Hello everyone! This is a great site and I wish I had found it sooner! You all are very helpful and descriptive which I am sure is greatly appreciated by everyone on this site.

My situation:

I am in the process of helping my mother emigrate to Sydney. The majority of our family currently resides in Sydney, including her mother (my grandmother). My mother decided to move because she is lonely over here and I am her only child. I am an entrepreneur and have a very busy schedule and live 1.5 hours away from her. I don't get to spend as much time with her as I would like to

I could really use everyone's input on my situation and any good advice will be appreciated.

First, I am trying to figure out what type of visa would be sufficient for her? Since her mother, brothers and sisters live in Sydney, can she get a 6-12 month tourist visa and go there and set everything up while in Sydney?

Also, we will be shipping all of her furniture and household items in a 20 foot container. The best quote I have received is just under $8,000. We will not be shipping her car because I've heard it will be a hassle and expensive to switch the vehicle over to meet AUS standards.

I am unsure if our refridgerator, washer, dryer and other household appliances and electronics will work in AUS? I am sure that the televisions and other small electronics will work with power inverters/adapters (I hope).

I am also considering taking a trip to Sydney to be there when the furniture arrives. I might store it in my aunt's home and a storage facility.

I would like to purchase a home for my mother. I have been doing a bit of research on the housing market over there and it seems like prices are high in Sydney, but slowly going down due to interest rates and forclosures (correct me if I'm wrong).

Would there be any difficulty in me purchasing a home over there? What type of documentation would I have to provide? I have really good credit and finances over here in the U.S., but I know I would not have any credit in AUS nor would my mother.

How can we purchase a home as quickly as possible over there?

Would there be any special immigration/visa requirements to fulfill to be able to purchase a home?

Would a 10-20% downpayment on the purchase of a home help establish our credit worthiness to banks?

My mother and I have a joint bank account at Westpac there in Sydney that we have had for a couple of years. We have only made deposits and the money is sitting there so that we will have a down payment for the home. I hope this helps!

Please advise...

Michael