eddie007

And with the new build first time grant going up and first time buyer of established houses going down.......

Jacqui

You beat me to it Eddie, I was going to say the same thing. To the OP, it's just been announced that first-time homebuyers will get a government grant of $3000 if they buy an established house, $10000 if they build a new one. Should give a boost to work for tradesmen I would have thought.

Rather than look in Halls Head (south of Mandurah), I would be tempted to look north, in places like Lakelands and Meadow Springs. There are brand new primary schools there just opened and new ones planned. It gets you closer to John Tonkin College (high school) which has a pretty good reputation now, if you can't afford private. You won't actually be able to enrol your children at any school over the internet - you have to be living here and will have to visit the school with proof that you live here such as rental agreement, utilities bill. Don't stress about enrolling the children the instant you arrive in the country; and if you arrive during school holiday time even better. Nobody seems to keep tabs on children's enrolment into the education system when arriving in the country as new migrants, ours weren't enrolled for 6 weeks while we searched for a house! Although that was 11 years ago, I don't know if the system has changed or not.

Between Mandurah and Rockingham (south of Perth) there are vast areas of empty land earmarked for development. You're not allowed to work in Perth so that probably rules out Rockingham too. But nearer to Mandurah, once they start constructing that new train station at Karnup (on Paganoni Road) it's only a matter of time before the new housing developments at Karnup and Keralup begin. In addition, Lakelands has just released new blocks of land eastward, towards the freeway, and once they open up the road that connects Lakelands with the freeway (via Mandjoogoordap Drive) that will make the area attractive for those that travel to Perth daily. There is also supposed to be a new shopping mall and new schools being built at Lakelands, so there would have to be plenty of work for tilers soon, surely?

brits1

Hi, Is the grant not only given to Citizens or Residents?....the only troiuble with that (they did this when we first arrived in Aus to stimulate home buying etc and it drove the house prices up very quickly)

Jacqui

We came over with PR visas and were eligible for the first homebuyers grant. I have no idea about anyone on other visa types.

In answer to the OP's original question about the townhouse on Gibson St - yes it is within close walking distance of a primary school - but it's a very old school, one of Mandurah's original schools in a very old part of the town. Low socio-economic area and a higher proportion of old folk (who also like to be within walking distance of everything). Close to the lovely foreshore area, but this also means you will have undesirables roaming the neighbourhood after spilling out of the nightclubs come Friday/Saturday nights. Not my first choice for a young family.

I feel sorry for the old folk who have lived in this area all their lives and live in constant fear of being burgled or mugged with society being the way it is these days. I know a lovely old dear who lives the next street over. She saved up to buy a moped, only to have it stolen from behind a locked gate. The thugs have taunted her by driving past her place on it, but the police said there is not enough evidence to prove it's hers. Another time she was at home when a man just walked in to her lounge, couldn't believe his luck finding the front security door was unlocked. Got a shock though, when he discovered her police officer son stood in the kitchen having a cuppa! My son's ex-girlfriend works at the nearby Woolworths, and she used to tell us about the daily happenings in the store (thefts etc) and the foul-mouthed regulars, the abuse that the security guards have to put up with everyday, and she said her customers were mainly old folk and dole-bludger types (not a good mix). When leaving work in the evenings (only 6pm mind) she always walks to her car with another employee, as there are too many weirdos about, so they don't feel safe. Any tourists wandering too far from Dolphin Quays and the foreshore would be shocked to see this part of Mandurah I think :-(

EvannTel

As a regular I resemble that remark

Jacqui

You resemble or did you mean resent? :-)
Actually I do shop there myself, but generally go to the bigger Woolies at Centro. The whole Smart St area of Mandurah is an embarrassment really, it is way overdue for a facelift, it's so old-fashioned.

neilster72

Hey there, thanks so uch for all your info, about places to settle, schools and work, really appreciate it....Think we are gonna go for Halls Head, looked into everything i can from this end about it, and it seems like a place we would like, dont know what it is, but just feel its the right place for us when we arrive...Im sure work will be ok too, ive emailed a few tiling companies and had some positive feedback, so think all will be good...Always been an optimist, lol. Through my type of visa, we only need to stay in these regional areas for 24 months and work in them for 12, so that is ok, and to be honest, we like the look of down that way for living, and so it suits us.....Ill get the kids enrolled once we are settled as you say, was in oz before for around 18 month, but in NSW and up the east coast, never WA, so all excited, not expecting everything to be easy(that would be boring) but I know we will do absolutely fine, and really looking forward to it

thanks again

neil

brits1

Hi,

I was going to mention these things (but Mandurah could of changed in the 3 years we have left) as few of our newer migrant friends moved to Mandurah area for the visa status and they really did not enjoy it for a quite a few reasons and for the majority as soon as they could they moved to be nearer to Perth. I loved Mandurah (our friend had a holiday home on the Canal's) as I enjoyed walking around the water edge and the beach but just behind the touristy scene's a lot of the areas are not so nice and there is a lot of trouble for the size of the area, so says my Police friend.

EvannTel

I was teasing (although I am aging and I would love to be a dole bludger if i coul afford it).
I know what you mean about that area. It's ok though, well serves a purpose. We use it as its walking but only for emergencies and like you use woollies centro.

One day Mandurah will come of age. It's just in that difficult adolescent phase at the mo

neilster72

Well its Halls Head i would like to know abiut, is that nice? nice shops, good schools, a nice family area, maybe after 2 years we will move to nearer perth, ive friends in freemantle and joondalup, but with my visa, i need to stay in a regional area for 2 years first, which we are ok with, so halls head is where i have been researching, so any info on there would be great...thanks

EvannTel

Halls Head is nice. Suburb of Mandurah so to speak on the west side of the river - sandwiched with the ocean. Has old and new parts and an adequate shopping centre. It has a few holiday accom places nearer Mandurah.
When you arrive I'd get a short term furnished let which wil give you time to explore and see what's what.

brits1

Halls Head was/is nice but a small area, if you don't mind using your car a lot for shopping etc, you are very limited to clothes/food shopping and would have to drive to Rockingham for a major shop (and after that Garden City near Perth). You do not have a great deal of choice with the postcodes offered to you but thats why the need residents to settle in these areas. Have you looked at Yanchep (one of your postcodes) its North of Perth and like Mandurah slightly "out of it" but is much nearer to other attractions...ie Mindarie, Joondulup City Shopping, Hilary's and Garden City shopping, Westfield Innaloo Shopping, and yes even the Ikea store is North of Perth City you have much more established areas on the drive to Perth City so loads more choice "in between" Yanchep and Perth City. Yanchep is being developed and people might say "its bush" but not so long ago Mindarie was being built and Butler was just being cleared in 2002 and look at it now. Anyway just a thought

EvannTel

No train line (yet) and wife who doesn't drive?......

brits1

woops forgot that bit of info, but do you will still need to catch a bus from Halls head to Mandurah train station? and then its about 50mins on the train to Perth CBD (if wanted to go City Shopping) I suppose it all depends on what lifestyle you like and enjoy which sways everyones point of view. Myself I enjoyed Mandurah but did not always want to have a big drive to try something different, I enjoyed heading to other Parts of Perth so I/we settled nearer to the City with excellent and easy links to both North & South of the river and easy drive to the beach, we loved all types of sorts so we had a much larger choice to choose from and could choose a larger number of excellent schools with not much of a journey for our children... but thats was our choice, we are all different. I had read Yanchep will 99% get the train line in the near future, our friend was sooooooo amazed when we purchased some land in Butler (off the plans, they did not even have any roads built etc lol) as she said it was "the bush" lol....a few (and it was a few) years later its another Perth sub and the land value went through the roof.

Dave1892

I prefer the south side of Mandurah towards Dawesville but as someone mentioned earlier if you need to get the train to Perth then Meadow
Springs is a good choice. If you are working in the Mandurah area you don't need to be near the train. Cost of living is measurably less too in comparison to Metropolitan Perth.