Bishop3912

Hi Cathy, we camped at Waldegraves camp site in West Mersea, it was booked with a group of friends back in April before we decided to move to West Mersea, lucky for us as our little car cant fit much in so had to do several trips back to the house to get stuff (only 5 mins away), and we cheated on Saturday night and slept at home as I needed my bed!!!!

I know what you mean about the housing market, although here on Mersea stuff does seem to be selling, albeit a little slower. I know people are taking offers on their properties but it all depends on how quickly and desparate they are to sell. I think all the scare mongering has stopped now to a degree, although people are still being scrutinised to get/change a mortgage.

The park sounds really nice, I've not been to that one, will have to ask my mate to take me there next time I visit her as she lives in Billericay so it may be near her.

Oh well only another 5 days off the kids being off school (not counting the weekend), must get labels sewn on this week!!

travelbug

Hi Corinne, that's handy that you didn't have to go far! I have NEVER been camping.....it's something that Andy is keen to get me to do when we eventually get to Tassie. I know our kids would absolutely love it. Eden has slept in a tent in the back garden before with Andy!

Eden is really keen to get back to school (her school goes back on the 4th), luckily a lot of her school uniform still fits her, so i've only had to buy new shoes, new PE shorts, socks etc. I need to order some new polo-shirts - but you have to get them from the school as they have the school logo printed on them - they dont sell labels which is a shame as i could easily get yellow polo-shirts anywhere.. I'm going to hold off ordering new jumper/sweatshirt etc though as hopefully by the time the really cold weather kicks in we might not be here!!?!!? - bit of wishful thinking there!

I dont know about you, but i feel the summer holidays have been a bit of a let down this year. Although we did go away for 2weeks and have been out a fair bit - we dont feel like we've had a chance to do really summery things - like having a few BBQ's - and going on picnics in the evening etc when it's really warm.... shame as we miss those things...

When does it start getting colder in Tas after Summer?......fingerscrossed eh we'll catch the end of the summer over there!!!!

Cathy

Bishop3912

I agree the weathers not been that great has it, we only had 2 barbies!!! I found it to start to get a bit chillier in April, colder in the mornings, then warmed up, but chillier at night.

travelbug

sounds good to me - i quite like it a bit cooler in the evenings/night....
my Mum has just collected Eden to go shopping with her in Romford - so i've got a couple of hours with just Jared....at least it's a bit quieter indoors now!
One of my friends rang this morning - she's just returned back from a 3 week holiday in Canada - she's been the last 3 years there with her brother and his family so they've toured around quite a bit now... Her brother is in the final stages of their visa applications to go live there.....funny how many people we know now that have either moved / want to move or are in the process of getting visa's for somewhere!

Bishop3912

yeah it is. more and more newbies writing on expats about immigrating, though people should be careful as economy is bad in Oz too.

Enjoy your few hours of peace and quiet to a degree. I am just taking mine shopping now too.

Bishop3912

Seems like more bad news for you house-sellers, just read on Reutuers that house prices fell by 1.9% in August. Lenmil and Cathy does that make much difference to you guys selling up and moving to Tas, bearing in mind property is cheaper than the UK in Tas? Seems a shame that someones scare mongering started all the panic in the first place. I know where I live property is still selling as sold boards are still going up albeit a little slower than this time last year. Will keep all crossed for you both. Love c x

Teabag

Property prices have dropped in Australia as well

travelbug

Hi Corinne i've been reading the same kind of thing myself this week...
I think where we are though they're saying that they've dropped more than 2percent, i know one house that went for more than £25,000 under the asking price - so around here that's more like 10percent of the original value.
It's not worrying us too much - as long as we can eventually sell...it's just the actual selling bit that's more the worry for us. Luckily we have a fair bit of equity in our home - so we are able to take a drop - but obviously dont want to if we can avoid it as it gives us less money then in the pot for Tas, but we know our dreams of a couple of years ago of being mortgage free have kind of gone out the window! But if we have to lose that kind of figure we wont change our plans....we'll only get worried if prices continue to drop by a lot - because then we might have to sit tight and see what happens......and perhaps if things dont get better next year we could look at other options like renting our place out. We have till March2012 to become permanent residents on our visa's - but we DONT want to be stuck in Romford that long!

travelbug

There seems to be a lot for sale as well in certain area's. We do see a lot of "under offer/under contract" comments on realestate.com.au - so i guess things are still selling a little faster in Australia than over here...

Bishop3912

I dont blame you not wanting to be in Romford for that long. At least you are in the position to be able to take a drop to get to your "dream" which is good. We went to Tassie with the intention of no mortgage too but reality hit when looking at homes/areas that we liked were just for more money than we originally thought, hey ho life continues and the beauty of the place comes at a price somewhere along the line. If the market does drop more then renting out may seem a good option, at least you will get to Tassie quicker and from my experience of looking at rentals they are premium here at the mo (god did I see some crap for a load of money a month!!!).

Bishop3912

Thats good to know for us coming over but not too good if you want to move within Oz. I know that Perth has dropped considerably from speaking to family that live there, but it needed too as the prices there went through the roof. Hows living in Huonville going Donna? whats the winter like there?

travelbug

I've just been a bit put off / scared of the renting idea since a friend of ours had to go to court etc and get bailiffs/police in to get her "non-paying" tenants out of a house that she rented out!!! She's since sold it because the whole experience was so upsetting - and they lost more than 6months worth of rental income because of how long it all went on for....
I'd be scared of being so far away from the house if there was a major problem. I know you can leave agents etc/friends or family involved....but then i worry about it being a bind for them as well.... We would rather sell than rent i think - and cut all ties.... The other thing if we did decide to rent would be that we'd then need to find our "starting up" money for Tas! I think we worked it out that we would need more than £15,000 initially just to get going - what with flights, initial accomodation, a car of some description, rental bond and some money to live on until Andy started earning....
We've never been good savers - we like to spend what we have!!!! So if renting did become an option we'd either have to borrow the money or stay put for another year and save the money up during that time....

Sometimes it all gives me a headache because we dont know / cant decide what to do!!!! so in the meantime, we'll keep plodding along as normal!

At least i know that now we wont need a cot for Jared as by the time we do leave the UK he'll definitely be in a bed by then!!!!

travelbug

We've noticed the drop in Perth prices too. It's funny because Andy's niece that's just come over to live&work in the UK with her Australian boyfriend has a new 4bed 2bath place in a suburb called Hocking. Her Mum (Andy's sister) also owns a 4bed 2bath place in a nearby suburb in Perth - and she found it easier to rent out her place - even though it's older - so she's just moved into Rebecca's place for the two years that she's planning on being here! So they're using the rental from their place to pay for their daughters mortgage! She was round bank holiday monday and said their mortgage is more than $2,000 a month though - so i imagine the other rental is perhaps not quite covering it..... All very confusing!

I read something the other day that said that the average Oz mortgage was around the $260,000 figure.

travelbug

Hi Kerry, have Beth&Andrew left Tas now? how did they find it? Sounds like the weather was really good for them.

Bishop3912

God what a hard choice, Mark was adamant before we left for Tas that we had to sell the house even though I wanted to keep it and rent it out as he wanted all ties severed too. Understand your worries about non paying tenants though as it does happen, although not too often considering the amount of rentals out there. At least you have time on your hands and are not in the position of some on the expats site that you only have a short while to use your visas. All money in the pot if a definate help as it eases the worry to a degree. Keep your chin up and all things crossed for you for when the house does go back on. x