Hi Nwsteve
We literally sold everything except a few boxes and items stored with some family and what we took with us in our suitcases. We had decided that we didn't really have anything that was worth taking the trouble to ship and we liked the idea of being so mobile. We knew that furnished rentals are the norm here, which helped with that decision. To move to Malta you can enter as a tourist and apply for temporary or permanent residence once you are here, and that's what we've done. We did a huge amount of research ahead of time but we were prepared to move on if things didn't work out the way they were supposed to.
Finding housing was pretty straightforward although we looked at quite a few places. We just lucked into finding a really wonderful rental agent (we walked in off the street!) and that helped immensely. We obviously chose the rental we thought was the nicest and best value of those we saw but the price and amenities are by no means unusual.
I'm trying really hard to think of whether there was anything that came as a real surprise, and I can't think of any specifics. Really, we were surprised that things worked out as well as we hoped (especially my husband because he is the skeptic of the two of us). There were moments in the first week or two when we suffered intense culture shock (for example, we were on the main island and the traffic and littering were more than we were used to as sheltered Canadians and we had no idea where or how to shop for groceries
). We adjusted pretty quickly though and the highs of all the newness and wonder more than made up for the lows.
The only thing that was a huge disappointment was that we rented an apartment for our first month from pictures on the net. We were not expecting a wonderful place (we wanted to move into something nicer long-term instead of downsizing
) but this apartment was nasty. There was mold in the apartment and it clearly had not been rented out in months. So the lesson learned is to either book something very short-term or have someone you trust see the place in person first.
Within the first couple of weeks we we were in the country we had fallen in love with Gozo and arranged to rent where we live now, a place we're delighted with. We rent because of the flexibility and because the rental/purchase price ratio is skewed in favor of renting as compared to North America. Purchase prices are very reasonable but, for example, you could rent a three bedroom house with a courtyard and pool for $1,100 USD a month that would cost $500,000 USD to purchase. Property values have risen substantially since it became clear that Malta would join the EU and they continue to rise so probably some people would prefer the investment value of purchasing.
We are both writing and we still manage some ongoing business interests thanks to the net. I also maintain some websites for myself and some friends
That was one of the benefits of moving here, because as long as we do not freelance on the local market we can do work for people outside of Malta and not run afoul of immigration. I had been self-employed for years but my husband had always worked a day job, so now we spend our days together which has been an immense quality of life improvement.
