desreb

Hi all, A quick question - I've read all the various wheres and how's about buy a car, but how are they about letting you test drive? Reason being, we want to try out a few car models at the weekend - for which in the UK you would have to feign really strong interest in order to have a go. Is it much the same here? Thanks! D

Yep, there's generally fewer freebies in Oz than for UK, as less competition. We have both Coles Flybuys and Woolworth's Reward cards. I've heard from Lifehacker that Flybuys are almost worthless now - less than 0.5% back on your cash, effectively. http://www.lifehacker.com.au/2012/05/why-the-new-flybuys-is-a-rip-off/. By all means collect the points, but don't expect much more than a nice toaster at the end of the year. Getting an affiliated credit card will help boost that too. I'm not sure if Woolworth's is any better, but at least you get Qantas points, where every little helps :-). With some work flights and a big Jetstar credit card free points offer, plus using it for almost all purchases, all going into Q points, I nearly have enough points for a flight back to the UK. It's just a bonus tho - I don't think you can really "work" the points as hard as you can in the UK/US.

Interestingly, two other places we had our eye on have reduced their asking price, so it seems landlords aren't getting what they hope for. Mind you, one example, a house that was listed for $750, was dropped to $700 after only 8 days - so that's a long vacancy period over here!

Makes sense. We've actually seen 3 units on the market this week had their prices reduced, so it appears to be slightly less a landlord's market at this time of year.

Howdy, We're currently looking for a new rental property in Eastern Suburbs, and have attended a couple of inspections so far. This is the third time we've done this, and we're finding it a lot less busy than the other two. I remember 18 months ago, viewing an absolute dive with over 20 other people there, and seeing 6 couples in the agent's office immediately afterwards. In contrast, there are 260 houses/units listed around Randwick on Domain right now in a "normal" bracket, and two have gone up for their second inspections - which suggests no viable takers the first time round. Is anyone else looking, and experiencing the same? Is this low season for rentals, or is the market easing a bit? S

Hi - I did think the same myself, and did some basic sums. It did seem to work out that I could just out the mortgage in a uSaver savings account over here for a year, then send it back, and make a profit, even with a 0.5% FX charge either way. However, the interest rate here has dropped a bit that this may now be marginal, and yes, it's more an FX gamble you're taking - a swing in the rate can massively outweigh any savings income (either positive or negative!). The other thing is that if you could negatively gear your UK home - so you can claim income tax back on a portion of the extra interest you're now earning. Of course, you pay that tax on the savings income you're earning over here. It's at this point I decided I didn't want to take a risk that might push us back years on our mortgage repayments, left things as they were, and went to the beach instead. You might contemplate a committed IFA, or a big spreadsheet and a large mug of coffee, to think through this one... D

However, you can use Bus Lanes on a bike in Sydney, so it is faster than car - if the buses are running any faster. Filtering is illegal and difficult/tight/dangerous on Military road, so don't expect to blast through like you can in London. Tolls are the same price as cars (I forgot how ridiculous that is), and there are only a handful of all-day CBD bike parks that are always crammed, so it's not a breeze; I've raced to a meeting from the Eastern Suburbs, only to spend 20 mins trying to find somewhere to park (you can park in a metered CBD space for free, but must honour the hours and time limits, which makes them almost useless as 90% are loading zones or short stay during the working day). Private parking don't typically offer cheaper bike rates. The council try a little (free parking, bus lanes), but it's less bike friendly than London, Paris, or Melbourne. You can do it, as in it's ridiculous with a car, and only "difficult" with a bike. D

Yes, Fitness First are notorious for pressure selling and trying to eke out every last dollar even when you try to quit (watch your Direct Debits like a hawk). They also have "joining specials" that usually, once you work them out, offer very little. I'm often reminded of Globogym from "Dodgeball" when I go there. However - they have branches everywhere that I can use with Passport, decent equipment, and now I've been there a year my wife join me for free at weekends, so I've stayed with them.

Thanks Alan, we'll do that

We tried too - currently $500 a pair on eBay! I'm going to wait another month in the hope the initial hype/scalping dies down, then look again... And Happy Birthday for then :-)

Hi, Just thought I'd share our remortgaging experience. We've been living in Sydney for just over a year, and managed to keep on our previous homeowners Nationwide mortgage as "temporary expat landlords". Nationwide maintain your existing deal, slap on 1.5% as a landlords mortgage fee, and you sign a contract agreeing this as a temporary arrangement. I phoned a mortgage adviser to ask for mortgage options now that we're intending to stay under PR a while longer, and our Nationwide fixed term has expired, but was shocked by her reply. She told us it was almost impossible for us to get a mortgage. There were only a handful of lenders who would consider giving us a UK mortgage, and even then only if we had it in writing that we would be returning to the UK in a defined timeframe, with a guaranteed stated salary from a Blue Chip employer. And even then, the rates would make our SVR+1.5% existing mortgage look very competitive. Apparently this is all due to the banks buttoning down, and is changing "on a weekly basis". So - considering we were thinking about maxing out our UK mortgage and negative gearing to buy an Australian property, we're now wondering whether we can simply maintain our mortgage on our UK property. We haven't tried any other advisors yet, so perhaps this one was alarmist, but still - food for thought... D