PomPomBuckley

Hi all, hope you don't think that I'm hijacking here at all!

 

I applied for my 309/100 on July 18th and yesterday was assigned a CO and requested for some further documents as well as the medical/police checks. This has happened a mere 6 weeks after applying (not sure if considered 'mere' but have read some absolute horror stories about processing times etc!).

 

Whilst it may still be an absolute age before I get (all being well) approved, me and Mrs are getting very excited that we are moving ever closer to the end-goal of emigrating to QLD. Even though we aren't leaving here in the next 12 months at least, it's still good times!

We applied in March and my 309/100 was granted in 16 weeks! Once I was assigned a CO they asked immediately for medical and police checks. It was granted 2 weeks after. Your visa has to be activated within 12 months of the police check.

Congratulations to you. Nice to get it so quickly isn't it! We were rather shocked (& delighted) with 3 months & 5 days. You're in the same boat as us - our house is going on the market in two weeks, eek.

Thanks CelinaOz ? All the pieces are falling into place. We have two different estate agents coming to value tomorrow. Fingers crossed it sells fast!

Application for 309/100 on 23rd March 2016, Case Officer (N) assigned on 3rd June 2016, Medicals & Police Check requested(within 21days) 3rd June 2016.

Medical undertaken 13th June (Manchester) and approved 14th June

Police check requested 3rd June and received 18th June.

All uploaded 18th June and submitted.

Visa granted today, 15th July. 16 weeks and 2 days in total, or 3 months and 22 days! Relieved!

I was careful to submit lots of information. We have been together 10 years and married for 7 years almost and have 3 children so that wasn't hard. I consolidated a lot into PDF so that I could really include a lot of good quality and relevant info for my visa. I am lucky I'm quite sentimental as providing the social side of things like invites etc wasn't hard. Roll on house sale! ?

Not overly bothered about when visa is granted, preferably before october as thats when we want to leave(provided we can sell house). Would be nice to get it around 3 months, as it might hopefully start a trend of quicker visa grants.

Hi, New poster on this thread. I applied for my 309/100 on 23rd March, and on 3rd June they have requested police check and medical to be underaken within 21 days.I have sent off for police check and medical will be booked on monday. Assuming everything goes to plan and their are no issues with either of the two. Do people usually receive their visa quite soon after the medical and police check have been approved. They asked for no further information in the email sent.

If this is the case, we may also get a very quick visa grant, as we are currently only just over 2 months into our application..

I put my terraced house in an industrial town in Cumbria (so probably quite similar) up for sale in October i accepted an offer in December but due damp being found on the survey did not complete until mid February.

I haven't even applied for my visa yet but I know its all done and dusted, money in the bank and putting a fortune in the emigration fund every pay day.

Thanks Danny842003. That really helps...so took about 4 months or thereabouts? We will be quite upfront about the work to the roof and chimney and price accordingly. We will apply for our visa towards the middle of next year I think with the view to putting the house on the market around feb/march the following year. It helps to have a plan though and the house does need a bit of decorating doing here and there but nothing major. Can't wait till we get to visa stage! We have 2 children and need to sort there citizenship certificates and Aus passports too before that. It seems ages away, but I know it will fly! Good luck with your application and Aus travels :-)

How long is a piece of string, really.....not very helpful I know but selling houses depends on a load of factors:

a) The general level of demand in your particular area - and this is affected by many things including interest rates, current economic situation of the UK and the area, how "desirable" your neighbourhood or street are, peoples' perceived economic outlook including media hype, availability of credit, etc etc etc.

b) How well your individual property works for your target market in terms of layout/size and so on

c) How well you present it

d) How good your agent is at selling it

e) The price!

 

You can't do anything about a)......everything else you can either directly control or at least influence. c) and d) are the absolute musts, that cost very little but just require some effort. It's all well-known, but get rid of clutter, make it spotless, do cheap stuff like repainting or putting in cheap curtains or other dressing if rooms need it....everyone knows the drill but plenty still pay lip service to it.

 

Work out your target market (you appear to have already done this) - and go round the property (or get a friend to, if you can't see the wood for the trees) looking for what will be downsides or possible dealbreakers for that market. If you're trying to sell to professional couples and there's no public transport, can people park a car, or 2 for preference? If a terraced house, where's the bathroom? Downstairs only will matter less to landlords (renters have to take what's available more than buyers), it will make your house less desirable than one with an upstairs bathroom. On the other hand, landlords are likely to be driven by hard-nosed calculations of yield, so they want to see no potential maintenance liabilities and are unlikely to pay over the odds, so you might ultimately do better on price selling to a FTB as they are susceptible to falling in love with a property if you present it right, BUT of course they don't tend to have that much money to throw around. Throwing in things like appliances if you're emigrating and don't want to take them, can sweeten the deal a lot for FTBs - buying all that stuff on top of moving & buying costs is always a strain for them. What's the rental market like in your immediate area? Got something like a hospital (tons of young professionals needing places to live) nearby? Etc etc etc

 

I have always worked on a rule of thumb of at least getting to offers accepted within 4-6 weeks, unless demand is completely dead. We last sold in 2011 (when it was very very quiet) in less than that. If it takes longer then something's not right - not being marketed to the right people, got a dealbreaker or two that's putting people off (work your agent, push them for honest feedback, it's part of their job, make sure they and you agree on what your target market is and find out from them what's wrong if you're getting viewings without offers), not presented well enough and I'm afraid the usual reason is overpriced. Ultimately even in the most dead market there's always a price at which you can sell, it just might not be one you can live with, but (if paraphrasing Thatcher is allowed), you can't buck the market; someone has to be willing to buy it at a particular price, "Oh, but I can't sell for x because it's worth y" is the most used lie to oneself in the world - it ain't worth y unless someone will give you y for it....

 

Also, initial selling price is important. If a house is overpriced and gets no interest, and you drop the price then buyers will see that it has been on the market for ages (they are all scanning Rightmove etc all the time) and see that it has dropped in price, and you will get even lower offers; they will think you are desperate and will push their luck. Putting it on the market for too much and "holding out" for the right buyer is rarely an effective strategy - so when you are selecting an agent, don't just go on their valuation, nor on their fee; remember agents are often tempted to inflate the valuation as they'll be telling you something you want to hear, once you're on their books it's hard for you to leave so they'll start talking the asking price down if it hasn't sold. This doesn't necessarily work for you, for reasons see above. Also remember that once you're on an agent's books, the best profit for them lies in selling it as quickly as possible, not just for the highest price - 1% of 150K GBP, or 1% of $145K GBP is neither here nor there for them, it's only 50 quid, but not selling it at all earns them nothing. So get a range of agents around and go with who you think has the right selling strategy AND a decent fee AND a sensible valuation, AND you like them/feel they are someone you can trust - buyers may feel the same.

 

Upshot of that is don't stick it on the market too soon, if you're not moving for a couple of years then look at the target market and potential dealbreakers first, as you have time to resolve them if possible, and/or make a plan of tarting the place up to sell, which will take a few weeks or months depending on current condition. Money spent on doing places up to sell is never wasted IME. I'm convinced over the years (maybe sold about 10 properties?) I've had multiples of 3 or 4 times every pound spent in the eventual sale price

 

Good luck

Thanks northshorepom! You've given me a lot to think about there!

The house needs work on the chimney and does not have gas central heating (fire powered backboiler can be used for radiators but we don't use it). It would simply cost us too much to do the work and it would need to be done in any event if we were to keep and rent it out. We just want to sell. We won't make a huge amount from the sale but a small amount to put towards our Aus nest egg. We are fortunate that once we get to Aus we will live with my husbands parents for a while so that takes the pressure off I guess, even if a sale hasn't gone through. But as you say, at the right price it should sell. I think as mentioned previously, we will wait until after a visa has been granted then at least we know there are no hold-ups there.

Thanks to everyone for you input and advice :-)

Hi. I would say you just never know! We haven't got our visas yet -hoping to get by the summer. Decided to put our house on the market so we would be 'ready to go'. First viewers put an offer in after 1 week on the market. We live in Derbyshire/Cheshire border. So...going to move into rented soon! Eeek!

Wow! That's fantastic! How exciting! We are in Halifax, West Yorks. We are going to price realistically when the time comes but we haven't even applied for the visa yet. Will have to drill it into my OH not to mention the words 'emigrating' or 'australia'...or the price might drop a few K's!

Hi folks :-)

Please excuse me if this question has already been asked recently. I have done a search and nothing relevant appeared hence the new thread.

We are looking at emigrating in a couple of years (OH is from Brisbane) to live with family.

After researching a little it would seem opinion varies on when to put the house on the market when selling to emigrate. We live in a terraced house in Yorkshire and with the market being a bit more fluid recently up t'north I hope it won't take long to sell, when the time comes. We think that first time buyers and landlords will be the main interest.

My main question is what area do you live and how long before you planned to leave did you put the house on the market and how quickly did it sell? Do you have any tips for me? I am starting renovations soon (I am a big planner!) as it's quite an old house but mainly just decor and replacing flooring in the works.

Any advice appreciated. Thanks! :wink: