Another question for you -
We had initially thought of flying over, if we found a cheap airfare, to do house-hunting, and then flying home and doing the full-on move then the flat there was available. I am thinking now, having not seen a tremendous decrease in airfares (as we did last year and the year before) in March, that we might save the cost of the trip, accommodation, and my lost wages for a week off from work (my retirement will become effective when we leave) and just fly over having gotten a short-term rental through Trip Advisor or some such. The house-hunting trip would cost roughly 3+ month's rent - is it unrealistic to think we could not find a place to live in a month or two of looking there in late spring? If it's not ready for us to move into, we could always do some touristy things until it is. Or would that be an unwise plan?
Thanks