Since you took your time to write such a nice post, I will reply inline.

Do you think I am an idiot ? I'm an immigrant, just like you are ( unless you're an aboriginal ) but that doesn't mean I am stupid. I do my research on where to live, and Sydney is not on the list. That might change if houseprices drop and I have experienced the people. It might also not change, I'll see about that when I arrive in Australia. My dog needs quarantaine for a month, so I'll have a whole month to experience Sydney as it is. Furthermore, I have acquaintances who live in Sydney and can give me an impression of the city. The city is so big that there's bound to be good AND bad things in there. I'd be amazed to see only positives in Australia. Actually I don't expect Australia to be any better than The Netherlands. We need a change in life, and that's one thing that is sure to happen over in Australia : many things will be different ( take the weather for instance ).

harb wrote:

 You shouldn't have any problem finding lots of properties below cost near CBD and the beaches, up to 50% below market price in some cases.

I would not be surprised to see this happening. 50% off the current prices would certainly be 'normal'. Prices as they are now are unsustainable in Australia. There is no way house prices will NOT drop. They have, in real terms in Sydney already dropped 30% , I'm sure you already knew this ? Anyway, still at least 30% more to go, up to 50% in some cases I'm sure. Sydney is the world's most unaffordable city. And from what I heard, people in Sydney aren't earning what people in Los Angeles ( Hollywood ? ) earn. It's unsustainable.

Been there, done that. It's just a matter of time before the jobs come back. I've seen it happen in USA , Europe, and soon in Australia too. I might even specialize into 'post-outsourcing' drama consultancy. It's good business. Many businesses lost a lot of money on outsourcing stuff they shouldn't have, and have trouble getting that business back and integrated again. I've seen it all happen before. Australia is just a bit of a slow learner, that's all : And I can profit from that.

Hm.. I seriously doubt anyone can outbid us to be honest. And why would I compete with those people ?
There's 50 times more houses for sale than there's buyers, didn't you know ?
If you were an asian investor, would you buy an overpriced, badly maintained house for 400.000AUD$ in a bad area with crap public transport in Australia, or would you buy 3 *NEW* houses for the same price in a good suburb in USA ? Really you clearly need to learn some investment basics. Who do you think is selling all those houses in Australia in an attempt to move out and get into USA property ?

Well.. there's the thing you see. He could be collecting half of my income. In which case I would still have half of my income to spend on living a nice life. I can also buy something and spend my WHOLE income on repayments. On top of this, the houseprices aren't going up for the next 3 years at least. At best, and this is utopia situation sketching, the houseprices will keep up with CPI ( and thus not get worth more in real terms ).
At worst, they will lose 80% of their value like in the USA.  Let's get somewhere in the middle, and realistically speaking they will lose 40% of their value in 2-3 years. Why would I spend 2-3 years paying my whole income on something that loses SO much value, when I can rent for 2-3 years and then PAY CASH from what I earned in those 2-3 years ? Don't answer that, it was a rethorical question.

I would be too busy to enjoy the beaches if I had to work overtime to keep up my mortgage repayments.
I'd rather rent and keep half my income to live my life. You only live once, and the premium of house ownership don't sound that appealing in a crashing market. I can invest my money in other things and earn more than I would earn by owning 20 houses.. so why own 20 houses and have the crap of tenants and stress, if I can easily earn the same or more by investing my money otherwise ? ( rethorical )

harb wrote:

But don't give up your dream Scamp, we need more cashed up people coming here to buy or rent. It stops the property market from crashing, pushes property prices higher and keeps the recession away.
[/quote

It doesn't stop the property market from crashing. Just look at Los Angeles and UK who have a HUGE housing shortage compared to Australia, do you see their house prices going up because of immigration or their housing shortage ?… ( rethorical ).

I'd gladly rent and have everything taken care of. I could also just buy something if the right place comes up for the right price. I have seen some nice properties that are just a little overvalued, I'd gladly pay that with cash and get 20% or 30% rebate + FHOG + no taxes. Or I might go and have some fun at auctions. Who knows.

One thing is sure, I will enjoy the changes in my life that Australia will give me. I hope you enjoy your life too Harb.

bah I can't edit my post. September 2008 ofcourse…

You mean, controlled by the USA ? In 100 years there won't be a USA anymore. But, there's clear signs that China will control Australia. They are spending all their USA worthless dollars on Australian assets now. I can see the Chinese reign over Australia's resources some day.

Tell your boss to wait with the payrise and give you a bonus at the end of next year instead ( just have him sign it on paper to be sure ). That solves your problem. There's no reason to buy anything now. One after the other, the major building companies are falling, and their land banks will be dumped on the market. That means more and cheaper land, which means cheaper houses. Houseprices won't rise for at least the next year ( probably they won't rise in the next 10 years from now , in real terms , so they will rise max 5% which is CPI ).

Mister : I have no idea on stocks. Most of the stocks seem to be going downwards. If you feel like a gamble , you can put a short on Manpower or on some building companies. But remember : This is a big gamble. I'm not much of a gambler myself, so I invest in gold instead.

Why will gold price go up ? Because Australia has been printing record amounts of money the last few years, which means there's more money than gold, which will push gold prices up. Well, that's how I think about it anyway. Gold also is a safe haven for people who don't want to take too many risks in a recession. Usually wars and recessions push goldprices up. With a global recession, a lot of people will start buying gold.

But remember that gold is at an all time high price now. Even though, I still think it will go up.
I actually have an outstanding bet with someone on this forum that gold would cost 1200US$ by March 2009.

it's about 900US$ now : http://www.goldprice.net/gold_price_links.php