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Moving to south africa

Posted in South Africa forum

I'm going to keep this a brief as possible.
My boyfriend and I are moving to SA. It's his home country and he has been visiting twice these past couple years.
the plan is to buy a plot and build our own place.
now i have a couple moving questions..which i need ballpark figures on.
does anyone have any idea how much shipping a car over would cost?
what is the ave. home cost?
how long would it take to build your ave. home?
I know they are built different then American homes..
we are going to look at ready built homes this '11 Christmas.
Also at plots to see what will suit us best.
also if anyone knows what it may cost to ship animals? We MUST take our two dogs with us.
As you can tell we are just starting the plans..my BF just got back from his last trip there on Saturday. Thanks in advance...

Nadya Scott

  • Nadya Scott

    posted by  in South Africa forum 

    Thanks everyone. we have since gotten engaged. YAY!
    My FI has since lost his job here and so the move may be happening as soon as we can get the money and child situation together and then we are out of here!
    I am not scared per say. I think alot will have to do with just plain logic. Just be very aware of your surroundings. Dont travel alone at night and take necessarily precautions.
    thanks everyone for your input and help!
    :)

  • posted by  in South Africa forum 

    Hi Nadya

    I have lived here all my life.
    I have never hurt a black man or woman: not verbily, not fisicaly and have never stolen anything from them. I am alway friendly to them. And has never uttered a word of rasicm against them. But they have hit me threw the face - just for my handbag. They have stolen my car - i saw them drive away. They stole everything in my home - while I was at work - neighbours saw them. And they have killed my mother - some were cauth.
    And still I will not hurt them. And the pain will always stay.
    It is only a handfull of white people that were part in the aparteid. Not all of them. I can not be held reliable for what they did. And I can't blame those innocent black people that are under today's corupt govenment. They are taking the food from there own children's mouth.
    So please be very carefull here.

  • kerri p

    posted by  in South Africa forum 

    Hi Nadya,
    Not sure if this helps, but we took our cat over to SA from the UK it cost just over £335.00 we used a DEFRA agent to ensure we had no complications. It was a really simple transfer. To have our furniture shipped (large 4 bed house) cost a little over £3000.00 which my husbands company paid for. However we are back in the UK as my husbands contract was moved back to London and I have to say I hope that one day we get to live in SA for good, as my husband is also South African we really miss it. Brilliant county and lovely people. Good luck.

  • Go to Jackie Zaki's profile

    posted by  in South Africa forum 

    Hi Nadya
    South AFrica is not bad at all with regards to crime, it is like any country in the there are areas you just dont go into and of course you need to be aware of what is happening around you.
    I have lived in South AFrica most of my life and it is the most amazing country in the world with such incredible qualities that will improve your quality of lilfe.
    Good luck with your move and living in SA.
    Jackie

  • Nadya Scott

    posted by  in South Africa forum 

    Im looking forward to it for sure! regardless of the struggles I really think it would be the best move for us. We really love the climate as it would be better for all of our ailments. Also the fact that we already have family here, the settling in wouldn't be so bad. :)

  • posted by  in South Africa forum 

    Hi Nadya

    South Africa is not as bad as soome make it out to be. At least not in my experience.

    Regarding you coming to South Africa, you will NOT need to get married. If you are in a legitimate relationship with a South African, then you can apply for a Life Partner Permit, to which one can either add a work or business endorsement.

    It seems that you still have some time, don't believe every bad thing your hear about this amazing country!

  • Nadya Scott

    posted by  in South Africa forum 

    i know it's not what it used to be, but He wants to go home. I want to be with him. Right now we are only having issues with getting me there. Not being married doesn't help things at all. so it all will depend on the next couple years and see what happens both with the country and our relationship. Like i said this is a move that we plan to do in about 4 years. so there is time for improvement in both areas.

  • posted by  in South Africa forum 

    Hi, if i am you, i wil remain where i am. south africa is nit what it use to be. crime crime crime and everything is very expensive

  • Nadya Scott

    posted by  in South Africa forum 

    Thanks David,
    That was helpful. I guess the car is out. I heard about the steep car prices. We are looking at the western cape area. Would really like a view of table mtn. But we have an agent /friend looking elsewhere in the cape too. We are looking at building over buying because there is a plumbing and electronics experts in the family who can do that portion of the house.
    Thanks again!

  • Go to David F's profile

    posted by  in South Africa forum 

    Hi Nadya,
    I will try and answer as best I can but it would help out a lot if you included where it is you are goingto be moving within SA. Costs and build times can vary quite a bit depending on where you are.
    Car shipping - expensive and you must have a right hand drive car now, they are not letting cars with the typical left hand drive as in the u.s.a. be imported anymore. They also charge a huge import fee, about 25% of the cost of the car when it was new. That being said, cars in south africa are 2 to 3 times more than they are in the states.
    Depending on where you are, build time can take from 6 to 9 months. Size also will be a factor as well as building type or style. There are a lot of odd steps you have to go through to get the differrent permits and lots of places have restrictions on what you can build and what you cannot. You would need to check with the local municipality to find out.
    I dont think it will cost much to ship your animals but they may have to be in some sort of quarantine, it should be easy enough to check out.
    Real estate costs are just like anywhere else, location, location, location is the key.
    If you are living in the rural areas it can be very cheap 30 to 50K in dollars or you can pay 250K and upwards for a decent place in the city or one of the nicer wildlife areas or anywhere along the coast and cape.
    We bought a place near Kruger park on a couple of hectars and wound up paying about 250K in dollars. But I wouldnt trade it for anywere else its sunny, clean and like living in the park itself.
    I hope this helps a little but I would not even consider buying anything without doing a lot of shopping around and checking out not only the house but the whole area within several miles of the house. Crime can be a problem if you are not selective about where you purchase and values can go down quickly if it is not in a well planned area also. We visited several times over a period of a couple of years and checked out places in the cape, garden route, karoo and lowveld before we decided on our place.

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