Life in quarantine (Melbourne)

[Paul1Perth]

14 minutes ago, Toots said:

Are you tempted Paul?  Bet you aren't.    

Yep, told the bloke I'd retired and he said he'd update their records

[Ausvisitor]

14 hours ago, Wanderer Returns said:

That's great news. We'd gladly take a 2% drop to sell our place!

I'd wait until you've exchanged contracts before booking flights, if you have that flexibility. Should it fall through, having to organize anything to do with a house sale from overseas can be a bit of a nightmare.

We said no as it was a first offer, and this morning they came back with full offer all in cash - so I guess I've run out of excuses to put it off now

[Wanderer Returns]

On 19/08/2020 at 21:46, Ausvisitor said:

We said no as it was a first offer, and this morning they came back with full offer all in cash - so I guess I've run out of excuses to put it off now

That's great news! By the looks of things selling your house will be a lot easier than getting to Australia. Is there a deadline when you need to be here by?

[Wanderer Returns]

On 19/08/2020 at 09:13, Marisawright said:

Is that still true?  In this day and age, where email signatures are valid in a court of law, I'd have thought it would be a lot easier than it used to be - surely everything can be done electronically?

@Marisawright this will be our third property transactions in the UK in the last 5 years. Solicitors still require 'wet signatures' on the contract and transfer documents, and some require them on other documents too. Everything else can be done online, but that isn't really the issue for us. We were using an online agent so my wife was doing all the viewings until she left 6 weeks ago, which worked fine, but since then we have been using a hosting agent and it's been an absolute shambles. I think we're going to have to hand the sale over to a local high street estate agent, which is annoying as we've already spent several hundred pounds with the current company.

[Marisawright]

24 minutes ago, Wanderer Returns said:

@Marisawright this will be our third property transactions in the UK in the last 5 years. Solicitors still require 'wet signatures' on the contract and transfer documents, and some require them on other documents too. Everything else can be done online, but that isn't really the issue for us. We were using an online agent so my wife was doing all the viewings until she left 6 weeks ago, which worked fine, but since then we have been using a hosting agent and it's been an absolute shambles. I think we're going to have to hand the sale over to a local high street estate agent, which is annoying as we've already spent several hundred pounds with the current company.

You can still use a high street agent remotely so that’s not a problem but I’m astonished that wet signatures are still needed. I wonder if that’s really the case in law, or just solicitors resisting change?

[Lavers]

38 minutes ago, Marisawright said:

You can still use a high street agent remotely so that’s not a problem but I’m astonished that wet signatures are still needed. I wonder if that’s really the case in law, or just solicitors resisting change?

I think its solicitors trying to justify there fees.

If it could all be done via emails then you could sell a house in a week.

[Parley]

1 hour ago, Lavers said:

I think its solicitors trying to justify there fees.

If it could all be done via emails then you could sell a house in a week.

Signatures often need to be witnessed by a 3rd party not involved in the transaction.

I'm not sure how an electronic signature can be witnessed.

[Tulip1]

6 hours ago, Wanderer Returns said:

@Marisawright this will be our third property transactions in the UK in the last 5 years. Solicitors still require 'wet signatures' on the contract and transfer documents, and some require them on other documents too. Everything else can be done online, but that isn't really the issue for us. We were using an online agent so my wife was doing all the viewings until she left 6 weeks ago, which worked fine, but since then we have been using a hosting agent and it's been an absolute shambles. I think we're going to have to hand the sale over to a local high street estate agent, which is annoying as we've already spent several hundred pounds with the current company.

The hosting agents are very hit and miss. My friend had been doing viewings via one for the last few years. She’s always quite liked it, did a few a week and it got her a bit of pocket money. The pay was bad but she timed it around visiting her parents or grandchildren and it was an excuse to dress up smart and make a little money. She would have been excellent at the job without doubt. She’s stopped doing it now as they changed the terms of how much they paid including lowering expenses for travel. The new terms meant she on average would get about £8 to do a viewing which was not worth it. She put effort into each viewing and got excellent feedback and no way was she carrying on for £8 a time.  Based on that, you’re likely to get a shambles as you put it. We generally get what we pay for. 

[Marisawright]

4 hours ago, Parley said:

Signatures often need to be witnessed by a 3rd party not involved in the transaction.

I'm not sure how an electronic signature can be witnessed.

It can be done nowadays and has been ruled to be acceptable in a court of law. There have been test  cases.

[Ausvisitor]

7 hours ago, Parley said:

Signatures often need to be witnessed by a 3rd party not involved in the transaction.

I'm not sure how an electronic signature can be witnessed.

A lot of work transactions we do now involve a recorded Zoom call. We connect in our solicitor, ourselves and a third party.

We read out the identifying document and hold each page to the camera then we then hold up ID, say we accept the contract, the third party witness does the same and the solicitor "warrants" that they saw the agreement.

The recording is then checked and if it is legible and visible the signing is deemed complete. The other party does the same and the solicitors exchange the agreements

[Ausvisitor]

9 hours ago, Wanderer Returns said:

That's great news! By the looks of things selling your house will be a lot easier than getting to Australia. Is there a deadline when you need to be here by?

Not really as the Immigration department has waived the first entry rule (which would have seen us needing to activate by Christmas) we now technically have the full 5 years (minus the 8 months we've had the grant) in order to start the visa.

Ready to go now, but may as well wait out the actual sale before jumping on the plane, as it is always easier to do this stuff from the UK rather than abroad (although it is possible to do it from away)

[Wanderer Returns]

On 21/08/2020 at 19:06, Ausvisitor said:

Ready to go now, but may as well wait out the actual sale before jumping on the plane, as it is always easier to do this stuff from the UK rather than abroad (although it is possible to do it from away)

Agreed - you'll have peace of mind knowing that all the loose ends have been tied up before you leave. It might also be easier and cheaper to get her in a few months as some of the restrictions may have been lifted. At the moment it's costing people silly money for flights, not to mention the $2,800 quarantine on arrival.

[Wanderer Returns]

On 21/08/2020 at 09:52, Marisawright said:

You can still use a high street agent remotely so that’s not a problem but I’m astonished that wet signatures are still needed. I wonder if that’s really the case in law, or just solicitors resisting change?

I wouldn't think so. After all it makes more work for them too. Online fraud is rife and the authorities are struggling to keep up with the next scam. Given the sums of money involved in most property transactions and the risk of liability to solicitors if something went wrong, it isn't surprising that they still rely on traditional methods.

[Wanderer Returns]

On 21/08/2020 at 15:56, Tulip1 said:

The hosting agents are very hit and miss. My friend had been doing viewings via one for the last few years. She’s always quite liked it, did a few a week and it got her a bit of pocket money. The pay was bad but she timed it around visiting her parents or grandchildren and it was an excuse to dress up smart and make a little money. She would have been excellent at the job without doubt. She’s stopped doing it now as they changed the terms of how much they paid including lowering expenses for travel. The new terms meant she on average would get about £8 to do a viewing which was not worth it. She put effort into each viewing and got excellent feedback and no way was she carrying on for £8 a time.  Based on that, you’re likely to get a shambles as you put it. We generally get what we pay for. 

I bought a package of 10 hosted viewings from my estate agent for £400 so each one has been costing me £40, although sometimes there has been more than one potential buyer viewing in the same time slot. At that price I'd expect to be getting a reasonably good service. However, the estate agent has been accepting viewings before finding out whether the hosting agent was available, so people have turned up to view and there's been no one there. They also booked one person in at the wrong time so the agent turned up and then the viewer turned up half an later. Sometimes people have cancelled well in advance, yet the estate agent has still tried to charge me for a viewing. It's been an absolute cluster****, to be honest! I've had 9 of the 10 prepaid viewings so thank God it's almost over. I've managed to get the hosting agents details so I'll be dealing with him directly should I need any further viewings, but fingers crossed, I currently have someone interested and we are involved in negotiations.

[Guest The Pom Queen]

On 23/08/2020 at 21:33, Wanderer Returns said:

I bought a package of 10 hosted viewings from my estate agent for £400 so each one has been costing me £40, although sometimes there has been more than one potential buyer viewing in the same time slot. At that price I'd expect to be getting a reasonably good service. However, the estate agent has been accepting viewings before finding out whether the hosting agent was available, so people have turned up to view and there's been no one there. They also booked one person in at the wrong time so the agent turned up and then the viewer turned up half an later. Sometimes people have cancelled well in advance, yet the estate agent has still tried to charge me for a viewing. It's been an absolute cluster****, to be honest! I've had 9 of the 10 prepaid viewings so thank God it's almost over. I've managed to get the hosting agents details so I'll be dealing with him directly should I need any further viewings, but fingers crossed, I currently have someone interested and we are involved in negotiations.

How are you going with the sale @Wanderer Returns. Hopefully it is good news

[DukeNinja]

On 23/08/2020 at 21:12, Wanderer Returns said:

I wouldn't think so. After all it makes more work for them too. Online fraud is rife and the authorities are struggling to keep up with the next scam. Given the sums of money involved in most property transactions and the risk of liability to solicitors if something went wrong, it isn't surprising that they still rely on traditional methods.

We just sold one of our UK properties, and wet witnessed signatures were indeed required.

Just a pointer, pay the extra and send the paperwork by DHL. AusPost international express took over a month to get there. DHL took less than 1 week.

[Quoll]

1 hour ago, DukeNinja said:

We just sold one of our UK properties, and wet witnessed signatures were indeed required.

Just a pointer, pay the extra and send the paperwork by DHL. AusPost international express took over a month to get there. DHL took less than 1 week.

We just sold my dads house and wet signatures were indeed required. We sent ours by Aus Post express and it was 10 days so we were fortunate there. Good to know about the DHL though - we contemplated it but the DH just took the easy option. I’ve given up on will execution though and nominated my son as attorney - too many wet signatures and tardy document delivery. 

[Wanderer Returns]

On 01/09/2020 at 00:48, The Pom Queen said:

How are you going with the sale @Wanderer Returns. Hopefully it is good news

@The Pom Queen thank you for you kind thoughts!  The house in Chesterfield is once again under offer so that is good news. We've had to rent somewhere for 6 months though which has become a necessary evil given the extra time it will all take. However, we've made the best of a tricky situtation by renting an apartment in Caloundra. I've always loved the place, even though for some reason it doesn't have the best reputation. It's my wife's first time here and she likes it too. No complaints about the view from our apartment either! 

[kimboslice]

5 hours ago, Wanderer Returns said:

, even though for some reason it doesn't have the best reputation

To be honest i have only ever seen good reviews of caloundra.

[Jessica Berry]

Hi Lavers

Belated welcome to Adelaide.  I have enjoyed reading your journey to get here and your positive attitude and approach.

JB

[Wanderer Returns]

11 hours ago, kimboslice said:

To be honest i have only ever seen good reviews of caloundra.

It has the rather unflattering nickname 'Clowntown' due the historically high bogan count, although I think that's exaggerated based on my experience here so far. Anyway, if said moniker helps to keep the property prices down while we sell up in the UK and buy here, then that's absolutely fine by me!  

[HappyHeart]

Good to see the roadmap out of COVID restrictions announced for Vic today. I wouldn't want Dan Andrews job. Here's hoping Victorians can enjoy a 'normal' Christmas. Cannot imagine living with those restrictions for as long as they have. Meanwhile life is very normal in WA. Could have happened anywhere though (and STILL could.) 

[Marisawright]

1 minute ago, HappyHeart said:

Good to see the roadmap out of COVID restrictions announced for Vic today. I wouldn't want Dan Andrews job. Here's hoping Victorians can enjoy a 'normal' Christmas. Cannot imagine living with those restrictions for as long as they have. Meanwhile life is very normal in WA. Could have happened anywhere though (and STILL could.) 

You are so right, it doesn't take much for it all to go wrong (as Victoria found - though they keep talking about the "botched hotel quarantine", it turns out that 90% of all our cases comes from ONE mistake with ONE family).    

The media has a lot to answer for, actually. Lots of footage of "huge" demonstrations against lockdown in Melbourne yesterday. Finally got the actual numbers (not from the press) - about 300 people. Not a lot out of Melbourne's population!

[Toots]

2 hours ago, Marisawright said:

You are so right, it doesn't take much for it all to go wrong (as Victoria found - though they keep talking about the "botched hotel quarantine", it turns out that 90% of all our cases comes from ONE mistake with ONE family).    

The media has a lot to answer for, actually. Lots of footage of "huge" demonstrations against lockdown in Melbourne yesterday. Finally got the actual numbers (not from the press) - about 300 people. Not a lot out of Melbourne's population!

Tassie is supposed to have closed borders which should be easy considering it's an island but I've seen lots of cars with interstate number plates and just this afternoon saw two cars towing caravans with Victorian number plates.  There are loads of people returning from interstate/overseas.  They are in isolation in a hotel in the middle of town and in a motel in our street.  So far no incidents with Covid.  

[Melbpom]

2 hours ago, Marisawright said:

You are so right, it doesn't take much for it all to go wrong (as Victoria found - though they keep talking about the "botched hotel quarantine", it turns out that 90% of all our cases comes from ONE mistake with ONE family).   

I'm surprised the family hasn't been identified. I'm not saying they should be but normally the press are on top of issues like this.