Danaamatrix

Hi everyone,

I was just wondering if anyone could help with good areas to live in Melbourne. I am thinking the Morington area. Schools are important as I have a 5 year old and also not being a million miles away from shops. Any help or experences would be brilliant. Where did you guys settle down and where Should I also avoid?

Thanks for any feed back,

Dan

SamSi

It really depends where you'll need to commute to and also what your budget is. Mornington is quite a long way from Melbourne, about 70km I think so you'd have a long commute whether by train or car. Areas such as Dandenong & Noble Park aren't considered that desirable, same with some of the northern suburbs like Epping, Thomastown, Resevoir. It really depends on what's important to you as a whole - quality of life doesn't necessarily mean the fancy 4bed/2bath if it's in the arse end of nowhere surrounded by ferals and you spend half your life commuting. Better to have a more modest house or townhouse closer to the city but that's just my opinion, others will disagree. Check out Oakleigh, Murrumbeena, Bentleigh, Moorabbin, Chadstone, Carnegie in the SE (although as I said pretty much everywhere's expensive at the moment).

elice_in_oz

Spot on!

Will you be working in the CBD? If so Mornington might not be the easiest commute. As SamSi said, there are a lot of good suburbs all around Melbourne, but it all depends on budget and aspirations. We live in Montmorency, in the North Eastern suburbs and we love it. It's not near a beach (less than an hour from one though!) but it's got great amenities and only 20 kms from the CBD. Not far from Thomastown but much better
So really, it depends on your circumstances...

salopian

Hi Dan,
As others have said it depends on how far you want to commute. We live in Bundoora, about 20km from the CBD and you'd be lucky to get anything for under $400,000 now. Around us Watsonia's nice, so is Greensborough, Montmorency, Kingsbury, McCleod, Rosanna, Ivanhoe - the closer to the CBD the more expensive it gets. If you want more of a rural feel I'd be looking at Eltham, Diamond Creek, Wattle Glen, Hurstbridge. All these suburbs are North, North-East, can't really help you with south of the river or West, don't know the suburbs too well. Places to avoid. Thomastown, Broadmeadows, parts of Heidelberg, Epping, there are lots actually, maybe if you could give us a bit more info we could help more. Best of luck.

elice_in_oz

Hello neighbour... sort of!
I concur with you, prices are a bit crazy around here. But it's still a great place to live

Petals

Will you be working in the central business district or in one of the suburbs.

I would have a look at the Metlink site and follow the train lines out of the city if you will be working there as this will give you an idea of the commute.

http://www.metlinkmelbourne.com.au/

I live on the Mornington Peninsula and we both worked about 30 mins travel by car from home.

A lot of Brits move to the Frankston area, Langwarrin, its an hours commute by train from Frankston to the city. Others commute from Mornington and areas on the Peninsula but if you are on the Port Phillip side this requires driving or taking a bus to Frankston to get the train. The Westernport side has a train and bus service so people just change trains at Frankston.

It really depends whether you want the beach handy, the hills or inland country.

Point Cook and areas to the west of Melbourne are also becoming popular because of their short commute to the CBD.

I would not look at Dandenong, Noble Park, Springvale, North Dandenong is ok.

Other beach side suburbs to consider would be Edithvale, Aspendale, Mordialloc, Parkdale, Mentone, Cheltenham, Highett, Moorabbin beach side of the rail line is very expensive though, cheaper on the other side , not that cheap though

Forgot Narre Warren, Berwick, Pakenham, Cranbourne are also popular areas but they are not close to the city. On the train line though, have a look at Realestate.com.au and get an idea of the rents and sale prices.