Any Aussie's buy a house in USA while still living in Australia?

[Shaunna&Tony 1]

Hey everyone

I've tried searching for a similar topic but could only find threads when people were already living in America. We are looking at buying a house outright at the end of the year (will be moving to Memphis TN, the real estate is really low over there - our budget is $30grand for a 3x2) and I was just wondering does anyone have any information or experience in buying a house while living in AUstralia?

I have had trouble finding any information about it and don't really want to have to draw it out of an atm a large number of times and pay by cash (really don't want to do that). If someone could share their experience or point me in the right direction it would be greatly appreciated.

[Janelle2002 3,865]

Hi,

I used to live in Memphis. Be really careful on where you choose to live. If I was you , I would buy outside of the Memphis city limits, because if you do not, you will have to pay city and country taxes which can run you a lot of money. Look at areas on the other side of Holmes and Riverdale, or look at Bartlett, Germantown, Collierville, these are areas of Memphis, but they are on the outskirts, really low crime, and they are only county taxes. I am not Aussie by the way, but I just came back from Sydney and Melbourne. I loved Australia!

Good Luck!

[Shaunna&Tony 1]

My bf is from, and lives in Memphis so I already k ow all that but thank you for posting incase I didn't

Just after anyone that has or knows the process of buying a house in the states. Thank you in advance

[Janelle2002 3,865]

Okay great! Good luck!

[VanessaTony 3,567]

You could do a bank transfer, or transfer by paypal (then from paypal to a bank account).

I see a lot of purchases done by wire transfer so a Western Union transfer could be an option as well. Personally I would do a paypal transfer (Aussie paypal to US paypal) and do it in increments depending on the exchange rate. Once it's all in US funds you can transfer it to a US bank account for free.

I personally wouldn't buy anything until you're there in person of course, but I think the money side was what you were asking about? I send all my funds via paypal transfer because the fees are reasonable.

[Adrian-Danielle 12]

I just sold my property in Australia and I researched the best way to transfer large sums of money internationally and the best way is to transfer it with a company called Ozforex. The australian dollar has dropped from $1.05us cents to about $0.91 in about 8 weeks.

You will get the best rate through Ozforex and not through banks, plus no fees with Ozforex.

As far as buying a place, i would wait til you are over there so you can have a look at the neighborhood and the schools. I know here in long Island, one of the suburbs we are living in, the property taxes are $18,000 a year! Thats insane....but the area is nice so you are paying to live in a nice area.

We have looked into buying here but are having trouble, even with a large deposit ($150k) all because i have no credit history.

Goodluck!

[Shaunna&Tony 1]

Thanks so much for the tips everyone, much appreciated