Why UK Expats Are Buying Australian Property (Patty’s Story)

So I remember the day that I decided to move and I was just on site, the rain's just coming down and I was just thinking, what am I doing, man? So I just called my best mate at the time, Joe. Within two weeks, we were in Australia. Moving back to Liverpool, what prompted that after nine good years in Australia? I'd set up my own company doing formwork.

That was going unbelievably well. Life was just exactly where I needed it to be. Then I got the news. My mum was diagnosed with cancer. When that kind of struck with my mum, my priorities completely changed here.

From looking for maybe a home to now looking for an investment. We'd picked up your property for just over 580k last year and the latest valuations have come back at near $740,000. Getting a buyer's agent just made sense to me for that reason, for investment purposes. It just seemed the logical thing to do. Seeing that growth has helped me throughout this year.

Obviously, leaving everything that I know, leaving a successful company, a growing business, sometimes it's been the only positive thing happening in my life at times this last year. So it's been big beyond words, to be honest with you. I'm here on the other side of the world in the UK, Liverpool to be precise, catching up with one of our clients, Paddy. Now, it's a very different Property Nerds episode. I'm not here with Jack or Adrian talking all things finance and strategy.

Instead, we're talking to a community that's getting bigger and bigger and bigger amongst InvestorKit clients, and that's Aussie expats. So Paddy was living in Australia for nine years, originally from the UK, went to Australia for nine years in the construction field, moved all over Australia, by the way, from Brisbane to Sydney, even some stints in regional Australia and Darwin. Now, during that time, Paddy built a successful career in the construction space in Australia and actually had to move back home. And so this meant living overseas again, but in the UK, investing back home in Australia, investing without being in the country, knowing everything going on in the cities that he's living in. This is something that many Aussies have to make in terms of decisions.

Do I invest in Australia back home or am I in the new country, whether it's the UK or Dubai or other parts of the world? Do I invest in that new country? Now, Paddy decided to invest in Australia, grow a portfolio there and continue growing that portfolio there. So in this particular chat, we go through that story, that journey, what made him move to Australia back again, how his investment actually performed and some of the challenges alongside some of the solutions to being able to invest whilst living overseas, something that's growing massively amongst Aussies and something that I predict will continue to grow over the years ahead, especially as the growth and favorability of investing in Australia is an all time high when it comes to property investing. So check out the chat with me and Paddy here in the studio in Liverpool, United Kingdom, as we explore the conversation with Aussies living all across the world, exploring investing back home.

Nerd alert! Property Nerds, the home for data driven property investors, where we uncover Australia's hot and cold markets, latest headlines and trends. Paddy, welcome to the Property Nerds show, my friend. Thank you. Welcome to Liverpool.

Yeah, the other side of the world, mate. The other side of the world, mate. Man, look, I actually want to take you back a bit of time now and go to when you first thought of moving to Australia, because unlike the expat chats I'm having on the road, many of them start in Australia. They're Aussies that move abroad. But you went from overseas to Australia and then back again to Liverpool.

So talk to me about what started the move. OK, so what started the move? Just young, used to travelling around. All my mates, like whether it's the footy or festivals, you're used to getting around in Liverpool. Everyone gets everywhere.

So we were game, but mostly just bad weather, mate. So I remember the day that I decided to move. It was just raining nonstop. Like I do quite a hard job. It's mostly outside.

It's form work. And in Australia, it's called shutter and joinery here. So, yeah, I was just outside, rain battering. And there was a lot of talk about it between our group. So there's eight of us all together thinking about moving.

Two went and I was just on site. The rain's just coming down. And I was just thinking, what am I doing, man? So I just called my best mate at the time, Joe. And still, I said to him, look, I'm going.

And he was like, right, I'm coming with you. So within two weeks, we were in Australia. Man, that's wild that like just a bit of bad weather just caused all of that momentum and just packed up, lives changed. Yeah, yeah. Now, when it comes to Australia as a particular country, what made you select that?

Because I know there's many countries along the way between here and Australia. And there's a lot of places with some decent weather, too, along the way. But what stood out for Australia? I mean, to be honest, something just sparked the interest. I went to college with a lad from Ireland and he mentioned it to me.

He was like, oh, I've got mates in Australia and things like that. So I was kind of like that kind of sparked my interest. And then the more we just spoke about it as a group of friends, the more it just become real. And that was and, you know, visas are available to us there and things like that. Working holidays.

It is completely different, but you haven't got the language barrier and things like that. You've got the nice weather. So it just made sense. Mate, if you're after hearing a mate or a bro after everything, then Kiwi land and New Zealand land in Australia. That's as far as the accent differences will probably go.

And a couple of different endings. Right. Other than that, we're all we're all the same. But when it came to moving over to Australia and then how long were you there before you decided to even come back here to Liverpool? I was there nine years.

Wow. Nine years. You're almost as Aussie as I am. Exactly. Yeah.

Quite a stretch, mate. Quite a stretch. Well, when you were there in Australia, so which cities were you parked in? Which cities did you explore? Do you know what?

I traveled everywhere. So I landed in Brisbane first and was there for a couple of weeks, then decided to go to Melbourne from a friend's recommendation. And we went there and from there just traveled around. We were three months there, went up to Darwin from Darwin, lived in a few regional places as well. The Snowys and stuff like that.

So you're a proper explorer, man. Yeah. Yeah. We'll just work where it takes you everywhere. Yeah.

So, yeah, we ended up in Sydney then and just settled in Sydney. That was where like our group of mates just settled. And, you know, we all got decent jobs and built a life, if you like. Now, you're actually back here in Liverpool, hence why I've come to the other side of the world to catch up. But moving back to Liverpool, what prompted that after nine good years in Australia?

Yeah. So a sad story, actually. So in Australia, I had my business, all things like that. Everyone was going really well. We were kind of thinking about setting up a future there, setting up a life there.

I mean, mum was diagnosed with cancer. So, yeah, it was just it was just your life just changes. So basically, I was I'd set up my own company doing formwork that was going unbelievably well. You couldn't even write it for me. Anyway, I was just blown away by how it was going.

Life was just exactly where I needed it to be. Then I got the news. So you couldn't write this as well. So I got the news on the week after we landed. You know, I went to two meetings and both of them were kind of the biggest meetings of the business and my career so far.

Both meetings went extremely well with big infrastructure, big building infrastructure companies in Sydney and New South Wales. So I moved home and not straight away, but I've come home, you know, hearing the news. I think come home around Christmas. I was home for two or three months. Yeah.

And then one of these projects materialized and come in. And with the cancer, it's like you've got to wait for the treatments. Certain treatments might work. They might not. So you don't know.

So it was kind of it didn't make sense for me to move home imminently. So the plan was, OK, I will I'll wait and see how these treatments go because I've got so much going on in us. I mean, you can only imagine like building a life over nine years, mates and building a company and stuff like that. So personal, so big. And so it was one of them was, OK, I'll go back to Australia.

I'll play this contract out, see and see how my mom gets on. But if I get bad news, then I'm coming home and I'm going to be there for my family. So that's that's essentially what happened. So so it went so far and then the treatments didn't work. Yeah.

So it's quite hard for me to speak about. I understood, man. It's a big roller coaster for you, both from packing up life here, going to the other side of the world, building a successful business, building time in Australia, exploring most of Australia, probably explore more of Australia than many Aussies. I loved it. I lived in a camp and four wheel drive From my understanding, when Aussies move over to the UK, for some reason, even though they earn the dollars here, they make a good amount, they've got a good lifestyle in terms of the food, the cafe culture, the nightlife, and they're living here for a little bit now.

And all of a sudden, I think that this might be the place for them for some time. But then they still want to invest back home. Is there something about investing in the UK perhaps that isn't as exciting or maybe doesn't appeal as much to many people who do end up moving here? Maybe. I mean, I think for me, it's more where it's exciting to invest in Australia because I maybe can see myself there in the future.

So I've spoke with Kit about maybe looking at areas in Melbourne and that for me is exciting, especially over investing in an area here. I think the two different beasts here, properties are generally cashflow positive, but I don't think they're going to experience anywhere near the growth if you select the right properties in Australia. I think that's also appealing. So it's that growth factor is a big factor. I think so.

Speaking of growth, we picked up your property for just over 580K last year and the latest valuations have come back at near $740,000. So you can see that growth that's being experienced almost five times the national average. That's life-changing dollars, isn't it? Yeah, it is. And that's just going to help me diversify my portfolio and hopefully break into them capital city markets as well.

Do you feel like living overseas but then not knowing Australia as well, as in you're not born and brought up there, has made you feel like, you know, I can invest anywhere in Australia because I'm not as emotionally connected to every single city? Because one thing many Aussies do wrong is they live in Sydney and don't want anything else but in and around Sydney. And they miss out on what would have been, you know, this hundreds of thousands of dollars in capital growth that you've seen that others sometimes go, I just missed it out completely. What made you feel so okay with going, all right, no matter where I'm in Australia or whether I'm in the UK, I'm just going to go and invest where the dollars and data make sense? Yeah, I mean, that was just kind of my strategy, but I get what you're saying.

If you're not, you know, if you're not looking for a home and you haven't got that connection to a place, because if you think about it, when people want to buy a house and they start to think, oh, of building, you know, a home, having a family, maybe all these personal factors just have to be taken into account and they'll affect that decision. If you can make your decision based off the data and the numbers, that just opens you up to, you know, all of this stuff, what I'm experiencing and it means you can make an investment that really counts. Okay, now talk to me about the process itself. You know, you're overseas, there's stuff going on in Australia, you're here in the UK, and I just want to go through your mind during that time in terms of what you're feeling in all the steps and all the things to do, the paperwork. It's your first time buying back in Australia as well, right?

How was that in terms of the challenges, but also how was that put at ease? So yeah, so there was a couple of challenges. So obviously, yeah, first time buying a house, all the paperwork, plus I had all that going on with my mum or, you know, a company to run. So you can only imagine where my head was at. But, you know, the team worked with me.

I was dealing with Nick and your team. So there was one conversation I recall. They sent me the first property and us being from England and the UK, we just think by the beach, that's what you want. So that's what we live for. So it was by the beach and I was like, right, great.

I was like, but we missed out on that property, unfortunately. But straight away, it sent me another one. This is the property I ended up getting in Mount Louisa. And I was like, oh, Nick, look, this isn't by the beach. Which is funny, by the way, because the beaches here aren't all that special.

No, no, no, that's what I mean. But we think, oh, yeah, you know, you want to go by the beach and this and that. So he went, look, mate, just don't worry about that. He said, I know how it feels and I know it's easy to get that attachment to a place, but we've got the data and that's not what we're seeing. So, you know, trust me on this.

So I had to kind of just trust them on it. And, you know, it was spot on, wasn't it? So, but yeah, the process was mad as well, moving home through it. But we, you know, we understand the time differences as well. So we knew, OK, we can get stuff done between three o'clock, four o'clock in the afternoon, your time kind of thing.

And I knew, OK, when I get up, I need to get on the phone and sort that. So, yeah, it was good. Now, talk about some of the myths that you just broke then, right? Like, or busted. You had by the beach, all this sort of stuff.

Was there any other thoughts or sayings back home that you're constantly told of or meant to do that you broke the rules on? You're like, no, I'm going to do it this way, the way InvestorKit's done it or said that comes to mind? Yeah, I mean, I mean, really, the whole process was just a bit. No one could really relate from my side of things. So my dad was like, oh, look, you sure about this?

This doesn't sound like this doesn't sound like too good and this and that. And just trying to pick holes and everything, which is fair enough. He's my dad, so he's there for like so. But I think the whole process was a bit like that. It was just new.

There was an element of risk for me because I just wasn't, you know, you're about to buy the biggest purchase of your life kind of thing. So, yeah, I suppose the whole the whole experience for me was like that. But yeah, I'm glad I've done it now. Now, another thing that people always compare the decisions with is what I've done with a pro helping me versus what I would have done myself. What would you have done yourself if you didn't have a team?

Would you have even invested with everything going on? Would you have put it off for longer? Would you have maybe made a decision and threw a dart at the dartboard? What would it have been like if Paddy just did it on his own? Do you know what?

I'm not sure. I was I mean, I think one of the biggest challenges would have been if you're buying interstate. And this is when we speak about like buyers agents. If you are going to go interstate, what does that involve? It involves leaving work for weeks at a time, paying for accommodation, going to view properties.

And then not to mention, you know, how do I try and get into a competitive market like Townsville on my own with no contacts? So, you know, it's just a world of difference working with a team like InvestorKit, in my opinion. Yeah. Now, you mentioned Kit's name, your strategist at InvestorKit. Many people often think that when they work with a buyers agent, they're living abroad.

It's a transaction. But you mentioned him today. You mentioned him to me before in chats. You communicated with him even before us linking up. And that was a year and a bit ago that you made the purchase.

So there's a lot of contact afterwards. What's that relationship like? Is it transactional or is it more relationship? And what's made it really a relationship for you? I mean, it's both.

I mean, the thing for me is I'm just so grateful that, you know, so far, everything that you guys have said to me, the team, it's come into fruition. So, you know, I'm all in moving forward. And it was good to touch base with Kit and hear about the markets that we can potentially get into next year. And like I touched on before, that gets me excited. I've got friends still in Sydney.

I've got friends in Melbourne. You know, and with me being here, I don't know, you know, if I'm going to stay here forever or what's going to happen. So to be able to get a property in them places and for that to be an option is brilliant. And has it been easier than you expected to manage as well whilst you've been overseas? Like talk about the admin and like day to day of it.

Has it been as daunting as you thought? Has it been like, it's pretty set and forget? You know what? It's been all right. I've had a few little issues with the property.

We had like a leak and I've got to get a bit of gardening done. Unfortunately, my tenant got broken into as well. So I had to get kind of new locks and a couple of maintenance. Yeah, like she's got kids and stuff. So I wanted to feel safe and stuff.

So she asked for a few extra things on the property. I was like, yeah, of course. Got me way to sort that for her with the kids and stuff like that. So, but on the whole, mate, it's been really easy and very manageable. My agent now at, I forget what the Townsville thing is called.

We'll call them property manager for now. Yeah, property manager. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Thanks.