Hi there,

We're closing in on our move over to Melbourne and hope to be there around early October.
We have been discussing various options on where to base ourselves as
I will be working in primarily in Moorabbin with the possibility of odd trips into the CBD and for now at least my wife will be looking after our two kids full time.
We intend to rent for a while and our initial thoughts were to head for the Peninsular, maybe Mornington or Mount Eliza as this will give the kids easy access to the beaches etc. and i don't particularly mind the drive as i'm pretty used to doing a 2 to 2.5 hour round trip to work each day.
More recently we have also looked at the suburbs in Kingston, Monash & Whitehorse, but to be honest we don't know much about them other than what we have read in the "Where to Live in Melbourne Guide".
We intend getting a short term rental in order that we can do some scouting about but any advice anyone has would be very much appreciated.
The main reason behind our decision is that we want to rent in somewhere where we can ultimately afford to buy so we don't have to uproot the kids out of school in the future unecessarily.

Thanks

Gareth & Debbie

I have never lived in Kingston but I have lived in Monash and Whitehorse at different times.

If, I had work in Moorabbin, and I wanted to be close to the beaches for the kids, and it was affordable (and I would not have a clue about your situation..of course) it'd be Kingston.

They are all well established suburbs with relatively good public transport via trainlines into the CBD.

The Public Schools our kids were educated in, in both suburbs, were excellent.

Real estate in all three suburbs because of their proximity to the CBD and access to public transport is always in demand and will, in my view, always hold it's value.

I suppose it depends on whether you value the more cosmopolitan life near the city or the more rural existence down on the peninsula.

Morning, Moorabbin gives you many options apart from the Peninsula.

You could look in Moorabbin on the beach side. Hampton, Sandringham, Beaumaris, Black Rock, Mentone but be careful there as there is an airport zone ideally better to be on the beach side. Parkdale, Mordialloc. Aspendale, Edithvale all easy commutes to Moorabbin and you could also take the train.

The beach side of the Nepean Highway is the most desirable and prices reflect this. This happens all the way down to Mornington, beach side is more expensive.

If you did not want to live right near the beach Dingley is handy for Moorabbin.

You could also look at Bentleigh, Ormond areas.

Just follow the train line on google from Frankston and you will see the suburbs

I believe its preferable to live on the bayside of Melbourne mainly because its not so congested as no one lives or drives on the side the sea is on and this does help a bit.




Good luck.

Thanks for the information guys, i do love the Bayside area (have a friend renting in Black Rock), but i think ultimately it is out of our league for now.

Cheers

How about Casey, there are some lovely suburbs in Casey with great schools and some of the suburbs are only 10 minutes to the beach. Here is a link to other Melbourne Suburbs and more information about Casey. http://tinyurl.com/5ba9rx