Chillisquid

You're welcome!

I think I put those links in wrong ... try:

Domain

Sutherland $800-$900

And I meant to say the age of a suburb is in direct relationship with its distance from the CBD. Everything radiates from the centre.

carolinephillips

Thanks for the info- will be on the website looking, but first I gotta find where there are good schools for my daughter, who is bright and musical.
Caroline

helen roberts

Hi everyone


Just been back to look at this thread in the light of more possible work in Sydney. Just wondering, what are the good suburbs of Sydney and what are the places to avoid?

Thanks

Helen

carolinephillips

Depends on how much money you have. If you work in the CBD then up the northern beaches/north shore is good. Down south Sutherland is also good.
Caroline

Big Galah

...and is inhabited by Hobbit-like creatures with strange accents.

Seriously though, I'd concur about the beach suburbs being over-rated - this is something the newly-arrived or those intending to arrive soon seem to value more than the locals. Once you've lived here for a while you'll realise that if you want to go to the beach it's not a major hassle (usually) to just drive.

For "nice" areas with good schools your best option is the upper North Shore. For your budget you may have to look towards the northern end. This may mean around Hornsby (about 45 min commute to CBD), which has maybe a slightly more "common" (relatively) reputation than the "posher" suburbs like Wahroonga, but has some nice streets in the Waitara direction. It also has some of the best schools - Hornsby Girls and Barker College (Hornsby too - I think girls from years 10 to 12) have good academic and music credentials, but at a price. The upper north shore also has a train service and basically follows the Pacific Highway from around Chatswood to Hornsby. (The upper north shore usually includes the suburbs north of Hornsby up to Berowra too, but this is outside your ideal commute time - maybe worth a look all the same, particularly in terms of value for money with your 600K).

The problem with asking for suburb advice is that people tend to talk up their own areas, as I've done here, but I hope it helps.

Big.

helen roberts

Thanks guys

Like I said, we had ruled out Sydney (despite the fact that it is easily the best place for my husband's work as he is in IT) because we thought we couldn't afford to buy the sort of house we would like in a nice area fairly close to the beach...but maybe we can!

Thank you

Helen

yanH

If you catch the right train from Berowra then you can get into the CBD in around 50 minutes. As Big mentioned your 600k will also go a whole lot further in Berowra than in Wahroonga etc.

Tomski Tribe

Loads of good advice here, it's been great to read! Thanks!

Big Galah

Sure will, some of these you could even walk to the train station from (10 mins to Hornsby)...http://www.realestate.com.au/cgi-bin...u=fn-rea&t=res

Given the current lack of decent public transport in Sydney and higher petrol prices probably not far away again, I would say access to a train station is far more important than "close to a beach" - which limits your options severely. Seriously, give the number of times you actually get to the beach when you have a mon to fri job, I don't think it's worth the extra premium you would pay, and you'd have to drive everywhere else.

The biggest disadvantage with places like Berowra is the distance from the centre of the city - though you can get the fast (Newcastle) train to Central station in about 45 minutes. North Shore commuter trains would take about an hour to Wynyard (George Street - near Circular Quay). Driving with no traffic holdups (F3 - Pacific Highway - Gore Hill freeway - Harbour Bridge) could be done in 45 minutes, though realistically you're usually looking at more than an hour.

Closest decent beach would be possibly be Narrabeen, Northern Beaches, or Umina, near Woy Woy, on the Central Coast - each about a 45 minute drive away. Not ideal, but not that unusual for Sydney.

verystormy

There is a little known area, (taxi drivers stuggle to find us) where we live called Breakast Point. It is mainly apartments, though some houses. It is on the river, is very pretty and has a great villlage feel about it even though we are only 25 mins on the ferry from the CBD.
I would highly recomend it, though it may be out of budget, (there is no way we could afford to buy)

verystormy

Ment to add, that although we are in Sydney, we are about to move to Perth and doing research on rental prices, it looks to us like Perth is considerably cheaper than Sydney.
As the other posters have said, i would forget the beach thing. We realy wanted to be near a beach when we first arrived, but found that, a) Most of the property is either VERY poor or VERY expensive, b) We can get to the beach easy enough though havent in fact bothered other than 2 quick visits, c) And i might get shot at this one, but to be honest, as someone who has lived or visited lots of countries around the world, we are not that impressed with the beaches in Sydney.
The city is stunning and we will be very sorry to leave, but think that Perth will also provide us with a good life.

Jacque

For value for money, near rail and good schools, yet a relatively (by Sydney standards) short trip to the beach ie: 20-30mins you can't beat suburbs in the Hornsby shire including Normanhurst and Thornleigh. As has already been mentioned, they're on the "cheaper" north shore side (though north shoreites will refer to them as northern suburbs only!) are well located and have median house prices some $150-200K cheaper than surrounding suburbs.
In the sub $800K price bracket check out properties like these:

http://www.realestate.com.au/cgi-bin...&tm=1221132943
Bit of a busier road but a flat walk to the station

http://www.realestate.com.au/cgi-bin...&tm=1221132943
It may look old but it's had a makeover, as have most of the homes in this older suburb

http://www.realestate.com.au/cgi-bin...&tm=1221132943
Top spot and walking distance to station and nearby Loreto (prestigious girls school) this house is typical of age and type in this area. Lots of land to put a pool in too

stepbeanie

The school I went to in Turramurra (North shore) , Ku-ring-gai high school had a great music & drama department and is now known as Ku-ring-gai Creative Arts High School. I know one of my friends has just moved back to the area so that her children can attend it so they must still have a pretty good reputation.
http://www.kuringgai-h.schools.nsw.e...kur/index.html

I can speak from experience that there is no shortage of musical activities in Sydney for children of all ages, I used to go to music camps in the summer & travelled down to Melbourne to perform with Sydney Schools (based in the centre of town) who offered everything from wind bands to full orchestras.

I also know the head of music at Pymble Ladies College (private school just down the road from Turramurra) who have their own theatre & very into their music, their choir travels the world performing. My partner who is a flute teacher has looked into it more in depth & has decided that it is the North Shore for us but that's just cos he's biased & likes the area! I'm sure that there are many areas of Sydney & indeed Australia that have the same sort of thing. One thing for certain a lot Aussies love the Arts