Relocation
John was about to retire. He had spent most of his career working for a major multinational food manufacturer around the world with six foreign postings in twenty years out of the UK. Where we should go after he bowed out of Tokyo was a problem that had dominated our conversations for several years.
With grown up children living in Canada and Japan respectively, we had no real reason to return to the UK. Working in Africa, Asia and North America had meant that we had not spent much time exploring Europe so we decided there was one last foreign location in us. We also wanted to retire to somewhere with a comfortable climate, coupled with excellent transport links to the rest of the region. Mallorca seemed to fit the bill perfectly and we liked islands.
In the course of my research I discovered Shortcuts on the Internet. We had never visited the island before so we were going to need a lot of help in getting to know Mallorca very quickly and buy a house at the same time. Flying in from the other side of the world as we did the Shortcuts search and advice service was just what we needed.
Before we arrived for our first visit we agreed a Property Search Brief and a number of locations were initially discussed.
On the first day, Andy took us on a detailed tour of the island and talked about the pros and cons of each area for our needs. He talked about full time living on the island and the richness of a mixed community of nationalities. I had lived in South America and wanted to brush up on my Spanish. Shortcuts had liaised with several different real estate agents and the comprehensive Property Portfolio that they left at our hotel before our arrival was slowly whittled down to a shortlist and viewings were arranged.
We had to work hard during our two-week property hunt, but Shortcuts worked harder. We got a good feel for the entire island and for the property available and of course prices. And we got lots of useful wrinkles about life and services on Mallorca that you only get from people on the spot.
Shortcuts managed the whole process for us. We found our Mallorcan home at the end of the second week of our visit and put an offer in through the English-speaking lawyer Andy recommended. Well worth the investment in the registration fee in time saved and with no wasted effort by us. Andy also attended the Notary signing to complete the purchase.
