StraighttothePoint

Sounds like you are buying into a long term commute then. If that is the case then I would definately get as close to a station as you possibly can because it will help keep the person commuting sane Walking to the station has to be a big plus and therefore Trinity / Butler / Clarkson / Somerley / Currambine and Kinross in the north have to be worth a look. If you think long term then salaries will increase and you may have a second income. Pushing the boat out a bit now on rent may pay dividends later for in relation to your ongoing lifestyle. If that is something you are prepared to consider then Curambine and Kinross are really god options. One cheaper option could be Trinity. It is brand new and in a years time Butler station will be open which if you position yourself correctly would be within walking distance or at least a 5 minute bus journey so no need to take car to the station. In the meantime the area is served by Clarkson Station which is about the same drive as SH is to a station. If you located there you could do the car journey few months and then use Butler station when it opens. The thing about Trinity though is that there will be a new station for sure but SH will not have one closer soon, if at all. Good luck

A few thoughts. How often do you plan to go the beach in the winter? (If not a lot do not get totally sucked into the Brits by the Beach thinking, is it really necessary? Handy for sea breeze a few weeks of the year but all main roads lead to the ocean and the mumerous beaches.) Do you think you will always need to communte to the CBD or is this just a short term thing? If the answer is probably then that puts a big emphasis on the commute becasue if you have to do it for years and years then I would perhaps sacrifice being near the beach to being much nearer to a train station. Commuting is only gte to get worse in Perth not better. Do not listen to the pollies because it is an election and they are promising the earth here quickly in terms of improvements but you can bet as history has shown they will deliver very, very slowly. What is reasonably priced mean to you guys? Means one thing to one person and something completely different to another. I suppose the question is what is your budget figure for renting or buying if that is the path you are going down? That will narrow down your options in terms of suburbs near a train station or a beach if you still go down that route.

If you send me your CV via a private message then I will match against who we currently employ and also against recent applicants. If you are of the same standard, experience and skill set I will let you know. If you are not then I will still let you know

You are bang on djj. You need to be here to have any chance of getting a job in this sector. As for recruitment companies the reality is that there are not as many jobs as people think and they all advertise the same jobs with different wording. Once you are here and understand the market these duplications are easy to spot. The other thing about here is that there are limited jobs in certain areas and so informatio sharing is not something that they are comfortable with here. Networking anf information sharing between the incomers is common though and sure that if you find out LinkedIn connections that would be a useful route to go. Good luck

Just to clarify Porty I mean when we do get humidity, especially overnight, it is horrendous. You are right but we do not get a lot so we can be thankful for that. Also I think you are lucky living in The Shire because as you say everything has a different feel about it. Freo does not always have the same temps as other parts of Perth, especially inner Perth, and of course you get the Doctor first and on many occasions you get it while many of us never feel a puff of wind let alone a breeze. I stick by what I say though and Perth summers, when they are hot and days are high temps for long periods and the breeze is limited are not good for many of us.

Is'nt is weird how we are all different. I think it is the most stupid looking thing ever. Why would you? Still it is good that the world is made up of different folk otherwise it would be a boring place

Don't worry once you have been here a few years you get to hate them. Way, way too hot and the humidity hurts. Still the good news is that they only really last like that for 10 to 12 weeks

Does he review, advise recommend in relation to these areas (A consultant) or does he set up, implement and support these areas (A Systems Engineer or IT Systems Administrator)? If he does both then that is one line of opportunity (more niche work a possibility) but if he only has the skills to work in one of the areas then that opens other doors. Or are you just using a generic term here? When searching for jobs via any recruitment agency sites it will most likely be by job type. IT Consultancy in itself tends to be a niche market and good once you are established because you can set up, work for yourself and have more of a lifestyle existence which is ideal for living in Perth. IT consultant may not bring back much is online searches in relation to jobs. If you cannot not survive financially without a job on, or soon as possible, after arrival then the hands on work is perhaps a better option. Also bear in mind many people who come here take a step back before they can move forward which can be a bit of a shock but that is the reality of the place I am afraid. It is really a decision that can only be made based on need. I took the long game approach in my IT role here and set up an IT Management and Project Management business however income was low for the first few years, as it is with many start up companies, until contacts were established. Now it has been 10 years and the approach worked. No boss, no hassle, no 7.00am to 7.00pm days to work in a office miles from home and the freedom to enjoy Perth. There are IT jobs here but the majority tend to be hands on and sure if he goes down that route he will see some in the online recruitment sites, e.g. Seek. Good luck

Wow that is quite a statement. I understand your rationale but just to clarify you are going to import supplies, which is risky due to Perth's remote location, you are going to cook British style fish and chips (cod and haddock if the Brits want that - stated in a previous post) and you are not going to take phone orders which Aussie's do as second nature. Are these factors not narrowing down your market and increasing your business risk? I am not criticising anything you are thinking about, or trying to achieve, just highlighting things which to many, including myself, would seem like unusal tactics when starting up a new business in another country. I suppose by not taking phone orders you could be seen as creating a USP (unique selling point) and offering customers a new style of service.

Is that the daftie that drives around Joondalup in her convertible, in 30 odd degrees of heat with the roof down, with no hat?

If you do not get it sold to your neighbour, and you put it on the open market, and then it was not sold before you leave you can change any adverts to, "Viewing by appointment only". You can use the selling lawyer and/or agent depending who you decide who to use to then view the property on your behalf. They wll simply charge you a veiwing fee for each viewing they undertake. The advantage there is that when they get a call for a viewing they can sort it out direct with the prospective buyer as to viewing times. They will also be flexible and do it quickly. Alternatively who can ask your parents to do the viewings if the house is empty. The upside to that is you save on viewing fees but the downside is that it means that if a prospective buyer contacts the number of the agent / lawyer then they need to then sort out a time to view between the buyer and your parents. A bit messy but it can be done. Ask how much escorted viewing fees are when dealing with the estate agent and then the lawyer to see if it is a better method. Think the last time I did it that way it was twenty quid a viewing, probably a bit more now. On the verbal discussions with your neighbours you need to be very careful. You should not negogiate the price with them at all only give them an indication of the valuaton from the agent. Just say I got an agent in to assess the property and based on their visit and visual viewing, and their knowledge of the local property market, the valuation was in the region of xxxx but until you have the home report you cannot give them an exact figure. You could also say, if you were happy to do this, that if they are going to offer then you will give them first refusal. Also during that chat you need to ask them that they need to tell you one way or another that they are seriously interested. Give them a day or two to think about it and if they say yes then you can get yourself a lawyer at that point. Then you simply give them the name of your lawyer. If the neighbours say that they will only give you xxxx for the house after you say you need to get the lawyers involved then that is where you need to be careful and stick to your position, i.e. sorry but if you are seriously wanting to buy this then you need to speak to my lawyer. That will flush them out and prove if they are really serious or not. If they say ok at that point then the neighbours just get their lawyer to contact your lawyer to start the formal process. It is at that point you can get the home report done which would in turn give you the exact valuation. Your lawyer will then negogiate with their lawyers in relation to any formal offer the neighbours then make. Any offers will be made based on the home valuation report. Remember they could easily offer less than the valuation and that is one reason as to why you need a lawyer involved, i.e. to make sure you get the best price. You may end up taking less or indeed they may offer a bit more becuase you are giving them first refusal before going to the open market. Who knows because when it comes down o it eveyone is after a bargain and they may see this as a good option to get something cheap, i.e. you are telling them you are going and they may get the impression you want a quick sale. All above is based on selling to your neighbour. If you want to sell on the open market then just start that process now as per previous posts. If it was me I would not wait until you get the house saleable. (You have had the visa four years and now you have ony got a few months to go and so, being delicate here, you need to start making decisions and taking action immediately and not wait or waste anymore time.) You should get the estate agent in now, immediately, and during that chat just point out the things that you think need done beofre it can go on the market. Also bear in mind the agent will tell you what things they think you need to do to the house. Always a good way to get a reality check on the property. Then you can move to chatting to your neighbours asap. If you are serious with all this as I said perviously you can everything in place within a week or so. Nothing is hard here, honestly, it is just you need to follow a process. By the way out of interest where are you in Scotland?

It was confirmed earlier in these posts that the guy whose idea this is was looking for feedback on what people wanted by the way of fish as well. In the UK fish and chips means either cod and chips or haddock and chips so he conceded that the fish would need to be imported as well. This is I think is the big risk that Shovel Stu refers and therefore if there are delays in that then it would mean a British fish and chip shop advertising one thing and selling another because of delays of supplies of the main products. The reality is that we are so far away from anywhere here that relying that much on imports for the key aspects of your business is a huge risk.

It sounds as though this is tough for you. Have no no close friends who can help you through this? Anyone friends or relatives who have sold a property recently? As I say in my post the first thing to do is to gather together hard information and get it all down on paper. If you are thinking of selling tackle that first. Look in the papers, online at property sites and in estate agents windows to get a rough idea of what similar sized properties are selling for in your area. Also look at this site, register and it tells you exactly what houses have sold for in your area, and even in your street, over the last few years. http://www.ourproperty.co.uk If you want ask an estate agent to visit and say that you are thinking, just thinking, about selling and they will walk you through how much they think you can get. But remember the issue about the home reports because they will say it is needed. If you have their rough price and then you have done the research then you should know within a few days how much you can possibly get for your house. Then if you have that figure you can work out your finances, i.e. how much cash you will have to buy a house in Perth. Once you have that search through the REIWA site to see what you can afford. So in summary phone an agent immediately and get them in and get researching yourself with the things you can do. If you do this immediately in theory you can have the answers by the end of the week. Even if you are going to sell to a nighbour you should follow this process because it will give you a rough valuation. Then if you are happy with roughly the figure then you would still need, I am sure, to get a home report done to enable you to sell to your neighbour. You would may not want to use an agent here because they will arrange the home report and negogiate the sale to the neighbour but of course they will take a fee for doing that. You would still need to then appoint a lawyer to do the paperwork around any sale so approach one and get them to arrange the home report and do the paperwork. That way you will not need to pay estate agency fees. So in short use the agent to get information and then just go to a lawyer to do the sale. The risk here is of course that the neighbours say they like the valuation, you go to the trouble of getting the lawyer and home report and they pull out. However that being said if they do the lawyer can just put it on the market for you anyway. Again time wise this can all be sorted by say the end of next week. So for selling to your neighbour.... 1. Gather all the information from the papers, the various estate agents windows, the Our Property website and search online for houses on sale in your area. 2. Contact an estate agent and get them to visit saying that you are considering selling. Do not say at this point you are going to Oz. Get a rough valuation from them but do not commit further. 3. Work out if what you can buy or rent in Perth. 4. Contact your neighbours and say that you have a rough valuation of xxxx but it will only be truly confirmed if they want you to go ahead with a valuation report. This will also flush them out and show if theyare really interested or if it is all talk. Do not commit to anything with them about price. Just say that this is a ball park valuation. (I have sold four houses in Scotland in 8 years and every time the rough valuation was within a thousand pounds of the home report valuation. The agents verbal valuation and the report are usually around the same figure.) 5. If they are definately wanting to but go to a lawyer, (get a name of one from a close friend or relative if you do not use one at the moment), and tell them the whole story. They will arrange a home report, you pay for that, and then after that meeting you ask your neighbours to speak to their lawyer and to get them to speak to your lawyers. 6. The two lawyers will negogiate on price and your lawyer will tell you the best offer. 7. You can then decide to take the neighbours offer or go onto the open market. So for renting out officially.... 1. Approach a property agent and ask them to visit and they will tell you how much they think you can get for a monthly rent. Property agents are in the phone book and sometimes are part of an estate agents business. They are also part of a lawyers business where the lawyer offers property services. Just google for them. 2. They will advise you of anything you need to do to your house to bring it up to the point of being able to rent out, e.g. there are health and safety issues that need to be 100% correct before an agent will take on board a property to manage. 3. The agent markets the property, gets you a tenant and also looks after everything for you when you are away. 3. Property managers will take circa 10% of the monthly rent as their fees. For renting out doing it yourself. To be honest reading your posts have you the experience, energy and time to do this yourself? If you did go down that road you need to find the tenant, get all the necessary paperwork in place and then get someone else to manage the property and the tenant for you. A big responsibility to be honest for somebody when you are not there unless they have past experience. I know it is hard but you need to get the figures down on paper so that you have any chance of understanding all the implications. On the face of it selling to your neighbours looks like the best answer for you. Perhaps it is best that you make a quick decision and put all your efforts into selling to them in the first instance. If you go through that first then, if they are serious, it will only take a couple of weeks or three at the most, to get that sale decided. If they pull out at least they will do that soon and then you can consider either selling on the open market or renting via a property agent at that point. The secret I guess is not to try and solve everything at once. Make a decision on one thing and put all your time and effort into that. Good luck.

I think what happens here is that a lot of folk phone ahead for orders and the shops are cooking those and not serving walk in's and also they cook to order. Like you I found it, well I will say different not annoying, because once you know why it makes sense. It was usually around a certain time anyway and no biggie. Of course you would not phone and order a bag of chips so you either wait awhile (WA) or stop going. The guy won't go bust if he does not sell a bag of chips so he does not care either way

The first thing you need to bear in mind is that selling a house in Scotland is completely different to any other parts of the UK due to our legal system, we have our own remember. Also we still use Home Reports in each sale. Much of the advice you may get on here could be from non-Scots so just be aware of that and read over this information first to get a good understanding of what you need to do in Scotland. http://www.s1homes.com/scottish-property-selling-guide/ It means that even if you want to sell it privately to your neighbours there is still the need for a home report and also legal fees which can vary. Also bear in mind there are estate agnets in Scotland but if you use one of those you still need to appoint a lawyer. If you use a lawyer who has a property arm to their business then you are only dealing with one point of contact. I have always used the latter when selling any of my properties. Do you have a lawyer? If so check if they have a property arm to their business. As for free valuations you can ask an estate agent to visit but they will only give you a some guidance and rough figures for your area. The real valaution can only be done via a home report regardless of who you use. That all said given what is happening here in Perth, in terms of the inflated cost of both buying a house and renting, have you worked out what you will need here to do either of those things? I think by possibly doing all the maths first then you will see which way you can solve the problem because you will know what hard numbers in terms of pounds and dollars you have to work with. Figures first and then look at the options is a good way to develop your plan. Anyway if you were to sell your property in Scotland convert what cash you will have left from any sale and add in any other money you can afford to add to that and convert the total to Aussie dollars. Then go to this site and see what you could afford to buy in Perth. (You may need to take out a mortgage here to supplement your cash total.) You may get a shock, you may not as to prices here because we have no idea as to what you have cash wise but it will at least bring you up to speed on selling there and buying here. http://reiwa.com.au/home/default.aspx To be honest unless you are cashed up you should really consider either leaving your house empty or renting if you need to, come out, rent here and see how you like it and then if all ok and you extend your visa or stay here permanently then sell later. The benefits of that are:- 1.that at the moment you are potentially trying to sell in a depressed Scottish housing market and by waiting it may improve, 2. you will see if you can settle in Perth, it is not everyone's cup of tea, and 3. if it all is not what you like then you just go back with no need to worry about having to know where to stay. I appreciate that you may not be able to leave it empty but it would be worthwhile doing the math anyway because if you can then all it needs is for somebody to check on it now and again. Your parents could do that for you. If you need to rent out your property in Scotland then the reality is you can do it yourself by advertising for tenants and using your parents to check on the tenants and the property. The downside to that is of course that is a risk, e.g a big responsibility for your parents if you have either problems with your tenants and/or property repairs. If you do it yourself you can choose who and how much you tell about the situation. (I would not recommend it but it is an option.) The other option is you simply put it into the hands of a property agent. Most lawyers in Scotland have property arms to their business and so by using one you get all the legals and the property management under one roof. The benefits there are they do all the work, including getting a tenant, but of course you pay them a fee and it is more expensive for you. Again you need to sit down and do the math. If you choose to rent in Perth then the REIWA site above also lets you research rentals and depending on what size of property you need then anthing from $350 to $650+ a week is not unusual. I am sure loads of folk have gone through what you are facing but without you knowing the numbers it will be very difficult for you to make any detailed decisons i would have thought so either Exel or a big sheet of A4 is probably the next best step.

To give folk an idea of your budget what do you mean by cheap? Unfortunately cheap here is totally different to cheap in the UK Your idea of a budget in turn will both direct you to the type of accommodation you can get for that price and also any advice you need. So how much basically do you want to commit per week? Bearing in mind that everyman and his dog is looking for accommodation in Perth your options may become limited. If you are on your own then a room is a shared flat is a good option and gumtree is a good starting point. Back packers hostels here, in some cases, are the equivalent to budget hotels in the UK and do not relate to the youth hostels in the UK. Be worth while googling some of those to be honest given you are on your own and it is only short term.

I have sent you a private message.

I saw your post and was wondering if you are going back to Scotland? If so can I private message you or phone you? I live between Perth, Joondalup, and Fife and need some advice / help re a transportation issue.

There seems to be a lot of issues surrounding new arrivals and the difficulty everyone is facing in terms of trying to secure long term rentals. It perhaps would be good if people could share their experiences and let others know what they did, or are planning to do, if they did not go straight into a long term rental or stay with relatives when they first arrived. If you came over in the last couple of years or so:- Who was / is involved, i.e how many people? Where did you stay or Where are you planning to stay, i.e not with relatives or straight to a long term rental? What type of accommodation was it / is it, e.g. holiday home, short term let, rooms in a private home, granny flat, hotel, camp site etc? How long were you there for / Do you plan to stay for? How much did it cost per week? What did / does it include as part of the accommodation package cost? e.g. all utility costs, food starter pack, pick up from airport etc. Any other comments? e.g Was it a long enough stay?, Did you / Did you / Can you break the agreement if you get a long term rental soooner than expected? etc etc

The issue here, like it or laothe it, there are some facts in the points noted. Over run by excessive cost - IMO true - greed is everywhere. Slowly following the p/c agenda - IMO true - example is not that long ago you could park your car by the road with a for sale sign on it and now you get a ticket for doing that. This was a Perth (Aussie) way and now the no faces have stopped you doing it. Still no new stadium - IMO true - one reason why Australia never got the World Cup was because some of the stadia were not up to spec and there was no plan of action for Perth for a new one to fit the bill. They are sport mad here and it has taken 10 years plus of talking to even get to the stage we are at now. Worst Australian Newspaper - come on it is a shocker!! It is hard for a lot of folk to accept that other views are valid. Perth was a great place but now it is a good place. Better than many places but definately not the best. And before anyone has a go this is only my view. I am sure that others think this place is the dogs wotsits. But remember this - it is what other things you have done in your life that forms your views especially as you get older and gain more experience. If you have simply left a run down inner city or drab suburb in some massive connurbation then when you come and live here you will think you are in heaven. If however your experiences are wider then may be this city, and all it stands for currently (the $) are not all it is cracked up to what it is supposed to be. Only a view. However I am not sure if I was to jump ship that Cambodia would be on the short list. Does it even have plumbing?

Yeah I agree the suggestion of trying to sell to both markets would not fly, daft idea by me, but only thinking of the middle ground as an option and probably not work in reality. There is definately potential as you say and you would sell the product for sure. Like you I see Union Jack branding as being tacky and you would be better branding the business differently. Are you going to do the figures from NZ or are you going to wait until you get to WA and start the whole process? I suppose you could work on budget figures when in NZ and firm them up on arrival. That is what we did when we were starting up our business. We were out by a bit though because of some hidden costs that we were unaware of but I suppose that is to be expected. The big thing for us though was dealing with local councils and the legal stuff, all a nightmare in terms of actually starting up. Anyway if you do go for this good luck and you should keep this site posted as I am sure conatct wise it will help.

Really good that you are trying to start this but one problem may be that in the not too distant future, like in a month, it could be far too hot to run at night. Mornings are the go but appreciate how hard that might be to arrange. And when I say mornings I mean 6.00am or 6.30am when it is cool enough to run. Not sure how many of you have been through a Perth summer?

Still want a job at $2500 per week? If you are a BA or a senior PM in the technolocgt sector PM me!!

Yep my apologies I was looking at another payslip and got my calculator figures round the wrong way when doing the sums. $177k per annum plus super is more like $2500 per week plus super. It still goes back to how much debt do you want to carry re the standard of living question I suppose. It is probably still a very good wage in comparison to what a large number of people in Perth are earning.

Remember all you need to update the Facebook page to Perth "The" Rangers club because as you know Rangers FC do not exist anymore