Blueboy

Hi folks,

Like most people in the UK, trying to sell the house to fund the big move is proving difficult. We have until the end of the year to validate the visa`s and already i`m panicking that this may not be enough time to sell up and get over there. So contingency planning is now beginning to kick in and we are now beginning to cost for an interim holiday in Perth before the year is out. However, although this holiday will be necessary in terms of it gives us the opportunity to validate the Visas (and remove the time pressure trying to sell up before the validation date) i need to keep costs to a minimum. For obvious reasons i don`t want us to go over on an expensive holiday, blow thousands, and return to find that within a couple of months we could sell the house and end up flying back.

Therefore can anyone out there share their knowledge/experience on arranging a "budget" trip to Perth. Travelling are my wife, 2 boys (3 and 6) and yours truly, possibly in November time. I have already costed flights/hire car through "travelsupermarket.com" (excellent price comparison website) but am struggling for cheapish accommodation. Are there any Villas/houses/appts that we could rent for about 3 weeks - any good websites you can recommend. Please let me know.

I`m sure that we`re not the only ones on this site in this boat, and i bet many of you are considering a similar option, so hopefully any advice given will benefit us all.

ta ta for now.

BB.

jjonboy

try www.wotif.com.au for cheap accommodation... Cheapest way would be a short a stay as possible?? Say just a week?? a know its a long way for a short period of time but you would minimise your costs that way?? that's my two cents worth!

You'd probably have to budget $100 a night for accommodation,,,,

Anastasia Beaverhausen

If you have to do a validation trip, it may be better to do it sooner rather than later. Flights are cheaper at the moment as it is Aussie winter. If you wait until the end of the year, flights and accomodation will be much more expensive.

sue&bob

Hi,
Try Mercury holidays they do the complete package ,flights and good accommation at Hillarys,which is nice and central,not sure what it will cost , ive heard its good value though, it might be worth a look.
Good luck
sue

Phil-UK

Blueboy,

Have you considered reducing the house by whatever the validation trip will cost ?

I'd imagine 2 adults and 2 kids would cost in the region of £5K at least (flights, aaccommodation car rental, food, etc.)

If you reduced the house price by £5K would it help? All depends on your house value of course, £5K off a £300K house isn't a lot but off a £120K house could make a big difference.

Just a thought.

Phil

Blueboy

Hi Phil,

I`ve already reduced the price by 10k but still no takers. If i thought (or was advised by my estate agents, yes i`ve got two of them) that reducing it by another 5k would mean i`d sell it then of course i would do so. However it appears that my house it priced ok, but the market conditions aren`t in my (or anyone else selling a house in the UK) favour.
Bottom line is that i`d rather sell and go, instead of spending money to go on holiday and come back, but beggars can`t be chosers when it comes to Visa validation.

If we do have to go to the expense of an "unneccessary" holiday, then i think it best to go for about 3 weeks. I know this will cost us more but, after getting over the jet-lag, we will have plenty of productive time on our hands. This could give us a bit of a head start for when we move over there for good.

Cheers.

BB

crozz

hiya blueboy were in exactly the same position has you we too are thinking about going over in november to validate visa no joy with the house sale and we have dropped our price by £6000 so believe me you are not on your own.im glad to hear from someone else going through the same problem has us crozz.

JAJ

http://www.yha.org.au is another budget accommodation option.



Jeremy

jules

Hi Blueboy

We're in the exactly the same position as you, have to validate by December. The house wasn't moving and had been on the market since March, reduced by 5k and now sold to first time buyers who want a quick sale and want to complete by August. So hang in there, we thought we would never sell and have to do an expensive holiday to Perth, but now it's all worked out ok

Good luck

Jules

Loopy

Really feel for you as we were in the same position a few years ago & had two sales fall through to add to the agony. We ended up booking a validation trip but came out for good leaving the house sale to complete a week after we were here - a real nerve wracking experience as we only had a couple of weeks to arrange EVERYTHING!

Anyway, if you're intending to come north of the river, try contacting Dianeoz on here as she has a fully furnished rental property that is very favourably priced compared to some of the others. It's not beachfront but is in a lovely area.

Just a suggestion.

Loopy

Lee Family

Flights maybe cheap now but not in july and august due to the uk school holidays We paid uk holiday prices for the flights but australia winter prices for the accomodation as we booked that direct

Good luck

Greg, Michele and Bella

For cheap accomodation try getting hold of the Jasons guide (www.jasons.com) or alternatively Flag Choice (www.flagchoice.com). We used both of these on our first trip 3 years ago and found them good quality and inexpensive.

I don't know what your budget is but the three of us (Bella is 3) went to validate visas in April this year, and all in including flights and 2 weeks car hire we spent £3,500 and weren't scrimping on anything and probably paid double what we could have got away with if we had tried.

Flights are cheap at the moment - particularly decent airlines such as Singapore Airlines and Cathay Pacific.

We looked at different options but decided that a quick trip this year would then give us plenty of flexibility with regard to a permanent move.

Greg, Michele and Bella

jarv

We felt the same as you, not enough time left etc etc house not selling.
We dropped the price to a irresistable price and had 4 offers in 2 weeks and have now sold.
Obviously you want as much as poss' but it is only worth what someone will pay for it.
If you have 'till the end of the year it is no great panic, we had 9 weeks left before we sold so we were feeling a bit of panic creeping in.

It will sell.................. (for the right price)

Dave

jarv

waste of money validating, if it costs £5k, double it because you need to buy flights again when you go for real, better off dropping house price by £7k - £8k.

Blueboy

Thanks for the advice everyone, and the words of encouragement.
I`ll check out the websites suggested and see if there are any cheap options.

I suppose another option may be to try and extend the Validation date, but i`m sure that i`ve read on here somewhere that DIMIA are extremely reluctant to do this. Has anyone out there successfully manage to move their Validation date??

Cheers.

BB