Best suburb for familys?

[Richard burns]

Hi we are in early stages of visas etc for moving to adelaide.

i  am a electrician and my wife works in retail we have 2 young kids, can anyone recommend any areas to research for renting a 3 bedroom house?

any family friendly areas that are reasonably priced close to work areas?

thankyou Richard  

[snifter]

That could be anywhere. Honestly, Adelaide sprawls for miles and you can live north, south, east or west. Your commute could end up being 10 minutes or 70. You just don't know till you are here and it begins to fall into place in terms of work, areas you like and can afford, commute times, schools and so on. 

I'd say your starting point should be what you can reasonably afford and work out from there. Work out the costs to migrate, the flights, visa costs, shipping, short term rental to give you time to find something a bit longer term perhaps,  deposit and bond for a rental etc, funds for a car and drivers licence, insurance etc and then ensure you have savings to support yourselves for at least 3 months if not more. 6 months would be even better. You'll have bills, shopping and so much more to pay out for too. 

Once you have crunched the numbers, work out what you can realistically afford to rent to begin with bearing in mind you could be a few months without work and so the dream of a house with pool near the beach may be something you need to work towards rather than having from the off. Then research if you prefer coastal or inland and investigate those options. FWIW you don't have to live in a suburb right along the coast, you can also look a few suburbs inland also and still be at a beach within 10 minutes drive. What sort of lifestyle do you have now as that probably won't change too much once here. If you are active out doorsy people there, chances are you will be here. If you are stay at home bods there, you probably will be here. Moving the other side of the world doesn't automatically mean your own lifestyle will change drastically or become amazingly better overnight. It can be a slog to get to where you want to be and may mean a tough ride to start till things fall into place. If you like the coast, look along it, if you don't mind being a bit more inland, look there. 

I'm not going to suggest specific areas as honestly, I like what I like but others would disagree with me. I know where I would and wouldn't live in and around Adelaide but my preferences are not for everyone nor theirs mine. 

[Richard burns]

Thanks snifter you have been really helpful.

We are saving at moment and we have the house to sell in uk.

i have a bit of cash in the house but dont want to dip into to much as i know il need it down the line for a deposit on a mortgage.

What do you do for a living? And how fast did you find work?

if i can pay for move and visas etc out of savings how much would you say it would cost there to get set up with renting a house, cars, schools, utilities etc?

How quick did you apply for a job etc ? Because you need to get house first and car as a priopity.

 

Rich

[snifter]

I didn't work to begin with. My husband worked from very soon after we arrived (has laptop, can work anywhere sort of thing) and we decided I'd focus on the home, school and all the other things to get us going.  

I've been here over 5 years now so I don't think my job hunting is really relevant to todays job market. Plus I've not worked full time since arriving here, I've stayed part time so we don't have to use OSHC and it was what we wanted. I've been in the same job for a fair few years now. My husband has been in employment since we arrived, changed jobs a couple of times and is very happy in his current role. 

If you are an electrician don't you have to get certified or some such to be able to work here? I'd factor that in to and the time/cost of getting set up. 

If you don't have a job I'd think you could still secure a rental so long as you can provide the deposit, bond and show proof of decent savings so the landlord knows you have funds to pay for the house. Look in to this and see if it could be possible. 

 

 

 

[Richard burns]

Ye its a bit of a scam really, fully qualified with years of experience.

i have to do a overseas assessment in uk which is 1 day and is 3k, if i pass i cant work unsupervised until a complete 12 months experience in oz to gain their electrotechnical cert which i allready have.

need 12 months to get my licence, but 90% jobs ask for licence so dont know how its going to pan out.

my wifes in same boat as you with kids etc so have to weigh up nursery cots against salary etc.

would you say its been a good move financially aswell as socially?

[snifter]

On 7/7/2019 at 5:13 PM, Richard burns said:

Ye its a bit of a scam really, fully qualified with years of experience.

i have to do a overseas assessment in uk which is 1 day and is 3k, if i pass i cant work unsupervised until a complete 12 months experience in oz to gain their electrotechnical cert which i allready have.

need 12 months to get my licence, but 90% jobs ask for licence so dont know how its going to pan out.

my wifes in same boat as you with kids etc so have to weigh up nursery cots against salary etc.

would you say its been a good move financially aswell as socially?

Our's was school aged when we arrived so we made use of OSHC during school hols and before/after school a couple of days a week. I didn't have to look into nursery costs or kindy thankfully. They do offer a set amount of hours free as it were in kindy (bit like the UK system) but you'd have to research that and discuss with the kindy. We had a bit of help from family on occasion but tbh I never counted on them or really factored them in to helping with childcare after we arrived as they have their own lives, work and so on. We managed on our own in the UK pretty much and we've managed here the same way. 

For us its been a good move financially, bearing in mind its been over 5 years since the move here. The first year or two not so much as obviously there were all the move costs, buying a house, car etc but once that was all done and dusted, its been settled and good. 

[Lavers]

Morning shifter

Regarding renting a house are you only allowed to have a rental cost take up so much of your salary or can you go for what you want?

Thanks

Mark

[snifter]

3 hours ago, Lavers said:

Morning shifter

Regarding renting a house are you only allowed to have a rental cost take up so much of your salary or can you go for what you want?

Thanks

Mark

AFAIK you can go to whatever you want. However, with no rental history or job they may well want to see bank statements and proof of funds to cover rent and deposit etc for a set amount of time. Perhaps they may ask for a larger deposit. 

Keep in mind many leases here are for a year so don't go busting your savings on some really pricey house to start in case your funds run low or it takes you a while to find a job. Also if you do decide to move within the lease period, you are the one breaking the lease so its on you to cover rent till the lease ends or new tenants take over. There may well be some leg work involved on your part there. 

I'd suggest its wise to start of with what you can afford and that won't break the bank and to build up once you've found your feet and have jobs/income behind you for 6 months or so. 

[Lavers]

Thanks snifter......I thought I read somewhere that the rental fee could only be 40% of your income.

[snifter]

On 9/2/2019 at 1:50 PM, Lavers said:

Thanks snifter......I thought I read somewhere that the rental fee could only be 40% of your income.

It may well be but I cannot recall hearing that. It may be the rule of thumb sort of thing perhaps over something official?

 People rent without jobs when they move over, but show references, proof of savings etc and perhaps pay 3-6 months rent up front/bigger bond or something to help secure a rental. 

Of course, if working then showing salary would reflect on if you could cover the rental costs or not. If a salary isn't favourable to cover a rental then I don't expect you'd secure it. But I'm not aware there is an actual percentage to go out from. Of course common sense tells you to go for what you can afford that will allow you to be able to cover all the other outgoings each month. I'd be surprised if you couldn't find somewhere that is less than the 40%

 

 

 

 

[snifter]

I was interested to find out a bit more as we don't rent. 

Found these links. Some stories are a couple of years old but it gives a picture of recent times hopefully. 

https://www.finder.com.au/how-much-of-our-wages-do-we-spend-on-rent-in-australia

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-11-29/adelaide-becoming-unaffordable-for-low-income-renters/9205084

Scroll down to find the dwellings numbers    https://quickstats.censusdata.abs.gov.au/census_services/getproduct/census/2016/quickstat/4GADE?opendocument

https://www.realestate.com.au/news/adelaide-median-rent-well-below-national-average-report-reveals/

[Lavers]

14 hours ago, snifter said:

It may well be but I cannot recall hearing that. It may be the rule of thumb sort of thing perhaps over something official?

 People rent without jobs when they move over, but show references, proof of savings etc and perhaps pay 3-6 months rent up front/bigger bond or something to help secure a rental. 

Of course, if working then showing salary would reflect on if you could cover the rental costs or not. If a salary isn't favourable to cover a rental then I don't expect you'd secure it. But I'm not aware there is an actual percentage to go out from. Of course common sense tells you to go for what you can afford that will allow you to be able to cover all the other outgoings each month. I'd be surprised if you couldn't find somewhere that is less than the 40%

 

 

 

 

That was my worry regarding the 40% thing, you would struggle to find something decent. 

[lisakent86]

Since you're moving to Adelaide, some great family-friendly areas to consider for renting a 3-bedroom house are Mawson Lakes, which has good schools and parks, and Modbury, known for its affordability and amenities. Seaton is nice if you want to be close to the beach, while Happy Valley offers a great community vibe. Glenelg is vibrant with plenty to do, and Elizabeth is one of the more budget-friendly options.