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For those that have already emigrated to Oz...

For those that have already emigrated to Oz...

Old Jan 4th 2006, 7:41 am
  #16  
McG
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Default Re: For those that have already emigrated to Oz...

Hi,

I've been here over 4 years now and am happy to answer questions
openly on this forum.

For reference, I'm in Melbourne, moving to Perth and have also lived
in Wellington, NZ (originally from the South of England having left in
April 2000).

Seems the mortgage issue has already been covered pretty much. Our
own experience is that we approached HSBC Australia (wouldn't deal
with anyone else because of the crazy bank charges) and got a mortgage
(and online savings account) with them. They would only help us once
my husband had a contract and had satisfied the standard 3 month
probationary period. He was a contractor so didn't have a permanent
job however because of our history with HSBC worldwide, they were ok
dealing with us (although we had to show what assets we had etc.) In
the absence of a permanent job, it can be harder getting a mortgage -
but that's the same anywhere I would have thought.

Personally I find cars more expensive here - car insurance is
particularly high - bike insurance seems reasonable. European cars
tend to be seen as status symbols although I'm seeing just recently
more Renaults, Peugots and VWs around than I have ever before. We've
stuck to the local Holden and Subaru - both of which are relatively
cheap to service and parts are readily available. Our Subaru was
imported from NZ...which is another story I won't go into. We also
have a bike (cheaper rego and no tolls on the tollway), which we
imported from the UK.

Beware importing vehicles - it can be difficult and sometimes
impossible, to find anyone to insure you. That's aside from all the
extra import costs/taxes.

When you buy a car, you will need to pay stamp duty and registration
or 'rego'. The stamp duty varies from state to state and is
calculated on the market value of the car/bike.

Petrol is currently around $1.20 a litre - if you buy from Safeway or
Coles, you can get vouchers giving 4 cents off a litre at
Safeway/Caltex or Shell respectively. Sometimes they would give 6
cents off but I haven't seen that deal for a couple of years now.

Rentals, depending on taste and suburb obviously are say in the region
of $200-300 a week for an 'average' 3 bedroom house (usually a
bungalow). You'll need to come up with a bond, which is held by a
bond company (not by the landlord as in the UK) and is a month's
rental usually. Sometimes you will have to pay the first month's rent
in advance and then weekly or monthly after that depending on the
arrangement. You're given the opportunity to check the property out
before signing anything - and do exactly that very thoroughly - once
you have signed, you take on the responsibility of anything not picked
up. eg. smashed window. If you spot something, have it noted down.

With drinks, apparently a pint of imported beer is around the $10
mark. With eating out, I'd say $20-40 a head is a good price.
Generally speaking take-away or 'take out' as it seems to be more
commonly known here is fairly affordable.

Tax is high...very high. Australia as a whole is expensive - but I
believe it is a better lifestyle - higher standard of living.

This link may help work out your take-home pay - I've found it
invaluable:
http://moneymanager.smh.com.au/tools...s/payetax.html

Couple of tips for people coming here that may help:

NEVER EVER pay the price on the tag - you can, in my experience anyway
(grocery shop and utilties aside) haggle - particularly consumer
goods, cars etc. Be ruthless! It really can be worth the fight.

Be careful feeling 'pound rich'. I've seen a few people come here
rich with pounds in their pocket and they continually convert
everything into pounds despite earning Australian dollars. Once you
are earning dollars, try and think in dollars.

***

There is so much I could put here - if you have any questions, feel
free to ask - I'll do my best to help. Good luck.
 
Old Jan 4th 2006, 6:51 pm
  #17  
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Default Re: For those that have already emigrated to Oz...

Originally Posted by robert cowan
sent you a pm
Rob,
Would you mind sending me one too as we are curious just how much i'm gonna need !!!

Thanks..

Ali
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Old Jan 4th 2006, 7:09 pm
  #18  
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Default Re: For those that have already emigrated to Oz...

Originally Posted by orange&
Yikes, $250 for a four bedroom house! That's amazingly good value compared to the cost of a 2 bed flat in Sydney. I don't understand how anyone can afford to live in Sydney... property prices there are more than the SE of UK!
Whereabouts in Sydney are you or are you looking at ?

ALi
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Old Jan 5th 2006, 1:24 am
  #19  
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Default Re: For those that have already emigrated to Oz...

Originally Posted by Fireman Al
Rob,
Would you mind sending me one too as we are curious just how much i'm gonna need !!!

Thanks..

Ali
i decided to put on open forum what i had put in the pm, so just look at the replies. hope they help.

marie
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Old Jan 5th 2006, 2:46 am
  #20  
bru
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Default Re: For those that have already emigrated to Oz...

Originally Posted by robert cowan
sent you a pm

Can you send me the details too? Thanks
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Old Jan 6th 2006, 11:40 pm
  #21  
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Default Re: For those that have already emigrated to Oz...

Leave the cat in the UK. They don't like cat here and you can expect to pay
alot more for rent if you do bring it. My wife who is a real cat fanatic
has admitted it was a bad idea to bring it and that's saying alot. On the
sunshine coast we could have easily got a nice little place on the beach for
$200/week but had to settle on an inland house at 250/week because of the
cat. We could have found a place on the beach that would take the cat but
it would have been at least $320/week.

Laptop is a good idea. You have a nice portable computer for what ever your
needs are. I'm glad I brought mine, though now that I'm settled in it's not
needed as much.

"Keely" <member45758@british_expats.com> wrote in message
news:[email protected] m...

    > We were thinking of taking over between £10 and £15k to cover us for
    > approx 6 months as we were mainly concerned about property rental
    > costs and cars.
    > Obviously if we got jobs pretty quick then our savings would be a back
    > up for house deposits etc. We wouldnt bring anything over from the UK
    > apart from clothes, cat and possibly a laptop.
    > We think we'll opt for Melbourne in the end but god knows what suburb
    > (havent researched that far). I guess it depends on job availability for
    > the two of us.
    > I doubt we'll apply for a visa until we've got a bit of money behind us,
    > but we're keeping our house in the UK so we can rent it out and have a
    > base should we ever have to come back.
    > If we end up staying in Oz, we would definitely look into building our
    > own house as it seems to be the more favourite option. However I guess
    > we'll find out more about the Oz lifestyle as a whole when we eventually
    > get over there! lol
    > Thanks for the PM's and advice everyone :)
    > --
    > Posted via http://britishexpats.com
 
Old Jan 7th 2006, 5:06 am
  #22  
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Default Re: For those that have already emigrated to Oz...

In Perth you can rent for about 200- 250 $ £80 to £100 per week but most say no pets . The trouble with buying land is the charges and it probably wont go up enough to make any money on it if you sell it later also you need to have a good look around and decide where to live . It's no good listening to others about the right place as we all want different things . Renting a car is dead money but second hand cars are expensive here. If your relative/friend has got some land have you thought of putting a caravan on it .? You can sell it again when you finished it wont need any furniture but it's home and the dogs all right as well then. Good luck
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Old Jan 7th 2006, 5:22 am
  #23  
McG
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Default Re: For those that have already emigrated to Oz...

    >Leave the cat in the UK. They don't like cat here and you can expect to pay
    >alot more for rent if you do bring it. My wife who is a real cat fanatic
    >has admitted it was a bad idea to bring it and that's saying alot. On the
    >sunshine coast we could have easily got a nice little place on the beach for
    >$200/week but had to settle on an inland house at 250/week because of the
    >cat. We could have found a place on the beach that would take the cat but
    >it would have been at least $320/week.

Our street is full of cats - not aware of anyone not liking cats with
an average of two per household (the maximum allowed in these parts)
in the majority of houses in our street, which is in a good/very good
suburb. We bought our cat with us from the UK to NZ and then on to
Australia and although choice was more limited (some say 'No Pets'),
we were able to find a rental easily.

That said - this is VIC and not QLD - it wouldn't surprise me if
things differed state-to-state. When visiting family in WA, I was
aware of an 'anti-cat' culture but many people still had cats,
including bizarrely, those who were against ownership of them.
 
Old Jan 7th 2006, 10:26 am
  #24  
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Default Re: For those that have already emigrated to Oz...

I'm only looking to move to Victoria area so I hope more people come forward to say the state isnt anti-cat otherwise I'd have to rethink my move! lol
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