Paul1Perth Posted May 22, 2015 Share Posted May 22, 2015 Depends how much the OP and partner like Aus and Sydney in particular. If you like it enough, can see a future here for you and the family when it comes along then why not see how much of a mortgage you can get and buy in a place you really like. There really is nothing wrong with having a mortgage, nearly everyone does it at some stage. I would honestly recommend getting somewhere you want to live, rather than make a compromise. When we bought our place we were worried about the mortgage and "could we afford it" like everyone else. Life is a gamble, kids are horrendously expensive and change your life totally, it's not stopping you having kids is it. You might feel totally differently about work once you have kids and decide to pack it in, who knows. Above all though it's your decision and your life. If you really like it here, especially in a particular place you would really like and can scrape a mortgage together, I would go for that. Otherwise you are just settling for second best and you would be thinking what if for the rest of your life. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Parley Posted May 22, 2015 Share Posted May 22, 2015 Shame the OP didn't buy 6 years ago when they came. They would be very happy now if they had. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bungo Posted May 22, 2015 Share Posted May 22, 2015 Why wouldn't the UK house sell? If you ask the right price it would have sold, you could have stayed here, got a place you liked, maybe with a mortgage but so what, it gets paid eventually. Yes I am sure everything would sell if it were cheap enough. To use an extreme example, I could sell it for a tenner tomorrow, doesn't mean it makes sense to do so. But we bought at top of the market, renovated and would have been looking at a substantial loss. I just cannot afford to write off £150k of hard won equity, have to think about provisions for the future and retirement now that middle age is upon us. To add to that, the price differential between Sydney and UK, plus very high stamp duty in NSW would have meant taking on minimum $500 - $600k mortgage, unless we lived in a dump of course, which is not what we moved to the other side of the world for. When we are perfectly happy and content in either country, it had to come down to what made most sense for us. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Parley Posted May 22, 2015 Share Posted May 22, 2015 Equity is what the house is worth on the market minus your borrowings. What you paid for it is irrelevant really in saying what your equity is. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bungo Posted May 22, 2015 Share Posted May 22, 2015 Equity is what the house is worth on the market minus your borrowings. What you paid for it is irrelevant really in saying what your equity is. Please insert any word you prefer, I don't want to get into semantics. Let me explain again in more simple terms. Over the years, I have put so much of my hard earned cash into paying down a mortgage and paying for house renovations. Real money, I can add it up and come to a total. Had I sold the house at going rate, I would have realised a substantial loss as the sale price would be much less than what I had spent. That is called a loss. Mine would have been £150k. Then on top of my substantial loss in £ terms, I would also have been unfortunate with the low exchange rates over recent years, only just turning around, and would have needed to get a substantial mortgage to live in Sydney. So I would have shouldered a very real £150k loss and then taken on a new debt of $500-600k. As I am perfectly happy to live in either location and do need to think about providing for old age and retirement, I decided not to do that. That is all. My choice. I will always look back at my time in Australia fondly and may return one day in the distant future, but so far the choice is definitely proving to be the right one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul1Perth Posted May 22, 2015 Share Posted May 22, 2015 Shame the OP didn't buy 6 years ago when they came. They would be very happy now if they had. Why do you say that parley? Maybe if you were only thinking of the money side but if you get a property in an area you like, are enjoying life, the mortgage is being paid you stop thinking about how much properties are worth or not, because you are happy. Just living in a nice area, in a nice house, where things you like doing are on the doorstep can actually save you loads. You don't feel the need to be going far to enjoy yourself and can save on holidays if you buy in the right location. Every weekend can be a mini holiday. Over a long period of time you hope the house will increase in value but if it doesn't what's it matter, as long as you like it, you like the suburb you live and the lifestyle you made for yourself? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul1Perth Posted May 22, 2015 Share Posted May 22, 2015 Yes I am sure everything would sell if it were cheap enough. To use an extreme example, I could sell it for a tenner tomorrow, doesn't mean it makes sense to do so. But we bought at top of the market, renovated and would have been looking at a substantial loss. I just cannot afford to write off £150k of hard won equity, have to think about provisions for the future and retirement now that middle age is upon us. To add to that, the price differential between Sydney and UK, plus very high stamp duty in NSW would have meant taking on minimum $500 - $600k mortgage, unless we lived in a dump of course, which is not what we moved to the other side of the world for. When we are perfectly happy and content in either country, it had to come down to what made most sense for us. I suppose if you were going to have to write off 150K pounds then it would have been tough. If you are happy and content in the UK then I can see your point. If you really wanted to stay though I would have taken the hit on the UK place and got the high mortgage. It gets paid off one day and in the meantime you are where you want to be. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gbye grey sky Posted May 22, 2015 Share Posted May 22, 2015 You could have the "best of both" - say six months living mortgage-free in the UK and then rent the house out when you spend six months in Sydney renting. I know someone who spends the English winter in Australia and the Australian summer in England. Some mistake there surely. England's winter coincides with Australia's summer lol. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Parley Posted May 22, 2015 Share Posted May 22, 2015 Why do you say that parley? Maybe if you were only thinking of the money side but if you get a property in an area you like, are enjoying life, the mortgage is being paid you stop thinking about how much properties are worth or not, because you are happy. Just living in a nice area, in a nice house, where things you like doing are on the doorstep can actually save you loads. You don't feel the need to be going far to enjoy yourself and can save on holidays if you buy in the right location. Every weekend can be a mini holiday. Over a long period of time you hope the house will increase in value but if it doesn't what's it matter, as long as you like it, you like the suburb you live and the lifestyle you made for yourself? I just meant that the OP said in his original post that one of the main reasons they are thinking of leaving Sydney is the house prices being so high. It is a shame they didn't buy earlier as they would be sitting pretty with heaps of equity, and not worrying about the high prices. Easy to be smart in hind sight of course. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.