sammyg

Whingin Pom,
In yours dreams the 90% part

Bear in mind these people are in it to make SERIOUS money out of DESPERATE people. As the market is looking a little unstable at the moment they will be factoring this in to make even more out of people.

From a moral standpoint i wouldn't ever consider giving my house away to these people. Do as they plan to do with your house and hang on to it if possible until prices start to increase again (when this will be i do not know).

We are putting ours up to rent on Monday rather than give it away...not ideal for our plans in oz but we've still got 30k to take with us...and will have two houses back over here to sell at some point in the future.

Just got to take a more 'long term' view on our investments that's all

On the positive side we will be the owners of 3 houses when we've bought in oz - so the long term gain/outlook should be 'good'

Met a property investor on holiday in portugal this year (retired at 40) who gave us some sound advice about looking at the 'bigger picture/long term'

Flutterby

If our house doesn't sell we will be renting it out and coming over anyway. Have been on the market since March, loads of viewers and a few reasonable offers but the people who made the offers still haven't sold theirs. Very difficult for end of chainers like the majority of us at the moment!!!

on a mission

All keep a stiff upper lip.

Your house is your investment, and unless you want to buy ASAP in AUS take it easy, Aus prices are inflated anyway.

My only advice is dont squander your money to get to AUs, asap , unless its really worth it.

I have had an offer, retracted today, and have 3 viewings tomrrow, and Im leaving Jan,

If it doesnt sell, I will have limited disposable cash in aus, but will rent the UK house for a short term until it sells, and offer the tennant a deal to look after and help sell the place.

on a mission

I think we should all club together and advertise our houses on a expat basis and rental agency...

We'd have something in common, and probably from diff parts of the country...too....

Flutterby

Totally agree with this, we were planning to rent for a year when we got there anyway so is not too much of a problem except the lack of immediately available cash. Will just have to save some more here before we go.

on a mission

just means less to spend in AUs, buts its about time I started saving, anyhow, maybe renting my house is a way of having some type of investment.

Grayling

Edit

sammyg

Come on - get it off your chest lad!!!

RenShen

Hi all,

Glad to have found this thread. Looks like we will be on a really tight timescale when it comes to moving and I am worried about the house. If hubby gets a job offer in November we hope to get to Oz on a temp 457 visa (with a view to a permanent visa to follow) in January.

Can't contemplate putting house on the market till job offer comes, then will only have about 2 months till we go to Oz. Realistically I have to assume the house will not sell in that time so am considering transferring (small) mortgage to interest only and appointing family as power of attorney to oversee the eventual sale.

Problem is, we are only used to paying a small mortgage and I have been looking at rents in the Helensvale (Queensland) area and they are quite high!

Ideally, would rent for 3/6 months then buy but the thought of doing this after being more or less financially sorted for years terrifies me!!!

Will probably book into b&b or similar for first 2/3 weeks till we find a rental. Problem is, we need to get the kids into good schools so we will be restricted by catchment areas. Also, we will probably arrive in Oz during school hols (christmas) so will be unable to have a look around the schools prior to term starting at the end of January. Good job I have got a bottle of wine next to me as I write this!!

I just keep my eye on the end result. Hopefully a great life for the kids (and us) and, after 12 months or so of stress, we can finally get on with enjoying being settled in a new life. Till the family turn up to visit........................:curse:

pomy2001

Hi, We have been in OZ for 6 years and have kept our house in the UK - this was the best decision we have ever made and after a recent trip there found our house to be worth much, much more than we expected. If you can afford to keep it and rent it out, then keep it and don't worry about selling it

on a mission

whats up?

have something to say?

smithla

Hope someone can help with this - we're busy selling our house in preparation for a move to Sydney, but the we've had two sales drag on and then fall through, so 5 months down the line we're no closer to selling (both fell through because of buyer/chain problems - the house is good value and in a good area so we don't anticipate a problem with getting it sold). However due to circumstances and because we don't want to put our lives on hold any longer we've booked our fights out (leave in just over 3 weeks!).

The question is that I thought there was a six month tax relief with immigration and after this you were liable for tax - does this include the sale of our house?? Is there anything we can do to avoid this cost if that is the case (just in case it takes longer than six months to sell the house, god forbid, but possible given the crappy UK system) - does anyone have any links/official documentation that gives any guidance on this, or at least can recommend someone to speak to to get financial advise to cover this??

Any help/guidance is much appreciated!
Barry

Can't wait to start our new life down under!!

on a mission

the way i see it, you shouldnt be liable for any tax, as its your primary residence.

www.ato.gov.au

ljj

That is correct no tax on your primary residence. If you buy over here (which there was no way on earth we could have afforded to do without selling) before you sell in the UK then you pay CGT (capital gains tax)

Moved here in Aug 2003 and rented house out it JUST covered mortgage payments. 1st lot of tenants moved out and UK was going through shocking housing market so had to rent it again...long story short 3 lots of tenants and sold in June 2006. MOved into our own home in Feb 2007.

+ points we really knew the area and where we wanted to live.

+ our weekends weren't filled with gardening/decorating.

+ you can rent a much nicer house per $ than you could own for that price mortgage
BIG + we came out within 6 weeks of being accepted and visa no hanging around for house sell. We were already living the dream (and still are)

- points got sick to death of having to ask before hanging pictures etc and cream walls!

- didn't get pets as we didn't want to be in the situation that we were looked over as someone without pets would be a more desirable tenant over here.

- was a bit of 'dead money' but much more the norm here to rent.

don't think i'd have done anything different except maybe have sold 12 months earlier if the market had been buoyant but these things happen for a reason and people will only pay what the house is worth to them at the time.
LJJ

fa kin su pa

THE PLAN
We are hoping to move next year. We have already put our mortgage on an interest only and putting the extra we are saving into a high interest account 6.1%. The rental income will cover the mortgage once we move and any extra we make will be put into the high interest account. Once the account has built up we will then pay lump sums off the capital or should we have problems use the spare cash to get us out the brown stuff.

That is the plan but now I need your help. Will I pay tax in OZ on the money I make in Uk from renting (What % do I pay) and when I do sell the house how much tax will I pay ?