Finding Affordable Beachfront Living in Northern Cyprus

I think nicely, very nicely. Yeah. We can be there for about 2000 a month. Yeah. And I mean, I do when we first thought about, oh yeah, okay, we could afford to live way overseas, like what's that like. And then we just went quickly back the envelope through our income stream. And we thought, yeah, that should pretty much do it. We see this as a wonderful place to live while we're not traveling. Hello, I'm Kathleen Peddicord. Welcome to a new edition of our Retired Overseas Podcast. Today, I am delighted to welcome Dan Lindsey and Kathleen Moore, coming to you from Raleigh, North Carolina. You guys aren't actually yet retired overseas. You are coming to us from Raleigh, where you have been retired. But you are right in the thick of things. You are right now working your way through all the aspects, the challenges, and the adventures of planning for a move to another country. And in your case, the country you've chosen is a little bit outside the comfort zone for a lot of people, it's a little bit more exotic. It's not Panama or Portugal, which are two countries, you know, we know lots of Americans like you, who have retired to Panama and Portugal and elsewhere across Latin America and Europe, but not quite as far east as you are going. Without dragging down any further, the reveal here is you guys are moving to Northern Cyprus, and I'm very excited to be able to dig into this with you, because I'm a fan of Northern Cyprus. We really have been the first to spotlight Northern Cyprus to bring it into the conversation. So, my first question is, how did you guys come to identify Northern Cyprus, of all places in the world? How did you choose Northern Cyprus? Well, we had been looking at, beach properties here in

the U. S. and then I became a member of LIOS and there was a webinar by Dengiz and I was at work and I looked at the whole webinar and I got really excited about it because it was something we could afford, not like the beachfront properties here. So, I came home and let Dan take a look at it, and we got excited and we had a Zoom meeting with Dengiz. Okay. And then scheduled a trip out there. Now, the rest is kind of history. Okay. And so, when was that? How long ago was it that you first

made this connection? 18 months. Yeah, it was October 23rd. Yeah. Okay. We found it on. We found it in September. Yeah, yeah. We're going to be in the Aphrodite Resort complex, and our building is still. Well, the building was there when we got there. But it wasn't complete. No. So, we've been waiting for the completion of it. Right. So, 18 months is not that long a time to go from “wow, we could afford this, look at this” to, you're just about to move. When, in fact, will you make your move? This summer. So, had you been thinking about the idea of

moving to another country at all before this webinar? Thank you. That's what you reminded me about was, her dream had always been to live at the beach, literally at the beach, not two blocks back, at the beach. And like she said, you can't afford that here. So, we started looking Costa Rica. Should we tell them the Costa Rica story? It was a big one. Yes, tell the Costa Rica story, I think. Oh, well, we had planned, you know, that was going to be our destination. Well, our net was casting wider and wider at this point. Hadn't reached Cyprus yet. But my daughter and her family had gone to Costa Rica and they did not have a good experience. They didn't like it. And so, my daughter comes back and says, if you move to Costa Rica, I'm not going to come visit you. So, understandably, you wanted to consider other options. Yeah, yeah. So, anyway, when people at my rotary asked me, because that's the number one question obviously, is how do you decide? I just do this because we knew what we wanted. And this was unbelievable. I mean, it's when people see the place, they'll fall in love. Exactly. And I agree, and I've been to Northern Cyprus. I've been along this coast. It's lovely. It's beautiful. It's, you know, it's quintessential Mediterranean coastal living. It is very affordable, which is the point you guys are making. And so, you made your choice. You made your big leap of faith and you made your purchase. And then that started your clock ticking. And so, you had all of these other issues to consider. So, for example, one important one is if you were going to want to be able to be in residence in your new home full-time, you would need a residency visa. So, which path

to residency did you guys or are you pursuing? Well, TRNC, we've spoken to our everybody that we could speak to, including our lawyer and actual citizenship in the Turkish Republic is not really, an option, I mean. But she said residency. Right. Well, but I'm trying to address the whole picture. But, Yes. What we will get is like a five-year residency permit, and then we. Yeah, the key for it, as near as I can tell. And that's why I have a good lawyer. But as near as I can tell, the key to the thing is the deed itself. Because once you, and we will have a clear, fully owned, like having the pink slip for your car. And once you've got that, it's basically just a sort of administrative. You go in and you go, we'd like another year, we'd like another five years. So. For your real estate purchase. Yeah. And we. Yeah. We've never intended to renounce our U. S. citizenship. You. Right. And it's exactly as Kathleen makes the point. Residency and citizenship are two different things. Absolutely. And you can stay indefinitely, the rest of your lives, living in Northern Cyprus as legal residents and citizenship doesn't have to come into play. Exactly. And that's a separate conversation. And even if you acquire, just to clarify, for anyone listening, even if you, in Northern Cyprus or anywhere, acquire second citizenship, that also doesn't necessarily mean that you're giving up your U. S. citizenship. Yeah, that's another conversation. You can, depending on the circumstances, hold both citizenship at the same time. If you don't mind me asking about, have you thought through what your

monthly budget will be? What is it going to cost you to live once you're living there? We've kind of started I mean, I don't know what Kathleen's up to, but she's much more financially responsible than I am. But I've started to think through it. And, one of the things that we're going to be faced with is a monthly maintenance fee for the condo itself. Right. We own it, but I don't want to be taking care of. It. And they haven't really even framed that. So, that's going to be whatever chunk of budget. I think nicely, very nicely. Yeah. We can be there for about 2000 a month. Yeah. And I mean, I do when we first thought about, oh yeah, okay, we could afford to live way overseas, like what's that like. And then we just went quickly back the envelope through our income stream. And we thought, yeah, that should pretty much do it. We see this as a wonderful place to live while we're not traveling. I mean, I expect that we'll take, you know, 2 or 3, you know, really wonderful extended trips a year. And that's very exciting. You guys are embarking on such an exciting adventure, and it's just delightful to hear. And you have such a great attitude, such a positive attitude. And, you're setting yourselves up for a really great next chapter of your lives. It's very fun to see. So, have you met other expats or foreign retirees anywhere in the area? Yeah

Dan belongs to the rotary here. And he was fortunate enough to find a group. Yeah. So, I found the English-speaking Rotary Club, which it has several Brits in it on that. Yeah, yeah. We've sort of, or at least I've sort of formed a loose impression that most of the expats that I meet are going to be British. And I'll just put in a boat for Northern Cyprus, because we want everybody to come and live out on West Coast, be neighbors. But we have not had any problems with language. I mean, I was going to ask about that because there is such a big British connection. Well, it was a British Crown colony and they drive on the left. But, as a result, almost everyone, you know, gets by in English. So, I forget how I got onto that. Well, I was asking if you've met any other. Oh, right! Foreigners. And you made the great point there, which I've really appreciated. And it's what we recommend, a great way to make new friends, meet your neighbors, become part of the community, wherever you go is to connect with a group locally that connects with an interest or a hobby of yours, or something that you have a passion for, been doing anyway or want to do. Maybe you haven't had time or an opportunity to do this at this point, but this gives you now opportunity and to find a group of foreigners with those similar interests. And then you have a ready made community to become part of. At this stage, you're, you know, you're fully occupied figuring out all the pieces and putting all the dots together, but, and you're so enthusiastic and, it's, as I said, it's delightful to see is. Are you at all nervous? afraid?

I'm sure people are wondering. Are you, is there any part of you that's wondering, you know, is this the right thing to be doing? I have to say no. Yeah, I don't either. I mean, yeah, like you said, we were both, you know, part of the Navy. Yeah. So, we moved quite frequently. Yeah. I mean, it's a fraught world and it's probably, particularly, Northern Cyprus is probably a little more fraught than it was four weeks ago. But. Does that give you pause? I'm sure you were wondering. No, not really. A little bit. Yeah. It's good to be honest. Well yeah. I mean, I don't want my place to blow up. No, no. I don't think it will. But I understand your point. Yeah. And we're in touch with Dengiz regularly, and, I spoke to him just the other day, and he says everything's the same as always. Nothing has changed. It's quiet, it’s peaceful. Yeah, yeah. Well, I'll put in our vote for the community we communicate with and on face there. We have friends and they say if it wasn't for Facebook, we wouldn't know any of this was happening. Exactly. Yeah. And that is that's the reality in a lot of the world, honestly, where you hear about things in the media but from a distance. But if you're there on the ground, you aren't even aware. Yeah, yeah. And then I want to ask specifically, who would you say would be a good candidate for moving

to Northern Cyprus? Who do you think would be happy living in that part of the world? At least for what we're going to do, you got to be a little more comfortable being just by yourself. Well, being disconnected. I still dream about the bridge club, but. Now that doesn't yeah. That doesn't mean there isn't nightlife in Northern Cyprus, it’s just not where we're living. Right, exactly. And so, an important point is to know what you're looking for. Exactly, exactly. What do you want your lifestyle to look like? to do all day and in the evening? And that's why I say, even at this point of facing the challenges and the waiting and hoping the electricity gets connected. At this point, I look at it and I think, yes, that is what I've always wanted to do. I picture myself there. I want to sit on my balcony looking at a body of water, in this case the Mediterranean, and just being able to read or play with my toys. He's got lots of ideas to write a book. Oh, I've got books in me. And I've got a lot of painting to bring with me. And she can sit on the beach all day long. So, I'm not worried about that. Well that's great. It's important to have an idea of what you're going to do with yourself. Oh and we love to travel. And we'll be right there. You know, a plane ride away from Istanbul and from there, we can go anywhere. Exactly. Okay. My final question will be you just, made some allusion to it. What challenges have you faced? What have been the hardest parts about this so far?

Well, I mean, I know what I would say. Yeah. Setting up the containers and the moves. Oh, no, that actually wasn't what I was going to say. Hardest part of adjusting for me so far has been the legal aspects. Okay. We have a good attorney and she will interpret things for us, but everything's kind of laissez faire. Some things you need to have signed and notarized and other things like when you rent a car, it's, you know. Oh, yeah. It that it takes getting used to. Yeah. It's a different business environment. That's a great insight that wouldn't have occurred to me. But that's a great insight. All right. Thank you so much. I know this has been very helpful for all of our listeners who are at some point along this journey themselves, probably not nearly as far as long as you are. So, it will be helpful, I know, for them to hear firsthand how you're piecing through this process, working through this process in real time, and counting down to your move and within the next few months. And so, I'll ask that. Please stay in touch, and I'd like to maybe have you back if you'd be up for that after you've made your move. Yeah! After we get to Cyprus. Yeah, exactly. I would love to have you back later in the year and you can show us then your view from your window. And we can speak with you from your new home. Thank you Kathleen. Thank you Kathleen, this has been a lot of fun. Good luck with everything. Have so much fun with it and I hope to talk to you again soon. Thank you everyone for listening. I will be back next month with another edition of this Retired Overseas Podcast. Meantime, please keep reading and get in touch. Reach out. We'd love to hear from you. You can reach us anytime through our LiveAndInvestOverseas. com website. Thank you. Take care.