Hello everyone.

I need some serious advice. We received our visas a few days ago and now we would like to go to Melbourne at the beginning of November. Problem is we have to sell the house, sell all furniture (not a lot), find new homes for the pets, finalize finances and say goodbye to family in just one and a half months. About 45 days! Do you think it can be done?

We know about the pitfalls we might fall into with the selling of the house but what if everything goes smooth. The estate agent can handle everything on our behalf. We might get an offer to purchase today and we are not really dependent on the money straight away as we know it will take some time to process.

Are we being to hasty? We have untill the end of the month to decide to resign from work or not. Anyone have some good advice? We are going crazy again.

Hi

I know what you are going through.

So my advice take it slow. If you are not ina hurry take time to finish things off. Anyway christmas time in Aus is also a busy period so consider that too.

If you really want to be there by november.
Do the following:

1. Make a proper list of all the things you want to get done.
2. Prioritise the stuff. Some easy and some very difficult ones.
3. Attach a time to that just to let yourself know when you want to do it an when you want to finish it off. If you see that its not going to happen within november think of other strategies.
4. About house if you have inlaws or parents you can provide them the power of attorney and ask them to handle it with your agents.

Hope this helps.

Badri

Hi Mate

Firstly i would change you username to CrazyboutGettinThere
But on a more serious note if you want to get out there as quick as possible, GO FOR IT!!

So long as you have a everything in place before you go then just do it.

If you can sign power of attorney over to someone you trust, parents etc. then they can sign for and do anything on your behalf including selling your house, transfering monies and other important stuff that you would not be able to do if you left.

If you can get your house sold and exchange contracts before you go then leave the moving in/out part up to someone else. knowing that the sale is binding makes you worry less.

Furniture - Sell it with the house, give them a deal on it, or sell it on ebay.
Cancel all your Direct Debits and off you go!

Wish i was contemplating going in Novemeber...

Thanks for the reply, Badri. It is good advice as usual.

We sold the house today and we make good profit from it. Will start looking for rent accomodation tomorrow. I have started with a list of items we want to sell and within the next few days, we will start circulating it among our family and friends. We don't expect to make a good profit on that though! Thanks for tip 2 & 3. I will make a to do list and take the calender and try to prioritise everything realistically. Time will tell...
What do you mean Aus is a busy period over Christmas? Do you think we will find good employment in November and have a steady income over December?

LOL! Thanks Tincx! Your encouragement is just what I need right now! The agent says the monies will be transfered very quickly. We will do our best to get everything in place.

Good Luck Crazy...as the old saying goes, "if you leave it to tha last minute it will only take a minute" (worked for me through Uni!!), although probably not a good piece of advice to follow in this case.

I'm sure you'll be fine, and what an exciting 45 days it'll be.

Have you found cheap flights?

Cheers

SS

One way to do it really...both feet first! Jump in and get it done!

It might make it a hectic 45 days but then you can relax, breathe and enjoy the sunshine.

Well that's my advice for what it's worth.

We were in a similiar situation, however, we seem to have more or less got there in 2 months although the house is sold we have not exchanged yet and it all hangs on this. Until exchange can't book flights accomodation etc. and flights are getting very booked up.

Good Luck

PJ

I found this somewhere, could have even been on this forum. You might find it useful...not sure what a couple of the abbreviations are though and whether it will all be relevant to you, but here goes....

Good Luck!

Arrange the ‘house cooling’ goodbye party
Make your wills (travelling is dangerous)
Arrange an Australian address (friend, relative, thread member)
or get one of these to organise a PO Box in Australia (in their name and empty it for you) They are quite hard to get so think early – go on waiting list.
Update your address book including tele nos and email addresses
Cancel your ISP service IN WRITING (I did it in email and phone and they continued to charge me for another 5 months said I did not cancel.)
Also advise C/C payment they should stop the standing order. (belt and braces cover)
Get copies of some utilities to use as evidence of good payment for same in Australia (otherwise you may have to pay a large deposit $100 or so) PS Australian utilities go in ONE persons’ name Mr or Mrs they don’t like Mr/Mrs and therefore the person who organises it gets the bills in their name – so utilities should match.
Arrange a Nationwide Credit Card (or possibly Halifax) No annual charges and they do not charge extra for foreign currency purchases.
Arrange Standing Order to pay credit cards while you are travelling and getting organised. (we still use our uk c/c and get a better rate than the money we took over originally.
Organise all change of address details with everyone in the uk. (Credit Card Co.’s and other financial institutions sometimes will not accept this change and ask you to verify by phone to a 0845 number. This is difficult once you have left uk. (They write to the Australian address and say they cannot accept your instructions!!!!!) This includes Share Certificate holding companies.
Cancel uk telephone
Make arrangements with Credit Card companies and other financial institutions for on line working (they often need this instruction confirmed by phone)
Have Boot sale
If you are taking a container or part load – Scrub shoes and disinfect – they get through ok. Ditto garden tools – if necessary paint handles/blades – no problems
You can ignore pessimistic threads re difficulty taking garden things (except lawn mowers) SO LONG AS YOU CLEAN THEM wipe with Jeyes fluid and mark them that this has been done Same for bicycles and childrens garden toys. Sort out Christmas decorations, throw away pine cones and etc. Mark the box ‘tinsel, tree ornaments an d fairy lights’ NOT Christmas decs. (can mark NO PINE CONES etc.) No problems then

If you have store cupboard don’t throw away. You can take anything that is not opened. Jams, Pasta, pickles, sugar, sauces coffee tea and etc. (BRING MAYONNAISE – Australian type UGH)
If you use Decaf Coffee you may wish to bring lots of this Not readily available only Nescafe and the price is extortionate – not just one pound more than the same size ordinary coffee.
Stock up with your favourite ‘over the counter’ medication inc. multi vits, cod liver oil and sea sickness pills etc. (very expensive here compared with the Super market’s Own Brands in uk.) Include Nu-skin (not available in australia)
Arrange Post Office redirection to Australian address.

Claire, thanks for sharing the list! I picked up a few things that I never thought about.

The first person that the agent brought to view the house, signed contract to buy the place yesterday. Can you believe it? Pj, it took the buyer 3 days also to decide to take the place. Lucky for us, our estate agent is an excellent salesman and the buyer was very happy with everything she saw. I spend some time to revamp the garden and make it look nicely. (Perfectionist me) Everything was as neat as a pin and the buyer simply couldn't let it slip through her fingers.

My better half have not made a final decision on the departure date but promised to let me know within the next few days. I hope there will still be tickets available by then...

Thanks for the encouragement, SS & Ushas! Will let you know when plans are solid.

With the ticket thing, we are hoping to exchange within the next couple of days, so have spoke to Trailfinders, who are holding a seat reservation (4 of us) until Wednesday at no cost!!
Hopefully this will work out.

Just a little STRESS!!!

Good Luck

PJ