Best Choices for homes

[attagirl]

where would you find the choices in housing and how would you go about getting more information if you are located in another country. Who would you contact and so on. I would appreciate any information that you can supply.

[tygwyn]

Originally Posted by attagirl

where would you find the choices in housing and how would you go about getting more information if you are located in another country. Who would you contact and so on. I would appreciate any information that you can supply.

Hi again attagirl - I've just replied to your other thread about house prices.

You're actually pretty restricted in what you can do from another country because until you're here you really cant picture it. Obviously you can check out Real Estate, Property, Land and Homes for Sale, lease and rent - realestate.com.au which gives you the option to contact the Real Estate Agents but more than that I'm not sure what you could do?

Is there any piece of information in particular you're after?

[Aphrodite]

Originally Posted by attagirl

where would you find the choices in housing and how would you go about getting more information if you are located in another country. Who would you contact and so on. I would appreciate any information that you can supply.

I would always prefer to rely on local knowledge or the non commercial end of stuff - eg ask in local shops or even a Police Station!! Sounds silly but neither has an agenda and it will not affect them so they are more likely to be honest as well as informative - asking the cop shop will reduce the chance of your being sold a place in a crime ridden area for example. Estate agents are useful for geographical stuff like where are the local schools and shops but they want to sell you a house - any house rather than none so will tell you what fits that criteria first.. there are exceptions of course but i would still be wary as once you have signed everything it is a bit late to realise it was the wrong place for you.. and teh you are into pure hassle and worry plus the costs involved in getting out of it and on top of that you have the anxety and the sense of being in limbo till it is sorted out... horrible!!! All for the sake of a lit of thought and time.. we've all been there by degree!

[Hazel]

I can only tell you what we did and how we went about choosing our housing...don't know if it'd be much help but at least it's something Firstly, my husband decided to get a job before moving to Oz. He went to Perth and then the Gold Coast for one interview each (flew over for the interviews). So then it was a case of personal choice as to which climate we'd prefer to live in and also job/salary etc. So that automatically narrowed it down for us. We chose the Gold Coast because even though the salary is lower, housing is cheaper than in Perth. There were other personal reasons we chose the Gold coast too. Ummm, then because we are a very small family: me, hubby and one child, we don't need a big space to live and so settled on a town house in a gated complex. It's a three bedroom, 2 and a half bathroom unit with more than enough room for our little family and it's cheaper than a house ...we're renting. We'll rent for another year or maybe two and then buy. I think we'll probably choose to buy a town house or if it's a house, it would have to be a small one. Oh, I forgot to add that hubby asked colleagues at work (while working here and still living in a hotel which we did for 6 weeks) which suburb was nice. They told us what they think would suit us and I just can't believe how spot-on their choice was!! We took their advice and it was like this suburb is just the same as what we had at home. So you are right to ask a local. In my opinion Ozzie's are really helpful and know what they're talking about. Good luck!

[kendra]

Try looking up chat forums in the state or city you are thinking of going to, get opinions on which areas are rough, posh, have facilities etc. Then look up real estate sites for the areas.

[cmallon]

I have found www dot realestateview dot com dot au to be quite a good site with lots of different agents on it. It also has the option to apply to rent online although I'm not sure if it would outside the country.