brido

Ive been flicking through a realestate website and it led me to wonder.
The new migrants dream is to own bigger and better house than they did in the UK.Im hoping for the same,as much as i love my home.

To all expat homeowners,How does your Oz home compare to what you had in the UK?

Wife Beater

Bigger, better and with a smaller mortgage.

thebears

Not my dream

Had a large 5 bed now in a victorian 3 bed.

In better location and enjoying life so much more.

sassie

Much bigger and much better and no mortgage. In UK we had 3 small bedroom semi detached, 1 living area, small kichen, SLUG, small backyard. Now, we have 3 large bedrooms, study, 3 living areas, huge kitchen, DLUG, patio, swimming pool, and nice size back garden.

Pollyana

Bigger and better, but still renting. Can't afford to buy in brisbane, couldn't afford to buy in Brighton. And as for a pool..... ddddddrrrrrrreeeeeaaaaaaammm!!!

Stitch

I'm with you Polly. Renting a much bigger and better house and might manage to get a tiny deposit for a mortgage. No equity but at least debt free. UK would give us a better standard of living whereas OZ gives us a better quality of life.

Cheers

Ginny

Wendy

A little bit bigger, but only just. But then we've only been here 5 months and are renting. When we buy next year, we can afford a bigger house.

iPom

Renting too, but still on a quarter acre block, about 6 times the amount of garden we had in the UK.. house bigger too, and much cheaper.

If we end up buying, it's going to be at least 1/2 acre and bigger house (currently looking at 6 bed) and if we build, we're looking at 3/4 acre plus house big enough for three children and to work from home.

hoots nan

Poole, Dorset, Uk = 2 bedroom bungalow and mortgage

Albany Creek, Brisbane, Oz = 4 bedroom lowset, with swimming pool no mortgage

Are we living our dream - oh yeah

Wendy

Reason we are in a small(ish) house is because we didn't want to buy for at least six months to a year and didn't want to waste too much of our equity on rent.

iPom

Us too. We went for the cheaper rental and are saving still. No point in lining someone else's pocket for a flash rental... More cash to pay the builder at the end of the day.

brido

I agree with the cheaper rentals,i think we'll go down that route when we get over.I'd rather keep my cash towards a deposit on our own place,whenever that may be.

thebears

A house doesn't make a home - people do.

Dorothy

Our house in Canada was about 1/2 the square footage of the one we're building on a block about the same size. We'll have the same mortgage, but otherwise won't owe anything. (No car loan, student loans, etc.) As for the pool, we won't have the money for it right away and don't want to borrow to do it, so it will have to wait a year or so while I save the cash.
My motto here is that if we don't have the $$ in our hands then we're not buying it.

NickyP

We rent a smaller house than we did in Brussels, but it is larger than our house was in the UK. We can't afford to buy as yet as we arrived with no equity from a house sale so we will keep renting until I am working as well and then hopefully look to build. (With 4 kids there aren't many houses here big enough for us.) Where we are now is a nice house in a good area and far better than we could get if we had gone back to the UK, instead of heading over here, so we are happy enough .
Nicky