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Guidelines for Successfully Moving and Living Abroad
I am so convinced of the advantages of looking at mankind instead of reading about them, and of the bitter effects of staying at home with all the narrow prejudices of an Islander, that I think there should be a law amongst us to set our young men abroad among the few allies our wars have left us
Lord Byron
Guidelines for a Successful Move:
- Take some time to find the right place for you to live in your new home: If you have the money, consider hiring a relocation specialist or a local person in your new country to help you. To find a good specialist, call a couple large multinational companies in your new country and ask them for referrals. You can also get advice from expats who are sent abroad for work. You can find them in the richest neighborhoods in the largest cities abroad.
If you don?t have a lot of money (or if you don?t want to move to large city) you should be prepared to do a lot of work yourself. Heed the advice of Don Adams in his book: Head for Mexico: The Renegade Guide for finding a place to live (especially in the third world):
First find a place you can rent for one month or on a month to month basis. If you come down in the off-season you should be able to get a good rate at a B&B or small hotel. If you take a few days to look around you might be able to find an ad posted by a snowbird owner of a rental property. Lots of them want to rent out their places for short periods, around three month, when they?re out of the country. Now, use this short-term rental as your headquarters to conduct a serious search for the long term rental that really works for you (Paul?s note: I?ve heard several stories of people who have been able to arrange to take care of someone?s home, in exchange for free rent).
Start checking any place that allows flyers to be posted on bulletin boards. The first place to look is the local grocery store where most gringos (expatriates) shop. There will probably be more than one. Just ask someone, the lady at the next table, the guy eating ice cream in the plaza, the desk clerk at your hotel (Paul?s note: some desk clerk, particularly in areas with a lot of foreigners receive referral fees from realtors, so be careful). There are gringos or English-speaking Nationals almost everywhere, even in the smallest town. Talk to EVERYBODY. Now check bulletin boards at the post office?restaurants? internet cafes? and then do like the encyclopedia sales and Mormon missionaries do.
Go door to door. Seriously. Many really good rentals will never be advertised except for a small sign on a building or door.?I know that your Spanish is not that good and chances are the person who answers the phone won?t be proficient in English either. Ask for help. Ask the desk clerk at your hotel, or the waiter at that little place you like so well, or that nice gentlemen or lady you met near the plaza (?remember to tip him or her).
After spending some time talking to EVERYBODY and trudging the streets looking for rental signs take a little advice: Slow down? Exhilarated or worried, you will probably be under a lot of stress (and make a bad decision).
- Carefully plan what you?ll do with your belongings (move, sell, or store): Once you decide to make the move from the US to your new country, take stock of whether you want to move your belongings or not. Many people (who move on their own) decide not to move their belongings because it is a lot of trouble and expense and you can buy nice furniture in many parts of the world for less than in the US (you can also often rent, and sometimes, buy a house with furniture included).
- Be careful about selling all your belongings before you move abroad. Remember that you may come back someday and want these belongings to help you set up a new house in your home country and that (unless you need a lot of expensive storage at home) you?ll have to pay more money to buy new goods than to keep and store what you have. Twice I?ve sold my belongings, usually at pennies on dollars, and ended up spending several times as much to reestablish myself as I received from the sales of goods (keep in mind the cost of storage however). I particularly regretted selling my cars because I always sold them at a loss and ended up buying much worse cars when I returned (though admittedly I would have had to keep paying for the cars while I was away.)
- If you do decide to move your belongings realize that it can take a long time for your belongings to arrive. Be prepared to either move out your belongings several weeks before you leave the US so that they?ll be there when you arrive or to live without your belonging for a long time once you arrive. Either way plan for spending several weeks without your belongings and be sure that you don?t pack things you?ll need. Pay particular attention to ensuring that you have your paperwork and documents on you when necessary. Even though it does add cost, most expatriates recommend that you hire someone who deals with overseas moves to help you plan out the move.
Here are few things to consider if you decide to move your belongings (Note: even if you won?t be moving your belongings, consider some of these ideas when you pack your luggage, anyway):
- Be especially careful in packing up your children?s belongings, since many children will be traumatized by the combination of living in a new country and going without the familiar trappings of home (especially toys).
- Ensure that your electronic appliances work abroad before packing them. (Note: nowadays electronic products are fairly inexpensive almost everywhere in the world, therefore unless you have some particularly expensive or treasured electronic equipment, I?d recommend buying stuff when you arrive. I, for once, got a fairly expensive radio for a Christmas gift that was supposed to be useful abroad. However, I discovered that since radio broadcast at odd frequencies (101.3 for example) and broadcasts in Russia are at even frequencies, I couldn?t use the radio to pick up local radio shows).
- Pack a few familiar trappings of home, particularly holiday decorations and foods (peanut butter). These products, which are often hard to find and expensive abroad, will help you during your fits of culture shock.
- Don?t take more personal toiletries, etc., than you would normally take for a two week vacation, unless they are only available in specialized stores in the USA or you are moving to a really off the beaten path destination. Most toiletries that you can buy in the grocery store are available in other countries, often at a similar price. In addition, these products are bulky, hard for natives to use (if you?ll have a maid), and prone to leakage.
- During the first couple days (or even weeks, if possible) abroad take it easy. Allow yourself time to get acclimated. If one of you will be working abroad, ensure that the whole burden for setting up your life does not fall on the ?unemployed? partner. Adjust your expectations downward. Try to relax, get a good night?s rest, and take care of yourself. One of the best benefits to living abroad is the slow pace, take advantage rather than fight it.
Buying a Home Abroad:
While experts recommend that you wait some time before you buy a home (usually at least six months) in most of the world, there are times when you may want to act faster than others. Currently with the US dollar in a tailspin against many currencies, you may want to invest in some countries before the dollar gets even weaker. In addition, there are places in this globe (like New Zealand and Portugal in 2003, at least) which have highly heated housing market. The combination of a weak dollar and a hot market can make a lot of difference particularly in Western countries. Real Estate in New Zealand two years ago was about 50-60% of the US market. Now, it is slowly coming up to our costs. In that same period, the US dollar lost 30% of its value against the Euro making rural France and Italy no longer a bargain (though you can still live in a small town there for roughly what you?d pay in the USA or even less).
To me this is one of the pluses of investing in third world country real estate. While realtors there may try to talk you into acting quickly, most of the time the currencies are fairly stable against the US dollar and the real estate market is not increasing as fast as it has in Europe, Australia, and New Zealand.
Your legal rights to own a property abroad vary from country to country and also change over time. However, as a whole, with the gradual liberalization of the world?s economy, it is getting easier to own property as time goes on (for example, for years in Mexico it was hard for Americans to own property by the beach. Now through the fideocomiso process you can own property (through a trust with a bank) there without an excessive amount of legal entanglements).
Be prepared to do research into your legal rights. Don?t just trust one realtor. Talk to expatriates who own property in your location. Buy books and magazines about living, working, and investing in the country where you want to live. Chances are you?ll need to find a local lawyer and a title insurance policy. In many countries, the biggest obstacle may be the lack of financing for your home.
Many countries still require that you pay for the property in cash (or check). However, there are more options to finance than ever before. Several countries (including sometimes in Mexico) have 20 or 30 year mortgages available at a fairly low interest rate. Many countries have a mortgage that requires you to put up 1/3 or ? in advance; finance a 1/3 or so over the next 5-15 years; and pay the remainder as a balloon payment at the end of the loan.
I have heard several stories of people buying land and building homes overseas or buying into new subdivisions or condominium complexes abroad. Unfortunately, most of these stories are wrought with problems. This doesn?t mean that you should avoid it completely; but, proceed carefully. I would only consider this option, if I knew something about construction. Many of these arrangements turn out to be either poorly constructed or over budget. In many parts of the world, you are expected to carefully watch the workmen. That said you also have to walk a fine line in watching over the construction. On one hand you want to show that you expect the workmen to be professional; on the other hand you don?t want to be too demanding. If you ask workmen to do something that they don?t understand or think will work, most likely they won?t do what you want.
Adjusting to Your New Life Abroad:
Once you?ve moved abroad, you need to become comfortable and well adjusted. Apart from adjusting to another way of doing things and dealing with culture shock, many of the steps necessary (making friends, learning your way around, finding places to shop, seeking out entertainment and recreational opportunities) to making a successful transfer to another country are fairly similar to moving within the United States. There are, however, some differences including:
- To some degree, you?ll be moving to a small town even if you live in a big city abroad. Generally, even though you may try hard to avoid it, to some degree you will become part of whatever expatriate community (note: this may not be limited just to Americans) exists in your new town. Even in a city as large as Tokyo or Mexico City, you?ll find yourself spending time with other foreigners. It is only natural. Foreigners find each other.
Living in another country creates a natural affinity. In addition, locals have their own lives, and your life may simply not intersect with theirs often. I remember in college (at a small school in Minnesota called Macalester College, which had one of the largest communities of foreign students, percentage wise, of any school in the US) being critical of the fact that foreign students hung out together. However, when I was a foreign student at the American University of Cairo, I found myself hanging out with other foreigners (many of which were from other African countries). Why? For one thing, most of the Egyptians lived at home, while the foreign students lived in dormitories. For another thing, I had something in common with the foreign students. We were all trying to adjust to a different way of life and thus even though we came from vastly different backgrounds had something to talk about.
It is not unusual for this small community of expatriates to quickly resemble a small town in the United States. They get into each other?s business and can be very political in the affairs of their own community. Many Americans who choose smaller communities overseas (particular ones where only a few foreigners live), also find themselves embroiled in the local?s affairs as well. On the positive side, they get to know their local neighbors and find themselves invited into the local?s lives for graduations, etc. On the negative side, they not only find themselves under the microscope for violations of American morays but also under the scrutiny of locals for not conforming to their behavioral norms. This can become particularly complicated when American and foreign standards conflict.
- You (and your family) will have opportunities for growth (and problems) by living abroad that you wouldn?t get if you moved in the US. Many families and couples (if they are relatively functional in the US) find that living abroad brings them closer together. Adjusting to another country, once successful, can be a powerful force for family unity.
Living abroad also separates you from familiar routine and the powerful distraction of our consumer driven society (like TV). This separation often helps you to find more time to spend with your loved ones. Families with kids often remark that living abroad has given their kids valuable skills and perspectives that they could never get at home. Often expatriates find little traditions in their host countries that continue to celebrate when they return home. In addition, people find that their stint abroad gives them: a wonderful opportunity to reexamine their priorities, a boost in their self esteem, and even serves as an excellent career move. You meet more people when you live abroad and sometimes you find an excellent business partner or boss that you?d have never found at home.
If you have marital or family strife, however, living abroad often has the opposite effect. Since you are free of the distraction of life in the United States (which unhappy people usually use to help escape from a bad relationship), you are forced to deal with your issues in someway. Unfortunately, the remedy is often divorce, separation, alcoholism, and other destructive behaviors. Be very careful about making life changing decisions especially during the first year of your stay abroad when almost everyone suffers some form of culture shock. Make sure that your partner is the problem, not your new environment. All of these comments aside, I think it is important to realize that some Americans even experience culture shock just moving between regions of the United States. I have even heard of people who adjusted easily to life abroad who found that moving from the Northeast to the Southeast was hard!
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Check out the my extensive library of book reviews and links about long term living, working, retiring, volunteering, and studying abroad.
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