GABBY

My family and I are filling in the forms as I speak and the reason for emigrating is so that I can take early retirement - I couldn't afford to do this if I stay in England unless we move to some God forsaken area in the North of the Country where it is cold and full of other people who didn't have any choice in the matter.
Seems to me that a lot of the negative comments surround the working environment in Oz, especially rates of pay and hours worked.
For someone like me who is retiring to Oz, these issues do not affect me and my only concern is how we will fit in with the locals and cope with the insects! (With this in mind, should it be Perth or Adelaide??)
What I am really looking forward to is being able to finally give my children (ages 2 to 16) more of my time....."Yes of course I can take you to the footy" or "Yes, I will be there to see you in the School Play".
Added to this is the wonderful weather and cheap housing (won't need a mortgage) and I challenge anyone to tell me (even PB) that this move is not perfect for us.:cool

Bernard

It would be a good move if you are coming with a fair bit of money and are buying a house outright. Aus is a good country for affluent retirees.
Personally I would suggest the eastern side (Perth is very isolated) - although others would disagree, I'm sure.
Insects is a personal thing - but be prepared for some BIG ones! When my sister came over she had a moth land on her shoulder one evening (attracted by the light of a video camera) - it was the size of a sparrow and had a purple colouration to it. Never seen anything like it - she jumped 12 feet in the air!

Herman

I agree. We reckon the next time we will be back to Australia will be when we are 55, seen all of the world that we want to see, cashed up and looking for somewhere affordable and sunny to kick back.

An extremely popular and still affordable place to retire is the central coast of NSW (anwywhere from an hour north of Sydney to 4 hours north). We've been up there for a number of weekend breaks and looking in estate agents suggests decent houses can still be had for $300k to $400k. It has great weather, great beaches, lots of golf courses and is still within a drive of the city should you feel the need for concrete under your feet. It was very noticable that well over half the population in these central coast towns are retirees! Not for us right now, but who knows, maybe one day.

pommie bastard

Good for you sounds about right earn your cash in the UK and retire to a third world country wish I had done the same good luck to you.
By the way any income you get from the UK will be taxed up to 47% and forget free health care its going cost apart from that , go QLD its the warmest cheapest state most of the retired end up there.

colind

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Herman
I

An extremely popular and still affordable place to retire is the central coast of NSW

And not a bad idea for an investment property, Herman, for anyone with a bit of spare cash. The F3 makes it almost commutable from the south of the Central Coast. I have a client who has made a lot of money in property in that area and also southern Hunter Valley. If and when they finally do something about the Pacific Highway (inappropriately named road!) south of Hornsby, it will take off, I suspect.

Herman

[QUOTE]Originally posted by colin
Yes, but I suspect the heady days of 25% pa may be over for a while. One of my friends in the UK bought a 1500 sqm plot of waterfront land by Lake Macquarie for a small sum, I think $50k, 10 years ago and its now one of last undeveloped plots and he reckons worth almost $500k. Our investment money is going into property in the soon to be part of Europe countries. We have the benefit that my wife is Czech so we can buy property there - 50,000 pounds will get you three 3 bedroom houses within an hours drive of Vienna.

colind

Makes sense. My wife has a Polish passport...got me thinking!

Herman

I've read a few reports predicting 25%pa general inflation, and higher for houses, as these countries 'equalise' with the rest of Europe. For countries like Poland and Czech Republic that means incomes and house prices multiplying significantly. The exchange rate risk will always be there though - an investment there is a gamble that the investment value outstrips any strengthening in the exchange rate against the pound. We're going for it with one house and then see and how it goes. I have'nt yet turned my mind to the possible impact of the Euro - it may mitigate some of the exchange risk.

Ceri

6 years ago when I was Newcastle, we looked at a house which backed on to the Lake, the house was in the Swansea area. Anyway it was on a large plot of land, the water was at the back of the garden, it also had an inground pool, but the house was wood and scruffy, I think originally it was a "holiday home" for someone... the price was $150 thou (AU)... I wish I had bought it even though we were moving to Brisbane. I wish I had bought it for investment purposes, rent it out or something. Even if it had meant bulldozing the house to replace it with a brick house, or even renovating it.... I'd really hate to think how much it's worth now., a missed opportunity!

cheers

jeannie

Would it not be better to go to Spain\ Italy\ Malta\ PORTUGAL then if things dont work out "hay i'ts a hop skip and a jump home ?????

The "bug" thing would but me off if nothing else............
:scared: :scared:

Don

Central and Eastern Europe

I’m fairly sure that former rampant inflation in the EU 2004 entrant countries has been brought under control – they are all trying to adopt fiscal and monetary policies and targets that will allow them the chance to convert their national currency to the Euro (which is envisaged from 2006 onwards). This means inflation is likely to stay in the low single figures. In general, the currencies in question are already mirroring the Euro vs other currencies and also slightly strengthening against the Euro itself – this is good for general inflation too.

Having said that, property inflation is a different matter (as anyone in the UK knows with 2% RPI and 25% property inflation!) and I would expect to see a continuation of the trend since 1990 which is: strong property price inflation (esp good flats, houses, building plots) well above RPI – though property price inflation tends to be fairly erratic, eg +25% per annum over 2 years then just 5% pa for the next couple of years.

One thing to watch out for in the CEE region is quality of build. Many buildings constructed before 1990 are poorly built and those after 1990 vary enormously. You don’t have that problem with empty building plots and good plots can still be bought at reasonable prices. Also, the ’location, location, location’ mantra does not seem to be widely understood and if you work hard at it you can pick up plots in wonderful locations for the same price per square metre as plots in not so good locations.

Cheers / Don

Grub

Careful wot you say about northerners right- there's lots of us out there!!!!!!!!!


Hormonal and happy
xxx