Lisalan

Hi all!!

We are after a little insider knowledge about areas of Brisbane please!!

Looking particularly at areas to live well out from the centre, IE no more than an hours travel from the centre. Can anyone advise of any nice areas to buy a house?? Or any areas to avoid?

Have had a look at several areas including The Gap, Kenmore, Chapel Hill, Bellbowrie but theres so many, any help would be appreciated. We have a dog so ideally either near some dog parks or are happy to walk her on lead in any park areas.

Thanks!

Pollyana

Brisbane is HUGE! Any idea where you are likely to be working?

Alfresco

The western suburbs you describe are all less than an hour into the City, especially (an hopefully) when the tunnel is complete early next year.

Up North is good too, as is East and South Brisbane (some areas).

You can walk dogs almost everywhere without dedicated dog parks. There are rules though and no go zones etc...

fish.01

Yes, around 450 suburbs without counting the Gold and Sunshine Coasts.

Thinking out loud, as well as location of work, the following might help us narrow it down for you if you have the time:

- type of transport you want access to (e.g. bus to city, no more than 1hr in peak; car to southern suburbs etc)

- type of home (e.g. character home, modern home, don't care)

- size of plot

- what local facilities (e.g. shops, cafes, pools, libraries, public/private schools etc) + whether you want to walk to them or driving to everything is fine

- type of area, semi-rural, urban, mountain village, beach etc

- what you like to be near (lakes, beaches, fishing, hiking, arts, food, mountain biking etc)

- budget, if you wish

KJCherokee

Also, what sort of budget, and buying or renting? The suburbs you have mentioned are definitely going to be in the upper price range.

Median price for the whole of Brisbane - $477,000
Median price for The Gap - $570,000
Median price for Kenmore - $571,000
Median price for Chapel Hill- $670,000
Median price for Bellbowrie- $491,000

Alfresco

Could you throw in Jindalee from that same source for my own interest?

rabble_rouser

Speaking from personal preference, I just fell for Logan. Logan is a wonderfully colourful area which I settled on eventually.

Lisalan

Hi,

So we are working on the assumption that I won't have secured a job before we leave and being an accountant we are also assuming that my work will take me into the city centre.
All decisions are going to be based on best estimates!

We plan to rent for the first 6 months just to get a little bit used to things before adding the stress of a home loan into the equation.

After that we plan to buy, initially not to the top end of our budget, as being our first home in a new country we don't want to over stretch ourselves. Our initial budget would be around 400k with our later budgets being around double that.

So with our first place our desire to get the 'perfect' house won't exist (but for reference a traditional 2 story queenslander home would be it), our aims to begin with would be about location and area.
The things we enjoy most are being out and about outside. Bars and shopping are nice but if we have to drive to these places we'd live! So really I guess, semi rural, quiet, not too close to main roads as we have cats (do we sound like we're 80!?!) We can take or leave the beach, so having to live right on the coast to see the sea isn't high on our list.
We don't have any children, nor will we have so schools etc are not relevant.

So far the areas we had mentioned are all west just because that is where we started before we realised how many areas there were to choose from and sought help from you guys.
So north, south, east or west, we are open. Really I guess we would just like to avoid 'millionaires row' or the really less desirable areas (over here there would be old mattresses and appliances dumped out front!!)

Hope this helps you to help us!

Really do appreciate all your input

Thanks

Grayling

Firstly most 'Queenslanders' are not two story....they are on one level with storage space underneath (although some have been converted).

Secondly you will not find one worth living in within a reasonable distance of the centre, or in a good area, for $400K.

Forget beaches as Brisbane does not have any...the nearest proper beaches are on the Gold Coast or Bribie Island.

Traffic into the city can be horrendous so you really do need to find a house with a reaonable commute.

No doubt some smartarses will come on and tell you that you can get one for that price but you will need to check exactly where they are and what the area is like.........and yes the mattresses will be out front and abandoned cars will be in the garden as well.

Also take what some tell you about commuting times with a pinch of salt...they are often people who don't actually travel at peak times if at all.

There is a reason that the inner and western suburbs are among the most Expensive.

Lisalan

Well, the living space is upstairs so in my mind that is the first floor / another storey. It's the storage space we are after.
Secondly, I was NOT expecting to buy one for 400k, my comment was that was our ideal house and would come later with our larger budget once settled.
I also said I wasn't fussy on the beaches which is why Brisbane is fine for us as we don't mind not having a golden coast.

You have said to be mindful of any information people give us about location and commuting but you haven't actually provided us with any suggestions yourself.
We are really looking for help / guidance / wisdom! To help us narrow down our investigations.

Alfresco

To get an idea of travel times during rush hour you can open Google maps and then load the traffic overlay. That will show current and also typical travel times at different times of the day in and around Brisbane.

Also consider that once the tunnel from Mt Coot-tha to Kelvin Grove is complete, then commuting from the Western suburbs "should" be a whole lot quicker. That in turn may attract more people to the western burbs and the inevitable supply and demand will push house prices up.

http://transcityjv.com.au/

That's my prediction anyway. Watch this space. I will update in August 2015.

Grayling

....and you have not told us where you will be working.

Brisbane covers a massive area so it is very difficult to give you any information that can be more specific....as has been said there are hundreds of suburbs.

Most 'traditional' Queenslanders tend to be in the older more central suburbs which are also the mst expensive.

The outer suburbs tent to be pretty soulless and the houses are McMansions.

In some of the western and inner suburbs your budget would have to be pretty big. My son sold a two bedroomed Queenslander (in pretty poor condition) for over $650K in Toowong and that was before the most recent house price rises.

You also need to be a bit more specific.

Kim67

You may not get a decent Queenslander for your dream budget either unfortunately. As Grayling has said, older homes tend to be in the more inner city (and more expensive) suburbs of Brisbane. An fairly small, renovated post war home (timber house but not as sought after as a Qlder) sold in my street in Coorparoo a couple of months ago for 900k. There are a couple of nice Queenslanders in the streets immediately surrounding me that will probably sell in the vicinity of 2 to 2.5 million. Housing is pretty expensive. I suggest you arrive with a week or so booked at a holiday rental, you can get pretty good deals on holiday apartments at Kangaroo Point and South Brisbane, hire a car and just check out every suburb within 20km of the city yourself. Good luck.

Grayling

so you didn't write this then?

Lisalan

In my earlier post I mentioned that I am not banking on having secured a job before we emigrate so any guestimations are on the assumption I will be working in the city centre. This may of course not be the case but one has to start somewhere!

We're not expecting to make any decisions on locations now but just if someone says I live here its nice or in my youth I lived there avoid at all costs, so we can get a feeling. Or if a certain area has terrible transport or great transport etc.

But your comments on the queenslander house is helpful, that helps us to know where we would have to look and at what cost. That is definitely what we would work towards.

In the beginning we would live further out or somewhere lifeless as having just moved to a new country don't expect everything all at once. To begin with we're just looking for somewhere clean, friendly and easy access to walk the hound!

We will rent to begin with so can do some investigation as I learnt from moving to London the only way to know is to explore but knowledge takes time and so trying to steal other people's.

Does this help in any way?