Kellex Posted September 17, 2014 Share Posted September 17, 2014 Hi just wondering if anyone has bought a house in Australia before arriving? we have been looking in to buying an investment property, we will be moving to Victoria at the end of next year as my husband has 1 year left to work on his contract. it seems we can get a mortgage on our visa and as we have sold our house now in the UK we thought it would be wise to invest the money in another property, which we could rent out whilst my husband is still working and then we could move in when we arrive in Australia. any thoughts or suggestions I would be grateful. Thanks Kellex Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quoll Posted September 17, 2014 Share Posted September 17, 2014 Either very brave or very foolhardy to buy a Property sight unseen! Not something I would be doing Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kellex Posted September 17, 2014 Author Share Posted September 17, 2014 Foolhardy yes for anyone not seeing a property first but this is not our intention! Thanks Kellex Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quoll Posted September 17, 2014 Share Posted September 17, 2014 Some people on here have proposed to do exactly that! As long as you can see (in person) what you're getting and can get a good agent to manage it then I don't see why not although a house can be an impediment if you don't actually like Aus when you arrive. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gbye grey sky Posted September 17, 2014 Share Posted September 17, 2014 We actually gave it some serious thought ahead of our recce visit but the exchange rate moving the wrong way in 2014 killed off the thought as we would be moving money over for the purchase. I am glad that was the case too as we would have had to make a very fast decision and may have regretted it later. It was appealing to think we would not have to pay rent when we arrive next year but not worth the gamble imo. We also still harbour hopes that the exchange rate may be more favourable in a year or two than now but who knows? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fisher1 Posted September 17, 2014 Share Posted September 17, 2014 Yes we've considered this, but if you leave it empty your money isn't working for you, and if you rent it out, you'll be charged Aus tax on every penny of your rent - also makes UK tax affairs incredibly complicated - which is why we decided against in the end. Not necessarily a no no though, I'd look into it some more, focussing on tax rates, possible capital gains tax when you sell and whether you will be able to maintain / secure the property adequately when you are not there. Remember to factor in the cost of trips to view property, if you make them. Good Luck!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nearlythere1 Posted September 17, 2014 Share Posted September 17, 2014 I think I'd need to be living in the area first, to get a good feel for it. Especially if I intended to live there. Not so important if all you're looking for is an investment property, but have rented a couple of houses over the years with only a few days to check them out, that was hard enough, especially when moving from overseas, it can be very restricting.. We'll definitely wait for a while, get the job situation sorted out, rent and do some serious driving around. I know that some would say that renting is money down the drain, but rather that than leaving somewhere I wasn't happy and having to wait for a sale before being able to move on, for me at least. Over the years, visiting, We've already driven from Sydney up to Brisbane via the New England highway, then up to Townsville and Cairns, then all the way back down to Sydney via the coast roads, and I still have no idea.. :wink: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ramot Posted September 17, 2014 Share Posted September 17, 2014 (edited) We bought an apartment off plan in Brisbane well before we moved here, as an investment property. We did know Brisbane well and It was in fact an astute financial decision, which we didn't regret when we sold it for a good profit, some years later. It was permanently rented out. Tax wasn't a problem to sort out. We did this about 13 years ago, and I don't know if it was any easier then? Edited September 17, 2014 by ramot Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rallyman Posted September 17, 2014 Share Posted September 17, 2014 Thought if you are not actually living in Australia you can only by new or of plan properties ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ramot Posted September 17, 2014 Share Posted September 17, 2014 Certainly was the case when we bought, but there was no problem then buying off plan. also when we moved here later on we were and still are on a long term temporary retirement visa. We could then buy an existing property, but even now we are not allowed to rent it out, because of being temporary here, so that might apply to 457 visas? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gbye grey sky Posted September 17, 2014 Share Posted September 17, 2014 Thought if you are not actually living in Australia you can only by new or of plan properties ?. Not so. My OH is a citizen so definitely can buy from UK, but I have PR so all you need is a valid permanent visa I believe. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ramot Posted September 17, 2014 Share Posted September 17, 2014 . Not so. My OH is a citizen so definitely can buy from UK, but I have PR so all you need is a valid permanent visa I believe. I think Rallyman meant if you weren't living in Australia and didn't have PR/citizenship. Certainly before we moved here we could only buy new or off plan, and had to get. FIRB approval. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rallyman Posted September 17, 2014 Share Posted September 17, 2014 Been some reports about Chinese investment over here saying that they are not entitled to be buying some of the property Only new or off plan, Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fisher1 Posted September 18, 2014 Share Posted September 18, 2014 Yes it's my understanding that you can only buy new - but as Ramot says, its not difficult to find appartments selling off plan. We met someone in Adelaide a few years ago, who did the six month oz / six month UK thing to spend time with one son in each country. They had bought land and built outside Adelaide (also allowed for non-res.) Quite fancy the idea, if I could just wave a magic wand and avoid all the detail!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
julesktm1 Posted September 18, 2014 Share Posted September 18, 2014 We have Pr and more or less knew where we wanted to settle. We went and applied for a bond with our salaries from the country where we live and got approval, we then went house hunting and found a house and bought it. It has been rented out for two years and we move into it in January in 2015. we have been very lucky and think we made the best decision. Best of luck xxx Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ali B Posted September 18, 2014 Share Posted September 18, 2014 I have got a funny feeling the legislation regarding non-residents buying property in Oz has changed in the past 2 yrs or so. A lot of hyper-wealthy Chinese were buying up property from China a couple of years back and renting out, just as you proposed. I heard the government has tightened up the process in the past year or so. Maybe check out recent legislation. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoannaAch Posted September 18, 2014 Share Posted September 18, 2014 I think that if you are a citizen/PR you can buy anything you want in Australia as long as you don't need to borrow any money (I am not sure banks can borrow money to non-residents?). Only people on temporary visas need to get the FIRB approval and can only buy off-plan. I know a few people that bought houses before arriving after getting PR and they used buyers agent to check the property and organize eerything. They are usually very good, but can be also expensive (I heard they charge around 1-2% of the property value). From what I know - buyer's agent is basically a RE agent, only working on the behalf of the buyer and not the seller... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marisawright Posted September 19, 2014 Share Posted September 19, 2014 Hi just wondering if anyone has bought a house in Australia before arriving? we have been looking in to buying an investment property, we will be moving to Victoria at the end of next year as my husband has 1 year left to work on his contract. it seems we can get a mortgage on our visa and as we have sold our house now in the UK we thought it would be wise to invest the money in another property, which we could rent out whilst my husband is still working and then we could move in when we arrive in Australia. any thoughts or suggestions I would be grateful. Thanks Kellex So, do you mean that you'll come to Australia to view and choose the property? I wouldn't do it if you can't view the property in person - photos are just not enough. My big concern would be location. It's hard to make the right choice of suburb until you've had time to get to know a city, and it's hard to judge whether a property is value for money until you've seen several properties, so I think you'd have to be here for two or three weeks and do a LOT of viewing to be sure you're making the right decision. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
buzzy--bee Posted September 19, 2014 Share Posted September 19, 2014 I have bought 2 interstate properties which I did not see myself - I employed a buyers agent and gave them the requirement - they then sent me details of houses that fitted that criteria and viewed the houses, taking photos and videos. I still haven't seen my house in Brisbane..... I would only do this for investment properties, not for my PPOR. Incidentally, all investment is speculative, and I wouldn't presume to give accurate investment advice, however I would strongly recommend against buying an apartment, especially off-the-plan, if you want to see capital growth. BB Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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