real estate in south Perth/Rockingham

[hays]

Hi,
can anyone point me in the right direction for cheaper housing? When we finally get out there we wont have the money for the first few years to buy in our ideal place, so we thought we could maybe rent/buy at the cheaper end of the market (it looks a bit more expensive in perth than Brisbane which is the other place we're looking at) and move up after a few years when we are more stable in jobs etc. We have two young teenage kids, and my OH is a plumber so we would need to be nearish work.
I know this is a bit vague but any advice/help would be appreciated!
Thanks
Hays

[BullcreekBob]

G'day

Here in Oz, and certainly in Perth, renting is almost always at a reasonable price.

I found in the UK that sometimes it was cheaper to buy than rent even without much of a deposit. Here it's very definately the other way around, a house worth $500K would cost around $3,500/month to buy and around $1,750/month to rent. A house worth $1million would cost around $7,000/month to buy and around $3,000/month to rent.

It's only after you've owned a place for more than 5 to 8 years that the rents are likely to have caught up to the cost of the mortgage. Of course, by buying however, you do have an investment. It's probably best to think of the extra money being paid to buy rather than rent as enforced savings for your old age.

[ali]

There are some new developemnets around forestdale which is on the border of canningvale and armadale don't know the prices but my friend is buying there and doesn't have tons of money

[hays]

Thanks Ali, i'll look into those areas!!

Bob, i see you are clued up on the Dosh side of things. Oh is a Plumber and i'm in Insurance, how long do we have to work before we can get a mortgage? we wont have a big deposit, maybe $20k at most :cry: and would need a 3 bed property, i know that as we wont have a hefty deposit there are rules on how long we have to have worked for. Do you think it's going to be feasable to get a mortgage of maybe $450k $500k and survive? Am i sounding blonde? :oops: do you have any advice on how much we should have to earn before we can get a mortgage of that size??? and if we could earn that amount of money doing these jobs...........im confused and worried.........ANY help you can give would be good..thanks

[BullcreekBob]

G'day

To borrow about $450K you'd need to be earning around $70K presuming you don't have too many other expenses like kids, credit cards, loans etc.

If you wanted to buy a $450K house with a 5% ($22,500) deposit, generally you'd need to have been working here for three months minimum uless you have a job that one of the banks considers to be *special* and you've been doing it in the UK for the last couple of years. So if you're a nurse or doctor, you can get a loan the day you get your first pay. If you're an office administrator, the bank may want 6 months !!

Of course, as this Aus, all rules are made to be broken and there's usually a way around everything.

[hays]

Hi Bob
We wont have any loans or credit cards to pay, but do have two early teens kids. Looks like we will rent for the first year ish until we have stable incomes and in a position to get a mortgage.
70k looks like quite alot. Im going to have to research our jobs to make sure thats an amount we could reasonably earn.
Thanks for the advice, and taking time to reply.
Hays

[Green Lid]

Hays,

Me and my wife will have to do the same as you. We haven't got any kids yet but one on the way. We have cleared all debts and it feels great going with a clean slate. We will be taking about $18,000- thats not a lot after buying everything again. Renting for us me thinks.

We had a mortage here but it was massive! I just hope that we can buy again out there... if not it might feel like going backwards.

[gobbyjock]

If you are wanting to look for rentals try this site
http://www.realestate.com.au/cgi-bin/rsearch?cu=fn-rea&a=s&snf=rbs&is=1&pxe=300&tb=WARNBRO&p=10&s=wa&t=ren&u=WARNBRO&pme=any&px=300&o=d

[Green Lid]

Thanks Jock,

Some of them look fantastic!

It's hard to tell from that what the area is like though? (I know people say look at aussiemove.com but i find it very hard to find my way around that site and they only seem to talk in terms of 'Rockingham' as a whole)

The rent is very cheap! I thought that we would be paying about $350+ per month but some of the 3x1's are as little as $200 per month. With only us and a baby we would only need 3 rooms realy for visitors. Might even have a chance at saving???

Where do you live mate?

[pizda63]

I am a Real Estate Agent situated in Fremantle.
Have a look at this web site www.realestate.com.au (http://www.realestate.com.au/)
It will give you a complete overview of Suburbs and price ranges
If you require any assistance drop me a line, I will be glad to help you
Cheers
Peter