Valespark

We have recently been through this issue.

In our case, instead of paying 6 months upfront or having to ask somebody to be a guarantor, we were able to prove that we could support ourselves without income help for the length of the lease. Not sure how the calculation works, as the number was given to the letting agent by the referencing company, but for £1200 PCM rent, they wanted to see savings of 21k to avoid the need for upfront payment or a guarantor

I have made a few enquiries recently with regard to UK expat mortgages etc. From the broker I have had email exchanges with, it all seems very possible.

In essence they can arrange a mortgage for 75% LTV, which comes with an automatic rent permission, so you can buy now and lease out for a while, before you return.

Extract of email

Option – This option is only available when position is permanent, you will also need to be out of the UK at time of submission of full application

Raise a mortgage up to 75% of the property valuation - this is classed as a Main UK residence and comes with an automatic consent to rent the property out.

18 month Tracker Rate of 1.7% above UK base rate (0.5%) with a bank arrangement fee that can be added to the mortgage of £999

2 Year Fixed Rate of 2.69% with a bank arrangement fee that can be added to the mortgage of £999

2 Year Fixed Rate of 2.4% with a bank arrangement fee that can be added to the mortgage of £Zero

3 Year Fixed Rate of 2.9% with a bank arrangement fee that can be added to the mortgage of £999

5 Year Fixed Rate of 3.75 with a bank arrangement fee that can be added to the mortgage of £999

5 Year Fixed Rate of 3.99% with a bank arrangement fee that can be added to the mortgage of £Zero

Broker fees on top.

Whether it is really as simple as that I don't know......My only advice would be to buy in an area you understand.

VS

Hi,

You need to view years 11 & 12, as a 2 year course. They function same as "A" levels, in that the score achieved will determine what choices are available for University.

Sensibly, your son will need to do both years in full, otherwise he will not accrue a high enough score.

The GCSE's have no value, sorry. There is no equivalent here

VS

Having lived in Melbourne, and visited Sydney many times, I feel it's a pretty good assessment.

it will be interesting to see how both cities compare from a living point of view, as well as a tourists perspective

feels like chip paper to me

It is chip paper, or more accurately the reel end of unprinted newspaper stock

Hi,

The school year in which your children will enter depends on their birthdays, and different states have differing cut-offs. In UK 1st September is typical cut off, In Victoria it is end of April and I think in NSW it is end of July.

We took our daughter from UK school aged 7, and returned 6 months later. Moved again in Sept 2009 and back to UK Dec 2010.

In my opinion, the impact on schooling depends alot on the school. We felt in the first school that our daughter was a long way ahead, and this may have been due to her having been in reception since aged 4 (May birthday, so young for her school year) and moving to a year below the one she left in UK (becoming one of oldest in year), due to the cut off.

On our second period in Melbourne, we were much more aware and elected to go private for schooling. The school was fantastic and placed our daughter in the year above her age (so same year as she had been in, in UK).

Going private is not the only option to good schooling, but it gave us what we wanted. Placing children in years above their age group may be ok academically but I would be very careful especially if you are thinking in regard to teenage years etc. Many classes contain a variety of ages, as some parents hold back there children for a year. It could be for example, that a 12 year old (placed in a year above their norm), in a class of predominantly 13 / 14 year olds, could also have a 15 year old classmate. Academically they might be equals, but social maturity would be very different.

In our opinion, our daughter has lost nothing, and gained lots by travelling and changing schools. It has developed many skills, including the ability to cope with change and make new friends, but has also opened her eyes to a whole world of experiences.

Academically, she is still a well performing student. The only subject that she has lost a little ground on is LOTE (languages), where she studied Mandarin in Australia, and has had to learn German in her current UK school.

Hope this helps. Kids are far more resilient then you or me, the chance and adventure is a great opportunity, carpe diem!

Great update.

BTW, I seem to recall that you can get Bisto granules from "treats from home" in the CBD.

I came across the following site whilst surfing around, and would interested in hearing the views of those currently in Australia.....

http://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/compare_countries_result.jsp?country1=United+Kingdom&country2=Australia

Hi,

Can you give me your opinion on the following:-

- 2011

- Mazda MX5 Roadster Coupe, Automatic

- Convertible Coupe (Hard Roof, powered retraction)

- 2L Petrol

- Automatic

- Rear wheel drive

- 1500 (yes only 1500! wifes car)

- Standard UK Spec, Leather, Bose stereo, cruise, reversing sensors

- does it have aircon - Yes

- UK value £13000

- Australian RedBook value $33,000 to $37,000

- Australian market value $47,000 (Drive away, dealer)

- Sydney

Thanks