Olibeneli

My head is full of worries..........

I've accepted an offer on the house close to asking price.......sold within 6 days. Now I wonder if I should have rented it out in case we need to come home as it's all gone tits up in Oz.........but me and the wife know it isn't the house we would have wanted to stay in for ever in the UK.......so we will invest proceeds somewhere and earn interest and rent in Oz. Also gives us a chance to start over again and clear out debts.

Now looking at how to open bank account from here so that my wife and kids can have access to money out there while I am still here in UK earning GBP for a couple more months.

All this got speeded up so that our boys can start school in Oz in February at a school that is good and now has a waiting list.........

Crapping myself now and I have not yet booked her flights which I have on hold...........that's one good thing......Emirates will allow us 40kgs each as its an emigration.

The stress and fear factor of all this is immense..........if only I knew I could
have a decent job quickly would alleviate this but as I am told accountants are in a bit of a good position......I am clinging on to this.

Now I just read that food is same cost as UK yet I guess I will not earn same in Oz dollars as in GBP makes cost of living look skewed........

I am rambling and need sleep.........and some sunshine.

thribble

We're renting, but we're around Gatwick and it's easy. (I say that now someone's given us a deposit, hoorah!). We went through the same dilemmas - we're not coming back here etc etc. We just know we'll fritter away any profit, so we're not selling here, just keeping it as a nest egg.

How did you find this out? We fly on the 20th on Emirates from Birmingham and booked one-way tickets. This was never mentioned (although we did it via ebookers). How can I confirm if it applies to us?

DunRoaminTheUK

Too late (I think?). I think you need to request the increase when booking the tickets. I phoned Emirates last week to chew the fat about a number of things and they specifically indicated that proof of residency was required at time of booking.

You might be lucky if you catch them now. They seem like a very agreable airline (they did stop short of agreeing to "letting me have a go" once in the air) so I imagine there is more chance than not of getting your baggage allowance changed.

Olibeneli

I booked with Travelbag.........on booking they need copies of the visas in our passports and to see that it is a one way ticket so that they can pass on to emirates and hey presto you get 40kgs allowance. They need this before tickets are issued.........sounds a doddle but I have yet to see the tickets seeing as I only booked the seats 20 minutes ago !!!!!!! :scared: :scared: :scared: :scared: :scared:

Olibeneli

What sort of house do you have to rent out ? Our estate agent said our house would be more difficult to rent out as its a large-ish 4 bedroom with a nightmare garden.........surrounded by trees so at this time of year there are 500 billion million leaves to clear away........but right now I can't be arsed.

I was told larger houses have less appeal unless you get lucky with an executive let........I know knowthing about the rental game and he could be talking out of his backside like most estate agents do.

thribble

I've just called Emirates and they have no problem sorting it out. Except I booked through Ebookers. They're trying to sort it out at the moment. I guess if it doesn't come off nothing changes - we didn't have it before, we don't have it now. As we're only going travelling initially, so it's just rucksacks for now, it shouldn't be too big a deal.

Still, it would be nice, so fingers crossed.

As for your worries, I was like that a couple of weeks ago. Not sleeping, eating way too much, panicking and stressing. Now, as it gets closer, I'm much more chilled out. I know that everything will come together because it *has* to, so if the worst comes to the worst, I'll just chuck all the belongings I don't want in a skip and head for the airport.

thribble

And they all look like they're 10, don't they!?

It's a 3 bed mid terrace with reasonable garden, but nothing massive. Ideal rental, really - a lot of our street are or have been rented out. We have leaf problems though. I have to do it because the year I didn't we got a squillion tiny oak trees growing in our front garden!

Secretsquirral

Hi,

We are near Horsham and have a 4/5 bed with funnily enough also a nightmare garden surrounded by trees and we have had 4 letting agencies around, all who have said that we would have no problems at all letting it, it just might take a bit longer to go than a 3 bed semi. Have you tried a few agencies? It is often down to if you are in a sought after location, or so we are told.
We have decided to let until the UK housing market picks up again, also as a bit of a safety barrier as we have lived in Oz before, and very importantly in the hope that the exchange rate will be more in our favour, as that can be the difference between thousands of pounds. Good luck!

Olibeneli

.......Yes......we will leave main proceeds from house in UK bank account until ex rate goes in our favour.........the housing market here in the UK is set to steady or dip a bit I would say..........repossessions are well up, gorden brown has his numbers f*&cked up, Xmas high street spending is down.....all because people have less disposable income..........I think matter of time before the house market really wobbles..........certainly won't see big gains in near term.

where are you heading to ?

Secretsquirral

We're off to Brisbane - lived in Melbourne before.

Debbie