come on how about telling us all about Brislington. This is a forum after all!

I agree that most of the BS6 area between Whiteladies and Glos Rd will be students, flats, multiple occupation, after all what family could afford a £600K plus family house! A landlord will but it and chop it up. I wonder if the new hospital will smarten up the areas near Southmead? I don't ever expect the Mead to improve but areas around Horfield, North of Kellaway Rd might benefit? Brislington does offer good value for money I agree but only compared to areas like Bedminster and Windmill Hill which are grossly over-priced - houses in Windmill Hill next door to two tower blocks are going for 1/4 million - absolute madness! Why would anyone pay so much to live in places like this! Yea funny that Wilkinsons took over borders, that's all about the students, I guess it is empty during holiday time, having said that it could reflect how skint the middle class are having to service huge mortgages to live in BS8/BS6. Any other areas? I still know little about the West of the City, e.g. Coombe Dingle? A friend bought a big house there for £240k recently and likes it, and they are very middle class.

I am in a similar position and have lots of knowledge of the BS3/6/7/8/9 market. I currently live in Redland. I was looking in Southville but have decided it offers no value for money in an area too with not the best schooling due to tiny catchment areas (less than a 100yds in the case of Southville Primary!) and secondary schools are not great. OK you might never have a family but in terms of resale value then it's worth considering good schools over everything else, especially in Bristol. I honestly cannot see any area in the whole of the South or East ever becoming trendy like Redland/Clifton/Cotham. Southville might be the exception but some of those £250k plus houses were only 40k barely in the late 90s and I still think the area is isolated with some not so nice areas on it's doorstep. Bedminster just doesn't cut it and the schools are bad. WIndmill Hill/Victoria Pk - have a few friends buying there now but still down at heel areas with no 'North Street'. Totterdown/Knowle ok but again don't hold your breath as they have a long way to go. There are some pockets of affordability around Henleaze/Westbury on Trym but be careful you dont end up too close to Southmead. Also Horfield would be ok but I still think it's way over priced for a very average working class area. Don't know anything about the West, Shirehampton etc but guessing they are not that great as ex council estates rule these parts. Forget the East, all of it, sorry anyone in Easton/St George but I don't even like visiting friends in these areas let alone buying there! Montpelier - again affordable but its still pretty rough and too close to St Pauls. Same goes for St Werburghs. Hope that helps, my opinion of course and some will disagree (expecting people from Bedminster to stick up for their area!). One thing we all agree on is the nice areas of Bristol are expensive and will stay so - this has always been the case. The depressing thing is there are no emerging / up and coming areas imho. One's like Southville/St Andrews have already up and gone. Anyone who suggests areas like Brislington/Bedminster etc are in dream land.

The issue is they will not ever likely be able to gain residence in NZ unless they start a business as they are too old to go down the work permit route. Without residency health bills are scary. Just a small example of the cost of being non-resident - I went for some hayfever nasal spray the other day, cost £6 in uk, cost me £18 over here, but if you are a resident it's only £3! (I am on holiday here on a 6 month visa free which the couple will get, they can also extend it to 9 months but then they will have to leave for 9 months). I know a few people out here who work illegally or are just on long term permits but not having the safety net of residency is a big enough issue and they'll probably come home at some point when they start running into issues. Even seeing the Doc is $50 a pop, more in some towns! Shame though, good on them for getting off their backside and doing something, a few of you on here should maybe consider it yourselves, particularly if you are young enough, however OZ/NZ are no cheap paradises anymore and housing is ridiculously over-priced partly due to wealthy Chinese buying up everything.

Aus won't go into serious recession, they have too much natural resources to call upon and only a small population to support. They are not known as the lucky country for nothing!

Lots of hoons, bogans and derros (basically chavs) but generally they are far less offensive than their British cousins. Always raises my eyebrows when people say lack of culture in OZ/NZ. Are these real culture vultures or are they just the 'well colchud' types? Certainly the OZ state capitals and larger cities in NZ have their fair share of arts, theatre, festivals etc - it's not all deep fried sausage on a stick, pokie machines and rugby.

And who can blame them! I have spent a lot of time in OZ/NZ and it's a world away from Europe, not just literally, people are far more optimistic about life and there is no class system. meaning its easier to get on whatever your background. Forget about going for a better climate though, NZ is very similar to the UK (I am in Wellington now, Mid summer and max temp only 14C and horribly grey and wet out!). OZ is way too hot and you'll spend most of your summer avoiding the fierce sun unless you wanna end up looking like a prune. If I had a young family I would take them away from Europe to give them a much better chance in life (am only visiting NZ currently!). There was an article recently in the Guardian about emigration from the north hemisphere to the south - thousands of Greeks, Italians, Spanish are fleeing for South America, Australia - thousands of northern europeans heading south too. What are they going to leave behind? A whole load of rich coffin dodgers and the umemployable / chavs / benefit spongers who will continue to be a drain on society. Same is true in other European countries too. BTW if Ireland / UK left the EU this would not affect the movement of goods and people, this is under the single market and people could continue to move around Europe just like other EEA countries (Swiss, Norway) etc BUT the reality is most Irish/Brits are too lazy to learn another language so unless they end up living with all the chavs on the Costas the reality is moving to Europe is not an option, many people dream and talk about it but very few do. There are a heck of a lot of people on this forum who are dreamers and not doers, perhaps that's because it's a house price crash forum!

So just supposing we left the EU, what would happen to the free movement of goods and people for the UK? For instance all the Brits who live in Spain, France etc and who do not have residency or work visas would have to come home? All the Poles, French etc etc in the UK would have to apply for residency? Quite scary really.

I am happy in the UK. I live in a nice part of the country, in a vibrant city within a nice safe middle class area. I have lots of friends and family near, lots of hobbies, a decent low stress job running a small business. My only gripe is probably the weather, although that doesn't seem to bother me anymore and is much more preferable to some hot hellhole like Australia (lived there and NZ, lots of Brits head to these places but the geographical isolation and complete lack of culture really gets to people, even the uncultured ones - and the house prices in both these countries is worse than the UK!). The UK is what you make it. If you don't like the under class then get a better job, study or whatever and move to an affluent area, trust me you rarely see them and you can happily exist in a comfortable middle class bubble surrounded by respectable folk. Don't watch the trashy chav TV either, that can bring you down too.

I use my Samsung NC10 netbook and the battery lasts +8 hours, even with music playing, and I usually carry a spare battery but have never had to use it. The places I go the free wifi lasts all day too, no restrictions, and if it's down I just turn my mobile into a secured hotspot and use the 3G so never offline. I don't sit in these places all day, tend to work from home in morning and then head out for lunch and afternoon in coffee shops. I live in a big city so I don't go to the same ones all the time. The people that work in these places are students generally and don't care if you sit there all day, like I said, some of them are friendly and come over and chat now and again which is cool. I did rent a desk in a shared office but no one else use to ever be there so I was just sat on my which defeated the object! Coffee shops provide me with a very cost-effective solution One thing I have noticed over the 5 years I have been doing this is that there seems to be more and more people like me doing this, having meetings etc in these places.

This is good news for me as I will have more places to work from Here is the deal. I run an online business so instead of staying in the house, using my wifi, spending on heating and being completely on my own (not fun!) I head out to Costa, Starbucks etc and use their free wifi, heating and get to gorp at pretty girls etc all for the price of a black coffee (usually £1 in starbucks as I get a money off with a starbucks card). They even give me free drinking water and the staff come over and chat now again. I wouldn't ever do this is an independent coffee shop, usually the owner works there and gets grumpy if you sit there with one coffee for hours on end, and I don't blame them, but I have no such guilt doing it to the big boys. Starbucks lattes: hot milk!

Put it into a number of high interest bank accounts. I think you can get away with putting it into personal ones according to my accountant.

What a totally ill-informed and ill-educated comment. Mate, you should get out more.

Sadly you are spot on

I have made a nice little wad of money shorting TC. Where theres panic theres profit

Much cheaper to buy outdoor gear online. How can a shop with the costly overheads of staff and premises ever compete with a drop-shipping online businesses? They will never be able to compete, even with interns (free labour) and low rents/no business rates the figures will never stack up. If I need a new pair of waking boots I will go to Blacks, try them on, use the expertise of the 'expert' (usually a spotty teenager who doesn't know gore from tex) walk out of the shop, get my Samsung Galaxy S2 out and buy the same pair of boots, for 20% off with free delivery. Job done. RIP blacks, millets etc etc

Old houses are too big perhaps? Not all of us want a huge house with high ceilings etc. For one thing it's cheaper living in a small house because bills are less and you buy less crap to fill it out.

I think most people that leave Australia do it for two reasons. 1 - Economics, makes sense as you can sell your Aussie house and once converted into £s you will feel very rich coming back to the cheaper UK. 2 - Family.