[mohogony]

Originally Posted by The_Wookie Badge, what is the name of the area you live? It sounds to be more of what I would look for, and must admit that Melbourne would probably be more attractive to me than Perth.

l think badge lives in the Dandenong mountains on the edge of Melbourne, its a nice place, sort of like country lifestyle close to the city and affordable compared to suburbs closer to the city.

[mohogony]

Originally Posted by jimbo_d Melbourne's great, Australia is great, it's what you make of it really, like anywhere else. The people who freqeuent this forum regularly are boring whingers who have a bee in their bonnet about Australia and not much else to do than vent on here. I would ignore 90% of the posts on here and look at the positive ones.

yes there are a few professional OZ haters on the forum who will tell you OZ is worse then iraq, l would'nt listen to them.

[sallyclaire]

Originally Posted by jimbo_d The people who freqeuent this forum regularly are boring whingers who have a bee in their bonnet about Australia and not much else to do than vent on here. I would ignore 90% of the posts on here and look at the positive ones.

Thanks!

[sallyclaire]

Welshlou, don't base your decision on what you read on here. People often say Cairns has terrible weather, too hot, too humid, we could have let that put us off but we didn't & love it!
Consider what you are looking for personally plus where you can get work & then decide if Melbourne can provide you with that!
Good luck!

[Geelong Gent]

Originally Posted by Welshlou Hi all, I've only recently joined the forum because I might have a chance of working in Melbourne and thought I'd get some ideas from ExPats who live there. However, most of the stuff I've heard on the forum makes me think it is not worth the hassle. Comments range from people saying that any decent places to rent will cost you London prices and the rental market is in a dire state, to people saying that you need at salary of least $120,000 per annum to ensure you do not end up living in a dodgy area or have a massive commute into the CBD. Most of the comments on the forum seem very negative, which seems to be at odds with what other people have told me who have lived in Australia. Maybe it's just Melbourne and I should be thinking of trying somewhere like Adelaide or even New Zealand! Come on folks, loads of you have done it so has anyone got anything positive to say about Melbourne and reasons for moving there????

The comments a few days ago were not exactly negative posts but a reality check to give you a much better informed basis. Too often people come over with a wrong expectation of property prices and rentals in terms of quality/value for money/securing timeframe.

With the information in hand you can easily make a life in Melbourne - especially when you consider your income will rise once you have local experience and learn the "local" ins and outs of making the most of your hard earned dosh.

An example given to me by a wise old man (back in early 90's) was for people too realise life gets better ie person below starts off with mortgage 3.5 times there income but with annual salary increases of 5% and steady repayments of $6300 ($157,500/10) and notice the increasing value of property 2.5% per year. They go from a 20% equity to close to 60% in 10 years.


5% 6300 2.50%
Income X Income Mortgage Prop Value
45,000 3.5 157500 196,875
1 47,250 3.2 151200 201,797
2 49,613 2.9 144900 206,842
3 52,093 2.7 138600 212,013
4 54,698 2.4 132300 217,313
5 57,433 2.2 126000 222,746
6 60,304 2.0 119700 228,315
7 63,320 1.8 113400 234,023
8 66,485 1.6 107100 239,873
9 69,810 1.4 100800 245,870
10 73,300 1.3 94500 252,017

Now of course the figures are indicative of the early 90's but apply same and you will be better off in 10 years - subject to you making repayments and not extending mortgage on frivolous items like holidays and cars.