MrsA

Hi Everyone

I have just joined this forum. My hubby and I are starting the VISA process and we wish to come to Melbourne. We visited their at the end of last year and really liked the feel of the place.

I wondered if there was any advice about some of the nice suburbs to live in. We were interested in Geelong, however the commute into the centre of Melbourne is just over 1 hour and we feel we need to be only 30 minutes commute away from the centre.

Any advice would be really helpful.

Many thanks
Mrs A

One.for.all

Hi, what sort of house were you looking for? Apartment, attached townhouse, free standing with a yard? Will you need to drive to work or will you use public transport? Will you rent or buy? What sort of environment , sea, the mountains, cafe?These sorts of things make a difference.

MrsA

Hi

Thanks for your reply. We were hoping for a small house with some parking facilities. We were hoping again to have the flexibility to both drive to work or work public transport but we were hoping for around a 40 minute commute maximum. We would be renting initially until our property here in the UK sold.

We were like to be far enough out of the centre to experience the mountains, lots of free space, enjoy out of centre living but close enough to commute into the centre for work.

Many thanks
Mrs A

Kiwikaye

Hi,

Much will depend on your budget. If you're looking for family-friendly I can recommend our area - Mt Waverley - we're about 30-40 minutes on the train from the city, its only the third stop on the line so you can usually get a seat in the mornings. Schools are excellent and we're close enough to the freeways and main roads to get into and out of town easily.

There are heaps of nice suburbs in Melbourne though - if you can give us some kind of budget perhaps we can provide more info. Have you looked at www.realestate.com.au and www.domain.com.au for prices?

Kaye

MrsA

Hi Kaye

Thanks so much for your reply.

We don't have children so we would like somewhere which has shops/facilities etc for through the week and they maybe we can go into the city at the weekend.

Budget wise for rental we would be looking between AUS 350 - 450 ideally....lower if possible. We would probably rent long term as we would wait a while until we sold our property in the UK.

Thanks
MrsA

MrsA

Hi

We have been looking at Berwick also. That looks around 40 mins train journey to the centre. Does anyone know of Berwick and whether this is a nice suburb?

Thanks
Andrea.

roaringmouse

Berwick is a nice area on the whole, however during peak times the train will take around 1 hour.

Kiwikaye

I agree with roaringmouse. Berwick is a long way out from the city and if there's issues with the trains, you have limited alternative options to get home. Its ok as a suburb I think (never lived there). If its just the two of you, I would be more inclined to look for a decent flat or townhouse closer in to town. For the money you're looking to spend, have a look at Malvern/East Malvern, Chadstone, Carnegie (might be a bit dearer), St Kilda East.

If you want new-build type property then areas like Berwick are ok, but personally coming to a new city/country, I would prefer to be much closer to the city and have more options for things to do at the weekends, etc.

MrsA

Hi

Thanks so much for all of the suggestions.

I'm going to read up on those suburbs. It probably would be best at first to stay closer to the city until we get to know our bearings.

Many thanks
MrsA

OzTennis

Probably everyone will recommend south east and east of the city just you watch.

I'm sure you will be using these already but 3 of the main sites for property are domain.com.au, realestate.com.au, realestateview.com.au. Go to rent and enter suburb, either by name or postcode and you can enter min/max weekly rental, number of bedrooms/bathrooms/parking spaces etc and voila up will come a choice.

As a very rough rule of thumb, the lower the postcode the closer to the CBD (which is 3000) and probably the older the suburb. There's some interesting stuff and maps and photos at this site below:

https://kings9geo.wikispaces.com/

And I've reproduced the postcode map of Melbourne from that here:



Person who made it up didn't bother going far out west but City of Wyndham, circa 3030 postcode is the fastest growing municipality in the whole of Australia and they didn't bother going way out south east.

Here's an alphabetical list of Melbourne's suburbs (over 300!):

http://www.citypostcodes.com.au/Melbourne

You can sometimes take these surveys with a pinch of salt but The Age newspaper did a ranking of the 'liveability' of 314 suburbs but view with caution as 'one man's meat is another's poison' and all that!

http://theage.domain.com.au/greater-...122-1nrv2.html

roaringmouse

It's not all new build in Berwick

GarryP

That has got to be one of the dodgiest surveys I've ever seen. To be taken not with a pinch, but with an entire mountain of salt. God knows what their methodology was - its telling they don't say.

To the op, a few factors:

1. How UK expats view housing and desirability is significantly different to how aussies view it. Therefore if you are smart there are quite a few opportunities to take advantage of that difference, avoiding the stupidly expensive and picking out options the aussies would turn their noses up at.
2. The standard of original building, upkeep, etc. on aussie houses is not good, the older it gets generally the shabbier it gets - but aussies love 'established' suburbs and for some reason put up with draughty, uninsulated hovels because there's a cafe at the end of the street. Go figure.
3. As far as commute time is concerned, this map may help (http://www.railmaps.com.au/melbourn.htm ). Print it out and you can draw a line around journey times. Mind, the accuracy can be iffy with new services etc. (eg it says 40mins for me, but rush hour services run express and therefore take 20mins). For car journeys google maps can give you an idea, but be aware that infrastructure investment isn't fast enough and jams can double or more journey times everywhere. Perhaps the smartest move is to not get a job in the CBD - that opens lots of options.
4. Geelong is too far.
5. As well as the realestate sites, use Google Streetview to take a virtual look around potential prospects.
6. People will try to push you towards the south and east, but most of the affordable spots tend to be a long way out, and the ones further in suffer from points 1 & 2. Development is directed at the West and North (and consequently that's where a lot of new rentals are), but point 3 means the infrastructure takes a while to catch up. Personally when I looked around the S&E suburbs they did nothing for me, but there were better options in the W. You will know the relative weightings of the factors for you.

asher

Probably a good thing to do is rent short term accommodation near where you will be working and try out the commutes and find a place you like based on that and whether you like the feel of the suburb.

We did a lot of research on nice suburbs but found the commute would be very long in rush hour, we ended up somewhere we hadn't even considered.
Good luck with your search I hope you find somewhere that makes you happy.

stormin norman

Hi
Camberwell in the south is a nice suburb about 12 Km from the city lots of nice restaurants,can be be expensive though. it has good transport to the city also.

Petals

For me its all about the infrastructure that is in place now, not in the future, future infrastructure does not always happen in Melbourne.

Internet cover is one of the things I would look for when looking for a new place to live, I want the same as I have now or better ADSL2. Not going to have wireless dropping me out when its congested which is peak and most of the school holidays.

Schools in a suburb with a cross section of the community in age so that any children are going to get a place in kindergarten and a place at the school I select.

Handy shops, for that paper and milk I may have forgotten. Good shopping centre.

Beach not too far away a personal requirement.

Train line as buses tend to go around the planet to get anywhere.

Lived in look where I can see people walking, driving, riding around not too pristine to see a soul as they are so busy paying off the mortgage.

Doctors who have room for me on their list and a hospital not too far away. Somewhere where I can get an Xray, blood test see a specialist without traveling a long way.

I have all of the above where I live so I would want it all the same if we moved.