LKC Posted March 12, 2018 Share Posted March 12, 2018 We live in one of a cluster of three villages, which has house prices from under £100,000 (a two bed sold for £55k in October last year) to up to £1 million or more. The house we've just bought falls somewhere in between those two figures. Our house in Australia was sold for quite a bit more than we bought for here, this house is slightly bigger, and we are approximately the same driving time from Edinburgh as we were from Sydney. That said, house prices are crazy in Sydney, and as house prices had increased so much over the time we were there, we did quite well when we sold it. The huge difference between top and bottom house prices here was a surprise to me when we first started looking. I'd not experienced that before, and always lived in places with a smaller difference between the least and most expensive. I wonder if it is to do with school catchments? The catchments in Scotland are more fixed and tend to be based on geography rather than numbers of pupils, as I think they are in England. If you are in the catchment, you get a place and the school will be given more/fewer teachers as required. No one seems to talk about moving to get their kids into a better school, because schools seem much more of a level standard (of course there will be exceptions), so I guess the house prices aren't influenced as much. We don't have SATS and OFSTED, you just go to your local school. If we did, and our school was rated as good or outstanding, the bottom and mid house prices would have been pushed upwards as people moved to get their kids into the school, narrowing the range of prices. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest The Pom Queen Posted March 12, 2018 Share Posted March 12, 2018 10 hours ago, Amber Snowball said: I am hoping to return middle of this year so I’ll let you know! It is a bit of a concern but it will only be me in the UK house where as there are 3 adults in the Australian house, so different needs. Agree with @Gbye grey sky in that houses here are often bigger than is necessary, ours really is but we wanted the independent living option. When I spoke with the Halifax over there they will offer a mortgage with just a job offer letter so I have hope! I think @VERYSTORMY was offered a mortgage with them when he returned and had just stepped off the plane with an offer of employment. It’s more the proximity to others that concerns me, narrow roads etc. I want everything, affordable housing with no near neighbours but close to work and amenities! Not going to happen on my budget but I’ll give it my best shot. ? You see that’s what I would want from a house if I went back, a detached lovely stone cottage with an acre or more. It’s stupid where we are now you get a huge house, 40 acres, boarding kennels for $400k. A brand new house with acre plots selling for $299k Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest The Pom Queen Posted March 12, 2018 Share Posted March 12, 2018 7 hours ago, Marisawright said: But where could you get a nice detached property in Australia for under $350,000? None of the cities, I don't think. House prices go up everywhere. Plenty 45 minutes out of Brissy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Amber Snowball Posted March 12, 2018 Share Posted March 12, 2018 1 hour ago, The Pom Queen said: You see that’s what I would want from a house if I went back, a detached lovely stone cottage with an acre or more. It’s stupid where we are now you get a huge house, 40 acres, boarding kennels for $400k. A brand new house with acre plots selling for $299k I am realistic enough to know I won’t get exactly what I want as I am on a limited budget. I’m hoping for a 2-3 bed, don’t mind a semi or a nicer terrace. Main thing is not on an estate and hopefully a feeling of privacy and not being crowded in, even if that is just an illusion, hedges or fields at the back or something. I have seen some options on zoopla that might be ok, I checked out some areas when I was over there last year. Having spent what feels like a thousand hours cleaning this place to sell, a small compact house sounds great. Where has all this crap come from????!!!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tricky Posted March 12, 2018 Share Posted March 12, 2018 We are a bit apprehensive of this. We plan to sell our place May/June and aim to get about $365k for our 3 bed place. We will be heading back to Southwest UK so will have to spend more than that over there. We won't get to take that much back with us so will need a mortgage. Does anyone know how long roughly it'll take to be able to get a mortgage back in the UK? I assume at least 3 months of employment? We can stay with the in-laws as long as we like but if it's likely we won't be able to buy anything for a year or so we will rent once we have employment if we can find something. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Amber Snowball Posted March 12, 2018 Share Posted March 12, 2018 9 minutes ago, Tricky said: We are a bit apprehensive of this. We plan to sell our place May/June and aim to get about $365k for our 3 bed place. We will be heading back to Southwest UK so will have to spend more than that over there. We won't get to take that much back with us so will need a mortgage. Does anyone know how long roughly it'll take to be able to get a mortgage back in the UK? I assume at least 3 months of employment? We can stay with the in-laws as long as we like but if it's likely we won't be able to buy anything for a year or so we will rent once we have employment if we can find something. Hi, when I was in the UK last year the Halifax said if I had evidence of a job offer they will offer a mortgage, no minimum employment term. Now I won’t be testing that advice until June time but that’s what they said. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bristolman Posted March 12, 2018 Share Posted March 12, 2018 3 hours ago, The Pom Queen said: Please can you show me one for under £100k down South, I didn’t start this thread to slate the UK I’m just shocked at how much even a 2 Up 2 Down in a crappy area up North is so high. We aren't down South, I said in our village. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tricky Posted March 12, 2018 Share Posted March 12, 2018 53 minutes ago, Amber Snowball said: Hi, when I was in the UK last year the Halifax said if I had evidence of a job offer they will offer a mortgage, no minimum employment term. Now I won’t be testing that advice until June time but that’s what they said. Oh really. That's interesting and great news if true. Will talk to some lenders/brokers as soon as we land, however everytime we've applied for a Mortgage they've asked to see 3 months of payslips, hence I assumed there would be a wait. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bristolman Posted March 12, 2018 Share Posted March 12, 2018 The problem is people are comparing apples and oranges. The house we had in Brisbane was a high set, it was only made into a reasonably sized house when I converted downstairs. Illegally because it was 2 inches too low. We then had a good sized living area and our boys bedroom, without that the house would have been small. It was a weatherboard house with a tin roof. We now live in a bigger 400 year old house with a big garden. 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bristolman Posted March 12, 2018 Share Posted March 12, 2018 11 minutes ago, Tricky said: Oh really. That's interesting and great news if true. Will talk to some lenders/brokers as soon as we land, however everytime we've applied for a Mortgage they've asked to see 3 months of payslips, hence I assumed there would be a wait. Far better to talk in person and a good broker can work wonders. Good luck with it. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bristolman Posted March 12, 2018 Share Posted March 12, 2018 10 hours ago, Marisawright said: But where could you get a nice detached property in Australia for under $350,000? None of the cities, I don't think. House prices go up everywhere. Our old place, a very basic weatherboard 30ks out of Brisbane is now pushing $500k, that's madness. When we bought it we could have bought 30 houses under $100k. Now even in very undesirable areas you are looking at minimum $300k. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
calNgary Posted March 12, 2018 Share Posted March 12, 2018 We looked at property elsewhere in the UK before we moved here, so i am going back a few years. We found the nicest best value for money properties unfortunately didnt have appropiate work available. There are some lovely little villages with nice cottages but miles away from any work. We lived in a standard 3 bed semi at the time, the 3rd bedroom was just big enough to fit a single bed and nothing else furniture wise really but the garden was pretty darn big in comparison to most semi's (approx 25 mtrs long) and we had a good size single garage and driveway, i just had a quick look on Right move and they seem to be up for sale for around 170 to 190K which is 30 to 40 thousand GBP more than they were when we sold 11 years ago. Cal x Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted March 12, 2018 Share Posted March 12, 2018 29 minutes ago, calNgary said: We looked at property elsewhere in the UK before we moved here, so i am going back a few years. We found the nicest best value for money properties unfortunately didnt have appropiate work available. There are some lovely little villages with nice cottages but miles away from any work. We lived in a standard 3 bed semi at the time, the 3rd bedroom was just big enough to fit a single bed and nothing else furniture wise really but the garden was pretty darn big in comparison to most semi's (approx 25 mtrs long) and we had a good size single garage and driveway, i just had a quick look on Right move and they seem to be up for sale for around 170 to 190K which is 30 to 40 thousand GBP more than they were when we sold 11 years ago. Cal x That's a lot for smallish garden and two bedrooms really ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tulip1 Posted March 12, 2018 Share Posted March 12, 2018 3 hours ago, Tricky said: We are a bit apprehensive of this. We plan to sell our place May/June and aim to get about $365k for our 3 bed place. We will be heading back to Southwest UK so will have to spend more than that over there. We won't get to take that much back with us so will need a mortgage. Does anyone know how long roughly it'll take to be able to get a mortgage back in the UK? I assume at least 3 months of employment? We can stay with the in-laws as long as we like but if it's likely we won't be able to buy anything for a year or so we will rent once we have employment if we can find something. If you have a permanent contract of employment that is usually sufficient to get a mortgage. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest The Pom Queen Posted March 12, 2018 Share Posted March 12, 2018 2 hours ago, bristolman said: We aren't down South, I said in our village. I thought you always said you had moved back down South, mind you anything below Manchester is South to me lol. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bristolman Posted March 12, 2018 Share Posted March 12, 2018 2 minutes ago, The Pom Queen said: I thought you always said you had moved back down South, mind you anything below Manchester is South to me lol. No, I never said I moved down South, it's always been Herefordshire lol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest The Pom Queen Posted March 12, 2018 Share Posted March 12, 2018 15 minutes ago, bristolman said: No, I never said I moved down South, it's always been Herefordshire lol That’s South of Manchester isn’t it pmsl Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bristolman Posted March 12, 2018 Share Posted March 12, 2018 21 minutes ago, The Pom Queen said: That’s South of Manchester isn’t it pmsl Yes, many miles south of the Artic Circle ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Amber Snowball Posted March 12, 2018 Share Posted March 12, 2018 7 hours ago, The Pom Queen said: I thought you always said you had moved back down South, mind you anything below Manchester is South to me lol. And anything above Watford is North to me! ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blondie Posted March 12, 2018 Share Posted March 12, 2018 We were lucky to find a big open plan barn conversion in Somerset ... had to get a mortgage but husband had a job so the TSB coughed up ? we have definitely not downsized at all. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Toots Posted March 12, 2018 Share Posted March 12, 2018 12 hours ago, bristolman said: The problem is people are comparing apples and oranges. The house we had in Brisbane was a high set, it was only made into a reasonably sized house when I converted downstairs. Illegally because it was 2 inches too low. We then had a good sized living area and our boys bedroom, without that the house would have been small. It was a weatherboard house with a tin roof. We now live in a bigger 400 year old house with a big garden. I grew up in a big (3 storey) farmhouse built somewhere in the 1700s. The walls were 3 feet thick and goodness knows what they were made of. Even the inside room dividing walls were over 2 feet thick. They knew how to build houses in those days. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil & Vikki Posted March 13, 2018 Share Posted March 13, 2018 We are returning this year and have noticed that the price of property has gone up. We are in a lucky position as we did not sell our house when we left the UK nearly 8 years ago and will be moving back into that as a stop gap. It is mortgage free, so that will take some of the pressure off having to find rent. On deciding that we were going to return back to the UK, we drew a big sigh of relief knowing that we had not initially sold our three bed detached house in a small country town. Wit the reports that the economy is starting to move in the right direction and post Brexit, there does seem to be a good mood in the air. This will all result in property prices starting to climb. As it seems you have already found out 200k will not get much and it does not seem that it will get the lovely detached property without the neighbours. We realise that our old house in the UK will be too small for a family of five, but it will have to do until we have the jobs and the funds to get a mortgage and buy something bigger. Hopefully the UK market will not go up like the Sydney market, as we want to buy a bigger place before we are too old :-) If we were to sell in Aus and bring the money back with us that we have made out of our three bed property in Sydney we would be able to go even bigger in the UK (5 / 6 bed) place. So the chose is keep the place in Sydney for the kids and have another mortgage or sell and get the big house we want. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
horsemad1976 Posted March 13, 2018 Share Posted March 13, 2018 On 3/11/2018 at 18:42, BacktoDemocracy said: I agree, my MIL is trying to get a 2/3 bed bungalow iin wilts, nr Melksham and she is in the 325k-450k dependent on size of garden and age of property. Bungalows are expensive here (I live in Wiltshire currently about 10 mins from Melksham)! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bristolman Posted March 13, 2018 Share Posted March 13, 2018 3 minutes ago, horsemad1976 said: Bungalows are expensive here (I live in Wiltshire currently about 10 mins from Melksham)! You can certainly buy them them well under the £325-450k figure quoted though lol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
horsemad1976 Posted March 13, 2018 Share Posted March 13, 2018 22 hours ago, Tricky said: We are a bit apprehensive of this. We plan to sell our place May/June and aim to get about $365k for our 3 bed place. We will be heading back to Southwest UK so will have to spend more than that over there. We won't get to take that much back with us so will need a mortgage. Does anyone know how long roughly it'll take to be able to get a mortgage back in the UK? I assume at least 3 months of employment? We can stay with the in-laws as long as we like but if it's likely we won't be able to buy anything for a year or so we will rent once we have employment if we can find something. We currently live in Wiltshire looking to head over to Aus within the next 18 months. In terms of getting a UK mortgage it is much harder than it was say, 20 years ago. You will almost certainly need a deposit, an income ( at least 3-6 months), UK bank account (not sure if you still have one). Our current UK mortgage took about 8 weeks to process - we used a independent mortgage broke who was fantastic! There are various 'Help to Buy' schemes available here at the moment but limited to New Build homes. What area are you looking to re-settle in? 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.