colinmaclec

I don't mind Perth and am quite happy living here but i am realistic about what it is like for people arriving here. Some on here would have you believe it is some kind of paradise where you will treble your wages and never be out of work. So lets use slightly above avg figures to explain to those who have no clue what they are in for but praise the place. The reality is that you come here with your life savings which you will burn through until you get work which will be lower paid than you are told by people on here. Lets say you have $100K after selling up in the UK which you will be doing for less than those a few years back before the recession and they had $3 to pound etc. OK so after start up costs you have $70k for deposit, to live anywhere that's not 50Km plus from CBD you pay at least $500k so you have mortgage of $430k that costs around $2700 pm to pay the mortgage. lets say you earn $90k( well above avg actually) pa that gives you a take home pay of $5600 pm roughly that means you pay almost half your salary on mortgage before you even take in to account other bills. Here you have pay the schools contributions, dental is expensive so if you are a family these costs mount up. Your salary will quickly dissapear

The UK and US banks were posting new record profits every year up until they went POP! People said the same as you in UK and US and most under 40 had never experienced a recession so believed it was never ending. It is the young people who suffer not the grey heads who bought their homes cheap in a differant era .As for China buying everything I am pretty sure they are buying less as they have large stockpiles not to mention they have built ghost cities........... But hey wages are increasing and we live in the worlds healthiest economy. Maybe a couple of years back but times are a changing. The downside of capitalism is that economies boom and bust, always have always will

Because your previous posts state that the current system is acceptable and that it has been wonderful to you and if we all just accept that then future generations will be handing over 80% of their salary to the bank. It was always said that a house should cost no more than 30% of your income. How many people do you think exceed that now? How much percentage of salary to the bank should we pay for a roof over our heads? Considering you cant buy much in Perth under $450K unless you live 40k plus from CBD

So you agree that your children should have a lifetime of debt ahead to not live at home until they are 50 or in an undesirable area?

Sky TV has done a great job of increasing wages and making avg English players look like superstars over the last 20 odd years,but the fact they have never beaten a top side in a major tournament since 1966 says it all really.

They probably didn't but now find themselves on a short term contract as that kind of employment seems to be on the rise here

Mostly they don't hear the wise words spoken by those who know better, they see media reports claiming never ending boom and estate agents saying buy now or you will never get on the housing ladder. Borrow as much as you can because it will make you loads of money pa although its worthless unless you sell up and go and live in a caravan. Housing in a decent area should be a necessity for people not a luxury. Who actually benefits from the massive price hikes? Governments and banks mostly. Should my children buy at 20x their salary? That's what would happen if it never corrects and economically that just ain't feasible. Sometime somewhere the debt mountain has to be repaid.................

Should be £20k too used to $ now

But people do don't they? Because they will never lose they are told, They forget that interest rates are at an all time low and don't think what will happen should they go up 3%. they think oh my house has gone up $200k lets remortgage and buy a boat and a holiday. Oz has higher debt per household than UK and US ever did but hey i am sure it will be fine the sun shines and wages are high here..................

To someone who earns around $20k pa in the UK and lives in an a small terraced house to come here and be paid around $60-$70k and live in a shed i mean bungalow it may seem like paradise

Tell that to the poor buggers in the US and UK who bought houses at the peak of the market and found themselves in negative equity and facing paycuts or even worse redundancy with massive mortgage payments. WA has a lot of similarities with those economies circa 2007-08

Wages will start to fall here over time i suspect in real terms, just wait till the inevitable interest rate rise happens

OK no mention of England's underclass this time. But Flag does have a point with regard to the economic outlook here. There are a lot of people struggling for work in Perth currently, Some of the big union construction companies are trying to cut there workers wages as they cant win the work anymore. Household debt is one of the highest in the world, rental vacancys are rising which means an oversupply of investment properties, lowest ever amount of first time homebuyers on record, no major mining projects in the pipeline, The construction of mine sites is what creates booms and jobs not normal operations. Tough times are coming to utopia.

UK qualifications count for nothing here. You have to first apply for a provisional license( how you get this depends on your visa) Then you enrol to do a 1 years gap training which includes 2 week course, loads of homework, a communications 4 day course and then you sit a 4 day trade test the same as the ozzie apprentices. Also you need to get your employer to sign off your logbook. This whole money making exercise will cost around $12000-$15000 when you take into account lost earnings as well. Not to mention you will be earning less money for a year too. You will also need a white card $50 and if you want to work in Industrial, commercial where the better wages are you will need at least working at heights and EWP tickets another $500.

Someone posted this a few pages back and will let you know what you are in for Everybody has to do 1 years gap training once they get provisional license here's someone else's recent update on it from the electricians thread If anyone wants to ask me questions about getting their A class through the vettasses, i am more than happy to answer. Hi Drewe, I'm enquiring on my OH's behalf, is the process the same state wide? we're moving to Adelaide in March, he's done his Vetassess, now just researching next steps required when there, cheers Mandi I can't give exact process for Adelaide. I done mine in Perth. I'm sure it's similar. Get restricted licence from from electrical board ( mine was energy safety) Enrol at college to start change over course Get employed 2 weeks college with practical exam and paper exam Complete 12 assignments at home Complete log book (roughly 6-8 months work experience, quicker if more hours worked) Tele/coms course 4 days with practical exam and paper exam Capstone course 4 days ( pretty much AM2 ) once all all the above is completed you can get an A class licence. I'd say with the time off work this cost me roughly $15,000 Also getting employed can be pretty hard. Some people get paid as little as $20 ph doing domestic work. If you have good experience and background it will be easier to get a better paid job $35 plus

You only need 1 of vetassess or ARTC, Vet if he is the primary applicant as he will need it for migration visa cost $3000. ARTC if he is on your visa cost $900. Vetassess is done in the UK, ARTC in OZ and will take about 3 months. Make sense? Ok thats the easy part. Everybody has to do 1 years gap training once they get provisional license here's someone else's recent update on it from the electricians thread If anyone wants to ask me questions about getting their A class through the vettasses, i am more than happy to answer. Hi Drewe, I'm enquiring on my OH's behalf, is the process the same state wide? we're moving to Adelaide in March, he's done his Vetassess, now just researching next steps required when there, cheers Mandi I can't give exact process for Adelaide. I done mine in Perth. I'm sure it's similar. Get restricted licence from from electrical board ( mine was energy safety) Enrol at college to start change over course Get employed 2 weeks college with practical exam and paper exam Complete 12 assignments at home Complete log book (roughly 6-8 months work experience, quicker if more hours worked) Tele/coms course 4 days with practical exam and paper exam Capstone course 4 days ( pretty much AM2 ) once all all the above is completed you can get an A class licence. I'd say with the time off work this cost me roughly $15,000 Read this thread from the page I have linked forget going further back as things have changed a lot in recent times. http://www.pomsinoz.com/forum/jobs-careers/49852-electricians-thread-200.html

Thats WDU for you. Its to show the poor folk how rich they will be in Australia. I did used to find that amusing how they lived in a shitty little terraced ex council house and wanted to suddenly have a big house with a pool lol

No thanks but the idea of a mix of homes west houses and the Benidorm Jet Set is not for me.

Well it is really because if you have a poor paid job in the UK and holiday in Benidorm the far northern suburbs of Perth could be paradise for you. I am just realistic and honest and have an unbiased view. Both countries have their good points and bad points. I moved here as I wanted to try something different but I may return to Scotland one day, not because I failed or hated the place but because I may want to as it is my choice as it is of others who have lived here and until you do live here shouldn't even really be commenting on something you know nothing about. The fact that a lot of threads here seem to turn it to this same baiting the non lovers is quite pathetic really. If we were all the same and wanted the same things the world would be a very dull place.

I actually live here and am happy although I am worse off than I was in the UK. Out of interest what kind of work do you do and where are you headed?

I dont live in Butler nor Baldivis for that matter. I prefer the South metro area close to Freemantle myself to the North apart from the western burbs which are nice but having over a million dollar mortgage at the peak of the market appeals to me even less than living in Butler.

I do find it amusing that those who defend Oz the most on these posts are mostly those who have not lived there.......... It is not the Utopia that some believe it to be. Starting all over again and going backwards in your career can be very hard for those who have given up a comfortable life in the UK.

Your sons friends work in mining making inflated wages what about the young people who do office jobs, retail, factory work etc? They wont even make $50k a year??? And i am sure you didn't have to take a mortgage for 5,6 or 7 times your salary back in 86 either. The average wage here is $70k or so and the avg house 500K so that is x7 and you think that is sustainable? This is a problem in a lot of countries not just Australia.

Australia is the land of paperwork trust me i know I had to do a years gap training despite having huge experience in my field. Who did you do your assessment with for your skilled visa? Contact them and ask how you change your UK qualification to Australian. You could also contact your local TAFE ( college) google it. They possibly will run courses for overseas tradesman to change skills. If you don't do this you will never get a job here because your CV will not get past the first scan without Australian qualifications.

You dont get any of that on new builds here and trust me being in a shed when it is 1 degree outside feels colder than being in Scotland when its -15 outside