Re: How things change in 1 year !
 

We're moving out there in April and will try to get away with transferring the bare minimum just to get us started. Some analysts think that the £ will start recovering in October but who knows. We don't need to transfer the lot now and will just have to get jobs sooner than we orginally planned.

Re: How things change in 1 year !
 

We won't be able to move for a while as still waiting for uni transcripts!!
Reading through posts though it seems upbeat and confident of those .. 'renting out their British house and renting in Aussie'

I have a flat which I lease out, getting good tennants, landlords insurance, gardeners, a decent leasing agent who actually does what they sell you is all expensive and needless to say worrying.

When you have no tennants you're paying rent and a mortgage, this I've found can last for quite a few months.. all draining on the finances.

How do you feel about leasing out your OWN home to strangers? We are also considering this route but having knowledge of my flat, and I have good tennants .. it is still gong to be a scarey and expensive ride.

Re: How things change in 1 year !
 

Hi Ultra

We thought renting out would be easy and lots of friends who did it when they went overseas had it quite easy but it was different when it was our turn!

Although our flat in Brighton Marina was lovely, great view, reasonable price we found it hard to get tenants during the 2.5 years we rented it out. We didn't get our pick of people and had to take what was on offer which included the mature Greek students - I don't think the word mature entered into it though. We had about 3 months of it being empty which as you say drains the finances not just mortgage but also insurance, council tax (unless it's unfurnished) and also if a flat the service charge.

We were probably just unlucky but as you say the hardest thing was the fact it was our home which we had lovingly cared for and then these oiks come in and ruin the carpet and furniture! We left ours furnished (big mistake!) and it was ruined and then the agents just say it's ware and tear - ha! The cream carpet ended up black - I could go on and on but it was heartbreaking which is why we decided to sell in the end when it was becoming clearerer that we'd be here for a while. It was just too much stress in the end which was a shame as we had really hoped to keep it and buy here as well but then with the falling pound we just couldn't afford to do both.

So my advice would be to get a good agent, we thought ours was good but they let things slip on the inspections and we did have to chase them for payments sometimes. Then you also have to detach yourself emotionally from the property which isn't easy!

KK