NatD1978

We are in the very early stages of looking into emigration. When is a 'good' time to move though??? You could keep on hanging on forever for the economy to improve in Oz, and the same can be said for the UK.

We have been home owners for 3 years, and have at worse about £40k in equity, not forgetting the £125k mortgage that we still have lol!!!!!! The original plan was to sell our current house, buy something smaller to rent out, and then get out to Melbourne.

With my job, I should hopefully get a sponsorship, and my salary when over there would be in the region of $80 AUD. That means the Wife wouldn't have to work immediatly, and until we got PR, we wouldn't look at buying too early anyway.

You could keep putting things off, but you never know what is round the corner! The best thing to do is suck it in, ride the waves, and do what your heart tells you!

We are bringing our Reccie visit forward to Christmas, and even though things don't look to rosey out there at the moment, can't wait to eventually move!!!!!

zoomerang

Agree!

We are moving in September and everything is relative in a global economy. Australia will not be able to ride out the credit crunch in isolation.

The UK has seen ridiculous growth in house prices over the past 10 yrs and most people selling, like we just have, will get a decent return on their investment. As for the Ozzy dollar, it will climb back in the next few years to a better level.

For most people a move to Oz isnt about cash, its about a lifestyle. The beach is free. The fantastic public spaces are free. So is the sun!

chilliman

Well my four penny worth.

2004 - Sold my house the move in 2005 & thinking I had picked the top of the market - nope!
2005 - visa granted & validated but couldn't move due to an very unfortunate "incident"!
2006 - move was iplanned for the summer but delayed due to recovery from incident & work
2007 - continued "recovery" & more work!
2008 - "recovered" flights booked for Feb 2009, negotiating "exit" from work

So I lost on the house, exchange rate is down, move delayed but luckily I exchanged a sizeable chunk of money in 2004 when rates were good which should cover me for 18 months plus in Oz (renting only ofcouse!)

And besides, after my "incident" one thing I do know - life is just too damn short, you only get one shot (or two in my case!), certain things are out of your control but where you want to be is!

Timing is right when it's right ... roll on Feb 2009 !!

gsidhu

I agree its not a great time to immigrate financially. Unfortunatley we have no choice but to go now, as my PR will run out in June. i had planned this move for ages and had the chance to get it at 2.44 last summer - but greed got the better of me and I held on until today

Though I've just got fed up looking at the exchange rates every second. Today I've exchanged some £££ to see me through for the first few months, OzForex gave me a rate of $2.065. I will change some more money but only if i really need it, and leave it down to lady luck if I can get a good rate on the day.

I spoke to Ozforex and they dont see sterling improving this year, though he said there would me minor peaks throughout the year so to just keep checking the rate.

I do feel alot better now though, the headache of the exchange rate has gone (for now), keeping the purse strings tight will make up for our loss (as i originally worked out my budget on a rate of $2.45)

Now we can concentrate on looking forward to a great new adventure in our life downunder - Can't wait

The Woodcutter

I agree. If you want something badly enough you will endeavour to get it. It is just money - or are people that materialistic?

If you really want to imigrate then you will do it. For us it was definately about lifestyle, and those expectations have been met.
We had not sold our house when we moved and had to continue paying the mortgage in the UK and rent in Oz. But so what? We wanted to imigrate badly and we did.

I would seriously question people's comitment to imigrate if the present eonomic situation is putting them off.

lazerzxr

It depends on your situation how the current economy will affect you. For me it will actually help because I need to send money back to the UK each month to suppliment my mortgage, as the rent I get here wont cover it completely.

I will move to oz with a relatively small amount of cash to get me through the initial unit rental and settling in stage so the exchange rate wont hurt much there really and from then on the lower the exchange rate the better for me because what i earn in $ will be worth more in £

So it depends how you look at it I suppose

Kapri

Quite right H.
I think this fact gets overlooked a lot. Cost of living is escalating in the U.K too. The wheat problem has affected us too making bread, biscuits etc more expensive.
Petrol / diesel is beyond a joke now. Remember when everyone was upset that is was sometimes topping £2.00 per litre? Now it's a few pence over that
Gas/electric has gone up. Council tax is rising.
House prices are coming down but they were massively inflated to start with.


I'm not expecting Australia to be cheap. I've read enough on here to know that it isn't. But it isn't cheap here either so the ultimate decision has to be a lifestyle choice.
I have a huge mortgage here and I expect to have a huge one in Aussie but my hope is that I'll get more house for the money in Oz.
Food is a necessity so I will pay whatever it costs.
Don't need fancy cars.
Have really enjoyed the great weather in the U.K over the past week and hope than in Australia I will get more of that.

ann

My god more toy towns!!! may reconsider, my son and I heading for Adelaide just about to send stuff of to vetassess. Where are you?

james2300

I couldn't agree more with your last comment! Equally expensive or more expensive i'd move out there at the drop of a hat. I'm tired of the shit covered pavements of south london, sour faces and 8 months of crap weather. I'll be swimming with Manta Rays on the Ningaloo reef!

NikiL

We're working on the assumption that when we finally get to go the rate will be $2/£1 and no more. Anything better is a bonus. Yes, Aus is expensive, especially compared to a few years ago, but when you consider my weekly shopping bill has increased by 30% on 18 months ago without buying more (and realistically actually buying less now) then it says to me that costs are increasing globally, its not just a UK or Australian phenomenon.

If I'm going to be skint I'd rather be skint in Australia than here - I can be miserable in the sun then

Bottom line, is there really ever a ideal time to up sticks and move the other side of the planet. If you waited until the "perfect" moment you could wait forever and find you'd totally missed any chance at all, then spend the rest of your life thinking what if.....

carolinephillips

You emigrate from your country to another, but you migrate to that country where you become an immigrant!
Caroline (super pedant and loving it!)

Margaret3

[QUOTE=Kapri;6350342]Quite right H.
I think this fact gets overlooked a lot. Cost of living is escalating in the U.K
I have a huge mortgage here and I expect to have a huge one in Aussie but my hope is that I'll get more house for the money in Oz.
Food is a necessity so I will pay whatever it costs.
Don't need fancy cars.



Kapri food is expensive, but you soon get to know where to buy, like going to the markets etc, however , cars are expensive , even old second hand ones, i doubt you will get more house for your money here just now in the mortgage stakes, but this is only my guess, as i have no idea of house prices in Dorset.

NatD1978

Has anyone ever imported a Car from the UK to Oz???

Pollyana

Lots of threads on it if you have a search but usually opinion is that its not worth it.

Buzzy--Bee

.....although my one regret is that I didn't bring my Jag. Would have cost me a lot of money to bring but I miss it.....

If I had known we were going to be a 2 car family I would have brought it.

Buzzy