Chris

Just to let you know some friends we met at the Heritage this March booked for the 16th next year and when we went to book there is only superior rooms left and going fast.

Sue

Chris, sorry meant to ask did you book superior. Also shame you had to stay another day, I was hoping that was going to happen to us this year. Lucky you

Sue

Why have all the aggravation that goes with buying a property 4000 miles away when you can rent so cheaply? Can you imagine the phone call at 3 in the morning - "mista, monsoon blow roof off." That's a level of hassle I don't need in my life!
I don't know if things have changed (as they do in India - by the week) but a couple of years ago you couldn't get your money back out of the country once you'd bought.
If you have a property in Blighty it will probably increase in value by the amount you'd pay in rental!
I'd detach heart and engage brain and give it a good coat of thinking about. Wow, don't I sound like a miserable old geezer - I'm not - I'll be back there myself in November!

Have to say I'm with Roma on this one, although I am trying to buy a house for our charity at present but that's just so that we have full control over the building as we are wanting to spend a lot of money doing a place up and want the peace of mind that we can stay in it as long as we see fit!

Renting can be done so cheaply, your best bet is go out in the monsoon season and track down a few places that suit your style and budget, the monsoon season is best because the locals have very little income coming in so in theory they are more likely to take less money due to their circumstances.... Anyway, we currently rent a 2 bedroomed single story house (over here bungalows are two story - just to warn you) with two bathrooms, one unsuite, large kitchen and living room + balcony, also have our own garden which is probably 2 1/2 times the size of the house with coconut trees... All of this comes to £75 a month for an 11 month contract. If you would be staying for longer, for example a 10 year lease I'm sure you could get a better price (this is for a place in Calangute)

As long as the building doesn't require any major work it's going to cost less than £1,000 a year - hassle free, if you include in the deal that they have someone to come and maintain it say every quarter to do small repairs etc then it's great. OK it's dead money but like Roma said, I don't think you are allowed to take money out of the country if you do sell it, and 20 - 30k is a lot of money to have stuck in India. And of course 20 thousand pounds is 20 years worth of rent, also if you keep that money in the bank there's always interest on the money, which if you're got say 30k in the bank would relate to about 1000 pounds of interest a year! - So you could say you're staying there for free!

Goa is a lovely place to live, but just in the last two years I've seen such a difference, you might get bored of the place as it changes to keep other tourists happy so it's easier to move somewhere else if you have less financial ties...

Anyway I hope that helps, it's just my opinion, I have friends who have bought property and they say this first one is the hardest, then the rest are easy.... What ever you do good luck, if you get chance have a look at our website, we are always on the look out for people staying in Goa who can help.

great info - glad i found this forum. i'm in the US and have 2 yrs before i can sell my house, but maybe renting it out is the way to go? the rental price in goa is insanely affordable!

out of curiosity - is hi-speed internet available? i'm assuming that i will need it for work.

thanks in advance!

arp

ps Greetings & Salutations!

Puthupa, It is well priced over here, but it does have its downsides, one is everything is slow, and that extends to the internet which is extremely slow.... They call it broad band but I'm guessing it's about twice the speed of dialup in England.... I know have a connection at home, it's supposed to be 112kb but don't really see much more than 56k speed...

i'm indian raised in the US, have spent about 6 years there (all in Kolkata), so i am familair with how slow everything is. need something at the consulate? 3 trips minimum, of a 45-60 min each. 20 min to buy stamps and they insist that you don't lick them stamps but use the kindly provided and not-wet-enough mini-sponge. i got screwed by some sort of strike several years ago and had to meet with 3 or 4 different people in the airport, none of whom could help or seemed to have an actual job, but they were generally friendly (particularly some guy who'd stolen Neil Diamond's wardrobe from 1977). otoh, it's nice to walk in to shop and be offered a cup of tea and some conversation as they worked on reducing my desire to haggle. you definitely have to be prepared for the way things work there. the average New Yorker would have an aneurysm

the internet speed would be a serious problem for me (i do web design), but i won't be doing anything for a year or two so perhaps things might change? if not, i would certainly look elsewhere.

Hi Sue
Yes, had a superior room, very nice!!!!
Thanks for all the info re, moving out there, will have to look at it very carefully, eh??
Oh well, can always dream......... but dreams can become a reality, if you want them too (hopefully)
Chris

Can anyone recommend a good lawer/solicitor in goa that I can use to purchase a property. The property is in dona paula. Also can anyone give any idea of costs of using a solicitor in goa...thanks

There is a new estate agency in Calangute, called the goan estate agency
website http://www.goanhomes.com
I understand they are very informative.

sarjk,

If you need a good Advocate, try Augustus Monteiro.

Tel: 9822384843

He deals with lots of ex-pats over in goa who are either buying property or setting up in business.

Good Luck,

Goldenflipflop

Hi everyone, need a bit of help.

My parents are very interested in buying property in Goa. They saw and advert in one of the daily newspapers advertising 2 bed apartments for sale in South Goa. They were sent lots of info on this particular property and told that there was only one left. On the strength of that they have sent £1500 pounds to the company to reserve the apartment and hope to fly to Goa soon to have a look. The company is called Chris Gregory & Co.
My worry is that this may be a scam. I have never heard of this company and cannot find anything on the internet about them. Has anyone else had dealings with them? And if so, were they o.k? Any advice on this issue would be greatly appreciated.
Carol xxxx

carol
buying in Goa is a minefield. Are they buying to live there or for investment? I looked into buying there but got confusing and conflicting information from different official sources. You are also unable to take any profit out of the country you would make from the eventual sale of the property( I am assuming here that your parents aren't Indian)
My advice- contact a lawyer before they go on any further. If I can I will look out the quotes I found from official sources about property ownership.

http://www.homesgoa.com/WebPages/QA/Legal_Queries.htm
look at question 7
and from the RBI
http://www.rbi.org.in/scripts/FAQView.aspx?Id=33

Just out of interest- where is the property? Is it Sirvoi by any chance? I can't find anything on that company either.

Thanks Fiona, all advice is greatly appreciated. I just think they have been taken in by all the sales patter and not thought it through properly. This company obviously have not informed them of all the pro's and con's of buying in Goa!

I dont think they are alone in this. We were told all along that there were no problems to ownership which is clearly not the case. Forming a company can overcome some of the problems but I couldn't see how to overcome taking the profits out of the country.
The company we eventually bought through( not Goa!) - we tested them out first by enquiring about Goa. They came back with - although they sold in Goa you have to realise that you are gambling. You can make big profits but there is a huge risk. Bottom line-according to them- if you can't afford to lose the money don't do it!

Just found a great article in this months Homes Overseas about buying in Goa( October edition). It basically says what I have said with more details!The only way to get money from the sale of the property is to sell to someone in the UK. ( I still have my doubts about that though)
anyway its well worth buying the magazine!

Might be worth asking this on the Goa forum. There are quite a few people on there who have already purchased propery and will be able to tell you what problems etc they faced when buying over there. They mustn't have seen your question on this forum because they are a helpfull bunch (if I say so myself :)) and would have replied if they had seen it. There are also a couple of old threads that you might be interested in reading on this subject as well.
HTH Sharon

Hi Fiona,

Just to say that I have bought several properties and will be selling one soon. So I will see how that goes. There are ways to overcome the repatriation issue. One is, as you say, to have the proceeds paid directly into your home account. There are others.

If you know a bit about Goa and the infrastructure, who are the builders and what quality of work they do, their history, then the process is just like home really. The glossy brochure, agenty people have properties like their image, all facade in the main. Structurally a bit iffy. I am generalising of course but that is the general feeling here. I have a nice builder friend, a friend not an opportunity seeker, and have learned lots about the Indian building community here.

Give my money to a stranger............nooooooooooooooooooo. But don't let it put them off......there are nice bargains here but prices are shooting up!

Have to go now, I will have a look on the other bits about property later, I might have bits of info or learn myself.

Cheers

Carol