cresta57

I'm curious as well,why is it a stupid question? The current market prices for houses like ours are £35/40k equating to less than $100k at the present conversion rate. Granted they are among the cheapest prices in the UK but we don't all live in the south. Not such a stupid question after all when you do your homework!

http://www.aps-estate-agents.co.uk/r...&Submit=Search

karawara88

Is Grimsby that bad ? unbelievable house prices,

But then again its the same story in Manchester. Pokey Loft apartments going for £250,000 +

Yet 2 miles down the road you could buy a whole street for that. !!

kiran rowe

We have found this thread both interesting and amusing and thought it might help to comment as we have just bought south of sydney.

Arrived with about £70k to put it in perspective to all those people wondering how much they might have and what they will get.

If you are looking in Sydney forget it - nothing under 800k. There was a report in the paper here recently that stated Sydney was expensive as London and we'll go along with that.

We chose Sydney area because we have friends here, work here and we think it is one of the most beautiful cities in the world and I defy anyone who can tire of the fantastic harbour scenes etc.

We looked on the central coast - there are house-land packages up near Wyong - which is 'north' central coast probably nearer to Newcastle than sydney for around $350-450k depensing on size of house etc.

We nearly bought there but the area was new and lacked a community feel so we looked south to the Illawarra around Wollongong.

About the same distance although the Princes highway into the airport and the city is better tha n the F3 from the north.

Found a house near Dapto - 80ks from Sydney for $389k.

Two storey, four beds, three baths, double garage, lounge, diner, kitchen and family room, study and an upstairs parents retreat - or as they like to call them now, a home theatre area, nice back yard which is all turfed, ready to move in.

We move in next week and will have to buy more furniture as we didn't have that many rooms in UK.

The mortgage rate is 6% but I have yet to find anyone in the UK who has a 3.5% mortgage. Ours was 5. something.

We overlook the southern highlands - a cleasr view from the front upstairs balcony and we're 15 mins from the beach.

It certainly beats being stuck on that damn M40 for four hours a day!

One couple's tale - and our young son is going to enjoy his new life in the open air.

Pete and Kiran

Therese

Will have to spend around $600,000 Aud to buy 4 bed in Sutherlandshire area of Sydney, will have $400,000Aud when house sold and money transferred, or we could go to Queensland or Perth and buy two or more houses by the sound of things.

hhhmmm now that's a thought!

tinaj

I don't know where the comments on a 3.5 % mortgage rate come from . Unless you are just changing your mrtgage and can take advantage of a very short lived fixed rate. We are paying the base rate of 5.55% at the moment to the Portman building society.

Remember the rates quoted on the news are not what you actually pay, banks always add an amount on top. For every 1/4% cut we actually only get 0.15% off.

We live in the South and prices have boomed over the last few years. Part of the reason we are going is that we have made a huge amount on our house. We will be fortunate enough to take between $850 - $1 000 000 aus dollars with us, depending on the rate. For every 10 cent drop we have worked out that will take $33 000 less!
If the rate is good we might be able to say we are millionaires!

We wont spend it all on a house, about $400 k to $500 on a house and the rest on a business.

Even if we did not have this sort of money we would still be going, in fact more so as I think the standard of properties available for low amounts is staggering compared to over here.

walaj

re the mortage rates, as we are not going to emigrate until 2005, we have just remorgaged our property, going for a deal that pays for the legal/valuation fees and a slightly higher rate (than other offers).

This is a tracker (ie goes up/down by the same amount the Bank of England change their rate), and currently is 3.94% for a 2 year period after which we would be free to change to another provider and deal. Are these kind of mortgages not available in Australia?

mashiraz

Good stuff Pete and Kiran, keep posting please and let us know how it all goes.
Cheers
Mash..

cresta57

It's not a bad area in terms of crime, sure we have the occasional stabbing/rape etc. but not very many murders or gun related crime. We have "rough estates" these were where the fishermen were moved to when the dockside slums were knocked down. Not sure why the houses remain so cheap by comparison to the rest of the country but factors could include the fact that it's a long way from any major city, Lincoln is 36m Hull is about the same with a £2.50 each way toll to cross the bridge in a car. that coupled with the demise of the deep water fishing fleet in the 70's and the fact that local farming is such a low paid job probably have to be considered as well.
With terraced housing averaging £35/40k semis around 80k and a small detached for less than 100k we are getting an influx of people from the major cities in the south, the villages along the coast being very popular retirement choices. We're heading for my folks place which is still under construction between Gympie and Tin Can Bay when we were there last October the boom in the housing market still hadn't reached quite that far north and property/plots were very cheap even by Grimsby standards.
Sean

bobinoz

[QUOTE]Originally posted by tinaj
I don't know where the comments on a 3.5 % mortgage rate come from . Unless you are just changing your mrtgage and can take advantage of a very short lived fixed rate. We are paying the base rate of 5.55% at the moment to the Portman building society.

Remember the rates quoted on the news are not what you actually pay, banks always add an amount on top. For every 1/4% cut we actually only get 0.15% off.

Hi,

3.5% comment was from me. That is what we are paying with the Britannia. It is a 2 year discounted variable mortgage with no redemption penalties. Means we can change it even within the first 2 years for no cost. After 2 years we will definitely change it to another 2 or 3 year discounted mortgage again.

There are still similar if not better deals around. Did someone not post that interest rates may go down again if so the deals will get better.

5.55% is not at all competitive in my opinion - take a quick look on the web eg www.charcolonline.co.uk - there are plenty with no redemption penalties under 4% - if you are sure you will not be selling within first 2/3 years you will get even better rates (but be careful of redemption penalties).

We were actually thinking of changing to Intelligent Finance www.if.com from the Halifax. They were paying all costs and offering 3.25% for the first 3 months (even their standard APR of 4.8% isn't too bad and you get the advantage of offsetting if you have some savings). We were going to take it for 3 months and then change again.

We have a big mortgage and shopping around has saved us a lot of money.

Cheers,
Bob

Ceri

I'm currently living in Deadcliffe, I mean Redcliffe. I don't like the area myself. We moved to Redcliffe about a year and half ago (maybe two now) from the Southside of Brisbane. We were actually looking to buy here at the time, it was just before the boom and houses were very cheap compared to the South - we were tempted (Brick house with pool $155 at the time ) . Anyway, I liked the look of the area next to the bay, but I decided to rent instead just to see if the area was ok. I'm so glad we did! We are not buying here - we bought land in a different area now, and are building. Redcliffe used to be a sort of retirement come holiday home place in past years. I think they are still living in that era if you ask me. Things here shut early - except for the leagues club - Leagues club is very exciting - lots of pokie machines and line dancing on certain nights.:scared: . I feel like I've aged 50 years since moving here!. Redcliffe is full of police who don't seem to want to catch crim's but are more intent on nabbing people for seatbelt and speeding offences. The Hornibrook bridge is another issue here - three lanes which the middle lane swaps direction at certain times of the day - it's a bottleneck into the area, population has gone up here and that bridge is a nightmare at peak times. They need a new bridge but nobody wants to pay out for it. There is no train service here - another issue. There has been talk of one, but they've been talking about this for years.

Last week in the Herald (local free paper) - there was a story in there about the Redcliffe Jetty - get this , kids dive off the jetty, some locals do not like this (boat/yacht owners in the harbour) - and have complained (these kids must be maniacs eh!! geeze what's the world coming to - go break into a car instead of having fun on a Jetty) Anyway, The council here are now planning to put law enforcement officers to patrol the Jetty to stop these kids!! Never mind the Hoons here on Anzac ave, or the break in and enters. Really, this place has a "hick's town" attitude. Some people may like it, older "retired" people mostly - but I don't , I find the people here sort of unfriendly - and the shops - lol , this is a rife old "How are you today" area.

I'm so glad I rented here first instead of buying. But do not let me put you off - you need to decide for yourself (some people may like it), I do not know how you can do this without renting first. I myself before I rented here I thought it was a "nice" area, and came here for day trips to look around at houses etc - but living here is a totally different matter, you get to see the "real" place.

Each to their own
cheers

P.S If it was me I'd look at Bribie for this area (Brisbane North). I would have bought there myself if it wasn't for the extra travelling time to work. But , again it may be a different story if I was living there too. It looks a nice place to live in to me, but you can never really tell what it's really like from day trips, Redcliffe is a fine example of this - would have bought a house here on my first impressions - but now I can't wait to get out of this area

paulf

What's your opinion on Tamborine Ceri?

Ceri

I haven't got one, I've never lived in that area , Gold Coast way.
What I'm trying to say is that I do not think a daytrip , or even a week in a place can really "show all" living in a place is totally different to visiting a place. I'd rent first before you buy anywhere.

cheers

Kiwipaul

Hi PADDAD

I've had a look at that attachment you included and I don't like the look of it one bit.

I'm resident in Australia at the moment and I've an investment property in NZ (lived their before moving to Oz) and the renter pays money into my NZ bank account which pays the mortgage. The Oz tax office aren't involved at all and I DEF dont withold 10% of my interest payments for the Oz tax office.

I have to declare my rental income to the tax office in Oz, but as the rent dosn't quite cover the mortgage and other expenses I'm not liable for any tax, either in Oz or NZ as I'm making a loss.

I've been in contact with the Oz tax office a number of times over 3 years to clarify my situation and they have never once mentioned what Alan was saying in his document.

PS I'm no accountant just do my own tax returns to keep the cost down so don't take anything as Gospel, but I think the Oz tax office would be down on me if that was the case.

captaincook

no - the best you get here in oz is a lower introductory rate say 4.99% variable for 1 year then standard which is about 6.5%.

there are a few direct lenders such as homepath http://www.commbank.com.au/homepath/selector2.htm

which is the direct arm of commonwealth and they do a flexible deal for 5.65% which is one of the best around. I don't work for them and have no interest - just posted this link as thought it may be interesting for some to see the type of deal thats available.

the uk market really is the best value in the world for mortgages - there is just so much competition and supply.

walaj

Captain C, thanks for your reply - the standard rate is quite relative given that Aus base rate is 1% higher than UK.

so in short, lower wages, higher tax, more expensive mortgages - but still want to go as it is not all about money.

back to the original Q - will have well into 6 figures(£), but the ultimate figure will depend on what happens to the housing market, FTSE, and exchange rates. Will be intending to part finance a house with a mortgage, but then we are still in our 20s (just).