A Singaporean In Australia

The forklift broke down this morning and I had to bring Tony in for the first time since I started working here.  Not Tony Stark, just a bloke that set up a workshop nearby. Tony got here in minutes but he couldn't get it up working in a matter of minutes like I hoped. Worse, it sounds like it could be hours or even days after he diagnosed the problem as a snapped timing belt.

So the plan was to drive Tony back to his workshop, which was a mere minute away and he would drive one of his spare fork over as a loan to tide us over while the broken down one remains broken down. I asked Tony where he was from almost immediately after he hopped on. No one escapes me about this kind of things. I was once again right. Tony was from Croatia and spent 25 years in Australia after he fell in love with an Australia lady, got married and lived here since. If someone who spent just a year in Australia could tell the difference for someone who spent 25 years here from a local born and bred in a minute, why do so many Singaporeans I've met here talk about 'Aussification'?

Tony's workshop was full of forklifts and he owned all those. A kpo being a kpo, I just had to ask. I reckoned he owns that big boat parked inside his huge workshop as well. My last question got him curious. "Tony, are you allowed to live in your factory?" He stopped what he was doing, looked over and replied, "Well, nobody will really stop you, you know?" He went on asking me if I have plans buying a commercial unit to run a business and live-in at the same time, like how many families do it in Singapore and Malaysia in what we termed as shophouses.

I told him my circumstances, withholding the crucial half of the story and he told me it was silly to bring up a family in a shop. I had a feeling Tony could not picture what I have in mind. He thought my plan was to fix up shower and cooking facilities, a bed and whatnots and live in the rough and dirty environment like his workshop. He asked me how much did I his workshop costed him. He owns the workshop too? Apparently so and the workshop was $200,000 more than my $300,000 guess. Tony couldn't figure it out and asked, "If you are willing to spend $300,000 on this, why don't you just get a house?"

I need a mixed use commercial property that I am able to reside in. Like a shophouse in Singapore. Is there anything like that in Perth?