Sunshine Coast or WA
 

We are still undecided on Sunshine Coast or WA, property seems a lot cheaper ($100k less) in WA but is there a reason for this?

All well and good buying a cheap house but not a lot of use if there is no work!!

Anyone been to both areas?

Any opinions would be appreciated

Re: Sunshine Coast or WA
 

First question has to be 'what work do you and your partner do?'

Re: Sunshine Coast or WA
 

Yeah, where are you most likely to get work?
we haven't been to WA but have been to the Sunshine Coast and may even end up there ourselves. We've decided on the Gold Coast for starters as we have more relatives living there able to look after our will be 4 year old whilst we get ourselves organised. We have relatives on the Sunshine Coast but both work so not as feesable for us. Do love the S Coast though.
Marie

Re: Sunshine Coast or WA
 

I run an IT business, my wife is a Chef.
We might be looking into buying a coffee shop or small restauraunt.

I'm keen to find out why the Sunshine Coast is more expensive than WA, generally this indicates either less work or less wages.

Re: Sunshine Coast or WA
 

Hello Kevin

My guess is that the climate and close proximity to Brisbane no3 city of Aus?
:beer:

Re: Sunshine Coast or WA
 

And because more Australians want to live there.

G

Re: Sunshine Coast or WA
 

Hi Kevin

One of the reasons we decided on WA was the amount of room there is for the cities to grow, which Bunbury seems to be doing at the moment!

Re: Sunshine Coast or WA
 

Don't know about WA but can comment on the Sunshine Coast. The house prices are expensive because as Grayling said - Australians want to live here. They often retire here or relocate here once they have enough cash.

As for jobs on the Sunshine Coast, they are difficult to come by. A quote from a hospital - 'we don't have any problem with staffing because everyone wants to relocate here - so we can by picky about who we employ' . It is possible to get a job, but it may not be the one you want or the wage you want. My husband is a Graphic Designer and has been told that he could walk into a job in Brisbane. He is still hunting 4 months on (a few possible lined up). We already knew the situation here, so were prepared for it. We still chose to live here and don't regret it at all. Good luck

Rachel

Re: Sunshine Coast or WA
 

Our dilemma exactly i could have wrote the thread myself.We have been swapping and changing for over 12 months now and although we are going about september we are still not 100% sure.we,ve been to perth and love the place but there,s a slight doubt and with that we feel as it,s such a big move we should at least go to the east coast to have a nosy.
I,m a Carpenter and i,m hoping work will be a good prospect around the sunshine coast.
dave

Re: Sunshine Coast or WA
 

Your right you should travel around he eastern states Vic,NSW,QLD before you immigrate to WA , incase you prefer these areas. There is a lot more to OZ then WA.

Re: Sunshine Coast or WA
 

It's still very cheap housing here in perth but prices are rising.
You have to put up with a few things here:
Isolation
Wind
It's a bit boring
Work here is still very up & down.
Bloody aussie rules.

Good things are:
Isolation
Super 14 side next year
Perth Glory football club
In the northern suburbs it's a bit like England in the sunshine (this could also qualify in the top bit)

Seriously though it's a great place for young kids and if you don't want to lose the English accent this is the place. The opportunities however are limited here and everything seems to happen somewhere else, it's pretty quiet.

Re: Sunshine Coast or WA
 

Jobs: (Anywhere)

The shock to most is australias way of employing people, often casually or short term contracts the job security of the UK is not guaranteed anywhere here.

Wages, although many from the UK say they will do anything accept lower wages, when the reality hits, its often difficult to accept, the cost of living is not that much lower than the UK, if at all.

Rigmarole, another shock from making coffee, to working in a trade you often need certificates or licences, some take many months to get.

Interviews, so many required, its taken my son from february to June and hes still being interviewed for an electrical apprentiship, Brisbane government job, this is considered a normal time frame.

Demand, like many have said even from Melbourne jobs that in the UK would be difficult to fill are highly sought after here.

Workers rights, you need to study this for yourself, many threads lately :eek:

Country service is where in some jobs,teaching, social work, aviation, police, medicine etc you will be required to work outback/bush first if you want a perm job, aussies have to do this, they have to accept it, unfortunately so will immigrants. This applies to many of the states.

You cannot blame any one area for any of these factors, it is australia wide.


How to cope with it then.

Dont compare a London wage or job vacancy rate to a small place here.

If you say lower wages dont matter to you mean it!

Accept that a casual job or two casual jobs is not considered a bad situation, its the way it is here. I cant stress this one enough, so many complaining about only having casual jobs, but thats LIFE here.

If you want to live near a beach or in the country, dont expect Bill Gates to have set up there, like in the UK those jobs may be in a city not in cornwall, and like the UK many accept commuting as part of the trade off for life at the beach.

Accept many australians create their own jobs, they are the well off aussies.

Dont compare your position or level at first to the job you held in the UK for 10 years! working your way back up is part of the emigration process.

Give it a bit of time. Dont expect it to fall into place in 5 minutes.

Re: Sunshine Coast or WA
 

Couldn't agree more the secret here is self employment and pay your mortgage off asap there is very little job security.
It's not a moan I've done very well here but it is just a fact of life

Re: Sunshine Coast or WA
 

I have seen many people come to Perh because they can buy a home here cheaper than most other Australian cities, yes thats true, but it's not a big enough reason alone to choose Perth. You have to look at what WA has to offer you and your family, does it cater for the lifestyle you want, does the distance from other major cities bother you, is the climate suitable etc......... I know a few people who name "cheaper housing" as there main reason for chosing WA, most of them have gone back. Decide what your family hopes to gain from your new life and not just in monetary terms, then try to find out which state is going to come uo trumps.

Perth is a great place and with the type of business you are looking to set up you would have every chance of doing well in any state, but you need to know it's going to suit you and not just your pocket :)

Lynn

Re: Sunshine Coast or WA
 

There would be a lot more work in and around Perth than in the Sunshine coast...

I havent lived in the Sunshine coast but have visited and its a lovely area, for a holiday... unless your starting up something new tourism related or dont need to really earn any income I cant see there being a lot to do there.
Your an hour and a half from Brisbane which depending on how you look at it, can be a good or a bad thing. Personally I thought Brisbane was a real let down, it was dirty and tired looking, the shops and especially the restaurants were very dissapointing. Id go back to the Sunshine coast for a holiday but wont bother with Brisbane or the Gold coast (or have they officially renamed it Benidorm or Playa de las Americas :D )

If I was choosing doing something tourism related id go for Port Douglas or Palm Cove (if you want to be really stressfree!) in Nth Qld, your under an hour from Cairns (which has improved heaps in the last 3years).

As for living in Perth, its fantastic, I wouldnt choose anywhere else over it, id be careful about generalisations people make for Perth being cheap, yes it can be if you dont mind where you live, but if you want to live on the coast say between Freo and Hillarys it certainly isnt cheap. If you want ocean front your well into the millions, and even the cheapest ocean glimpses are now nearing the 1Mill$.
You go back 5-10 KM from the ocean and sure prices come down heaps in some suburbs, but its no different in the Sunshine coast. If anything id say the Sunshine coast is probably cheaper than this section of the WA coast.
As an example there's a 2 bed 2 bath apt on the esplanade in Mooloolaba (which I thought was a really nice town, the best RSL ive found ;) ) on at $725K
we dont really have any medium to highrise apts on the WA coast so its hard to find a direct comparison but theres an apt in Scarborough (not the greatest suburb but again its directly on one of the best beaches, but doesnt have anywhere near the volume or quality of bars restaurants etc as Mooloolaba, there's a 3 bed 2bath for $720K if you saw the two suburbs and complexes next door to each other you'd say the Mooloolaba one was much better value.
Go to Cottesloe and look for a 3x2 apartment and your looking at around $1.5M to $3M....

Just my view and it probaly hasnt helped you much, your best bets buy one in each while you decide! there both popular areas so your bound to of made a gain on them when you do make you mind up.

Steve :)