Re: Returning to Pakistan-Q&A!
I cannot give you good advice for Islamabad but if you want calm & quiet (also cleaner) place to live then Islamabad would be nicer. Keep in mind that we (Lahoris) say that people from Pindi/ISB are "rukhay" they are not as friendly as Lahoris are plus you will not see any culture in Islambad.
On the contrary Lahore is full of culture and activites. Lahore is much cheaper as compared to Islamabad as well. The only thing u might find in Lahore is that its too noisy and not as clean as Islamabad (some areas are even cleaner than Islamabad). There are loads of places in Lahore where u can entertain yourself on daily basis, I didn't find even a single place in Islamabad that I can match with Lahore, but by this I am not saying that there is nothing in ISB. Lahore is definately much better when it comes to fun.
As you would be moving from West to Pakistan I dont think it would be possible for you to construct a house urself (I mean by supervision) from scratch though it can save you from 10,000 pounds to around 25,000 pounds. Last year my brother built a house in Johar town area, its around 24 marla house (a little bit over one kanal, 45 feet front 122 feet depth) in Johar Town and costed around 80,000 GBP. We were lucky that we bought that plot few years ago and saved alot on the land. Now a days the same property is around double the price. So if you planning the same size then keep in mind around 160,000 to 175,000 GBP plus u need to add the price of furniture & house hold that can be from 10,000 to 25,000 (depending upon what u want). Defence (DHA) is more expensive the same size costs around 200,000 GBP to 225,000 GBP.
At present in Lahore u pay around Rs. 3500 to Rs. 5000 to watchman (Chaukidar) around 6000 to a driver. Cook+Cleaner are usually husband & wife mostly kept in servant quarters usually charge 5000 or around that figure. What most people do is that they ask man to be Chaukidar & wife to be cleaner and pay them around 6000 (both). Man also works as grocery shopper. So I'd say if u play safe u are looking around Rs 12000 (or 15000) for almost everything done.
Now lets come to income, the average pay in lahore is 15000 to 17000 (I am not talking about labour work here). But the life style u mentioned u definately need more than 60,000 rupees per months provided if u plan one trip to west per year. For further lavish style u definately should look around 100,000 per month.
As u said buy to let in Pakistan then either must be a politician, a high ranking bureaucrat or a "badmaash". In few cases u might not face problem otherwise u never know what kind of people u are putting in ur property as tanents. They might not pay u the rent and might even not evacuate it when u ask them to leave due to non-payment. So becareful about this. There are other better businesses particularly exporting clothes and other stuff from Pakistan to West, profit margin is pretty high.
I'd suggest u take some time off, visit Lahore as well as Islambad, see what u like and what u dislike make up ur mind according to your own home work.
:roman:
