Hello and welcome advice.

[Gingerbread Man]

Hi there folks.

I'm not long settling in to Coffs Harbour on the North Coast of New South Wales. My partner and I were residing in the UK just over 7 weeks ago, but have moved here with a plan to stay.
In the UK I was in the plumbing and heating trade. I'm planning to transfer my qualifications and continue this line of work (bar the heating so much!) in Coffs.

In the UK I always wanted to get into property refurb. Buying, improving, maybe selling or renting. I think with a hands on background that I would be in a good place to start. I realise it's not all hands on, there are also figures to canculate and other aspects, but I thought it may help.

Currently we still have a property in the UK. It was our first property, probably with a AUD value of around $250, by today's exchange rate. If all goes well for us over the next year or two, we plan to sell it and continue our lives in Australia.

I'd be tempted to look at buying a property in the Coffs region, adding value and then looking to move on.

I'm interested in how people feel the market is and I know Coffs isn't a city, but I hoped it's surround area may make a viable go at this idea. I know I'll need to look into the taxes evolved, the rules, regulations etc, but thought I'd join the forum and introduce myself with a view to hopefully starting a thread one day about my purchase and plans for it!

Who knows, I'd like to do it full time over just plumbing, probably keeping my licence to aid where needed. Are there any locals on this board with a bit of expirence in this?

Anyhow, that's me and my hello!

 

[Scott No Mates]

The regulations for acting as owner-builder are changing: http://somersoft.com/forums/showthread.php?t=104670

Licensing for plumbers, builders, subbies and owner builders is run through the office of fair trading. www.fairtrading.nsw.gov.au

 

[Macca]

Welcome ! I would start by checking that all my licenses are OK to be used in NSW. I suspect you will need to do a test or some form of work experience before starting your own business.

If you can get a plumbers license then you should be able to earn a good living, CH and surrounds is a thriving city and good tradies at reasonable, honest prices are always popular.

Once licensed, try leaving cards with Real Estate Property managers and be prepared to work doing plumbing emergencies and build the reputation that way.

Once established in the area you will find it easier to locate the good deals in RE that you can renovate for profit/equity

Good luck mate

 

[Gingerbread Man]

Welcome ! I would start by checking that all my licenses are OK to be used in NSW. I suspect you will need to do a test or some form of work experience before starting your own business.

If you can get a plumbers license then you should be able to earn a good living, CH and surrounds is a thriving city and good tradies at reasonable, honest prices are always popular.

Once licensed, try leaving cards with Real Estate Property managers and be prepared to work doing plumbing emergencies and build the reputation that way.

Once established in the area you will find it easier to locate the good deals in RE that you can renovate for profit/equity

Good luck mate

Thanks to both of you for the replies.

Transferring and requalfying is my job to start over Christmas and New Years break. After a while working here to get an idea of how the trade differs etc, and once the UK house sells, that's when I would like to buy somewhere to renovate.

I'm currenting await for our UK personal affects to arrive, then I can browse on a computer rather than a frustrating phone screen. So I'll plough through any links in detail when I get a better viewing environment.

I've always seen property as a good investment in the UK, so I'd assumed similar here. Not sure when the pension system is here, but it's slowly withering away in the UK, so property investment seemed wise.
I know of a few friends with a few rentals who appear to he doing well.
I personally liked the idea of refurbing properties, as I like plumbing, but I quite like a mix of work. Happy to lend my hand to anything. I also used to work in garden landscaping, so know a bit about external works also.

Keeping my plumbing licence would hopefully enable me to save paying for at least one regulated external trade to come in.

How many people tend to get stuck in themselves after buying a property vs. having the majority of the work subcontracted out to a tradesman?

 

[Macca]

I think you will find that landscaping is a good job over winter in Australia, definitely no fun in CH over summer, a very humid place at times.

I am not sure what the licensing laws are for landscaping but as CH is a hilly area you should find plenty of work doing that if the plumbing is a bit slow.

Just a matter of settling in, checking your licenses are OK then full steam ahead.