Swotsmart

I wondered if you good folk could give me some idea on what kind of budget one should be considering to cater for relocation.

We would be looking at using the option of a sole use container as we might have a fair bit to ship (Furniture, personal effects and car). Basically, where do we start from??? Once in Oz, what are the 'must do' things that we should be aware of?

I am discussing relocation assistance with my soon to be new employers in Perth - what should I be looking to ask for in Aussie dollar terms?

We are now actively looking for schools for our 2 kids - son, 9 and daughter, 5...this is proving a real nightmare - every school I've been in touch with have a huge waiting list...The HR people in my new employers are trying to help with this but I would be grateful for any ideas. Cheers!

northernbird

a 20ft container cost us 4000 GBP including insurance from Cambridgeshire to Perth. I wouldn't bother with the car myself. If you are living in a suburb the school will give you a place. I believe they have too. Waiting lists only apply if you are out of catchment and obviously at private schools.

Do you have any idea of where you want to be. Where is your job going to be based. Most british folk head northern suburbs or Rockingham down to Mandurah. Take a short term rental when you first arrive and explore different areas, don't rush to put your kids in any school. The housing market is a rising one. If you can afford to buy straight away I would do that. 6-12 months of renting and the houses would have gone up $50k+.

PM me if you want any more details. If you do a search on here you will find loads of information on Perth. www.aussiemove.com is also a good website with some good suburb profiles.

sj oldfield

As Northen bird says, when you move to a suburb, the state school there has to take your child.
Use this site for your research, as some of the state schools have quite poor reputations (as in the UK).
The state school in our suburb has a very good reputation. Have a look at their website
www.kinrosscollege.com.au

Swotsmart

Northernbird...thanks for your post, the aussie move website is quite useful. We are looking to settle in suburbs around Hillarys, City Beach, Floreat for example but the kids schooling will decide where we eventually end up.

Would you recommend the shipping company that you used? My corporate office is in the City - St Georges Terrace but I would be based from home.

I will PM you with more questions if you don't mind

northernbird

no problem, will help in anyway I can. Floreat and City Beach are both lovely areas but v. v. expensive. Hillarys also nice and cheaper than the other 2 areas you mentioned.

We used PSS removals and I would recommend them.

Swotsmart

Hi Sandra...Kinross looks like a pretty nice suburb and not too far from Hillarys. Would you happen to know what the class sizes are likely to be at Kinross? My concern is that if the policy states that schools are obliged to accept once one moves in to the suburb then potentially, this might lead to fairly large class sizes.

Kinross college does look rather nice...

Swotsmart

Thanks for this...real estate costs are getting way out of control in Perth at the moment...I am not sure this is sustainable though...What is the general feeling of this 'boom'? We certainly dont want to be caught up in any negative equity situation..

northernbird

I don't think there will be a negative equity situation here. WA is catching up with the other cities in australia. While the resources boom is here there will be continued growth. It will probably slow down but I don't think the prices will fall.

Swotsmart

We need to get on the ladder pretty damn quick!

renth

I agree, I don't think there will be a crash but the rocketing increases have to stop. Once people simply can't affort to buy houses, even get on the ladder with 2 good wages and a deposit then there has to be equilibrium.

I think one of the reasons prices are so high that no one seems to have mentioned is the actual numbers of propertys on the market - about 4000 instead of the usual 12,000 at this time.

northernbird

absolutely. we wish we had taken a 3 month rental when we first moved here and bought straight away. House prices in Sorrento in the last 12 months have gone up 15-20%. We have bought in Connolly. Pretty much the cheapest house in the suburb but even since we offered on ours 6 weeks ago they have gone up. We looked at a couple of houses in Carramar and at the time none of them were over $500k. In the past 2 months there have been a few creeping on at the $500k mark. I do also think people are getting greedy as they did in the UK and thinking their houses are worth more than they are. We looked at one in Tapping, only a few months old and I wouldn't have let me dog live there let alone my kids and they wanted nearly $500k for it and it didn't even have a pool and had one air conditioning unit in the family room. It was boiling in the bedrooms in May so I dread to think what it would have been like in full summer. Anyway I digress but buy as soon as you are able.

webgum

We live in City Beach. There are two state primary schools. City Beach Primary and Kapinara. My son attends the latter. Both have good rep, very community orientated, parents involved in everything! I have just spent the morning helping my son's classroom (and that is with one teacher, one assistant and sixteen kids, so I am not being used as cheap labour!!). Found this parent involvement invaluble for getting to know other families. I'm pretty sure that Kapinara has vacancies in most classes.

My husband works in the city, there is a direct bus. He owns a scooter now, though.

Good luck.

Swotsmart

Thanks for this info...I contacted Kapinara primary school today and the nice lady I spoke with suggested that she will be able to help once we are in Australia and in the catchment area. I guess the key thing is to identify a suitable and affordable house in a suburb with decent public schools and then get on the waiting list for private secondary schools.

Swotsmart

Which website would you suggest I use to house hunt from the UK...I've been using http://www.reiwa.com and http://www.realestate.com.au to compare prices. I understand also that the Aussie Govt. offer first time buyer grants....is this really the case? If so, is it a straightforward affair?

northernbird

those websites are the best ones to use. the first time homebuyers grant is only available to citizens and perm residents. we are temp visa (457) so we didn't qualify. If we get PR within a year of settlement we can claim the $7k