Buying house

[Smithers]

Hi all

whats the earliest anyone as bought a house after arriving in aus?

originally we were thinking of waiting a year, getting to know the suburbs that we like from previous visits better. But keep thinking of all that rent we will be paying out as well as if there is any price inflation over the year.

thanks for any help

steve & lesley

[NicF]

We bought a block of land after about a month. Bit different for us though as my OH is from Adelaide and we had been over for holidays 7 times and had spent the last holiday before moving having a good look around areas to get an idea of where we might like to live when we moved.

[Lazy Cow]

We moved into 'our' house within eight weeks of arriving.

 

We moved straight from our OAA (OAA= On Arrival Accommodation, which is no longer offered by the State, but was a fantastic privilege) to the home we still live in.

 

We chose our home because it was within walking distance of everything the kids would need, not far from the beach, or the CBD. We didn't think too hard about where my oh's job might be, because he had been used to commuting in the UK. We were too naive to recognise the potential impact should he gain employment in the northern suburbs or further out.

 

It worked out for us, but I have wondered over the years whether we would have been better off living somewhere else. Then I come back to the fact that 'here' has offered us everything we deemed important, plus I was absolutely focused on making our lives solid again. I wanted my house back, school, shops, library, sports facilities etc back as they were in the UK.

 

I feel it helped us settle, but that was just us. We were lucky. We knew a lovely family who also bought very quickly. The house was good, but unfortunately one member of the family was so overwhelmingly homesick for the UK. They sold within six months, which is a costly procedure in SA.

 

IDK if that helps at all. In the end I suppose you will have to go with your gut feeling, plus whether you need / can get a mortgage.

 

LC

[snifter]

We bought after 7 months. Where we settled wasn't at all where we had first considered buying. Just over a few months and us realising what we did and didn't want from an area here, we shifted our focus more.

 

I do think LC makes a valid point about buying early and then perhaps finding homesickness or some such is an issue.

 

I don't think renting for 6 months or a year is lost money. It can save you a lot of heartache potentially. For example, the school a person likes may be zoned. And buying in that zone is not possible but renting for a year is. Would mean kids can at d the school and then later on you can buy outside he zone in a less pricey area. Same with homesickness, would give a chance to find your feet and get to grips with things. Also work, as LC said, you could buy one place and then find a job miles away and an hour plus commute each way every day.

 

Buying early if you are really confident in the area, work commute and all the other factors can work, but if unsure about things I'd wait a little while at least. It's 3 months employment iirc for a mortgage generally although much will depend on your own savings etc towards it.

Edited November 24, 2014 by snifter

[Guest Guest75]

Before we arrived...............

 

We had been doing reccie trips though. It was a bit different and did fit our needs.

No worries about the neighborhood as we did not have that many neighbors as it was a small farm.

We needed a certain layout for business as well.

So we sorted before we formally arrived.

 

 

BUT................it was mad in some respects.

 

Suburbs here can be very different to what you would originally expect.

A lot of the inner suburbs surrounding the city itself are all very similar so you may be OK there.

 

 

 

 

Renting for a year does give you the luxury of choice and really gives you the feel of an area.

 

The stamp duty at 4% ( $15 to $30,000) on a median house means you had better like the area for a while until your value rises ( which is slow at the moment). It's an expensive mistake if you really need to sell up an move after a year!!

Certainly swallows up all that rent you saved.

[zebedee]

We bought after a year of renting - and ended up about 40km away from our rental place. It really helped as we needed time to explore Adelaide and the surrounding area - we probably found it the hardest part of moving here, trying to work out where we wanted to settle properly. We also bought within a year because eldest daughter was due to start high school and we wanted to be settled for her. In some ways I miss renting though - our first year was pretty care free, we had plenty of spare cash for trips out, but it's also good to have your own place again.

[Tamara (Homes Down Under)]

We bought a house after 3 weeks.

Started out in a short term rental a few km down the coast and hired a car from day 1. Drove around for the next few weeks and fell for Port Noarlunga. The property had two structures, a second granny flat which was really important at the time. It was a toss up between port Noarlunga and Hallett Cove but the right house cam up in Port Noarlunga first.

Bit of a jump into the unknown really. Had never been here before but it felt right.

[wizzywozza]

I have friends who bought before arriving, having NEVER been to Australia let alone Adelaide. I viewed the place for them (and at that time I had never met them in person, only via the internet). They also bought a lovely brand new car which was delivered to me and I picked them up at the airport in it and took them to their new home which they loved on sight.

 

On the other hand I've been here almost 24 years and still rent.

[Rammygirl]

The stamp duty is a big factor. Making us want to get it right. We need something that will last the course and our requirements are not really focussed at the moment as still have s 21 year old at home. Need three beds now, but when he goes want to downsize to two.

[Smithers]

The stamp duty is a big factor. Making us want to get it right. We need something that will last the course and our requirements are not really focussed at the moment as still have s 21 year old at home. Need three beds now, but when he goes want to downsize to two.

 

Yes agree the stamp duty isn't nice, am I correct in thinking it's the highest in Australia?

is there any sign of it ever being reduced?!!

thanks for your input

steve& lesley

[Rammygirl]

What reduce taxes

[NeilW]

Yes, it is. I doubt it will be reduced in the short to medium term. As a general rule of thumb, you require 5% deposit, and 5% for costs (Stamp Duties, Conveyancing etc) as a minimum when purchasing in SA. Therefore if you have 10% of the purchase price saved, and you can service the debt, then you are well on the way. If you have more, then you can reduce the amount of Lenders Mortgage Insurance you pay. If you can throw in 20% of the property value, plus those 5% costs, then you won't pay any mortgage insurance at all.

[Smithers]

Hi neil

thanks for the info, does the larger the amount you put down as deposit secure a better interest rate as it does here?

Cheers

steve

[NeilW]

Not so much deposit size, rather the overall loan amount. The larger the loan, the better the rate. Having said that, rates are competitive here at present, so there are good rates to be had whether you are borrowing $100k or $1m.

[dudleycat]

Great thread Smithers. Useful information for my husband and I. We are coming over for a 6 week reccie next Wednesday and having never been to adelaide before, have a list as long as our arm of suburbs to investigate! Lazy cow, if you are reading this, I'm fascinated to know where you live as close to the city and the beach is our major factor (we have no kids to consider though)

We are planning on moving over around May next year and possibily renting for a while, but really unsure for how long, so will keep an eye on responses

 

thanks for posting!

 

dc

[Bal67]

Hi all

whats the earliest anyone as bought a house after arriving in aus?

originally we were thinking of waiting a year, getting to know the suburbs that we like from previous visits better. But keep thinking of all that rent we will be paying out as well as if there is any price inflation over the year.

thanks for any help

steve & lesley

 

6 months and the best thing we have done renting is dead money!!!

[Karthik]

Wizzywozza, I guess you are the expert here in helping migrants to buy a new home. Hope we can take your assistance and guidance in property purchases in 2015 when we arrive !

[Smithers]

Great thread Smithers. Useful information for my husband and I. We are coming over for a 6 week reccie next Wednesday and having never been to adelaide before, have a list as long as our arm of suburbs to investigate! Lazy cow, if you are reading this, I'm fascinated to know where you live as close to the city and the beach is our major factor (we have no kids to consider though)

We are planning on moving over around May next year and possibily renting for a while, but really unsure for how long, so will keep an eye on responses

 

thanks for posting

 

Thanks dc

we too are arriving May next year just the two of us no kids.

we are looking at suburbs near to Brighton or Henley beach

enjoy your reccie and hope you like what you see

all the best

steve & lesley

[Lazy Cow]

! Lazy cow, if you are reading this, I'm fascinated to know where you live as close to the city and the beach

 

Well, firstly of course, it depends what you class as 'close'. It takes us about 35 mins to get to the CBD, and 15 to the beach. It was less, but increased traffic and decreased speed limits have added an extra few minutes! That also depends on what time we travel, as a rush hour commute will add 15-30mins to the journey.

 

We are classed as the Adelaide Hills, in the southern suburbs, but there's a whole swathe of suburbs that fit that distance, or less. Remember that something like 80% of Australians live near (think that's classed as within 50km) the coast, so that's not such a big ask.

 

As for living near the CBD, that's not so hard either. As with anything it comes down to money and expectations. I am sure you'll see what I mean when you come across for your reccie - six weeks sounds a fair while to get a feel for the way SA is set out .

 

LC

[Jessica Berry]

We rented for a year and have no regrets about that, it gave us time to work out what we wanted and also get to know the areas/suburbs better and help us decide what we didn't want!

 

Our plan when we left the UK was to buy a block of land and build a brand new house on it. We started house hunting fairly quickly after arriving. We visited new land show houses display villages at Mawson Lakes, Blackwood, Flagstaff Hill, Aldinga and Mount Barker. We found the design of the house we liked but didn't feel that any of those suburbs selling land were right for us. When we turned up at Blackwood, we couldn't believe our eyes, people were camping out for blocks of land for days before they were going on sale (photos attached, this was back in 2007). We were renting close to the city and had by now got used to living close to the CBD. We started to reconsider the idea of building. We worked out, although the design of the house we liked, in reality we wouldn't be using half of the house the majority of the time (there is only the 2 of us) and did we really need 2 living rooms, 3 spare bedrooms, a spare bathroom and we concluded that we didn't.

 

So we then decided to look at existing houses. In the 2007/2008 period the housing market in Adelaide went crazy, I think at the time they were saying prices had increased by 21% (personally I don't think they will increase like this in the foreseeable future). We were turning up at openings and houses had already been sold before they had been open to the general public. Houses were being advertised for lower prices and then when they went to auction were going for lots more (the legislation was changed after this period relating to advertised prices). We went to one auction in Magill and the house was being advertised as in the $300k's and it went for $500k!

 

I also found a book in the library that listed all the suburbs in Adelaide and it was really helpful, although a bit PC so you had to read between the lines.

 

Through these experiences, we 'learned' the way things were done. When I spotted our house on the internet that was going to auction, I rang the real estate agent and asked if they were taking offers before going to auction and they said yes. As soon as we walked into our house at the open inspection we knew it was the house for us and I rang up the next day and put an offer in that was accepted and it never went to auction.

 

 

[dudleycat]

Thanks for that lazy cow, really appreciate your time in posting that. I'm gradually getting familiar with the suburbs and layout but obviously at the moment it's only from the comfort of an armchair with Google Earth and you lovely people with your insider information , this time next week it will be us pounding the pavements!

Jessica, thanks for that info as well, it all helps piece together how things work. Steve and Lesley, we have also been looking at Henley Beach area and Brighton, which would humour our friends and family here as we are from Brighton uk!! Keep in touch and maybe we can meet up when we are all over....

[jtct]

2 weeks!

 

Arrived October 5th, 2 weeks of 'opens', put in an offer 2 weeks later, moved in 18th November (furniture arrive from UK 24th December)

 

Been visiting Adelaide for 5 years and narrowed down suburbs fairly near family, kept an eye on market on-line

[Diane]

We bought in two weeks as well - arrived mid August and the company my OH was working for put us up in an apartment in Hutt Street in the City for a month. I and the kids spent two weeks driving around suburbs within easy reach (cycling commute) to OH's work: we looked at about 6 different schools and tried to find a decent rental near to those we liked. We really struggled to find a nice rental until one day we found one that was "OK" - took the paperwork to the agent who happened to be doing an Open at a house sale and decided instead of renting we'd buy the house he was showing instead. Signed the papers with a 30 day completion, moved in just before the end of September. Still there now, ten years later! It's an ideal location for us - great schools, great transport links (even though OH changed jobs several times he was still able to cycle to work easily to each of the new places, to Golden Grove, to Edinburgh Park, and to the City), 20 mins to the city, 30 mins to the beach, 40 mins to the Barossa, good local shops etc.

 

Within our first month in the country we bought a house, two cars and a dog! Oh, and neither of us had ever been to Adelaide before, OH had never been to Australia

[Smithers]

Thanks for that lazy cow, really appreciate your time in posting that. I'm gradually getting familiar with the suburbs and layout but obviously at the moment it's only from the comfort of an armchair with Google Earth and you lovely people with your insider information ?, this time next week it will be us pounding the pavements!

Jessica, thanks for that info as well, it all helps piece together how things work. Steve and Lesley, we have also been looking at Henley Beach area and Brighton, which would humour our friends and family here as we are from Brighton uk!! Keep in touch and maybe we can meet up when we are all over....

 

Hi dc

where are you staying on your reccie, did you find somewhere near those areas we are both looking at?

and was it reasonable cost? Any info would be good, we are in process of finding a place for the move in May.

thanks

Steve& Lesley

[Smithers]

Great reply Jessica found your comments really helpful as we have all the replies

i am sure once we arrive all will be clearer and we will be able to decide what's best for us rent/ buy

thanks

steve&lesley