Sally Redux

I don't totally agree with that. Some council estates are grim, but some aren't that bad. My in-laws are happy in theirs, they have a house backing onto a golf course and once said, "Where could you possibly get a better position?"

The actual specs for council houses were usually good, although I know there have been problems with some of the concrete high-rises.

michelleh

This is how it was/is for my family... a simple tale of our experience
2006...living comfortable life, Merseyside area, mortgage, 2 kids, decent disposable income...always wanted to emigrate to Aus and got ball rolling...went through migration agency...visa go ahead given 2008...house put on market after decorating throughout, 189,000 , just as things starting on the down turn!... No sale 6 months on...reduced by 10,000...nothing....further 6 months ...reduced by further 10,000...nothing ... finally rented house thru Estate Agency (last resort as I really was'nt keen but anything to start new life in OZ) left UK for Brisbane March 2009, hubby got a job a job within couple of weeks, Refrigeration/Air Con engineer, kids into school...after 6months I got a part time job ...started seriously looking at house prices.... decent house(nothing special) that would need a bit of work looking at 450,000 (yes I know you can get cheaper but in a poor area)..would have been willing to go for house $450,000 mark but after speaking with Westpac and two financial advisors , told we need 20% deposit!! , one advisor suggested we look into releasing equity from UK house (that turned out a no go as UK mortgage would not release as we where out the country and would only release anyway if we were using cash on UK house!) .... asked Estate Agent back in UK to see if tenants interested in purchasing.... e-mail came back..... as much as they would love to... they cannot get a mortgage (who can in UK?) oh and your house is now re-evaluated at 140,000GBP... and you will be lucky to get that!!! .... predicted things taking another turn for worse (prediction correct)... thats a drop of 59,000GBP (if were lucky!!!) ... exchange rate would have been final nail in coffin also.

With the best will in the world, hubby working longer hours anyway than he was back in UK ( but happy to do so) no way the maths was going to work out... Am I sorry we took the plunge? On the whole no because it was something we needed to experience for ourselves , did not want to wonder what if...now we know, loved the country ... found myself wowing a lot... was not too impressed with state school, people friendly, Did not expect it to be easy, we did not have homesickness to any real extent, regretabbly, simply was not financially do-able for us.

Back to UK August 2010, kids settled back really well, hubby employed back in his old Company, I am working on a full time temporary contract. Moved back into house September 2010...nearly finished redecorating. Weather has been quite kind to us...but starting to feel the oncome of the winter chill now... nice to see family and friends (even though I did'nt miss them like I thought I would...mmmm!!).

Seneca21

So you gave up an entire future in Australia just because you didn't want to rent there for a couple if years?

GeordieGeek

Good post michelleh - we are thinking about doing something similar but like Senaca21 I can't understand why you didn't just rent?

eugene43

Please dont go there it does realy make you look very sade person.

asprilla

Perhaps you didn't read/understand the post? Try again.

Selling at GBP180,000 and exchanging at 2.2 would have provided nearly $400k.

However selling at GBP135,000 and exchanging at 1.6 provides just over $200k.

I think michelleh and family made the right decision.

Seneca21

Again, you are basing a future in Australia/UK purely on exchange rates - and at GBP = 3 AUD they'd have 540,000 but it ain't going to happen. There is no reason why this person could not have rented in Australia until they had saved more money and then used this as a deposit. The newsflash is failing a major collapse in the AUD sterling will probably never rise to the 2.5 level again.

In other words, Brits have to get used to moving to Australia and facing the same challenges as all the immigrants from places like India - these people can't bring massive deposit with them but they make it work.

Saying I'm not living in Australia because the rate is crap looks petulant. So maybe you should try again; it's simple enough.

Seneca21

I rent because I am not buying a property at the top of an unprecedented bubble and being the idiot without a chair when the music stops, so I agree. What interests me is the idea that renting is so bad it's actually smarter to give up your future in Australia, i.e., you're better off owning a house in a collapsing economy than renting one in an ascending economy..? Does not compute with me, but the Anglo-Saxons are heavily indocrinated to own houses, so maybe this is it?

Also people should remember that the value of British housing stock is plummeting. It's already about 30% - 35% cheaper than it was 3/4 years ago. To me buying it only has an advantage if you plan to let it out at the usual extortionate UK rental rates, and even then you can't bring the money over without CGT etc.

BadgeIsBack

Just my 2c..

Crunching numbers is OK, but lets face it, some people just don't want it that badly.

I would not move to Australia now because I probably would not be able to afford it - and I would be much more likely to have missed the target. There are some factors that would have brought down our plans within a year or two, but we avoided most of them by luck, not via financial situation (although small mortgage is still a huge factor).

Robbie37Michelle32

We have been quite lucky in selling our house,and only a few weeks away from completing. We did not loose any money from the sale of our house which was good for us as a young couple. We have got quite a lot of money to take to Oz.

But for us the stumbling block is the exchange rate we will takw some over but leave the rest here until the exchange rate goes up. I have heard you can leave the money over in uk for 12mts without tax problems ? The problem witht the housing market is the BANKS wont give people money so the market is on hold and its a buyers market until they start to give the money then people will be stuck and not be able to follow their dreams.

We have waited a long tme to move to oz after being there in 06 on a 457 then having a perm visa from 07 so fingers crossed we can go now.

Sally Redux

Why are the prices still really high on Rightmove? Do people put really high asking prices which are not achieved? Genuinely confused.

jmh

I'm signed up to zoopla where you can get the actual sale prices for the post code in the uk you are looking for. Property prices have risen quite considerable in the past year where I live. I do expect a modest slump in the next year of two, but population growth in this area is predicted at 15% which drives prices up. In many areas it is population growth that fuels house prices. If you bought in an area that is not growing you probably won't make a profit, but at least you can chose what colour you paint the walls.

Buying a house does not guarantee a good return on investment, but in my case my mortgage costs a third of what I would pay in rent to live in this area in the same sized house, so my quality of life is enhanced as a result of owning property compared to if I was renting.

Sally Redux

Ah right, I wondered if there was a site giving actual prices, thanks.

eugene43

Newbury berkshire prices are way above the norm

Seneca21

Sally, go to nethouseprices and just type in the street or postcode you want. Here you will find all the prices houses actually sold for. There is a 2/3 month lag.