zachpop

i have an oppurtunity to move to melbourne from the u.k. i have been offered a job that pays 75000 dollars, i will leave england with approx 100000 pounds, my concern after reading other messages that 75 a year is not enough to live comfortably, can anyone shed more light on what they think and help me with the decision process.

znaylor1974

Hi Zachpop,

$75000 AUS is a pretty good salary. A lot of people emigrating are going for a fair bit less than that. Also £100,000 is a lot to go with too - I've seen a number of people who wish they were going with even £10,000.

Of course, it depends on your personal circumstances - if you want to drive a new Porsche, executive house with pool, and have expensive hobbies, then you may find your salary doesn't match.

I'm moving to Melbourne in August and will try to update after a month or so out there, but colleagues suggest that they don't spend as much in general due to outdoor lifestyle, proximity to beaches, mountain biking etc.

You may be able to get some tax breaks such as LAFHA (living away from home allowance), a novated lease on a car, and some other bits and bobs depending on the visa and some other circumstances but maybe a couple of weeks looking around Melbourne would be a good idea to help you decide?

s-jmelbournewannabe

I agree with Zach too.... you need to do a bit of research on housing, areas, costs etc... $75,000 is not a bad salary, depends on how many dependents you have, if only you working etc...

There's peeps come with nothing and work for less and still make it happen....

S-j

Ozzidoc

Are you thinking of buying a house? The type of single-story 2 bed terrace house that Im interested in, in a nice but not snooty area, a little crowded, small patio, is about 700K.

You'll be able to get a mortgage of approx 4 x salary - thats $AUD300K. Add your deposit of about $AUD200K......$500K wont get much in Melbourne. (in MY opinion). You may be able to get a nice place in the Geelong region for this...coastal, commutable to Melb. Or Ballarat. Or greater suburban Melb....it depends on what you are after, really. GL with everything and push for a higher starting salary - Aussies like to negotiate!

zachpop

some friends of mine are having a hose built on doreen 20 minutes from melbourne, 4 beds new build, they tell me its costing 190,000 pounds, is this a realistic price or are they being economical with there figures.

zachpop

many thanks for your advice and opinions, i am not looking to drive porsches just normal cars, live in a nice 4 bed house and afford to go out for meals when we want, i have 2 children aged 12 and 10, my wife does like to shop but thats not a problem, will have a look around melbourne when i am told that the job is 100% mine.

haggis supper

My UK salary was slightly more than the wage you mention. My Aus salary in Melbourne was about 1.5 times my UK salary. In addition I also get LAFHA (as I'm on a 457 visa) which is worth an extra 20% take home. We've been renting for the past 2 years in a house that is comparable with the one we left and have found that we have considerably less disposable income. Living in Melbourne is nowhere near as cheap as some would have you believe.

Can you live comfortably ? That depends on a number of factors. Where did you live in England, what sort of lifestyle did you have and want ? Do you want a comparable house, 2 cars or one, BMW or Ford Focus, private education for children, foreign holidays (not cheap here), do you want private medical insurance, to dine out etc etc.

It is irrelevant if some people say that $75k is a good salary. It may be to them but it depends on what you want and what you are used to. I would suggest that this is a considerable drop - probably too much.

Try www.gomatilda.com as there is a page that allows you to put in your UK salary and it tells you how much you need to earn in Oz for a similar life.

For what it is worth whilst we are certainly a little worse off financially the lifestyle does compensate.

Feel free to PM me if you want any more info. Good luck.

haggis supper

I believe Dorren is actually 40 minutes north of Melbourne CBD. The land will be dirt cheap and beautiful houses are available for very little. However that is a long way out of town and there is likely to be little around it. You can get some outstanding properties and land if you go about an hour or so out of melbourne. Way too remote for me though. Especially with kids.

29palms

75000 Dollars is not a good wage?!?! Balls
Thats roughly about 30 grand a year back in the UK that is a good wage.
And you have got 100,000 dollars to put into a house. You could live
a very comfortable lifestyle here for that. I am on slightly less that that and have no problems. My advive would be come here and rent for a year or two get a feel for the place , check out what areas you like and what you dont!
I have been in Melbourne for just over a year and granted house prices are going up rapidly especially for anywhere in the central metropoliton area but still there are plenty good afordable suburbs.
Plus Melbourne is such a fantastic place to live, so much going on all of the time, every week, great restaurants, good bars, loads of cultural and sporting things and I dont care what anyone says you get a good 7 months of good weather. All these shallow people on this website going on about how crap the weather is in Melbourne,, what a load of Crap.. What are they comparing it to what standard?? They come form the Uk where you are lucky to get 3-4 weeks of the year of good weather then all of sudden they gloat when they move to Queensland with its year round sunshine.. Oh Melbourne the weather is crap even though they have never been. I have worked all over Australia since I have been here. Yes every city is different in its own way, but if I had to live anyway it would be Melbourne, quite frankly it beats the rest hands down!

haggis supper

Your comment is utterly irrelevant. £30,000 in the UK may be acceptable to some but would be grossly inadequate for others. It solely depends on what lifestyle the OP has now or wants when he gets here. If he is used to £100k in England then $75k will be a big drop.

Haktahsin

Hi there,

My family and I will eventually move downunder, Melbourne infact, we were there only a few weeks back for our reccie trip.

we visited this place whilst there, http://www.avjennings.com.au/VIC/lan...d=518&pid=8248
you buy the land and then chose which contractor (Builder) who builds you home for you, I am being told that The Chase in Berwick is a very sought after area, it is a very pleasent place to live also.

Prices vary, depends what you want, but for £200k you could have a lovely 4 bedroom home on the Chase.

The Chase is the place where we planning to move to soon, AVJennings are the company who sell the land, they have just realesed their next plot of lands to be sold on the 23 of this month, you physicially queue up outside wait your turn and pay for the land you want, the last lot of plots (or the best ones, 20 or so) went within a week, just 2 weeks ago, one lady camped outside on the Friday morning to ensure she was the first to be ready for the opening on Saturday

Good luck,

29palms

Well if he was on 100 grand in the Uk and was offered a job for 75AUD in OZ
then he has either changed his occupation completly or the same job in Oz is about 30 years behind the Uk Pay scale.
If you cannot live a comfortable life in oz for 75000 AUD then I wouldn't botha coming!

29palms

Hi
I dont mean to be rude but who told you Berwick was a sort after and nice place to live?

haggis supper

Personally I couldn't live comfortably on $75k. It would mean a considerable change in our lifestyle, smaller house etc. The point is not whether you or I can live on $75k and whether you think $75k but whether the OP can accept the change in lifestyle. As you said he is on £100k in the UK and now has to accept the equivalent of £30k. That is a big drop.

Haktahsin

Don't worry your not being rude, friends told me this and yes they are currently having their homes built on the Chase, but as they were from blighty, I took it upon myself to get an unbiased opinion from true Australians near and around Narre Warren not to far from Berrick, plus a lady at the airport.

All of these people I spoke to said that Berrick is a sought after area and that if they had the extra cash they would opt to have their homes built in Berrick, bearing in mind these were people I didn't know who opted to tel me what I beleived to be the truth.

If I am mistaken someone please tell me, before we decide that Berrwick is the place for us!!!