Hey, all in the land of OZ. I need some pointers or information about moving to AU. from the US.?

I may be retiring soon and my wife is tired of living, in the United States. She's taken a keen interest in Australia and for that matter New Zealand. She’s been fascinated, by some of the things I’ve told her, about when I was in the military, visiting over in your neck of the woods. Of course that was over three decades ago, so my information, is to say the least, dated. If I remember right, the cost of living was a bit high over there. So, if you had a little over $400,000 (USD) to get started over there, where would you go? I’d also be receiving about $4,000 (USD) per month in pension and I’d have about $225,000 (USD) in retirement savings. By the way we’re not just hopping over there to buy a house. We’re thinking of taking a vacation next summer to look around. Who knows, she may change her mind when we vacation there, but if it’s close to how I remember, I doubt it. I’ve tried a couple Australian government websites today, but it looks like their out of order (being updated?).

Public Comments

1. Your US $4,000 per month pension would do you reasonably well in AU or NZ, except of course in the midst of major cities like Melbourne, Perth, Sydney and Brisbane. I can't talk about NZ but Auckland and Wellington would be their highest priced real estate, Christchurch and Hamilton following up I'd guess. Reasonably decent houses in most of our larger towns start at AU $300,000 in a smaller town and go to well over a million in major cities. As anywhere location is the key to real estate prices. You can get better ideas from the sites of some of our large real-estate companies, look for "Elders", "L.J. Hooker" and "The Professionals" among other reputable companies. Just off the top of the head I would not be trying to buy with only $400,000 in some of the swanker suburbs in the cities I just mentioned. If you are prepared to live in a smaller town, there are several in the 50,000 to 200,000 population range which might suit. These often have good facilities but lack big parking and traffic problems and have very low crime rates. Ballarat (Victoria) and Toowoomba (Queensland) might suit. Other reasonably large towns are Cairns, Townsville, Mackay, Rockhampton, Gladstone, Bundaberg, Maryborough, Coff's Harbour, Byron Bay, Port Macquarie, Newcastle, Woolongong, Geelong. There are dozens of others in the 5,000-50,000 population range. Most of these places have municipal websites and Wikipedia articles and the real estate companies I mentioned will operate in most of them. If you were on R & R from Vietnam you probably saw something of Sydney or Brisbane. Both are quite a bit changed, in Brisbane change might be more obvious. Most, nearly all Australian houses are on a single level and don't have basements. Think California bungalow or ranch house and you will have some idea. Typically three bedrooms, after 1970 or so they have an "ensuite" which is a little bathroom attached to the master bedroom in addition to another bathroom. Kitchens tend to be smallish but well appointed. Cost of living apart from housing is different from the USA. From what I gather, and I haven't been to the USA, some things are cheaper here. It looks as if food might be, but petrol /gasoline is considerably more expensive though it's still a lot cheaper than in Europe. We probably pay more for cars and tend to keep them longer, of course the generally drier climate and unsalted roads makes a difference there. Typical larger cars are the Holden (GM) and Falcon (Ford), Camry (Toyota), Maxima, (Nissan) Liberty (Subaru) and Magna (Mitsubishi). These usually run V-6 engines of about 3.8 litres capacity and are locally made or assembled. Lots of smaller cars too. Books, CDs, DVDs, appliances are probably more expensive but not out of reach for anyone with a regular income. Major retailers include "Harvey Norman" "Myer", "David Jones" "Big W" and "K-Mart" and all would have extensive websites. The main food retailers are "Woolworths" , "Coles" and "IGA". No "Wal-Mart" here yet. I have an elderly Mercedes-Benz and from a mailing list I'm on based in Detroit it looks as if Mercedes parts prices are comparable. Nearly all land in Australia is subject to three levels of government, Federal, State and Municipal. You will pay tax on land (rates) to local government but the State and Federal governments do not tax residential land. From what I can make out these rates are lower than in some parts of the USA. Someone once told me what he paid on a house & land in Alabama and it made my eyes water. Of course municipal government here does not run education or police, all of that is a State government function. The position is that the States handed most of their tax powers to the Federal government at Federation and then during the First World War in return for return of cash on a regular basis. Income tax is payable to the Federal government only and there is a 10% tax on all retail sales except fresh food. There are no other sales taxes on retail items in any state. There are state taxes on land sales (called stamp duty) and on car sales. That is not all of course but that will give you an idea of tax regimes and it covers most of what you will see from day to day. It's Saturday here, so some of the government IT guys will be at work fixing websites and computer systems.
2. You biggest problem would be a Visa to live here. It took me six months to get mine and that was back in 1991. It is harder now.
3. Maybe it would be better to come and see if we are still the place you remember? If we are then it would be better to hunt up the information you need when you are here Unless you are just plain bored I think it would be sad if you did all the work and did not come
4. first of all, the cost of living is no longer higher than the US. that was many years ago. However, with your amount of money, i dont think it really matters. A lot has changed in three decades. Australia has become more developed and, i think, more multicultural - we are more accepting of cultures than we used to be. Adelaide, South Australia, is known for being the "retirement" state. that is, its the state where a lot of "elderly" people live. So SA is a good place if you want to relax and take it easy. If you are up for adventure and an ongoing lifestyle, Queensland, Sydney and Melbourne may be a good choice for you to settle down. Just so you know, here in Australia at the moment, housing prices are really high and so you might have trouble finding a house... But good luck... hoped i helped