Rollercoaster weeks

Tuesday, june 29, was such a sad day when we heard that the plot of our dreams was not going to be ours. Wednesday was a very frustrating and depressing day with trying to find a way out. Wednesday evening we came up we the idea of buying another plot. We were happy and motivated again (up up up!). However due to circumstances related to the changing south african market this plan couldn’t be executed. We went down again…

That was the moment when we went start looking into the various permits again.

We wanted to go for a pensionada visa. We needed rental income (from the Netherlands) which means that we have to invest first in real estate overhere. However the market in the Netherlands is going up and that means that the prices are much higher for the same rental income than a couple of months ago. We made a calculation of this plan and the result was shocking… we wouldn’t be able to get that amount of money, ever, at least not before our real pension which is way too long. Down again..

And up again when we went back to our very first plan: the business permit. We wanted to go for this one in the first place but the rules changed and the mandatory investment was doubled. It scared us and we made a switch to the pensionada permit. But now we realized that we had to spend the same about or more in investments in the Netherlands to get the pensionada permit, but that means no house and no lodge which means no income yet. Or (and this is where we went up again) we spent the same amount on our business permit and buy with the same money a house and a lodge. That is a difference of many many euro’s.

That was the new plan! But how do we get all that money.. We are saving up like crazy, but it is a lot of money. That’s where several potential investers came into the picture. Conclusion: it was possible. Exactly at the right moment, because we saw a beautiful white house that might be a good option for us.

But that was the moment that we started to doubt, because if we save up like we do (and believe us we are very thorough) we make it on our own in just years for now… Is this house worth it to spend extra money, more stress and a more rushed emigration? We came to the conclusion that it was not the case. We know exactly what we want and we go straight towards our goal and we are going to do it on our own strength.

That was when we felt completely at ease for the first time since the begining of may. It felt like we did the whole ride of the rollercoaster and now we came back to the station. Like a dear friend of ours, Afra, said: maybe it is hard to hear but maybe everything needed to happen to see finally clear now. She is completely right. We have our goal in sight and we go for it!

Wiebe & Melanie