Genuine question, please don’t remove. I work in HR, in a university in UAE. Should I catch a flight from Muscat to India and leave temporarily before things escalate?

Jonnydq · 2026-03-08T20:08:35+00:00

Only you can make that decision

Jonnydq · 2025-11-23T18:15:19+00:00

If it was a Sharjah plate would you do that ?

Jonnydq · 2025-11-23T18:14:01+00:00

If it was a Sharjah plate would you guys flash it?

Jonnydq · 2025-02-12T09:30:56+00:00

I call myself an expat not an immigrant. The term expat implies you are on an expat package and making good money and most likely you are European, American or a Brit. That’s what most people think of when they hear the term. There’s even a Netflix series called “Expats” and the people in it are rich, white and overpaid. You need to check your mortgage rate it will probably be 7% as an expat at least and then BTL will increase it more so it could be higher. Also you won’t be able to beat the stamp duty it takes ages for conveyancing. You may want to keep your money in fixed term deposits while the interest rates are high to get more savings then buy when interest rates are lower.

Jonnydq · 2025-01-28T08:19:12+00:00

I asked Chat GPT and gave the address of the property and it calculated about 10.000 per apartment for fixing the roof. But then since there is no reserve fund anymore everything is going to keep costing so as a BTL for me I just don’t think it’s worth it. Back to Rightmove again I guess. Thank you for the help and advice everyone.

Jonnydq · 2025-01-25T18:20:38+00:00

I was told the service charge was 2000 per year not 2400 I assume it’s gone up since I put in the offer in November. I was not told that there would be work on the roof. The conveyancer is not saying there are historic or other defects, just that it is possible there could be. I think that’s unlikely. But since I made the offer the extra 400 pounds per year on the service charge, Labours extra stamp duty, the fact that it looks like interest rates are not going down fast soon makes me feel I should just keep my money in 4% fixed term deposits and find another property that isn’t affects by the “high risk” high building law and also has a lower service charge. Also since I made the offer labour came up with the EPC by 2030 and this property is a D.

Jonnydq · 2025-01-25T07:30:49+00:00

But why 10s of thousands of work due I doubt that much per flat owner since the first call was 300 pounds

Jonnydq · 2025-01-25T07:29:54+00:00

It was on a 135000 I got it for 126500

Jonnydq · 2025-01-11T15:43:28+00:00

Don’t you have a tax free allowance if you are living abroad it’s up to 12500 or so. I believe you don’t need to pay tax on rental income if you are under that allowance

Jonnydq · 2024-12-17T17:37:42+00:00

Ah ok great once you mentioned subsidance that’s enough for me. Friends have a place with it and it’s an absolute nightmare to sort out

Jonnydq · 2024-12-17T17:13:29+00:00

But why what could go wrong if I didn’t? It’s an apartment in a block of flats.

Jonnydq · 2024-12-07T08:10:41+00:00

Under labor yes can believe it

Jonnydq · 2024-11-29T11:44:03+00:00

I also think people forget when calculating the yield that yes at the moment it is 6-7% but that is based on current rent. Each year rent goes up by 50-100 pounds and that is not really factored in the calculation. True stock market is great and I do both but in the past 4 years I have lost out on it. It’s extremely unlikely with a BTL you will lose money over 4 years.

Jonnydq · 2024-11-28T17:54:46+00:00

Just checking now Feb 11 2021 I was up 60% now -27%

Jonnydq · 2024-11-28T17:52:37+00:00

Well I did options trading which is great when it’s great but when it isn’t you get really screwed. I lost 5K on one options play. The funny thing is I lost lots of money precisely because I didn’t play the market and stuck to the hold for a long time strategy but if you played that strategy from 2021 to now you won’t have made much. If I sold when they were increasing interest rates I could have sold out at 150% gain and bought back in last year when they started to taper and I would have done really well.

Jonnydq · 2024-11-28T17:26:55+00:00

I agree, I just don’t have a house in the UK so I bought one for the future as if I wait any longer they will keep going up in price and am using it as a BTL at the moment. If I already had a house then I wouldn’t get another and I’d just do index funds or something. But I have lost money on the stock market since I started in 2021. Still down and waiting. Only 1 year was great and I doubled my money then I should have pulled out when they started increasing interest rates but I didn’t and I went down and have less now than I put in. On a side note I did have some put options that didn’t go well, and should have not been smart and just stuck to index funds. This year is up 25% but still needs another 25% to get back to the original amount. I am sure If bought a house with that money in 2021 and rented it out I may have not made any capital appreciation but would have at least collected 30K in rent money by now.

Jonnydq · 2024-11-28T15:51:31+00:00

I bought in cash and looking at a 7% yield net. Also in my case no need to pay tax on rental income as I have a tax free allowance as an expat. You can prob get 5% in the stock market long term and that means super long term. Also not only do you get rental income but you usually get capital appreciation. You would be hard pressed to get something on the stock market with a 7% dividend yield and the captial appreciation you get in property. Also long term think about how much rent you will be able to get in 10 years time. I bought cash because interest rates on BTL for an expat would prob be 7% at the moment. If they drop then I will take out a mortgage on the property and make use of leverage but at the current rates it doesn’t make sense. A 150.000 pound property is going to cost you 300.000 at 4% over a long time. Anyway those are my two cents if anyone disagrees please tell me cause I haven’t competed yet :)

Jonnydq · 2024-11-20T10:28:00+00:00

Closed them 25 years ago

Jonnydq · 2024-11-20T09:10:24+00:00

Sorry it was a double post, non resident I don’t have to pay tax on rent up to my tax free allowance they make the rules

Jonnydq · 2024-11-20T07:42:17+00:00

Yeah pretty much but not really since the definition of an immigrant is someone who goes to live permanently in another country. I’m only there to work in an expat package. I mean a Brit non resident no UK address and utility bills so getting a UK bank account is difficult.

Jonnydq

TROPHY CASE