Linnyloo

Hi

We are thinking of moving back to UK next year and am exploring options with our current house.  

We currently have about $400k equity in our house in Melbourne.  We won't be able to buy a house in UK without this cash, but OH who is an Aussie is hell bent on keeping it as an investment (and back up plan if we decide to move back) .  The house would effectively pays for itself with rent covering mortgage.  Would we be able to  use equity as our uk deposit - is this a thing?

thanks in advance for any advice, tips, thoughts.

cheers

On 02/08/2017 at 19:29, thinker78 said:

You can have 4 year olds doing part time, so that's something to consider. Reception is mostly play, so most 4 year olds, although i still think it's too young, seem to cope ok. They start at 3 full time in spain and france! We had to cope with the transition from Reception (australia) to Year 2! My child couldn't even read or write and had no grasp of maths at all- the school were brilliant at helping her catch up and she managed to sit her Year 2 SATS with all the other kids. 2 years back in the UK and she's middle of the class, which for an August born, is great. Be mindful that primary is quite full on here- the government have made silly changes which means all the curriculum is shunted down so for example, a year 3 child is now doing work which used to be expected of a year 4 or 5 child. It's not ideal, but again, most kids seem to be coping ok. It's definitely not as laid back as Australian primary, but that could be seen as a good or bad thing depending on your views. 

This will be our reality next year - we delayed our daughters start to prep as is the norm here in Melbourne for all Jan- April babies, but it means she's 6.5 now, in prep and only just starting to read and write. Totally fine here but when we go back she'll be in grade 2/3? 

How did you know which schools to apply to from Australia or was it just move first and then get into local school? Thanks 

Hi

I'm  on here as I don't really know where to start and googling is confusing the hell out of me!

After 12 years in Melbourne we have decided to move back to UK to be closer to my family for a while (I'm from Essex - the London until I was 30. (My husband is aussie from Melbourne, Daughter 6 and Son 3.5 - all Aussies).

First thing I thought I should do was get my Aussie citizenship something that I've been putting off.

My husband has a Italian passport which always served him well for working in london in the past but I guess now with Brexit it'll be relatively useless - so need to see what that means.

My main concern at the moment is picking somewhere to live, and enrolling my daughter who is currently in prep in a good state school.  How is this even possible when all the good schools are oversubscribed and we don't even have an address.  My sister is in Braintree, Essex but we're not a fan of it and my dad is in North Wales.  Would prefer within an hour commute of north London / Braintree in a pretty village/small town (like half the country).  I would expect for us to have a family income of at least £80k.

 I'm also thinking about the logistics - what first - jobs, house, school?  What will my daughter do while we'll sorting all this out? I would loath to move her around after we get here- both kids are shy and I feel like we've got one chance to get it right.

Sorry this is a bit of a mind dump - lots to think about but I've got a 12 month deadline in my mind.

any tips, help, advice greatly appreciated.  Thank you