ramot

4 hours ago, calNgary said:

 

Totally agree how over priced the second hand vehicles are here, hubby was horrified back when we arrived and this last couple of years prices have risen again! There are still bargains to be had but it can take months of looking to find one.

    Cal x

I bought my 2nd hand car almost 18  years ago!!! I admit to being a ‘careful lady driver’ and it’s only used mostly locally, with the odd treat of a drive to Brisbane, but it’s still in really good condition, so was well worth the price I paid. I’m going to get it detailed as a present on it’s 20th  birthday shortly

On 12/05/2022 at 10:46, Marisawright said:

Bear in mind, though, that the OP is not in the UK.  That severely restricts their options.  We were the same.  Faced with the choice of leaving our money in a bank account with pathetic interest, or putting it in premium bonds where they have a slim chance of winning something, it was a no-brainer for us.  We have won a few small prizes.

We have won mostly small amounts, but occasionally a more generous one fairly consistently over the years we have, and still do have, PB’s. Perhaps not as good ‘an investment’ now as the prize money was reduced, but a safe way to park your money, and easy to withdraw at any time, especially from overseas, with the chance of winning more than the interest rate if left in the bank. . So it does suit some people, not all of us want a long term investment, and PB’s shouldn’t be dismissed as a choice.

We might have even have come out on top some years!!!

3 minutes ago, Marisawright said:

We just put our money into Premium Bonds.

Same

Natuzzi make very good sofas, they aren’t cheap, but you get what you pay for, and ours had a 10 year warranty, we bought our leather suite in 2008, and it’s still in excellent condition, the material suite has been re covered. One thing that that we would now look for is that the seat cushions are not fixed to the base of the sofa, miss being able to turn them over to share the wear, we had that changed when we had the material suite re covered. Having said that our leather suite doesn’t seem to have suffered.

We haven’t regretted buying them,

9 hours ago, jonathancowen said:

When I lived there I remember Sippy Downs was famous for its mosquitos, and parts of Bli Bli flooded a few times. But the new build houses looked nice in both areas. 

I’ve lived in the Sippy Downs area for 19 years and that’s the first time I’ve heard that it’s any better or worse than anywhere else locally,  certainly not something that worries me. Mountain Creek also was supposed to have a mosquito problem,  but it doesn’t. I find Buderim is worse.

I think you are right about Bli Bli, it did flood in the recent bad rain event.

8 hours ago, AliG said:

Hi, Im currently in London planning a move to Aus, but have considered relocating within London at various points in my life.

Here are a few things to think about:

1. STAMP DUTY - This is relevant given the size of your budget: They changed how UK stamp duty is structured a few years back - it is now particularly steep on expensive homes. Its tapered but the rate goes up to 12% for the bit above £1.5million, so £2m works out at over £150k. Also, I think im right in saying that you'd have to add 3% if you kept your Aus property (as your UK property would be classed as a 2nd home). Stamp duty calculator here: https://www.gov.uk/stamp-duty-land-tax/residential-property-rates

2. COMMUTE - 'reasonable commute' can mean different things to different people...

- Do you want inner city hustle and bustle, outer ring leafy suburbs, or a commuter belt country retreat? 

- Lots of recent rail upgrades: 'Crossrail' is about to open to the public within this month or so running east to west. Thameslink has recently been upgraded for north/south link (incl Brighton). The 'Overground' is a big section or inner city rail taken over by the mayor and running with frequent metro style services...

- Train fare rises are linked to inflation so long (distance) commutes can be pretty steep. You can get to Ashford (60 miles from London) in 37 mins but you'll pay for it.

- Cycling becoming much more popular - some parts have much better infrastructure than others...

3. SCHOOLS - Im generalising but these days its actually hard to find an area of london without a good primary school - but catchments can be quite small which might matter if you have your heart set on a specific school. Secondary schools much more variance in quality. Private schools are more frequent in the other suburbs but there are still plenty closer in. Grammar schools are in high demand but only certain boroughs have them: https://www.goodschoolsguide.co.uk/choosing-a-school/grammar-schools/local-authorities  

4. CRIME - Crime map here: https://www.mylondon.news/news/west-london-news/london-crime-map-shows-londons-19654472 but I'd take the crime stats with a pinch of salt. With a healthy budget you'll probably buy somewhere reasonably affluent and crime stats will probably relatively low. The exception are busy inner city places (like islington) where you can get a bit more street crime - but its still pretty rare: eg Westminster is Londons most 'dangerous' borough but it also one of the most affluent and I've never felt unsafe...

5. BUILDING WORKS - I don't know how long it will last, but post pandemic and Brexit builders costs and wait times have gone sky high. Perhaps something to bear in mind if you might have fancied a dooer-upper. It can still be done but it might take longer and be less profitable than it once was.

Good luck!

 

Reference your last point, my son’s planned extension, he lives in Bristol, has doubled in cost from last years estimate. Having to seriously reconsider how much they now have done.

1 hour ago, Ausvisitor said:

Point of the story is make sure you double check with the mortgage provider that they absolutely will honour the offer they make.

I will add to the above, that because there are so many different types of visas that enable people to  legally live in Australia, that from our experience, having been on a long term temporary visa, most organisations automatically assumed we were PR as we lived here, had no knowledge of our visa status unless we explained our visa conditions. We never assumed  that banks etc are across all the many different visa restrictions, we learnt the hard way that the onus was on us to be clear, to avoid potential pitfalls. 

32 minutes ago, coples said:

Now as we widening our options to buy a property in Sunshine Coast, we thinking about Sippy Downs and Bli Bli areas as we saw a lot of good houses in those suburbs, the problem is, someone once told me to avoid Sippy Downs. Just would like to hear any pros and cons about these suburbs and which one is better to live in. We have 2 children 10 and 8 yo. We still also keep looking in Peregian Springs an d Tewantin as  first plan. But happy to see other areas as welll. Thanks

I live close to Sippy Downs, and as far as I know it’s fine, certainly don’t hear reports of much trouble there.  My son has happily bought a house there recently. Chancellor Park school seems to have a good reputation locally, as does the university. Fairly new hospital close. Good shopping, coast about 10 mins away, hinterland about 25 mins. 

4 hours ago, Bobj said:

@BeachBabe2022 Some good murray cod in the Condamine-Balonne system, which is a feeder to the Darling River, which is a feeder to the Murray River. Indeed the whole Murray-Darling System is the natural home for them. Actually I have never seen murray cod as a commercial fishery.

A beaut looking fish with its green mottling. It is also known by its Aboriginal name of goodoo.

Have caught many of them in the New England ranges of NSW, in the Severn River. Virtually every westward flowing stream/river in NSW and south east Qld  holds murray cod.

Cheers, Bobj.

Condabilla fish farm near Chinchilla, just googled it and it says permanently closed? We were there only a few weeks ago, wonder if the floods just after we were there was the cause?

There is no easy answer, and only you can make the decision, irrespective of any advice given. I think if you are an only child it is harder, but a bit easier to not live close if there is  a sibling near.

We are different because we the parents moved to Australia, in our retirement, leaving our three grown up children in UK,, we would never expect our children to move near us, they have their own lives, however 2 did follow us here, one lives over an hour away in Brisbane, the other is in Sydney, but we don’t rely on them for any support yet, my husband is 80 this year, and I’m not much younger. We on average go to Sydney a couple of times a year, and our daughter visits once or twice,.On balance more of our friends have at most one child living fairly near, their other children live anywhere in Australia or lots permanently overseas.

Our only grandchildren are in England and until covid restrictions we went there for several months to see them every year, I realise this will  get harder as we get older, but friends well in their 80’s still seem to manage with the travelling. 

We didn’t live close to either my mother or my husband’s parents, or other family, probably only saw them a couple of times a year, hardly ever met up with any cousins because realistically unless you live close to any family, the reality is that you become involved with your own lives where you live. I don’t remember my children talking much on the phone to their grandparents, but with modern technology we face time regularly with ours which has certainly kept us in touch and close.

Wish you well with whatever you decide 

25 minutes ago, Ausvisitor said:

You may be correct on the rates piece, but Marisa is correct on the let to family bit, no lender allows a BTL for a rent to family

1 hour ago, DIG85 said:

I have a rule never to invest in regional Australia. 
 

Poor transport, poor infrastructure, no prospect of significant increases in real wages and therefore nothing to increase house prices above that could be obtained in the capital cities. 
 

I would only invest in Sydney, Melbourne or Brisbane.

Sunshine Coast is regional, in case you don’t know  house prices have sky rocketed here, lots of people moving out of Sydney and Melbourne to live here, as so many can work remotely now.

12 hours ago, BeachBabe2022 said:

Lovely

The first and last photos look absolutely gorgeous

You mentioned the last photo was Jimbour House ......but what was the first one? Were they the same place?

Interesting they are breeding Murray Cod in QLD. Are they planning on repopulating The Murray, or are they selling the fish commercially for food?

Yes first photo was lunch under the shade of a lovely tree in the gardens of J House.  M Cod for commercial only. 

I was undecided whether to reply, but I’m am so fed up with the keyboard warriors that jump on other posters posts just because they think they are the only people who know everything and are always right. 

Unless you rent out properties in England as we do, what gives you the right to basically call me a liar. We rent with different agents in different cities who have the same inspection conditions, that is our experience, I certainly wouldn’t bother to post that others with a different experience of renting is wrong, it’s nothing to do with me.just as our rental conditions are no one else’s business.

we happen to be extremely good landlords, and have kept our properties immaculate for 25 to 30 years, the inspection is a quick written check list/report checking that nothing needs doing! It’s not a 100 page report, and our tenants over the years are predominantly long term, perhaps because they know the properties are well maintained.

1 hour ago, Jon the Hat said:

This is weird, becuase that inspection routine is very unusual in the UK, but seems to be the norm in WA.  It is a bit painful as you can't just pay a pro cleaner at the end!!

We have rented out property in England for about 25 years while living overseas, and still do. We would never appoint an agent that didn’t  do 3 monthly inspections followed with a written report,  This is quite normal in England with reputable letting agents, makes sure your property is being well looked after, and any potential problems are dealt with promptly, well worth the cost for peace of mind. Yes you do hear of the occasional horror rental story, but among other expat friends who have rented their property, I can only remember one. We certainly have never had any problems with properly vetted tenants.

17 minutes ago, Ruth1 said:

I think that calling it fickle is a but unfair. For me it has been an all consuming passion for 15 years that has dominated my thoughts and life choices at times. All I meant was that my husband himself wouldnt be devastated if we didnt give it a go, but is equally happy to try it for the experience but also because he knows it is what I had planned to do since before we met. It was actually the mid 2000s (noughty) that I was there, but I am aware that Aus is likely to have changed a lot-in the way that the UK has also.

There are always doomsayers, but I think if I had listened tp them when I was single in my mid twenties I would never have gone to Africa on my own in the 1960’s. That was more of a risk quite frankly than moving to Australia in 2022. I appreciate I wasn’t emigrating, but who knows I might have stayed for ever? I wouldn’t have missed my time there for anything. We came here in our retirement for a couple of years adventure with no close family here,  that was 19 years ago, so you never know how life will turn out.

Only you and your husband can decide what to do, like any decision you way up the pros and cons. I have met quite a few ex UK nurses here on the Sunshine Coast, yes they work very hard, and underpaid for their hard work, but almost all say it’s much better here than the NHS? ,  If you keep up with the news. in both countries, there’s very little difference between complaints about the increase in the cost of living etc, seem more reports of crime in UK?

i would say go for it, but it isn’t really up to me. Good luck with your decision 

12 minutes ago, Tulip1 said:

I take my last sentence back, I certainly would have a problem with it at $11,000 a year

The point is that it was only about say $2/3,000 annually per couple (I can’t remember, but it went up 42% one year!!!)  19 years ago when we based our decision to move here, so what is affordable then, becomes less affordable 30 years later for many people we knew on the visa, as many people’s income did not keep pace with the increased cost of living 20/30 years later. We pay less than half of that amount now we are PR. 

ps $11,000 per couple

44 minutes ago, Tulip1 said:

I can’t see how that could be monitored ongoing though.  There would be many parents that would put it in place to get the visa but who would be checking ten years later that they still have it.  Australia wouldn’t refuse to give someone necessary medical care even if they no longer had insurance.  If there was a system in place that was able to track that all those migrant parents continued to have insurance what would happen to those that were found to have stopped it.  Deport them, perhaps in their thousands.  Many parents would be unable to afford insurance for the rest of their lives.  We have to remember lots of parents arriving are from poor countries.  What a nightmare such conditions would cause Australia.  Why would they want such a complicated system in place.  Also, I assume it wouldn’t cover years of aged care either.  I think we have to accept older people arriving in Australia (or anywhere) are not desirable.  They are giving out thousands of these visas every year to us even though we will give little to the system that will care for us if we need it to, potentially for many years, even decades.  I like many on here wish it was different but I get it. I can’t imagine how bad it must be for those joining the queue now looking at 15/20 years waiting but I can’t see them wanting to increase the quota either.  

This brings you back to the concept of the now defunct old temporary long term retirement 410 visa followed by the very expensive 405 visas, also closed to new applications. absolutely no one was entitled to Medicare or any age care help. You had to be totally self funded, so therefore reasonably affluent at the time of application. 

The temporary 410 visa was a renewable visa that allowed you to retire and live in Australia,  but the problems arose for many who had made their homes here, that life that was affordable when they first came, became harder and harder as they aged, with no help available, so many had to give up and go home, after making their lives here for 30+ years. The cost of the necessary health insurance was over $11,000 when we last paid it several years ago, before we got PR.

So if perhaps a similar new long term parent/retirement temporary was introduced insisting on health insurance, cover, it would have to be with no Medicare to work, plus  if you now add in the extra costs involved in buying a house, on a temporary visa not sure how many could realistically afford the long term commitment. 

The idea of a condition insisting a parent on the permanent parent visa must have health insurance is unworkable, it can only work as a condition of a temporary visa.

18 minutes ago, ramot said:

 my cousins 3 children went to the Catholic school in Alstonville and then on to university and good jobs. They have all traveled extensively, and my niece worked in London for Deloitte’s. They never seemed bored growing up there, all the usual activities are available but would have gone to Ballina I’m sure for the cinema, more likely to Lennox though for the beach and surfing. I’ll ask them one day if they felt they missed out not living in Ballina, but I know my cousin has loved living there, from the 1990’s when she moved there from Zambia, had her children there and made great friends. Sometimes a smaller community has a lot to offer.

ps don’t eat the cakes if you go to Nimbin!!!!

My cousins 2 granddaughters go to Primary school in Lennox, and what I love about them is that they aren’t too grown up for their ages, 11 and 9. They go to circus school in Byron, can’t believe what skillls they have, well into surfing and touch football? love craft work so a good balance mix. 

14 minutes ago, Marisawright said:

I’d love to know if the pelican man is still in Ballina. He used to feed the pelicans, attracting a big mob of them, then throw himself into the water, boots and all, to catch the sick ones so he could treat them (things like removing fish hooks)

Think he died in 2007 according to google. Have you heard about ‘the Twinnies Pelican and Seabird Rescue on Steve Irwin Way Landsborough the Sunshine Coast ? They do a fantastic job, they are identical twins, who speak in absolute complete unison almost all the time, 

sorry won’t go off thread again

40 minutes ago, Cobs_Ahoy said:

Thanks @NickyNook and @ramot that's really helpful, I'll have a look into the areas you've both mentioned. From watching some youtube videos on Nimbin I'm having flashbacks to when I lived in the South West and we used to go Glastonbury, very surreal!

Does anyone have any personal experience with primary schools? I know its a very personal choice in so far as different children/parents want different things from schools, but its always helpful to hear the first hand experiences of others. 

 my cousins 3 children went to the Catholic school in Alstonville and then on to university and good jobs. They have all traveled extensively, and my niece worked in London for Deloitte’s. They never seemed bored growing up there, all the usual activities are available but would have gone to Ballina I’m sure for the cinema, more likely to Lennox though for the beach and surfing. I’ll ask them one day if they felt they missed out not living in Ballina, but I know my cousin has loved living there, from the 1990’s when she moved there from Zambia, had her children there and made great friends. Sometimes a smaller community has a lot to offer.

ps don’t eat the cakes if you go to Nimbin!!!!

11 hours ago, Cobs_Ahoy said:

Hi all,

I’ve been invited to apply for a 491 visa by the Northern Rivers RDA, has anyone got any experience of the towns in this region? 

Cheers!

Alstonville is worth considering, I have family there and it seems a friendly small town, also Lennox Head, but it’s quite pricey  now. The countryside is lovely in that area.

3 hours ago, paulhand said:

Age is a time of application criterion. Additionally, once granted you will still have a year to enter Australia … so you shouldn’t have any issues if you meet the other eligibility requirements. 

1 hour ago, paulhand said:

Exactly ... 

My daughter applied for the WHV just under the age limit, while here on her year, she was well qualified so was employed on a 457 visa then partner visa and still here 10 years later, married and a citizen. I don’t know if that’s possible nowadays as I don’t know how the new visa works.

5 hours ago, Blue Flu said:

. Coming on a student visa appears a very good starting point for those with PR in mind though. 

The student visa route descended into a nightmare route to PR, when the Labor immigration minister Chris Evans changed the rules for PR retrospectively more than once,from memory 2008/9’sh time,  causing thousands of students studying here onto bridging visas for 3 years before then sending most home. The labor government had previously encouraged international students to study here, as a route to PR.

Don’t know if anything’s changed and  it’s now good a route to PR again? but it is a very very expensive to study here as an International student.

On 27/03/2022 at 13:33, ramot said:

A brief synopsis of a 5 day trip I am just back from to the Darling Downs, Chinchilla, Miles, Roma, Toowoomba and the Lockyer Valley, so many interesting places to visit and learn about, including the introduction of the Catoblastis moth from South America to the Chinchilla area, the caterpillar has almost eradicated the prickly pear is the area !! bet apart from Bob J not many know that! Held some fossilised wood, it’s very heavy and experienced  great country hospitality, it’s been a tough 2 years for them.

Jimbour House, photo posted last for some reason! built in 1842, with lunch in the garden.

Historical Village Museum, at Miles.

Roma Sale Yards, the largest in Australia, about 6,000 cattle sold at a sale, takes from 8am till 3pm. Not my sort of place, but spoke to an official observer who was there to ensure all done properly.

Visited Mount Hope Farm that as well as farming, does bed & breakfast, has a lovely lit up barn for functions, and gas wells on the property, all needed to supplement income. There were loads of gas wells in the Roma area.

paddock to plate lunch at another lovely house.

Condabilla fish farm near Chinchilla breeding Murray Cod.

Scotty’s Garage in the Lockyer Valley, the barn is full of motor memorabilia, with a totally unexpected American Diner at the rear, complete with a working Wurlitzer juke box!

it was such an interesting and enjoyable trip

Many of the places we visited flooded only a few days after our trip last week,, so tough on everyone affected again in such a short time, just when things  were starting to pick up.