Ok folks.

Been living here a year (in very lovely Grange) in a rented house, paying someone else's mortgage with rather large rental payments. Have decided that it might be better to put that money into our own property.

Having lost lots of money in the UK when the GFC came along we have to start with a max budget of 350,000. I LOVE being near the beach and so we've been looking down south a bit at Port Noaralunga and Christies Beach.

Port Noaralunga never seems to have that much on the market. Saw one house. Wasn't impressed. Christies has loads in our price range and although all of them need modernising.. I don't mind that at all! PROJECT TIME!

So... We've found a house that needs some love. It obviously had loads of money put into it in the late 80s when it was built but hasn't seen much of the correct end of a paintbrush since - seems to be a bit of a running theme in the houses i've been looking at (must be the price range).

Now. Having lived and worked in a Secondary School in Northfield, Birmingham, UK I really can't see why Christies would be a bad move... However... I just did some forum searches and (in amongst the several slanging matches about snobbery) there were a few people saying it was BAD! Full of DRUGS!! with crap schools (mmmm not sure about that one!). (lol Bold used for extra dramatic effect here)These comments were from 99/2000 and I mentioned how they thought it would probably improve over the next few years...

SO... it's 2011... What do you reckon now????? Let me know what it's like to live there... if you do live there that is

*braces herself....*

Probably one of the worst suburbs( reputation) in the south along with hackham,but worst compared to what? I've only driven through and yes some of it does look rough.

350k, stuff the beach and come up to the hills with the clever people and me!

I agree with the poster above. It is a fairly run down suburb and still has a poor reputation - some would call it feral.
I have not lived there so cannot comment first hand.
One good thing I can say is that the Christies Beach Hotel does a good roast dinner on a Sunday

I work down at Seaford, and had a bit of a drive through Christies the other week looking for lunch.

I think it looks OK, but of course, living there is different isn't it. And I do come from probably one of the worst cities in the UK so a lot of places look good to me

If I get chance, I'll ask around at work for you. See what the 'locals' think

Its unlikely you're paying anyone's mortgage or that your rent is likely to be comparable to your mortgage payments. Fair enough if you want to buy, but like the Iraqi invasion don't do it on the basis of a false premise.

Our daughter rented at christies for a few months in a house a street back from the beach, she loved it.
It does had a dodgy reputation but I think there are worse places.

Thank you to all of those who have responded to my post. I appreciate it
Steve2009 - We're making sure that our mortgage payments and rent payment situation will work in our favour. Having owned homes before, I'd rather start paying off the loan I have than help someone else to pay theres
Thanks for the thought though.

Mersey Girl, If you eat in Christies where are you living? If you don't mind me asking? Is there another suburb near by that you think might be better - I'm assuming you're local?

Are those the ones in UK that you "lost lots of money" on

You're unlikely to be paying off anyone else's loan, you're unlikely to be even covering the interest. It's highly unlikely in an urban area that the cash "situation will work in our favour". You've already lost a large amount of money in the UK as you readily admit. It seems like you might be embarking on this new transaction, to take on new risk, on the basis of a falsity.

Yes I am in Adelaide but I live in the southern hills area so I am about 25 minutes north east of Christies Beach. The pub was recommended to me by a friend and I have eaten there a few times on a Sunday.

Other nearby beach areas include Seaford, Aldinga Beach, Moana, Maslin - however, some of these are a fair distance from Adelaide CBD, it depends if you want to be near a train line for the city or are not bothered.
The nicest beach areas south of Adelaide are Hove, Brighton, Seacliff but these unfortunately are more expensive than Christies Beach area.

When I first came to Adelaide several years ago I was told by migrants and locals to avoid anywhere that had Christies or Hackham in it's name as these areas were traditionally lower socio economic with a fair bit of housing trust homes and welfare dependency. However, there is future development planned for the beach area so things may be improving .

Personally I would choose Port Noarlunga every time.
Christies beach often encounters problems from the good folk of Christie Downs..just looking at the messenger here and it says two Christie Downs men face charges after trying to shoot a man on the Esplanade at Christies last week.
I have worked in the local schools and the standards of education and behaviour were very very poor.

My daughter has lived in Christies / port Noarlunga , on the left side which is considered the good side for the past 2yrs . she has been broken into twice , and the cars have been damaged and on Monday night her driver’s window was smashed. This has only been happening over the past 8mths and they have a good idea who it is.
The area should have picked up by now, but there seems to be an increase of young renters due to low rental costs. When I was staying there a few weeks back I often went walking at night with the dog, and never saw anything bad, the few new renters in there street do have late parties at the weekend, but that’s age related.
If you can find something a little more south in port Noarlunga south , this may be more suited. Christies and Noarlunga has a very high unemployment rate. I lived in Seaford Rise and never had any problems, although others have. Pot Luck

Can't really say personally, but from reading the free paper, it does seem to have more criminal activity than some places. That said, most of it seems to be at 2am on the Esplanade.

Depends where you work, parts of Morphett Vale, Renella etc. Seaford maybe a good buy with the train coming but I would say that that you may have to check your neighbours first. We rented in Seaford Rise and I think it's great and offers a lot of choice- for $350k, you would be looking at the older section, nearest the shopping centre.

Cooler

Thanks for all your comments guys. Appreciated