Hethv Posted July 22, 2020 Share Posted July 22, 2020 I was wondering if anyone has any experience with buying a property ahead of moving to Australia? I am an Australian cit living in the uk, and we are currently going through the visa process for my husband so we can move back to my home town in WA with the kids. we know the town and suburb we want to live in, as it’s where I lived previously, and have my family there as well. we would like to purchase a property a few months ahead of moving so we have a place to move to help the children settle and get them in the local schools etc with as little disruption as possible. my questions are, would we apply for the mortgage through a uk bank or an Australian one? And how do they offer out mortgages regarding employment? As if we go through the uk bank they will do it against our current employment here, but surely they’ll have questions as to how the mortgage will be paid if we don’t have jobs lined up in oz? or if we go through an oz bank will they need offers of employment from oz jobs or do they use it against our uk ones? ideally we would prefer to have offers of employment for either both or one of us before leaving but I’m not sure how that’s considered in the mortgage world. This seems like the only thing I can’t quite figure out, everything else with the move is falling into place nicely so far. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul1Perth Posted July 22, 2020 Share Posted July 22, 2020 1 minute ago, Hethv said: I was wondering if anyone has any experience with buying a property ahead of moving to Australia? I am an Australian cit living in the uk, and we are currently going through the visa process for my husband so we can move back to my home town in WA with the kids. we know the town and suburb we want to live in, as it’s where I lived previously, and have my family there as well. we would like to purchase a property a few months ahead of moving so we have a place to move to help the children settle and get them in the local schools etc with as little disruption as possible. my questions are, would we apply for the mortgage through a uk bank or an Australian one? And how do they offer out mortgages regarding employment? As if we go through the uk bank they will do it against our current employment here, but surely they’ll have questions as to how the mortgage will be paid if we don’t have jobs lined up in oz? or if we go through an oz bank will they need offers of employment from oz jobs or do they use it against our uk ones? ideally we would prefer to have offers of employment for either both or one of us before leaving but I’m not sure how that’s considered in the mortgage world. This seems like the only thing I can’t quite figure out, everything else with the move is falling into place nicely so far. No expert but I would reckon you'd struggle getting a mortgage from either place till you're here and employed. TBH I wouldn't be in a rush as prices might be taking a hit soon. Rent for a while in the suburb you know and have a good look round, it's supposed to be a buyers market where sellers are having to accept lower offers. Renting for a month or 2 would be OK. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hethv Posted July 22, 2020 Author Share Posted July 22, 2020 Thanks. we have considered that as well, we just thought getting a place ahead of the move would work better for us. We wouldn’t apply for a mortgage without offers of employment from Australia and once hubby’s visa has come through, but I don’t know how possible it is. we aren’t moving until 2022, as it’s approximately an 18 month wait on visas and we have just started the process, so I’m not sure the housing market will be in the same place by then. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quoll Posted July 22, 2020 Share Posted July 22, 2020 (edited) If you could buy it with cash you could do what you liked but if you want a mortgage you are going to struggle until you're on the ground and have a job and can prove your income - A UK bank isnt going to give you a mortgage on an Australian property. Getting a job can take you anywhere up to 6 months (state sponsored visas used to say you had to have a 6 month contingency fund) so you'd probably be better to rent for 6 -12 months at least. Personally I wouldnt touch anything with a barge pole unless I had seen it in person although I guess if you have family who can vet a place for you, it might be a bit safer. REAs are notorious for gilding the lily! Edited July 22, 2020 by Quoll 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marisawright Posted July 22, 2020 Share Posted July 22, 2020 3 hours ago, Hethv said: we would like to purchase a property a few months ahead of moving ... would we apply for the mortgage through a uk bank or an Australian one? And how do they offer out mortgages regarding employment? The first thing to consider is the logistics of buying the property. Would your family do the inspections for you, and do you trust them to choose the right house for you? As Quoll says, the photos on the real estate websites are shamelessly doctored and you can't trust them. As a citizen, you won't need to get FIRB approval to buy a house from overseas, so that's lucky. The mortgage would be the difficult thing. It's easy to find out if a UK bank will offer you a mortgage - ask your bank. However even if it's possible (which I doubt), it would be a bad idea to take a mortgage with a UK bank, because then you'd be stuck with a mortgage in pounds sterling, and be at the mercy of exchange rates for the life of the loan. You should be able to get a loan from an Australian bank, but I think you'd need to pretend you were buying an investment property, as otherwise they wouldn't be able to count your UK salaries as income. There's no obligation to actually find a tenant, and once you're ready to move in, you just notify them that you've decided to occupy. Just make sure it's a normal principal-and-interest loan and not interest-only. Alternatively, if you do have offers of employment, then a signed contract would be enough for most Australian banks to offer you a mortgage - however, depending on your occupations, getting job offers from overseas is extremely difficult and becoming even more so. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hethv Posted July 22, 2020 Author Share Posted July 22, 2020 Thank you. I’ve thought about pretty much all those things too lol mom happy for family to view property for me, but I’m beginning to think it might be more effort than it’s worth, but we have plenty of time to explore it properly. hubby is graduating next year as an Electronical engineer, and he’s already exploring employment websites and his degree is highly sort after in both the CBD and mining industry, so I’m not worried about him getting work pretty quickly. I’m a software developer and there’s definitely CBD opportunities for me as well, but depending on hubby’s income as to wether I look at employment for myself or not. I will jump on the careers thread a bit closer to the time of leaving to get advice on applying for work while living here for the last few months when he will have his visa so can apply for jobs. my biggest issue with renting first is uprooting the kids once we buy, finding a school in the rented area and then if we buy out of that suburb the kids will need to move school again, which I don’t want too, plus paying rent will eat up savings we are getting together for house deposit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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