clarkey

Hi - After reading this you all may think I am a little bit tapped but here we go. I am a Police Officer, have never been to Oz (but everyone I know that has, says it is great,brill etc etc) but WA Police are later this year recruiting Officers from foreign countries. Part of the deal is permanent residence visas for me and my family, something I know is a very difficult thing to get without outside help. I would start on a wage of about $50000 which is a pay cut in UK terms but I have heard cost of living is cheaper over there. I would be based in WA, but exactly where is unknown.

So my questions are:

1. Is it really as good to live there as everyone says?

2. Is $50000 a good wage to live on, bearing in mind my wife would not walk straight into employment? (Excuse my ignorance)

3. Are house prices reasonable, and is $50K enough for decent mortgage etc (obviously will have some savings from sale of overly priced house in UK!!!)

It is a long way off and there are many hurdles to get over but I want to get as much info as possible to make an informed decision.

Any info welcomed

Thanks

Ross

geordie mandy

Welcome to the mad house, there is a police forum on the working abroad section, you may get some info on there.

Have you tried looking at housing websites?

www.realestate.com.au is one of the ones i use regulary it will give you an idea as to the cost of housing.
Perth appears to becoming just as expensive as the UK .
Im sure the bods in Perth will be able to help you more.
Good luck
Mandy

Issie

These topics have been discussed at length on this forum and if you do a search (top of the page) you can get heaps of information.

As for is it really good ?as the saying goes a mans paradise is another mans hell....you need to judge it for yourself. We too havent been and we have heard good and bad, but we have decided to look for ourselvses and our visa validation trip/ reccie is booked for february.

Good luck with you research.

Oh and BTW Welcome to the forum

Issie

www.aussiemoves.com is a particularly good site

Downies

Great site for getting mortgage info: www.anewlifeinaustralia.com

Wish we had the chance to jump like you do - we are doing it the hard way, via TRA etc.

We are just doing it! Havent been, not doing a reccie, have a few aquaintances in Perth to act as a little safety net - mind you no children to worry about.

Good luck which ever way you decide.

Paula

BertieB

try this as well - lots of info

http://www.yellabrickroad.com/index.html

Ann

Lord Pom Percy

l think $50,000 is around the average wage in OZ.

TraceyW

I have heard through the grapevine that all the new police recruits would be based, initially, around Joondalup. That's where the Police Academy is (very posh looking too).

Average houses around this area...$400k ish. Areas include; Carramar, Tapping, Kinross, Currumbine, Joondalup, Wanneroo, to name but a few.

$50k is an average wage. Take into account that the cost of living isn't as cheap as people would like think, especially groceries. Petrol is rising, now at $1.38 a litre. All of these things contribute to a lot of folk moaning about being skint...us included!!

Depends what you're after really. Luxury or way of life.

Good luck to you

renth

$400k house $50K wage you'll want to be bringing over a significant amount of equity.

I reckon even if you could buy a $400k house for cash 50K is not enough for a family to live on and not be skint all the time.

Amazulu

Perth is an awesome place to live, I love it here. The COL is only slightly lower than the UK though. You would struggle on $50k, if you had a very small mortgage it might be possible but would still be difficult. A decent, average house is around 400k & rising.

Good luck & I hope it works out for you.

PS I hope you don't get assigned to traffic duties as the only time you see a cop here he's holding a handheld radar.

TraceyW

Totally agree with you Renth. We just about get by week to week. That's not exactly why we came out here.

Then again, I am a skint student...perhaps when I'm working it will be easier....we live in hope

Tom & Angela

Hi Clarkey,

As a recently retired police officer I can tell you that WA Police are obviously following the SA Police in taking British Officers over there. SA Police did this about a year ago and two or three intakes have successfully been deployed in SA. I recall at the time that a messageboard was set up to help officers with information but have tried to find it today without success.
Do not take this as a discouraging comment but I do believe that a few officers had financial problems and after a period returned home. However think this was due to it being the first time British officers had gone to Aus and they were put on one of the lowest points on the SA payscale and due to the time between been accepted and going across being short, some still had not sold their houses, so they were caught in a bit of a financial whammy. This happened to one of my mates, who came back after a year because his house had still not sold but would still like to go down there because he enjoyed it.
Do not be put off but it is worthy of much research. There may be some stuff on the web about the experiences of the lads who went down to SA.

Regards T&A.

wargod

Eeek !

What would you suggest a liveable salary would be, assuming house bought for cash?

blackcountrygirl

try

adelaidebrits

There are some Officers and families post on there you may get more of an idea from them

Sheila

NKSK version 2

No mortgage at all? Depends on your aspirations...

I reckon household income (i.e. total income for the house) ideally would start at $75000 with no mortgage. (for us - 2 kids)