can1983

The rate is what the rate was my philosophy. When we moved our life savings were moved at 1.70, a year afterwards we could have got 2.00. we missed out on over $50k But it allowed us to buy a house to make a home and with silly house prices that 'loss' has been offset a few times over since. The long term average is 1.70 so id move what you need when you need it.

Yes i checked the timetable too! 3-4 hours a day. My experience of long commutes is Reading to London "20 minutes by train" says the timetable. Reality was 15 mins to the train station and park, 5 minutes to walk around to my platform, 20 minutes train, 30 minutes transfer and tube at the other end, 5 minutes to get into the building and up to the 15th floor, hey presto 20 minute commute is actually 1h15. If anything went wrong could be 2-3 hours... Also Bondi to Scotland Island. They are both "Sydney" but that one took me 2hr each way! by car and ferry, did that for about 2 months before realising how dumb it was. Now my commute is 5 minutes and quite honestly that's still 4 minutes too long I'd be wary of relying on WFH. During the height of the pandemic people I know here in Hobart sold up and moved an hour out to some beautiful locations thinking that was it the world has changed. Now we are mostly being told its back to the office and a couple of those are now stuck with massive commutes that they cant really afford to do with young children to care for. To the OP id say live close to work or the lifestyle you want wont happen.

come on Wollongong and Terrigal are 3-4 hours a day travel time to Sydney and that's if you live at one rail station and work at the other. Its not reasonable even slightly

I had a relocation package of shipping, flights for the (then) 3 of us and a months accommodation. We didnt get a car hire. I'd say it seems very good

I have to say its based on our situation and that of our friends and family living in a variety of locations in the UK and Australia. Most of us being couples both with jobs based on degree level training without access to old money and having 2 or 3 children. That rules out Sydney, Melbourne and London... If we were from wealthy families or had been sensible and quit school at 16 to become a tradie rather than think continued education was the way to go we might have been able to afford $2M with a couple of land cruisers (not that im bitter or anything!)

For what its worth I don't think $1-1.5M is affordable for the 'average family'. Even if you have 50% equity the repayments are pretty high for a couple bringing in $250k a year, unless you are happy to live an otherwise basic lifestyle. I would put the figure at $750k

Agreed both my wife and I earn 30-40% more now in Hobart than we did in Sydney 10 years ago. Adjusting for inflation its still an increase (or at least the same). As you say its all about whether the OP can get a job in Hobart or other regional centres in their profession I actually moved into the public service loosely in my field because, to me, there was no use in having a successful career if it only paid for a shoebox to live in and you sat in traffic jams all day. Now id say I have a well paid job but no career anymore. I do however somewhere nice to call home for our family.....

I would have to say that Sydney is only beachy if you can afford $2 million plus Our experience moving to Australia with one child aged 2 and one on the way in late 2017 was Sydney wasn;t an option due to the cost of living and the relatively poor quality of life for families (in our opinion from living there for 3 years about 10 years ago) unless you are highly wealthy. Don't get me wrong for those who are so wealthy they walk dogs for a living just ot keep busy Sydney would be superb. We chose Hobart which has worked out great as we are 500m from the beach and 5 minutes form work by car. Enough space in the house and land to give each of our now 3 children their own bedroom and park two cars and a few toys to enjoy the coastal life with.

There have been numerous companies fold because the stuff they made was so good and lasted so long that they ran out of customers. In my industry it was kempf and remmers who made precise instruments for testing ships and propellers. The stuff lasted 50 plus years and once everyone had one...... Think iphone, my iphone 3 lasted 8 years - it was too good

No point in providing quality, if it lasts 15 years they and their competitors have lost you as a customer for 15 years. You're no use to the industry at all. If it lasts 4 years by the time 15 years is up you'll have forgotten how bad the set was you had before and come back. even if you don't forget there was still a chance.

I worked in a career job on my WHV, it was over 10 years ago mind! There is no requirement for it to be a low pay hospitality or fruit picking job.

Of course, it sucks, and for those of us with children how on earth will they get any kind of lifestyle in the future We managed to get into a very good lifestyle here in Hobart at pretty much the last opportunity (literally a year or two before it too became impossible to buy a home offering a good lifestyle on a real world income)

The average wage includes young people in hospitality jobs and those who are low income earners who paid off their mortgage years ago and don't need a high income. The average person probably lives west of Parramatta where its always 5 degrees hotter with no breeze and not a beach to be seen I suppose the 'average person' has actually paid off their mortgage in Sydney. But there are millions who haven't and for those people $120k a year is no where near enough to live a decent standard of living. My partner and I earned $200k between us in 2013 and that paid the rent in the flat build in a back garden of someone's house in a nice area and allowed us to save a bit but it would never support a mortgage on a house and never the needs of a family.

Perhaps im wrong on this too but if you apply for a partner visa and get pr but then only spend 6 months (for example) in 5 years onshore how would you demonstrate substantial ties to Australia, would marriage to a citizen be enough?

ha ha yes of course I'm an idiot, citizenship by descent should be possible if you were 15 when you left Aus and were born there

If you have been together for more than 2 decades and continue to be a genuine couple as immigration see it your husband would get permanent residency straight away and then could come and go as they pleased. There's no minimum stay (my first stay was 3 weeks after activating my permanent residency for example) The issue with not moving and staying much in say the next 5 years is that he wouldn't qualify for citizenship in that time and so your husband would need to apply for pr again. There are minimum amounts of connection you have to show to renew it, or you can go through the whole partner visa application again but I suspect there's a limit to how many times you can do this before you start to raise questions. Really it would be best to try to move for 4 years to get him citizenship then he really can do what he likes. 22 year old having left formal education doesn't usually qualify as a dependent so their options are limited (because they also dont have enough experience to qualify for their own visa) son being still at uni would probably qualify for a visa Maybe speak to a registered migration agent regarding son and daughter?

I missed this thread before, I'm Hobart based if you still have questions

Yep moving here is not cheap if you're a family that for sure Single person aged 30 maybe it can be done for $10k but family thats a different story

oh wasn;t it, that slum comment from Lewis was genius

realistically it was as soon as we had our first child and realised that we were living in a very small house which was never going to support a family and we both spent too long commuting and not spending time with our baby. Where we live now i have a five minute commute and have a proper family home and we only need one income. In reality the pandemic has made travel impossible but once you have child(ren) travel is financially difficult in any case. We have 3 children so we are looking at $10,000 for flights and that's not an every year trip....!

I'm the British half of an "Anglo-Aussie" marriage. We had the same decision, luckily in our case I prefer living in Australia to anything in the UK. Quite honestly don't see the appeal of the place anymore just overcrowded and too hard to live the sort of outdoor life I love. So I would say there are better places than others but I can see that the drawbacks of Sydney (I don't live there now but have in the past) over some parts of the UK So it really was an easy decision my wife and I both agree that our children are better off here, they have regular contact with one set of grandparents and less so with the other of course. If there is family in each I would just make the decision for yourselves and try not to factor in family support. Many people say new mums want to be close to their parents for support, that's not for everyone my sister has also chosen Aus over the UK because she believes here is a better lifestyle. Bad places in Hertfordshire, sounds like Stevenage! If it is I wouldn't worry about offending anyone Lewis Hamilton has already done that!

wow I learnt something, thanks for that

sorry bad joke, recognised boat harbour I've been many a time lovely spot, just a weird name!

This doesn't look like a beach more of a harbour for boats, except there aren't any boats?

having been a landlord from afar in the past whilst it seems on paper to make sense the reality, at least for me, was far more complex. What do you do if something needs fixing? Ring a plumber in another state youve never been to? who is going to manage it (most agents I've had have been utterly useless)? whos going to repair it after its been turned into a cannabis factory.... all this stuff happens.