Londongal76

I own my house 50/50 with a friend. I don't see the point in selling my half off when I go, he wants us to keep it too, as the rent will cover the mortgage and then some. Plus it'll be an income in years to come when it's paid off. Maybe it's because it's in London, and personally I think i'd be foolish to let go of property in London, even if I don't ever want to come live in it again (assuming I make it South!).

Congrats! I'm just starting all the paperwork for step 1! Seems like the start of a long process but excited.

So he said it can be done but depends on the lender. they are obviously always nervy if there's no financial history, but it'll be a judgement call. a 50% deposit will help though. If you've kept bank accounts open here that will too. If you want his details let me know and i'll pm them to you.

I've got a friend whose an independant mortgage advisor, i'll ask him when i see him online next.

Killer 24 hours innit. Taken me a week to get right again.

Clean, you're so right about everywhere being clean. Makes such a change from the streets here.

have a look at the Gomatilda website, they have some useful factsheets on tax etc.

I think it depends what visa you're on. From what i've read so far, if you're a permanent resident in Aus then income from abroad is taxable as earnings there. You also wouldn't be a british resident so i assume you won't get taxed twice. I don't know for sure though.

http://www.immi.gov.au/Visas/Pages/189.aspx there's a cost estimator at the bottom of the page. This is for the government visa fees, i'd estimate about $3000 on top for the agent.

you have 12 months to enter and validate it iirc.

Congratulations! That's awesome!

Will be thinking of you guys. Please try and update us and let us know you're ok.

So, if you know her family well, see if you can't arrange a surprise facetime into the speeches. Things like that are awesome at weddings.

They won't make you pay unless you declare it. If someone spots it, say it's your late grandmothers ring etc.

Yeah I made that mistake after joining last week too properly messed with my head for a few days, but what you don't see is the million-odd migrants who are happy posting about not returning, so don't read too much into it. There will always be cases where it doesn't work out. There are many many more cases where it does, they're just too busy jetski-ing to be here. At the end of the day, we can all just try. If it doesn't work for some reason, we too can come back.

Well, I have appointed an agent today, so fingers crossed there's a happy outcome at the end of it :biggrin:

Got a good friend working in construction out there. It's slow at the moment but apparently due to pickup towards the end of the year in Brisbane. My vote would be Brisbane too unless you really want to be living in a big city, but i'm biased as i like it there.

Stay safe everyone up there.

ooh - also, forgot to mention. If it sways your decision at all, Singapore Airlines put up all their luggage allowances in November. In Economy you can now take 30kg's of luggage as standard. Made a huge difference to me when i was heading south for 4 weeks.

When i went to Sydney last year, the way i described it to people back here in London, was that it was London, but on the water with lovely beaches and scenery. It's very similar to here, expensive houses, big companies, city living, just a nicer setting. It's also why I prefer Brisbane to Sydney personally, as i've been in london for 15 years and I want a different pace of life if I get over there. It depends what you want from life I guess. You can compare places endlessly, lord knows i've been doing that in my head for the last 3 weeks, but I just found I live a lot more when there's blue skies, gorgeous beaches and you don't have to worry about the weather.

I'd stick it on a chain around your neck! I wouldn't expect you to pay tax on it. I also wouldn't be declaring it, otherwise we'd have to declare all the jewellery we're wearing every time we go away!

I fly Singapore airlines, they're brilliant.

I'm trying Sammy Naghi from Taylor Hampton based on some recommendations I read on here. Hoping they're still right! Also being in uk someone in my time zone is easier than 10 hours out.

It just went batshit crazy here for about 15 mins. Squall line was passing over, lightning, thunder, sideways rain, wind out of nowhere it was mental. Though didn't live up to the 5 hour electrical storm in brissy the other weekend, that was something to behold.

Hello and welcome from a fellow newb.