Guest ceyclaire Posted April 3, 2013 Report Share Posted April 3, 2013 Me and hubby are good to go visa wise etc... , but beginning to wonder if living the dream life in the dream house really is just a dream ? I'm a nurse and hubby is a sparky so thinking wages would be about 120k ish per year combined salary. But if I'm going to have the dream home it means spending about 450k on a house.We would be putting approx 100k deposit down leaving a massive 350k mortgage at 40 year old ! With 2 children and all the other obvious monthly bills to pay including needing to purchase a car , am I dreaming of affording this kind of property and need to lower my sights ??? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ali Posted April 3, 2013 Report Share Posted April 3, 2013 What's your dream? May be differenent for everyone. What's your dream house? In the time we applied for a visa, we saw ourselves from buying outright to having a mortgage due to rising house prices, we put down a 40% deposit and managed to pay the mortgage on a similar combined salary when we arrived. Don't rush into buying though - check out the areas, your commute to work etc., they may all make a difference Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Give me a break! Posted April 4, 2013 Report Share Posted April 4, 2013 I'd have thought as a sparky you'd be on more money than that but as Ali said perhaps don't expect the dream house straght away work for it. Yes you can have a fantastic life here but no one is going to just give it to you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Goat Posted April 4, 2013 Report Share Posted April 4, 2013 The first thing , is cut the "dream " crap, it's a great life but you have to work hard at it , 450 that's average for a house , and dream house , until you have lived on one I would reserve judgement , ie caravan windows lol. IME The people coming with a level head take OT in your stride , enjoy it here , the living the dream lot tend to go back after a time sometimes short as reality dosent reflect the dream Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Goat Posted April 4, 2013 Report Share Posted April 4, 2013 Me and hubby are good to go visa wise etc... , but beginning to wonder if living the dream life in the dream house really is just a dream ? I'm a nurse and hubby is a sparky so thinking wages would be about 120k ish per year combined salary. But if I'm going to have the dream home it means spending about 450k on a house.We would be putting approx 100k deposit down leaving a massive 350k mortgage at 40 year old ! With 2 children and all the other obvious monthly bills to pay including needing to purchase a car , am I dreaming of affording this kind of property and need to lower my sights ??? Depending on your nursing experience and your workin hours you would be on more than 120k when your old man gets his class A Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
portlaunay Posted April 4, 2013 Report Share Posted April 4, 2013 IME The people coming with a level head take OT in your stride , enjoy it here , the living the dream lot tend to go back after a time sometimes short as reality dosent reflect the dream Agree with this. There seems to be a number of expats who come over, expect to be able to pick the best of ten job offers 'in the mines' without actually understanding what that is, earn $200k+ and have sea views, a Porsche and a yacht in the first week. They return disillusioned and seriously out of pocket. I'm not saying that is you but I think you should consider where you are now, what you want to achieve in 2, 5, 10 years and perhaps form some sort of plan about achieving that. I also think you should consider whether a 'dream' house is really that important. Maybe it's just me, I do feel like I have a different perspective a lot of the time to many on this forum but when you have your dream house, whatever that looks like, then what? And at what cost? I've always felt an affinity with Le Corbusier's words; that a house is merely a "machine for living in" and I believe it is even more so here. Once the physiological and security needs are taken care of you can begin to satisfy the other aspects of your life and for me, a house does nothing to contribute to these. We spend little time in our house, it is a functional item in our lives and an important one but there's a friggin ocean across the road, a stunning river, parks, wineries, camping, an endless sky, new, interesting and challenging cultural differences to experience, friends to make, a community to contribute to and an endless list of stuff to do. When we first arrived (in winter), for the first month we lived in a shed, I kid you not, the walls and the floor were strangers who seldom met and the wind tore a mighty wedge between them. We were paying $800 p/w and I thought "what the frak have we done?" We now look back and laugh about it. You know all that crap you have to deal with in the UK - stress of work, paying bills, parking tickets, politics etc? Well it's here too and it will get you down but when that happens I always consider 'I could be in the UK' and I realise it could be so much worse, I'm the luckiest man alive. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rosshf Posted April 4, 2013 Report Share Posted April 4, 2013 Agree with this. There seems to be a number of expats who come over, expect to be able to pick the best of ten job offers 'in the mines' without actually understanding what that is, earn $200k+ and have sea views, a Porsche and a yacht in the first week. They return disillusioned and seriously out of pocket.I'm not saying that is you but I think you should consider where you are now, what you want to achieve in 2, 5, 10 years and perhaps form some sort of plan about achieving that. I also think you should consider whether a 'dream' house is really that important. Maybe it's just me, I do feel like I have a different perspective a lot of the time to many on this forum but when you have your dream house, whatever that looks like, then what? And at what cost? I've always felt an affinity with Le Corbusier's words; that a house is merely a "machine for living in" and I believe it is even more so here. Once the physiological and security needs are taken care of you can begin to satisfy the other aspects of your life and for me, a house does nothing to contribute to these. We spend little time in our house, it is a functional item in our lives and an important one but there's a friggin ocean across the road, a stunning river, parks, wineries, camping, an endless sky, new, interesting and challenging cultural differences to experience, friends to make, a community to contribute to and an endless list of stuff to do. When we first arrived (in winter), for the first month we lived in a shed, I kid you not, the walls and the floor were strangers who seldom met and the wind tore a mighty wedge between them. We were paying $800 p/w and I thought "what the frak have we done?" We now look back and laugh about it. You know all that crap you have to deal with in the UK - stress of work, paying bills, parking tickets, politics etc? Well it's here too and it will get you down but when that happens I always consider 'I could be in the UK' and I realise it could be so much worse, I'm the luckiest man alive. That's pretty much what I was going to say, but I'd have quoted Nietzsche instead (not really). Excellent post. My mates think we spend all our time on the beach and having BBQs. The reality is we are too busy to do that and one of our kids always tries to eat the beach anyway. Incidentally my idea of a dream houses costs more than 450k ;-) Cheers Ross Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SusieQ Posted April 4, 2013 Report Share Posted April 4, 2013 Living the dream!! sorry there is more to coming to Australia than living the dream. be happy that you have 100K deposit and that as a nurse you will secure work quickly. We came with not a lot of money 4 years ago..housing slump in UK and paying debts left us with very little...rented since we have arrived, hubby been working away for 18 months now 4/1 roster and we have today been told he has no work now from Saturday..so he will get his bonus about $25K and this will be our deposit to finally buy our own house! he is 53 this year and I am 46 and we have 3 kids.....but you know what we wouldn't change where we live it may not be a dream life but its our life and we are pretty happy with it. Come with no expectations and you will not be disappointed. As goat said come expecting a dream life you will be disappointed. Good Luck Sue Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nicolac34 Posted April 4, 2013 Report Share Posted April 4, 2013 Where is this dream house for $450k?? The 'dream' houses I look at top $2m! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StraighttothePoint Posted April 4, 2013 Report Share Posted April 4, 2013 Living in the UK brings with a lot of poor weather and so we spend more time indoors than here in Oz. It is our main base, place of entertainment and for the folk below the border, their castle". (Never understood that one, anyway moving on.....) In many cases in the UK houses are smaller, cramped and older style. This explains why housing, for many, is important if you have been brought up in the UK. It is seen as a priority. You try to get a better house, bigger and more comfortable and you work towards that over the years. So if you have these thougts in your head and then you come out here and see what is available including some of these brand new, shiny, big, modern homes in a new estate for example you could get easily exicted. You think compared to what you currently have they are great and the opportunity must be the same for all because everyone has one. You are immediately caught, trapped like a rabbit in the headlights. You do not appreciate that they are only a few blocks banged togther, with some timber and sheeting put on top and are way over priced for what they are. But hey the showhouses look great eh.... We do not know as Ali says, yet anyway, why ceyclaire says "if living the dream life in the dream house really is just a dream"? What is the dream? Maybe she thinks that the dream is a big, new, shiny house in an estate in the middle of nowhere? Maybe it is that for $450k she thinks you get a lot for your buck? Maybe it is because she is currently living in, what she thinks, is a poorer environment or maybe she just uses these terms because it is, after all, a dream for many to leave and have more in what they consider to be a better life or a better house or both or something else? Dreams are different things to different people. Like Goat however, to me the dream stuff is sort of nonsense. The reality is unless you come here to retire, or semi retire, or you manage to set yourself up with no major debt (like no mortgage) then you will end up working as hard, if not harder, to maintain whatever you get yourself into. And for $450k, with a large chuck of that being debt and with more needed on top to live, you will at times certainly feel was it worth it. But what you face is no different to the thousands of others that are arriving here from all over the world. It is what it is and if you come here knowing the current state, and these threads are full of reality checks, then good luck to you and go for it. As for the question, do I need to lower my sights? It is an economic decision I am afraid. If you want to budget $450k, with a big chunk being mortgage, it will get you a new house in a new estate or an older style house in older suburbs. (Does the $450k include the stamp duty by the way? If not then you can only buy an older house for circa $430k because the governemnt stamp duty takes care of the other $20k.) Again you do not say where you would like to be so hard to comment on suburb options if you want to buy an existing house. In addition how much disposbale income will you need on top of the mortgage? Have you roughly worked that out yet? If you work out the other expenditure and work backwards then you will see the "real" figure you have available for a mortgage. Of course you can scrimp and save on everthing for the sake of being able to pay a bigger mortgage. All up to you really and as I say an economic decision. if you need a excel spreasheet to help you put together a budget PM me and give me your e-mail address and I will send you a copy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StraighttothePoint Posted April 4, 2013 Report Share Posted April 4, 2013 Where is this dream house for $450k?? The 'dream' houses I look at top $2m! Nah.... I have the dream house here in Joondalup. A typical, suburban, non flash no mortgage type dream house!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elfie Posted April 4, 2013 Report Share Posted April 4, 2013 well my dream home is back in wales with my veg plot chicken run and fish pond oh and i will be able to have all the goddam pets i like oh and will be able to afford a new car will be going back there in 3 1/2 years lololol to a real solid stone build house - my home was built in 1805 yeahhhhhhhh not a blinking prefab double brick type home as here happy days ) each and everyone one to their own as long as they are happy eh then thats where the dream will be Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SusieQ Posted April 4, 2013 Report Share Posted April 4, 2013 WOW Elfie..you going back for keeps! Good luck x Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nicolac34 Posted April 4, 2013 Report Share Posted April 4, 2013 Nah.... I have the dream house here in Joondalup. A typical, suburban, non flash no mortgage type dream house!! I think if I had no mortgage then my house would be a dream house too! However having just purchased for $420k (with a 5% deposit) and only having made one reapyment so far (of which only $200 was off the capital!!) then I think I'm quite far away from the dream Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest9824 Posted April 4, 2013 Report Share Posted April 4, 2013 well my dream home is back in wales with my veg plot chicken run and fish pond oh and i will be able to have all the goddam pets i like oh and will be able to afford a new car will be going back there in 3 1/2 years lololol to a real solid stone build house - my home was built in 1805 yeahhhhhhhh not a blinking prefab double brick type home as here happy days ) each and everyone one to their own as long as they are happy eh then thats where the dream will be Love your honesty! pea Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elfie Posted April 4, 2013 Report Share Posted April 4, 2013 WOW Elfie..you going back for keeps! Good luck x Hi Susie Q Yes we will be going back to Wales which was our plans all along miss friends and family and the life style we had there. Australia is ok am not in love with the place but do not hate it either. Its not that I havent settled because I have, I settle any where its the type of person I am, but I know its not for the rest of my life. We are enjoying our time here presently we have a goal which we hope to reach before leaving, but if we do not then its not a problem either. I dont want to pay extortionate rent or mortgage here when I can live rent mortgage free in the UK makes sense really. My hubbie will pick up work back home so thats not a problem and no doubt I will back doing what I did before I left the UK. I cannot get work here as the job I did back home in the UK does not exist as mental health services are so far behind and very much under funded - which is strange as mental health probs are huge here as are substance misuse.......................................... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest ceyclaire Posted April 4, 2013 Report Share Posted April 4, 2013 Thanks for all the comments guys , for us living the dream means living in a fairly large 4 bed house with a vastly improved lifestyle , for example we currently live in a 3 bed semi which don't get me wrong is a lovely house in a nice area but our houses are small and cramped considering how much time you spend in them with the UK weather , a small garden which gets used 2 months of the year , again because of the weather !!! Don't get me wrong we realise that achieving the dream or should I just say achieving the better home and lifestyle won't be plain sailing , there will be lots of ups and downs and it will take a lot of hard work to get there. We have both worked damn hard in the UK to get where we are now and I wouldn't expect that to be any different in Oz. We were in Oz in march just gone and after having a good look around we really liked halls head mandurah .WE realise that the rental market is fierce and you'll probably end up renting a house that you don't really like for a year or two but after this period providing we have settled we would like to buy.My original post was just to get an idea from people who are there now , and if having a 350000k ish mortgage with all your other usual bills , living costs etc for a family of four was realistic.We have done a lot of research but I suppose until you are actually there will you realise where you stand finacially... Thanks for reading... ... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jackboots Posted April 4, 2013 Report Share Posted April 4, 2013 (edited) Tbh , most houses over here wipe the floor size wise to houses in the UK .. it's the garden's that get smaller that's my opinion .. we are here with a mortgage when we had nearly none in the UK .. the thing i think is, if its a worry for when your gone and you want to leave something , the kids still get the house and they can take the equity out of it .. Its all relative one person dream is anothers nightmare and visa versa ! good luck with it all ... Edited April 4, 2013 by jackboots Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest ceyclaire Posted April 4, 2013 Report Share Posted April 4, 2013 Thanks jackboots... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StraighttothePoint Posted April 5, 2013 Report Share Posted April 5, 2013 Tbh , most houses over here wipe the floor size wise to houses in the UK .. it's the garden's that get smaller that's my opinion .. Spot on. Back in the day you bought a block that let you have both, i.e. a good sized house with a big garden, out door area. Now you get lost in these new houses and are squashed outside. Weird. Computer nooks? What the flipping heck are those for? Corridors that have seating areas in them? What the.... Mind you I suppose the one good thing is that because they are so big every family member can sit in their own area of the house and over a period of time lose complete contact with each other!! Who says the art of conversation and human interaction is dying? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StraighttothePoint Posted April 5, 2013 Report Share Posted April 5, 2013 Thanks for all the comments guys , for us living the dream means living in a fairly large 4 bed house with a vastly improved lifestyle. if having a 350000k ish mortgage with all your other usual bills , living costs etc for a family of four was realistic.We have done a lot of research but I suppose until you are actually there will you realise where you stand finacially... Thanks for reading... ... Good to understand the dream.... If it is the bigger house that is part of the attraction then good on you. Not sure if I agree with you totally about the last bit though. You do not need to be here to see how you stand financially, you can get a rough idea now. At the end of my post I offered to send you a spreadsheet that would help you work out what your income and expenditure would look like and help you see what you would have left over at the end of a week, month etc. after outgoings. If you put the figures into that then you would at least get a rough idea of how realistic your Perth budget would be. Offer still there. If you want a copy just PM me and I will send you it. Anyone else wants it as well just PM me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nikkis2000 Posted April 5, 2013 Report Share Posted April 5, 2013 Hi all, I'm at the point in application process when you're in that lull because you are waiting for everyone else, and it's a bit difficult to keep "the dream" alive. I was just sitting here reading through this thread and it had started me questioning my motivation for the move. I'd just got to this last comment and looked up to see my friend who is wearing a t-shirt with the slogan "You only Live Once" emblazoned on the front. We have a large mortgage in this country and will have an even larger one when we eventually buy over there but............... Motivation restored! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ali Posted April 5, 2013 Report Share Posted April 5, 2013 Tbh , most houses over here wipe the floor size wise to houses in the UK .. it's the garden's that get smaller that's my opinion .. we are here with a mortgage when we had nearly none in the UK .. the thing i think is, if its a worry for when your gone and you want to leave something , the kids still get the house and they can take the equity out of it .. Its all relative one person dream is anothers nightmare and visa versa ! good luck with it all ... We're pretty lucky in that we have a good sized house with 2 outdoor covered areas, a reasonable garden and a pool, although it is in an older, but very nice suburb (as you know lol). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jackboots Posted April 5, 2013 Report Share Posted April 5, 2013 Ha has I picked up my deli sandwich today from the shops on farrington rd, on our drive to sterling .. yummy .. and said ...I love this suburb ! lol .. I got grunted at Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mad Cow Posted April 5, 2013 Report Share Posted April 5, 2013 Thanks for all the comments guys , for us living the dream means living in a fairly large 4 bed house with a vastly improved lifestyle , for example we currently live in a 3 bed semi which don't get me wrong is a lovely house in a nice area but our houses are small and cramped considering how much time you spend in them with the UK weather , a small garden which gets used 2 months of the year , again because of the weather !!! Don't get me wrong we realise that achieving the dream or should I just say achieving the better home and lifestyle won't be plain sailing , there will be lots of ups and downs and it will take a lot of hard work to get there. We have both worked damn hard in the UK to get where we are now and I wouldn't expect that to be any different in Oz. We were in Oz in march just gone and after having a good look around we really liked halls head mandurah .WE realise that the rental market is fierce and you'll probably end up renting a house that you don't really like for a year or two but after this period providing we have settled we would like to buy.My original post was just to get an idea from people who are there now , and if having a 350000k ish mortgage with all your other usual bills , living costs etc for a family of four was realistic.We have done a lot of research but I suppose until you are actually there will you realise where you stand finacially... Thanks for reading... ... We built a large 4x2 three years ago. Lovely house, we rented for two years before that. We were lucky in that we rented some lovely houses in nice areas. We have just recently sold the house as its just too large for the two of us. We are having a 3x2 built nearer the beach that suits our needs. We need a home but spend a lot of our time either at work or out and about. I'm over the large house tbh. We made a good profit to be able to build the next one so, in that respect, the large house served its purpose. We spend a lot of time outdoors but away from home. If you have kids then its important that you have the space that you need. Different for us. I would say in answer to the op, we are not living a dream, but a good life. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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