I was told the bank would take possession of my house if I didn't pay the mortgage for 3 months. Luckily I sold after 3 months !!
I would seek legal help ASAP.
Walking away seems drastic I was ready to do it.
As I say the costs involved kept escalating.
The mortgage was going to be 12K a month.
Service charges were going to be 1-2K a month
I would have to pay a "registration" fee of 12K
Plus I had to furnish the place.
AND I had no guarantee the service charge would not increase after the first year.
As the place turned out to be a cheaply finished rabbit hutch I guess at a stretch I could have charged 8K a month. So in the first year my costs 168,000 my income 96,000 a loss in the first year of 72,000 Rials. Plus the cost of furnishings which we could argue would cost 50,000
So a first year loss of 122,000 Walking away would have cost me my deposit which was about the same amount. And lets not forget this loss would have been ongoing, over 20 years !. The income would never have matched the costs.
Add in maintenance new furniture every 5 years and the VERY REAL possibility that you would sell the property for LESS than you brought it for and......Well...Walk away.
Of course all the above count on me actually renting the place out. That was not guaranteed as it was so small and cheap.
I resent anyone thinking we were stupid to become involved in this. I am not stupid and the people I know who have brought are clever well informed professional people.
We all arrived over 3 years ago and THOUGHT from appearances that Qatar was going places. Remember this was as the country was gearing up for the Asian games it SEEMED like the country had real potential.
We ALL now know this was a mirage in the desert. Things did not get better, Qatar did not improve.
We were LIED to, by the agents that is now indisputable. The projects here were not sold out. We were duped by agents and a complicit press.
We were naive, we come from Western Countries where we have a FREE press and laws that are EQUAL FOR EVERYONE. WE don't have a national press happy to print lies ignore bad news and lull everyone into a false sense of security. Essentially we don't have a national propaganda machine.
So we came here saw all the building read all the positive press and saw rents and prices rising. WE were SOLD. It all seemed on balance to be a good investment. I certainly would not have parted with my money if I thought it was a risk. I work hard for my money. (I say work hard I don't but I have to live here so I bloody well deserve my money)
So it all turned out badly. Should we have known better ? probably, did we realise we were being duped absolutely not.
I was told the bank would take possession of my house if I didn't pay the mortgage for 3 months. Luckily I sold after 3 months !!
I would seek legal help ASAP.
Walking away seems drastic I was ready to do it.
As I say the costs involved kept escalating.
The mortgage was going to be 12K a month.
Service charges were going to be 1-2K a month
I would have to pay a "registration" fee of 12K
Plus I had to furnish the place.
AND I had no guarantee the service charge would not increase after the first year.
As the place turned out to be a cheaply finished rabbit hutch I guess at a stretch I could have charged 8K a month. So in the first year my costs 168,000 my income 96,000 a loss in the first year of 72,000 Rials. Plus the cost of furnishings which we could argue would cost 50,000
So a first year loss of 122,000 Walking away would have cost me my deposit which was about the same amount. And lets not forget this loss would have been ongoing, over 20 years !. The income would never have matched the costs.
Add in maintenance new furniture every 5 years and the VERY REAL possibility that you would sell the property for LESS than you brought it for and......Well...Walk away.
Of course all the above count on me actually renting the place out. That was not guaranteed as it was so small and cheap.
I resent anyone thinking we were stupid to become involved in this. I am not stupid and the people I know who have brought are clever well informed professional people.
We all arrived over 3 years ago and THOUGHT from appearances that Qatar was going places. Remember this was as the country was gearing up for the Asian games it SEEMED like the country had real potential.
We ALL now know this was a mirage in the desert. Things did not get better, Qatar did not improve.
We were LIED to, by the agents that is now indisputable. The projects here were not sold out. We were duped by agents and a complicit press.
We were naive, we come from Western Countries where we have a FREE press and laws that are EQUAL FOR EVERYONE. WE don't have a national press happy to print lies ignore bad news and lull everyone into a false sense of security. Essentially we don't have a national propaganda machine.
So we came here saw all the building read all the positive press and saw rents and prices rising. WE were SOLD. It all seemed on balance to be a good investment. I certainly would not have parted with my money if I thought it was a risk. I work hard for my money. (I say work hard I don't but I have to live here so I bloody well deserve my money)
So it all turned out badly. Should we have known better ? probably, did we realise we were being duped absolutely not.