NSW or Victoria??? So confused

[Squiggle]

Hi

Hoping someone can help as I'm at a loss.  We visited Perth in February and absolutely fell in love with the way of life.  Since weve been home my husband has been on a mission to get his English test done and his skills assessment which we got back yesterday.  Having spoken to our agent they have advised we apply for either nsw or Victoria on 190 or 489.  But we just dont know which is the better option the job my husband does comes under 263111 code so we need to choose where hed have more work options.

I'm not bothered about big city were rural now but I need to think of husbands career and the kids schooling they're 7 and 10.

Any thoughts very appreciated xx

[VERYSTORMY]

I would base it on job availability. Look at seek.com.au which is the main job site. 

Be aware that living in a rural area in Australia is not like living in a rural part of the U.K. While there are some nice rural towns, many are not places you would even want to visit. Also, there could be very limited opportunities for your husbands work in such area. On the flip side, Sydney in particular is eye wateringly expensive. 

[Squiggle]

1 minute ago, VERYSTORMY said:

I would base it on job availability. Look at seek.com.au which is the main job site. 

Be aware that living in a rural area in Australia is not like living in a rural part of the U.K. While there are some nice rural towns, many are not places you would even want to visit. Also, there could be very limited opportunities for your husbands work in such area. On the flip side, Sydney in particular is eye wateringly expensive. 

Thanks for the reply will get him to have a look.  Definitely dont want to live in Sydney but happy to commute...just dont know the areas it's very hard not being able to visit and explore first! But were on a time crunch due to his age...

[Marisawright]

8 hours ago, Squiggle said:

Thanks for the reply will get him to have a look.  Definitely dont want to live in Sydney but happy to commute...just dont know the areas it's very hard not being able to visit and explore first! But were on a time crunch due to his age...

The trouble with commuting to Sydney, as VeryStormy says, is that Australia is not like the UK.    NSW doesn't have cute villages within commutable distance from big cities. If you want to live rural you won't be commuting to Sydney.   One hour's commute from Sydney is still in the middle of the suburbs.   Rural towns are a long drive from each other and are often lacking in facilities, and unemployment in many of them is very high.  

Victoria is the most densely populated state and therefore towns aren't quite so far apart.  Many people live in Ballarat and commute to Melbourne, and there are some pleasant small towns in between. 

I would just caution that the states are very different in their culture, so don't assume that Victoria will be the same as Perth. 

[Squiggle]

14 minutes ago, Marisawright said:

The trouble with commuting to Sydney, as VeryStormy says, is that Australia is not like the UK.    NSW doesn't have cute villages within commutable distance from big cities. If you want to live rural you won't be commuting to Sydney.   One hour's commute from Sydney is still in the middle of the suburbs.   Rural towns are a long drive from each other and are often lacking in facilities, and unemployment in many of them is very high.  

Victoria is the most densely populated state and therefore towns aren't quite so far apart.  Many people live in Ballarat and commute to Melbourne, and there are some pleasant small towns in between. 

I would just caution that the states are very different in their culture, so don't assume that Victoria will be the same as Perth. 

Hi thanks for replying, I dont want to be silly rural dont fancy that at all and totally understand no where is quite like Perth and that's probably our end goal if I'm honest (unless we find somewhere we love).  I've accepted weve got to choose either Sydney or Victoria it's just making the right decision for the next 5 years...our housing budget is probably 800 to 850 ish but husband needs to be able to get to work and I need the kids to be safe with a good school.  Were selling up in the UK and going all in just wish we'd done it 2 years ago when husband was under 40! Would have been so much easier....

[Marisawright]

45 minutes ago, Squiggle said:

 I've accepted weve got to choose either Sydney or Victoria

I'm a bit confused by your answer, not sure why you'd think being rural is "silly", or is that a typo?  

I think you mean Sydney or Melbourne (Victoria is the whole state).     The bottom line is that house prices (renting and buying) in Melbourne is about two-thirds the cost of houses in Sydney. That's across the board.    So I'd say, if you have no driving reason to go to Sydney, you've got a much better chance of a comfortable home in a good suburb if you choose Melbourne.

[Squiggle]

9 hours ago, Marisawright said:

I'm a bit confused by your answer, not sure why you'd think being rural is "silly", or is that a typo?  

I think you mean Sydney or Melbourne (Victoria is the whole state).     The bottom line is that house prices (renting and buying) in Melbourne is about two-thirds the cost of houses in Sydney. That's across the board.    So I'd say, if you have no driving reason to go to Sydney, you've got a much better chance of a comfortable home in a good suburb if you choose Melbourne.

Sorry I'm not great with my words and yes I meant Melbourne.  I totally understand it is not going to be like the UK and I'm good with that I loved the way the suburbs were in Perth as nowhere felt hemmed in like it is here the closer you get to London.  Wish we had the time and money to investigate both places.

[starlight7]

If you look at many of the Eastern suburbs of Melbourne you would probably describe them as 'rural' .  Similar to places like Sevenoaks or many Kent 'villages' . Mostly they are within an hour of the CBD by train- think Lilydale, Mooroolbark, Croydon, Upwey, Tecoma, The Basin, - all very leafy and a lot cheaper (and prettier) than the CBD. They all have stonking great shopping areas reasonably close as well- Eastland, Knox, The Glen, Doncaster Shopping Town etc etc.  The Yarra Valley wine district is also just down the road.

[Squiggle]

2 hours ago, starlight7 said:

If you look at many of the Eastern suburbs of Melbourne you would probably describe them as 'rural' .  Similar to places like Sevenoaks or many Kent 'villages' . Mostly they are within an hour of the CBD by train- think Lilydale, Mooroolbark, Croydon, Upwey, Tecoma, The Basin, - all very leafy and a lot cheaper (and prettier) than the CBD. They all have stonking great shopping areas reasonably close as well- Eastland, Knox, The Glen, Doncaster Shopping Town etc etc.  The Yarra Valley wine district is also just down the road.

Hi thanks for that, that's really helpful.. I think were erring towards Melbourne at the moment purely because were more hopeful of getting a 190 plus it seems to fit us as a family.  My partner has 65 points for a 190 with top mark's in his pte exam but were stuffed gaining any extra points as hes over 40..

[Ausvisitor]

2 hours ago, Squiggle said:

Hi thanks for that, that's really helpful.. I think were erring towards Melbourne at the moment purely because were more hopeful of getting a 190 plus it seems to fit us as a family.  My partner has 65 points for a 190 with top mark's in his pte exam but were stuffed gaining any extra points as hes over 40..

Has he already got the PTE full marks, I've known people have to try six or seven times to get the right mark

[Squiggle]

Just now, Ausvisitor said:

Has he already got the PTE full marks, I've known people have to try six or seven times to get the right mark

He got full pte points on his first try he surprised himself!

[Marisawright]

11 hours ago, Squiggle said:

Hi thanks for that, that's really helpful.. I think were erring towards Melbourne at the moment purely because were more hopeful of getting a 190 plus it seems to fit us as a family.  My partner has 65 points for a 190 with top mark's in his pte exam but were stuffed gaining any extra points as hes over 40..

I think that's a wise decision.  Seeing too many people head back to the UK from Sydney because they can't afford it.