Hi,

What would be the factors that need to be considered for estimating the cost of relocation to Victoria.

I have few:

Flight: A$4500
Furnishing the house (Beds, Fridge, TV etc): $6500

Please help us in listing down some other factors and the cost associated with them.

Regards

If you are going to rent then you will need 1 month's rent in advance plus the bond which for me was another month's rent - so you'll need to be able to pay 2 months up front.

A friend of mine had difficulty convincing rental agents to let him a unit since he didn't have a job on arrival and he ended up offering 9 months rent in advance.

Have you paid for your visa yet? If not extra cost.

I managed to live here 2 whole weeks before having to buy a car as public transport is a bit sparse.

Well done for starting your thought process in $
Where are you relocating from? assume UK?
Where your employment will be located - CBD or outskirts/satellite offices.
Where you desire to live ? Mainly set by your budget in turn set by your income. Your personal choice of bush or beach, large house v long commutte.
Furnishings depends on your budget and taste - the more expensive not necessarily bringing better taste or quality.
Schools? Private v State
Childcare?
Hotel versus short term holiday accomodation? - http://www.moving-to-melbourne.co.uk...ommodation.htm Think self sufficiency and space v cramped/restricted/cost.
Transport? Stay close to main public transport routes and no need for private vehicle initially - despite what others may say you can survive with no car in Melbourne - and with family but you need to choose location carefully.

Always be wary of supposedly friendly people offering f/f accom ,they are usually only feathering their own nest and not thinking of you ....

The general idea behind offering f/f accom is to earn money. Cant actually see the difference between rental/fully furnished or a motel/hotel. They are all businesses at the end of the day.

I have a f/f rental unit which I also offer to newly arrived expats myself. We moved here 18 months ago, and the first thing that we noticed on arrival was a major lack of accomodation suitable for expats for the first 2-6 weeks while finding more permanent accomodation and researching areas. Yes we did see it as a business opportunity, but also a friendly starting block for new arrivals.

I also know Kate from Moving to Melbourne, and she offers a first rate service which takes a lot of stress out of the initial move & Because both Kate & myself (and quite a few other expats with f/f accom being offered on various expat sites) have been in the same situation as recent migrants, we can both offer a lot of advice & help, and in most cases its much cheaper than any hotel/motels/big4 etc

There is a difference between making money & shafting people, not all people in Melb who offer this service do stiff people but i know that there are some that wouldnt think twice ,i was just making people aware to be on their guard

Thanks for the heads up stu

We shall be needing a 4 week accomadation toward sth eend of the year and hopefully so ones rental could tick all our "wants" boxes 2 adults and 2 lads

As Stew says bewary when you kept seeing +++ for additional services.

There are so many things that can make a huge difference here, I think you need to be a bit more specific about your plans.

Do you intend to buy straight away or rent?

In either case location makes all the difference.

We have taken out a short term rental to start off with (we fly out in March)
and it looks a pretty good bet (we will let you know how we get on) we are staying about 6 weeks in a furnished, managed apartment, using a credit card for the initial deposit.
We are using an online letting agent (for want of a better description) and have found them very helpful.

True to form we have picked a month that includes both the Formula 1 Grand Prix and Easter to be doing this and that has bumped the price up over those weekends, but apart from that the prices are pretty fair.

We can extend the term if need be but hopefully by then our furniture will arrive, we will have some idea where we will be working and also have a much better feel for where we want to be.
Then we can then think about a long term unfurnished rental which will work out cheaper per month than the managed apartment.

\I totally agree, we ended up in a caravan site, which was lovely, but averaged 100 bucks per day, we did think about taking accomm from someone who has a few houses here and its their business, but the cost was unbelievably high, and i was wary of 'the other services', which is a shame as their are some very decent people (and am sure your one of them furkew as we have been cyper mates for some years now, remember the good old days when we were newbies, lol), offer excellen acoomm at excellent rates, and , understandably the cant do it for free, but i am sure their intentions are honerable, but my anteni just itched when i looked into one particular persons 'relocating homes'

[QUOTE=Margaret3;7238144]\I totally agree, we ended up in a caravan site, which was lovely, but averaged 100 bucks per day, we did think about taking accomm from someone who has a few houses here and its their business, but the cost was unbelievably high, and i was wary of 'the other services',

is that like the other services you get at places like Daily Planet ? if so it wld be worth it

[QUOTE=stewmac;7238270] Can you expand on this Daily Planet?

I remember the good ol' days

I was just thinking the other day about who was just starting out on the road to migration at the same time as us, and there are still a couple that are still out there that still havent got their visa's yet. (Still got my fingers crossed for Mandy) Damn, hasn't the time flown !!!!

back on track now, when we first came over 18 months ago, we also paid $100p.day and we rented for the first 7 weeks short term (it cost us $4500 all together !!!!!). We only had internet because I brought my wireless modem with me, and the people that owned the unit we stayed in didnt mind me using their broadband. Thats what gave me the idea to get into renting fully furnished to expats. As you say, it doesnt have to be that expensive, and you can still earn a living.

I dont know about all other people offering accomodation, because we are a bit out of the way from all the other places being offered. I think, maybe I took the OP a bit too personally

anybody fancy a cosy weekend/midweek away without the kids in the Dandenong ranges

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If it's for the state sponsored visa application I submitted figures under the following headings which were accepted for me as a single guy:

First year (est.): $xx,xxx
First 3 months: $xx,xxx (excluding bike purchase)

Calculated as follows:
Flight: £xxx
Food/household: $x,xxx p.a. @ $xx per week
Entertainment: $x,xxx @ $xxx p.c.m.
Healthcare:
• Medicare per annum 1.5% + surcharge 1% of salary
• Ambulance Victoria Member $55 per annum
• $x,xxx Private health insurance p.a. @ $xxx p.c.m.
Housing:
• $xx,xxx p.a. rental of 2 bed apartment @ $xxxp.w.
• Insurance: $xxx p.a.
Shipping: £x,xxx (xxx cu. ft.)
Transport:
• $xx,xxx motorcycle
• $x,xxx p.a. insurance
• $x,xxx petrol p.a. @ $1.60 per litre est. xx mpg 6,000 miles

I used:
www.racv.com.au for home and car/bike insurance quotes
www.hcf.com.au and www.mbf.com.au for health insurance
Pickfords for a overseas move quote
www.realestate.com.au/ for rental prices
and you could use http://www.tradingpost.com.au/Automotive/Browse for car prices.

Hope this helps.

MrX