@boy

Here's some more good news for those of you looking to buy once you get here...

Home prices dip as rates bite
http://www.theage.com.au/news/nation...743253101.html

Data from the Real Estate Institute of Victoria has revealed that all the gains made by Melbourne property since mid-2007 were wiped out by March this year. It was the largest fall in a three-month period since the third quarter of 1993 when house prices slid 10.9%.

Despite purchase prices falling, rents are still rising. CommSec chief equities economist Craig James said rents were increasing at the fastest pace in almost 18 years, boosting inflation and putting pressure on interest rates.

"The fundamental problem is a lack of investment, with investors still not moving into the property market despite the sharp falls seen in the sharemarket," he said.

The Crow

I'm not working for the local development board, honestly It really is just a wonderful place to live (especially with young kids). Just trying to break up the rush of the Brits to Berwick and Mornington

Only problem is - properties don't come up very often and prices have been increasing dramatically.

Mr Anderson

Fair enough Fraser you live there. Regarding the cinema complex i was told that there would be one at point cook town centre. Ive just done my research and you are bloody right. Although my research did chuck up that there is one at werribee plaza in hoppers crossing a few miles away. Werribee Plaza Regional Shopping Centre
A major undercover retail centre located on the corner of Heaths Road and Derrimut
Road, Hoppers Crossing.
Over 220 specialty stores are located at the plaza and the complex includes a Ten
Screen Cinema Centre, Myer, Big W and K-mart.
Werribee Plaza contains approximately 75,000 square metres of retail floor space
making it one of the largest centres of its type in Victoria.

As far as travel
I have a motorbike and can get round to elsternwick in 30 minutes and i defo wont be stuck up the arse of a lorry on the way back. LOL

As for schools i havent looked yet as i dont have kids but the featherbrook, innisfail and alamander estates that are being built all have schools planned in the estates.

The beach is 5 minutes away. Not altona beach, i mean the spit of land in the marine park round the corner from your house. If you want a sliver of sand, shallow water for kids to play in and good snorkelling(as its a marine park) then its a great beach in my eyes especially as its on the doorstep. There are barbeque areas too and a nice bit of grass to play frisbee or sports. It also feels as though you are in the middle of nowhere(which it is) as you cant see the city or anything else besides from the beach there.

You are right about it being flat brown land , but if you come from the inner city then open space is fantastastic and you feel again, like you are in the middle of nowhere,20 minutes from the CBD.

Im not saying that point cook area is utopia for me or anyone else for that stretch of the mark. What i am saying is that its the closest to the city we can purchase mortgage free that isnt a shit hole.

The fact that its so close to the motorway is a bonus. We used to live in semi rural cheshire and have horses and i was bored stiff there and went stir crazy when i wasnt out with my mates in the city.

I am a city person by heart. I love the buzz of the city but we are going to have a child this year and simply cannot afford anywhere in the city or near it without having a whacking mortgage for 25 years again. So id rather be mortgage free and have enough money to go on loads of trips and weekends away to stop me getting stir crazy.

So in retrospect, im only giving what i would consider to be plus points. I am willing to be corrected by someone in the know more than me on ther finer points, but someones hell can be someones heaven, its just a perspective thing or in my case a realistic view of my situation.

oh, and the more people move there the better price yours and my house will be when we sell!

al

fraser

I think that is key and is why we moved here.

As for the coastal park it is lovely over there, it becomes unbearable in summer as it's the worst place for flies, although it will take more than 5 minutes to get there over all those speed humps

As for Werribee plaza (even with you being a northerner) I'll leave you to judge that until you've been there

Anyway mate I hope you'll both be very happy there.

Have you decided on a builder/house yet?

Mr Anderson

Yeswe are going with simmonds and the house is the lumino 2600

It had to have a decent size study at the front as once clare finishes her degree she will be a counsellor from home and i didnt want people trapsing through the house when im in my crack LOL

Ill wait and see werribee plaza then, is it worse than knifepoint, sorry, highpoint

al

fraser

Highpoint is superior to the plaza in every way.

Simmonds build good houses from what I've seen, although they take their time building them but I'd rather wait for a decent job.

I guess you have a long wait all round.

@boy

REIV March Quarter 2008 Median Prices
http://realestateview.com.au/median/

The latest info, just released.
Hope it helps with your research for those of you on the way.

jamesjack

Hi

Can anyone help. We are hoping to move to Melbourne. OH got a job offer on the St Kilda Road. We are needing to be near a primary and Secondary school. The secondary school hopefully offering the International Baccalaurette Diploma. Also where abouts is a quietish place to live nearby with a hint of countryside to it?? may sound stupid but just seeing what my options are. We will be renting a house to start for a few years. Thanks for any help and advice you can give.

pinkjane8

Hi everyone, yes off to Melbourne end of July. Heading for the Geelong area.

Bosola

Hi, We're working through the 'we're not going to Australia in a million years' stage with a couple of our children and have been trying to find some books or dvd's about life in Melbourne / Victoria so we can give them an idea of what it will be like - a reccie is out of our budget unfortunately. Can anyone recommend anything? I've seen some stuff on teh web but books or dvd's would be better...

Mr Anderson

I look forward to seeing the plaza then.

Hopefully simmonds are good, they seem pretty pro and their show homes were the best quality out of the ones we looked at too.

Off to pay deposit tomorrow. We dont mind the wait as we are getting tomorrows house at todays prices and only paying them the lump in a year or so s time which means more interest earned in the bank.

The other plus side is that we get to stay here in newport area or move closer to the shop for a year so that im not travelling as far every day, 6 days a week for a year so in that year, i can get the shop established, hopefully get someone(or 2) in there and semi retire by working their days off for 2 days a week.

Also clare doesnt have to travel as far for uni and will be almost finished her course by the time we move in, so hopefully we win all round and in the process we actually make more money this way cause if we bought a house now and used all our money , with all deductions and plus's for rent we save etc by being mortgage free, on calculation we reckon we,d be $45,000 better off as we dont pay stamp duty on a new house and just the land, we get the first home, and new home buyers grant and all the interest we will earn in 18months

And we get the land and house at todays prices. Hopefully they are all up in value ibn 18 months around there too.

Thats the plan and we always plan well.

al

Kapri

Neighbours?

How old are your kids? Are they teens?
Perhaps if they make some friends on the teen forum they may be more amenable.

Sheff_Sparky

bouncing_kumquat

Hi there,

I hope this site helps for a list of all of the schools in Australia that offer the IB, sorry couldn't do a search for Melbourne only but there aren't that many to flick through.

http://www.ibo.org/school/search/ind...d_schools=Find

There only seems to be the Australian International Academy of Education
that does the IB from start to finish and a few more that offer the IB Diploma. It just depends what your requirements are.

Helen

ozzieeagle

Yes and you would have to convert to Islam to go to the one you mention.