Lois1

Hi, can anyone help? We are just in the throws of starting the application progress for State Sponsorship to WA.

My husband is a carpenter by trade, but has his own building company. Initially we are looking at Mandurah and Bunbury as our first options.

We have two girls aged 3 and 6.

Just want some help please?! what is the work situation like in these areas? and the schools?

Any advise tips or other locations we should consider would be greatly appreciated.

movin'on

Basically there is a recession and no one is buying and therefore building houses, so I would wait a few years otherwise it could be tough...although I would imagine UK is worse

daunted

I live very close to Bunbury and would go with the advice of the poster above. There are an awful lot of people out of work, returning from mines back to their trade jobs and i really would NOT like to be arriving just now

teza

Absolutely agree as well, I am in SW, have been for 10 years and have never seen it so bad. Especially just with local papers that used to have several pages of job ads, now you are lucky to find maybe 5 ads per week...

Lois1

Thank you for your honest opinions, thought the recession would obviously have some effect but didnt anticipate it being that bad

Only thing that makes us want to act sooner rather than later is that age is not on our side. Both 41 this year!

kar-kier

We live in Mandurah. One of my closest friends is a builder (only been in the country 4 months) and hasn't had a day out of work yet, and has worked lined up almost to Christmas.
I would chose Mandurah over Bunbury, due to it's closeness to Perth. We have 2 boys (10 and 1) - the primary schools are average/good, but seemingly the high schools are dire and that you really need to get your kid into a private one - which aren't as expencive as you'd think.
Any other questions feel free to PM me!

Kareena

EvannTel

Why? Seems strange comment?

kar-kier

Because it's closer to Perth, like I said!

EvannTel

Rockingham is even closer, Fremantle closer still. So what?

Catch

probably compared to Mandurah Bunbury is a Fu***n shit hole.Sorry about the grammer just watched an hour of chubby on you tube

daunted

each to their own - personally i would choose Bunbury over Rockingham any day of the week, but then again thats just me so just dont jump down my throat

kar-kier

But the question was Bunbury OR Mandurah! Don't really see what your point is at all. I (me) would prefer to live in Mandurah rather than Bunbury, as Mandurah is closer to Perth!

What's your point caller?

daunted

LOL maybe we should phone a friend??

EvannTel

Why is being close ot Perth an advantage? If thats true why not live in Rockingham? Or Perth itself.

Evelin

Looking at the latest data release by the ABS (http://www.abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/[email protected]?OpenDocument) regarding building approvals, the numbers for WA are not too bad (March 1195) compared to previous months. In addition, the government will continue to hand out the grant of $21,000 for first home buyers in the next financial year that construction doesn't dry up completely.

I believe that you need regional state sponsorship, my bet would be Mandurah because it is closest to Perth. As a suburb, the closest to Perth would be Lakelands (estate with over 2,000 plots). In one hour you are in Perth by train if you need a change.

I can't say how the work situation is like, I only hear that a lot of ex-miners are trying to find work in their former trade.