johnogilvie2

Hi,

We are flying out to Melbourne on Nov 20th. We have our visa's, house rented, all ready to go really.

We are having difficulty trying to decide where to live. Obviously it's hard to pin point a suburb without actually being there but we would like to have somewhere in mind. Don't want to live in an area that's over populated or too built up. At the same time we eould like to be somewhere which has it's own amenities and is within commuting distance from the CBD.

We have 2 children. One aged 7 and the youngest just about to start school so schooling is important to us too.

A modern house would be nice but without being in a sprawling estate.

The real question I have is East or West Melbourne.

Any views much appreciated.

John

fish.01

I think budget would dictate somewhat. Articles I read say inner east is extremely expensive, 1 million + for small house so many buy in inner west. Hopefully someone who lives in Melbourne will come and confirm or deny. What about north?

Petals

First of all forget about having the country and no high density and being able to walk to the CBD, does not happen.

Melbourne is a huge city over 100 km across and if you want country and low density then you need to live on the fringe probably an hour from the city.

There are parks in the city of course but its mainly high density apartment living and if you were to afford a house in this area it would be old or ultra modern and very very expensive. Land is extremely expensive close into the city.

You cannot compare Aus cities to UK, UK has lots of smaller towns whereas Aus has large sprawling cities.

I have the country at my door, across the road there are horses and cows in the fields, but I live 70km from the CBD and it takes me an hour to drive in non peak, more in peak, I have to drive to the station if I want to take the train and its an hour on the train.

There are a lot of warehouse style apartments near the CBD and if you wanted housing I probably would look at places like Ascot Vale, Flemington, Kensington, Northcote but these areas are very old and the housing is old.

Good luck

Weebie

Your budget will dictate where you can do and unless you don't have lots you won't have much to choose from. But in general the Western Side of Melbourne is pretty grim.

moneypenny20

As compared to where? If you can't back up a statement like that with facts, I'd rather you didn't bother.

Dolly

LOL you can also say that about some areas in the East. You need to have a look around and see what suits you. We live in Point Cook (in the dreaded West) and have no complaints - 25 minutes from the CBD (non peak hour) but the traffic can be pretty bad into the city in the rush hour - but the same can be said for coming in from the east. You could also look out around Geelong which is commutable and there is a VLine train direct to the city (about an hour).

Point Cook is also only about 40 minutes drive from Geelong, 1 hour from the Bellarine Peninsula which is crammed full of wineries, olive groves and is a nice spot for a weekend away. 20 minutes or so the other side of Geelong is Torquay and the start of all the good surfing beaches, past Torquay you are heading towards the great Ocean Road.

Also, on the way to Geelong you pass by the Brisbane Ranges which are hardly ever mentioned and really worth a visit - not too far from the city and you feel like you are out in the bush.

You could also look at somewhere like Baccus Marsh which is a country town and has a direct VLine service to the CBD. I work with people who commute happily enough from there.

So, I would suggest that you rent for a little while, get in the car and have a good look around.

Hope this helps

Buzzy--Bee

Hi John, others have made the statement that budget will dictate. I will try and help you with this bit -

If you want to achieve this you may well have to buy a run down old house, knock it down and then rebuild. I would say that 98% of new houses are on modern estates, very few are in the established suburbs.

We are lucky enough to have a new house in an established suburb, and having rented on an estate before, we really appreciate the difference. In an older suburb normally the facilities are much more convenient, we can walk to shops, school, swimming pool, bus stop, etc. Also in older suburbs there is a much more varied demographic, a good mix of older people and families. In new estates you will probably have to drive to school etc, there may not even be a bus.

Another way to achieve a modern house in an established area is to buy an older house which is fairly liveable and then renovate it, even put an extension on. Lots of Australians do this and if the house is structurally OK to start with it will be more cost-effective than rebuilding. If the house is not OK to start with it will be cheaper to knock down and rebuild.

Hope that helps.

BB