[rave]

Planning to move to Melbourne,Aust. Wanted to know the cost of living and how is it in comparison to MI(wrt salary expectations, apartment rent)

[AussieMale]

hi there

more info needed, u single,married any kids to feed bedrooms needed etc etc

[rave]

Thanks for the response. Well I am single.Got a job offer in Melbourne. Heard its a nice city. Pretty intimidating to leave my comfort here although it is an opportunity to work there.I am keen to know whats the salary comparison. Would for example earning US45K be equivalant to earning AUS45K?How about rental.To stay at a good apartment in MI its approx $800 and above. How is it over in Melbourne and would a car be a necessacity like here?Thanks again.

[AussieMale]

hi rave

rent here is paid weekly unlike the usa,i think you will Fall over at the cost of living even if your single.

My wife is american & when she moved over she was shocked to say the least. ill give you some websites to look at i think if you wanna compare. The offer would have to be at least $100k AUD of which HALF approx would go to TAX, before i would think about it.

http://www.realestate.com.au

http://www.woolworths.com.au/weeklyspecials/ for food

http://mycareer.com.au/

http://au.yahoo.com/ for more info that you may need

when you look up the one for food i would suggest to look up one that is close to where the job is if you know the suburb & the same for an apartment

i dont know Melbourne well but if you want to tell me the suburb where work will be i can find out where is nice to live for you as i do know a few people that live down there.

[AussieMale]

hi rave

If you fancy the job offer so that you can travel around when you get your holiday time thats a diff matter.
What i would do or suggest is look into sharing an apartment to keep the cost down.
Theres always ads for sharing,be it a house or an apartment. For me thats the way to go , as that way ur home mate so to speak may be going past your work & theres your transport too work ,offer a few $$ for petrol n ur set , thats if they have a car.
Other thing i would recommend is that you travel lite so that when the time comes to head back to the USA you dont have a bucket load of stuff to take back as that can be very expensive.
What is gonna hit your pocket hard if you dont want to share is the rent.
btw im not tring to sound negative but it is expensive over here.

look up the australian tax office to get a better picture on income tax.
i think its about like 15k tax for 45k income theres a sliding scale so look it up.
my wife reckons ur gonna do it tough if you dont know anyone here & have a place to stay for starters & look into the job offer a little closer n see what there offering if anything more than what you have said. btw over here the employers dont offer medical insurance if they do there few n far in between.

[WorldTraveler2]

Hi Rave,

I live and work in Melbourne for the last 2 years and I just came home for some vacation. I can tell you from experience that the cost of living is a tremendous shock. However, I had done my homework and knew this ahead of time. I agree with AussieMale. Probably the best route for u to go on, if u r determined to go first of all, is to have roommates. Also, u need to know where yr job is in Melbourne. I live on Bourke Street which is in the CBD and therefore I purchase a monthly public transport pass and don't have to worry about having a car or anyone to take me any place(petrol prices r very high). Even if u live in the subs it is that way also. I caution u as to which ones u live in. Not because of crime(after living in most US cities, Oz is like living in heaven when it comes to crime) but the condition of the housing.
When it comes to Salary, a good rule of thumb is consider what u would consider a good wage in a large US city and double it minimum. Benefits don't usually come with lower level jobs. I have benefits but its because I have a higher level position. I don't mean to be negative either but at the salary you have mentioned......I would think very long and hard about just picking up and moving to Australia. It is a wonderful place to live and I don't know if I will ever move back home......but if I was you, I would wait for the right circumstance to make my move. Just my thoughts.....

Good Luck,

WorldTraveler2

[ByeByeMI]

I am curious as to how someone goes about getting/finding a job overseas. We so want to get out of MI and have talked about several places including another country. I have heard New Zealand is just lovely but the whole process seems so overwhelming. So I guess my question again is how do you find a job overseas?

[New_Zealand_Princess]

I live in New Zealand and want to move to Cali or NYC or colorado umm try using a worldwide job scerch or maybe see if you could transfer from your work to a New Zealand company.

[TaxBait]

I checked out that real estate site. I don't know anything about the distribution of prices around the country, but the rural areas I looked at with acreage looked pretty reasonable compared to the US when adjusted for the exchange rate. I see the term free-hold. I assume that means you actually own the land forever - not a lease. Am I correct on that? What are property taxes like? It the US they might range from 1/2% of property value up to 5% depending on the area. Mostly you can expect from 1% -2%. Is there a website that might give some insight on Australian taxes?

[ciggas]

youd be earning abo9ut 75000 aus but would porobably recieve 40-45 because of tax. Melbourne has traffic for about 20 mins in morning and night and you should definitely have a car. they have great trams that get you around the cbd. I would suggest somewhere in the eastern suburbs to buy around 700k for a large 800m2 block and nice house low crime and shady streets. If you with a few homeless and drug addicts saint kilda is nice little more pricey with lots of places to go bars,parties etc