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Copenhagen: 'Three weeks after we saw it, we moved home'

"In 2016, after we sold our homes in Cork, we moved from Cork to Denmark. We took a one-year rental in a house before arrival. In Denmark it is usual to pay a deposit of three to six months plus one month in advance. All rentals are subject to a legal agreement for both parties with detailed rights. No one evades the tax collector.

"We decided after six months that we would buy our own home. We were looking fun, and the online search was well in advance – 3D floor plans, heating, electricity, tax etc. all outlined. qatar property

"We approached our bank, they gave us a figure with whom we could work and we started hunting within 24 hours. There was no problem receiving a mortgage had to demonstrate that I had a deposit and I had a job... No records digging from years ago.

"You don't pay, we'll work an agreement, or we'll take home, as the bank manager said – no problems! We found our house, paid a deposit of 10 per cent – which once accepted gave us exclusive rights and no gasumping 10 days to withdraw. If we cancel 10 days later, the seller maintains the deposit.

"The good part is here: no requirement for a lawyer, even if you are free to use one. The estate officer and the bank do all of their work. The seller must provide all required reports - structural, electrical, environmental - approved by the local Kommune (Council) and available for review by all prospective buyers. Again, if you wish, you are free to hire your own engineers. You can even adopt a policy that must pay half of the cost to the vendor to ensure that anything that is not found in an engineering report is covered for 10 years if it proves a problem.

"We moved home three weeks after the viewing date. Our mortgage was less expensive than monthly rent. ~ 1300 euros in Danish crown. Property tax approximately €900 per year. The seller would have received a rebate of one or two years as they were sold halfway through the year;

"We had to move back to Ireland for family reasons less than a year later. To date, we sold our beautiful Danish home exactly one year ago. We were fortunate to have a good rental property in Kilkenny. My new job was in Dublin, but no equivalent could be found near Dublin. However, we preferred the rural areas, but we couldn't go back to Cork – too far.

"It took a solid year to purchase an appropriate house, plus since we are second-time purchasers the amount of deposit was 20%. I'm almost 50 now, never mind that my wife is younger, so my hypothecary term of maximum 17 years has been long.

"Again dealing with Irish banks, I thought I had been living in Outer Mongolia for 40 years, not two years as a fellow European nation, despite keeping my Ireland bank account open. It was a nightmare, but we knew that it was going to be. Despite 30 years of history with Bank of Ireland, we persevered with another bank. We were able to receive a derogation from a 10% deposit otherwise we never would have been able to purchase our home with rental costs and the use of Irish 'free' education – that's another story.

"We are happy to be home, but part of me misses being in a country which functions for its people, where the state is founded to provide services and empower its citizens and has a culture to contribute to the state and to society as a whole." "

Sam, Alberta, Canada: 'The house prices fell in a natural disaster'

"I left Ireland in 2012 and went to a remote northern city of Alberta, Canada. It is located approximately 1000 km from the Arctic Circle and its oil-producing town. With about 75 thousand inhabitants and increasing. My wife and I rented five years here until I had fed up to pay another mortgage so we decided to take our own.

"Housing prices in this town were at some point very high. We waited to see if they would drop, and with the help of a natural disaster they did something. The city literally caught fire. We had a forest fire that led to an evacuation of 80 thousand people from the city for six weeks. When we returned to the street, we wanted to buy our first house. Wiped.

"The house prices began to drop and we decided to buy our first home when that particular street was being rebuilt. Single family home, three upstairs bedrooms, and one downstairs in a separate apartment in the basement. Having a cellar suite to rent seems a common thing here, as the average cost of a home here is approximately half a million dollars for a home with four bedrooms and a lot of perhaps 150 ft by 75 ft.

"Salaries are particularly high here, but with the price of everything else it is justified. Home prices have fallen even more and it's a market for buyers and they're selling."

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