Re: Why do so many of us leave Perth?
 

As poster above you stated, you really think even a month will tell you all you need to know about a place??? get real, if people are unhappy, then they have their reasons - certainly DO NOT need someone, who doesn't even reside in Australia, let alone Perth to be-little them.

Re: Why do so many of us leave Perth?
 

Listen I am not belittling anyone, I have the upmost respect for people who emigrate as it takes guts. All I'm saying is a few weeks checking the place out first would have helped. You can learn so much more about a place when you are actually there rather than reading about it on the internet / TV.
We checked out Canada over winter as that was when the country was at it's worst so to speak and we could feel what -20c felt like :)

Re: Why do so many of us leave Perth?
 

We came on a reccie to Perth for afew weeks before we emigrated. Did all the usual stuff, check out houses, schools, shops, beaches, talk to immigrants themselves etc...

But we still came to live here and have now decided it's not for us 18 months later. So even if you do your homework, actually living here is completely different.
Next question?:sneaky:

Re: Why do so many of us leave Perth?
 

Well that's fair enough then, at least you tried. Hopefully you did alright out of the Perth housing boom to cover your moving expenses.

Good luck

Re: Why do so many of us leave Perth?
 

I find returning to Uk was completely different for me, like I dont like it anymore for my reasons.

I am sure there is a few on here will realise when they get back, just how much they have given up.

Re: Why do so many of us leave Perth?
 

Danny, can I ask, now you have been in Canada for a while, do you think you've done the right thing, is life better for you and your family than it was in the UK, and can you see yourselves staying in Canada indefinitely or do you see a return to the UK being likely?

Re: Why do so many of us leave Perth?
 

Something that's not been mentioned here is that the financial side of things can get out of hand in a very short time, depending on which direction you are going in, to/from which country (Oz, US, etc.), and whether you are a "self-funded" expat or lucky enough to be expatriating on an expenses-paid, company-funded transfer, etc.

Some folks have mentioned the larger mortgage, smaller house (than UK) situation in Oz, but it seems to me (I don't go on the Oz boards, but read ex-Ozzers on here) that for people who went to Oz a few years back, housing was relatively inexpensive ... yes/no? So, if you'd gone there say 5-10 years ago, things were easier back then?

I won't drone on (again!) about my own situation, but considering it can take 18-24 months to plan returning and then on returning to find and buy a house, in the past 18-24 months the US dollar has gone from $1.76 to $2.11 (so, for example, $200,000 would be worth 95,000 GBP now, compared to 114,000 GBP back when you first started planning), and UK house prices have gone up 50% in 2 years in some places, meaning a house worth 100,000 GBP 2 years ago could cost $150,000 now ... whereas in many parts of the US, house prices have changed very little over the same period ... net effect: ability to buy a 100k GBP outright, with 14k GBP left over "back then", compared to 55k GBP shortfall on the same house now ...

I don't know what the comparison is in Oz, but I seem to read as many posts about shifting UK/Oz exchange rate issues as I do about the USD/GBP exchange rate ...

Even with the best of planning, the situation can change quite rapidly, and going over to your desired new homeland for a couple of weeks can often reveal very little.

Re: Why do so many of us leave Perth?
 

Yes it was absolutely the right thing to do. Our move to Canada had been planned for a while and we decided to go when UK house prices were at their highest, when the exchange £ > $ rate was good and most importantly when my 11 yr old Son had finished his last year at a middle School.

If we left it any later we would have struggled as houses are not selling, the exchange rate has dropped (& dropping) and it would mean disruption to his secondary School education.

We have all been very lucky, I got a job doing what I was doing in the UK, my Son & Daughter have both settled into their new way of life & new Schools fine, and my Wife has made lots of new friends.

Is life better for us? I think it is, I did start to write them all down but I don't want to go on about how great I think the place is :p

Can I see myself living here forever? Who knows, certainly for the next 20yrs but I would like to retire somewhere where it is hot & cheap :D

Re: Why do so many of us leave Perth?
 

Like Colombia? ;)

But seriously, what is so good about Canada?

Re: Why do so many of us leave Perth?
 

I was thinking more like the Philippines actually ;)

What's good about Canada, well when I say Canada what I actually mean is Kamloops in British Columbia as that is where I live right now. Obviously if I lived in a crime ridden ghetto of Toronto things wouldn't be so rosey.

In no specific order;
Affordable housing, low crime, great Schools, lots of all year rounds sports right on our doorstep, small town feeling without being too small (80k population) and a 3 hr drive to Vancouver if you need a big city fix.

For me I just feel much closer to my family now, working in London it would take me 1hr to drive to work and I'd stay until 6pm, get home at 7pm spend 10 mins with my Daughter and then she'd go bed.

Here I have a 12 minute commute and am home from work at 4.15pm every day and our weekends are packed with fun things to do.
I don't like boasting so I have only mentioned things that will affect everyone no matter how rich or poor they are, but lets just say when you sell a house in Surrey and move to a small town in western Canada you can have a pretty good standard of living.

Re: Why do so many of us leave Perth?
 

Yes, I can imagine. If I could take what this modest ex-council 3BR in Glasgow is worth and buy a house in the Southeast USA, I'd be looking at a huge place on a huge plot of land with a huge garage with lots of toys. Or (more likely for me) a really, really nice small place with lots left over for retirement fund, toys, recreation, holidays, etc.

What you describe sounds quite a lot like the two towns I lived in in TN (Murfreesboro, 30 mi from Nashville) and NC (Greenville, 60 mi from Raleigh-Durham). Of course, we didn't get as much snow as you probably do. :rofl: but the small-town quality of life with (most) big-town amenities was a nice balance. I also hear what you say about the commute. Even though the 30-60 minute (depending on traffic) commute I do now is 50% on scenic rural roads, it gets beaten hands-down by the 5 minute walk across the street I had in both my jobs in the US! The culture of my job here is poles apart from what I had in the States.

Re: Why do so many of us leave Perth?
 

That's about right....how shallow!!

Re: Why do so many of us leave Perth?
 

Nu Shooz you hit the nail not just on the head but right in the centre, dead centre!!!!...been here so long now I forgot what it is like not to worry about money....well at least until the next lot of household bills arrive....and for the rest....just "spot on"...decent clothes Ha they don't exsist here unless you pay a small fortune and then they don't even match up to Next!!!!
Jackie

Re: Why do so many of us leave Perth?
 

Yep...all the reading (as that was all we had really when we were planning on migrating to Aus.....honestly!! and it was from the Aus gov.) and we still went....we knew more than the "locals"...still do..ha ha....but until you live somehere it is just not the same....we read up on the schools...but until your children start their education you have not got a clue and all that reading up does not help..on buying homes etc the actual cost of buying and selling is like buying another house as well!!!! You can sit their typing away with a "holier than" attitude but it might just not of worked out for you,even with all your homework, your children could of been bullied, your employment might of ended and had to go for any job you can with poor pay, your wife might of missed her family so badly she cried everynight etc....you cannot put the cost of emotions on a credit card......it must be lovely to be a Robot!!!!
Enjoy your wonderful life in Canada, I really hope it lasts for your sake...now can you move your "smug" self onto a site where you belong....oh boy oh boy do I know where that is!!!!!

Re: Why do so many of us leave Perth?
 

Did you read the thread "Why do so many leave Perth"..? sorry it did not work out for you can start a new thread or try the "anyone got back and regretted it thread" I get fed up of people coming on some of the thread saying they regret it..it is hard enough to make a decision with people always putting going home down....so please try and respect that...we all know it will be different for us...even us after 9 years away (nearly 10 when we go home) we will miss some things about Aus, so I don't need to know what you miss about Aus....here on a site about "going home"
Sorry to sound so abrupt but it does get my goat.....