How much money did you to take to Oz to last until you found a job?

[jac2011]

We understand that we are buying a car to run into the ground, its basically to cover us for a few months until we are both in employment and we will get some savings together to buy a better car outright. We have spent our entire lives sold to consumerism believing we have to have the best and newest car and we have decided that its no longer important to us. We are determined to stay as debt free as possible and will only borrow to buy a house.

 

If we dont find anything we like, we have seen quotes for car hire per month that would allow our budget to cover us for 6 months.

[Captain Roberto]

Most people I spoke to seemed to spend between $5 - $10k on a usable 'ok' car, so we don't expect to get one for less than $6k. It would be nice to not have one, but with 3 kids in school it's juts unrealistic to not have one.

 

It would be nice to be able to get an old banger for $2k but it seems unlikely.

Edited December 15, 2014 by Captain Roberto

[jac2011]

I perhaps prioritise having a car less as I have never had one in the 16 years I have been of age to drive despite having 3 children to ferry around. I also live in a village miles away from the village my children go to school in, but I get by.

 

My husband will be more frustrated by the car situation but seen as he will not be working initially he is able to manage getting the children to school. We are looking at private schools and are aware they often have a bus service to nearby subburbs.

[jimmy1986]

I posted on this thread a while back, but wanted to update now I've been here a while with my experiences, hopefully it'll help someone.

 

We came with about $40k and got thru most of that in about 4 weeks, I found work within the first 10 days so was OK about spending as I knew I was about to earn a crust.

 

$23k went on a new car, outright. We were originally looking at second hand cars, a few years old with about 50k on the clock, but they were selling for around the $18k mark. You can't just look at the price tag, you have to think a little. This was our first car, we lived 70km out of Melbourne in the west, we have no friends/family there so if we bought a banger and it broke down, we'd be in trouble. We don't know much about cars so could easily buy something bad. We opted for paying that bit extra, getting something new with 6 years service and warranty, but most of all, the peace of mind that it wasn't held together with duct tape!

 

Car insurance, ours was $1200, paid up front for the year as we got a better rate.

 

Rentals; another big dent on the finances. Fortunately, as we live out in Bacchus Marsh the rental prices are pretty good, we got a 3 bed house with double garage for $310 a week. You have to pay a months rent in advance, along with a bond equal to 1 month rent, so thats a few grand gone before we even got the keys.

 

White goods & house stuff; rentals here come with only a cooker, and if you're lucky a dishwasher. Again, similar to the car situation, we decided to buy decent stuff up front rather than get something second hand of gumtree and run the risk of replacing it in a months time. You're already going through a stressful time in your life, so alleviate stress where you can! We had a furnished rental in the UK so didn't own any furniture, so we had nothing to our name other than a few suitcases. We spent about $12k getting a fridge, washer, dryer, TV, hoover, sofas, furniture from IKEA, bed suite, iron etc.

 

Utilities, we found that most things charge a connection fee. Internet is $70 a month, but you have to pay a connection fee and buy the hardware, that was around $200. Electricity and gas charged a connection fee too, I can't remember if western water did, and we didn't bother with foxtel.

 

Internet during your initial few weeks; you'll need the internet, if your short term doesn't have it, you'll have to tether on your mobile or buy a prepaid device as you wont be able to get a contract without a job/permanent address. Prepaid data is expensive, and you'll burn through it fast if you're doing skype interviews or calling the UK.

 

 

Theres many ways you can do it, you can do it on the cheap but you run the risk of having to replace things too soon! You've come half way across the world, it's probably the most stressful thing you'll ever do, you should consider taking the expensive, but piece of mind option!

 

If you come out with no job, and no family/friends for support if things get tough, you're going to need a lot more than $5k! I'd say $20k minimum, particularly if you land around December/January as businesses go quiet, and prices shoot up to cash in on the festive season (hotels etc).

 

This was just my personal experience, I'm sure someone out there will contest it and say they came out with a fiver! Any questions feel free to shoot me a PM.

 

Good luck, and enjoy! Don't stress, once you score a job those savings will get replenished

[adele244]

Thanks Jimmy, I reckon your post will help people loads. It certainly has helped me!!!! Thanks again!

[tina0101]

If you are considering getting your own place, you will need some kind of deposit and when buying a house here, you get charged an insurance fee if you do not have 20% deposit.

 

Onviously this is looking further down the line, but it's worth bearing in mind if you do want to ever consider the property market :-)

[Parley]

If you are considering getting your own place, you will need some kind of deposit and when buying a house here, you get charged an insurance fee if you do not have 20% deposit.

 

Onviously this is looking further down the line, but it's worth bearing in mind if you do want to ever consider the property market :-)

 

don't you need any deposit in the UK ?

 

That sounds very dangerous.

[Guest51810]

don't you need any deposit in the UK ?

 

That sounds very dangerous.

 

Yep we've always had to pay deposits for rentals

[Parley]

For buying a home I mean, ie to get a mortgage.

[Guest51810]

Well I would find it very unlikely that someone wouldn't need a deposit. Then again I've never bought a house so what do I know.

[Parley]

Maybe I read it wrong and she was talking rentals.

Not sure now.

[Guest51810]

I think maybe in the past it was possible to buy without a deposit but I think these days it would be needed.

[tina0101]

don't you need any deposit in the UK ?

 

That sounds very dangerous.

 

Yup, but you don't need 20% in the UK. Here you get hit with big Indemnity fees if you have less than 20%. I was just offering that advice for further down the line - it's easy to think of all the immediate expenses to live on but if you bleed yourself dry, you've got no hope of buying until you've saved.

[VERYSTORMY]

Fr those considering building a house, there is an excellent thread on the perth forum that a lot of the tips would apply to anywhere in oz.

The first and foremost thing is to budget properly. What ever the house and land cost you have been given you need to add about 10-20% on top. So, a house and land costing $500k, you need to budget at least $550k to finish it. This is assuming the build includes pretty much everything.

For example, build specs only include one light and one single socket per room. So, adding enough to be workable is going to see things start to climb in costs. There will be several aspects that are similar.

Then you are going to need dividing walls / fences between you and the neighbours or if already put in by the neighbours, they will present you with a bill for half of the costs. This can add significant amounts - a wall here is about $7k and I am having to put two up.

landscaping is damned expensive. Here in WA you are going to be looking at a minimum of $10k - assuming you do the hard work yourself.

The list goes on.

 

Do lots lots of research before signing a builders contract about what you need and what is in the contract. For example, a lot of builders in WA don't include rain run off sinks buried in the property. Yet most properties need them. It is $15k to have them added later.