Buying a house
 

Hi,

Dont s'pose anyone could enlighten me, we are planning to move to Brisbane next year (currently in post application - pre medicals limbo) and I wondered if its easier buying a house in Oz than it is in the UK and the sort of costs involved?

Thanks in advance

Mark

Brisbane Housing
 

Never bought a house there myself. You'll see few semi-detached but lots of units (flats). Check out the Brisbane paper http://www.couriermail.news.com.au/ for pricing details.

Terminology
Hi-set = 2 Storey (A house to you and me)
Lo-set = 1 Storey (A bungalow)
Unit = Flat
Townhouse = Smallish (not always in town and seldom built over a garage like those London Townhouses)

Mortgages work on a different formula (I think)

Re: Buying a house
 

it's pretty easy buying a house here... well it's pretty easy getting a loan.
There are a few different loans about... fixed, variable, offset mortgage etc.

sort of costs involved are.. lawyers if you want one
surveying costs .... if you're buying a second hand house.. Get it checked for termites... this is a must!!! you'd be mad not to.
Last house I rented.. I had termites breaking out of the window frames one night... it was like something out of a horror movie... horrible things!

You pay stamp duty of course.

I'm currently building new... bought a block of land, paid for a lawyer which I think cost me around 2thou... stamp duty for the cost of the land, can't remember the exact cost of that.

Then I went to a builder... we are almost at our start date now (just received the plans back from the council)... You pay no stamp duty on the actual house if your building.


... I'd say it's no easier, or difficult buying here than it is in the UK.

cheers:)

http://www.realestate.com.au/cgi-bin...d&t=res&snf=bs

There's a link on the above realestate site... explaining house buying, mortgages etc.

http://loan.echoice.com.au/pages/h_buy_renovate.html

this link may help you too.

I have never bought a house here, only built or rented, but I do know that it is a much quicker process than the UK. In some cases only two weeks, and there are no problems with chains....it just doesn't happen here.

Re: Buying a house
 

Yikes! Not quite sure what 'breaking out of the window frames' means exactly, but sounds pretty horrific! One year in East Africa when flying grasshopper season arrived after the rains, dozens of these great fat disgusting hoppers (delightful gourmet 'gift from the gods' delicacies to some, I should add) found their way into our bedrooms through the airconditioners and laid low until lights out, at which point all hell broke loose - 'horrible' barely describes it, so can really relate!

Thanks for this link, have been searching for ages for info this clear and detailed on how variable interest rate mortgages work (couldn't understand until now how anyone could ever afford them when rates rise.) Are going to NZ not OZ, but mortgages work same way there too I believe?

Cheers, TA