benedict1843

Hi Just a little question, im finally going to Adelaide in Feb to have a good look around. (not a holiday) to see house prices, renting, buying, schools ect ect. My wife is a TA in a local primary school and im a bricklayer so we are not mega earners but do ok. We rent out houses aswell. We have two small children 6 and 4. We all love the out door life, camping, sailing, surfing, so just wondering what would be a nice suburbs what we could afford, and a nice family environment. Thanks for your help

KJCherokee

Try the inner Hills - Belair, Blackwood, Glenalta, Hawthorndene. Blackwood in particular has a small country town atmosphere with a good train service into the city and easy access into the surrounding rural areas, plus all your shopping needs.

By the way, any advice you get will be flavoured by the parochial view of the poster - Adelaide people are either North or South and consider the other side to be totally unliveable. I'm South!

Zen10

I would say the main choice the OP has to make is does he want city suburbs or hill towns? The inner hills are a good compromise. Also, most of the beach suburbs are nice. We rent a unit a minute from the beach for $1000 per month, but when we buy we will probably buy in the hills as it's better value for money up there.

I agree about north/south except North Adelaide of course and the beach suburbs which are nice, but certainly avoid Elizabeth/Salisbury etc.

rasen78

Hi

We did a recce in Feb/Mar of this year and have just moved to the inner Hills, arrived 6 weeks ago. Word of warning. Bring some warm clothing!! Even in Feb, you can get VERY different temp changes

Would be helpful to know more of what you are looking for, but here are a few things that drove our searches.

Schools - size, quality, location
Travelling distance to work
'Feel' for the place
Distance to city
Local amenities (esp for kids)
Cost and availability of rentals
Potential to buy (in 12 months or so)

When we visited, we stayed in Mt Barker and I fell in love with the Hills Some gorgeous towns, stunning views etc

When we arrived 6 weeks ago, we stayed in a holiday rental in Morphett Vale. If you want details, PM me. I didn't particularly like the area to live in, but was a good base for getting to know the area, familiarising ourselves with things, was 30-40 mins to the CBD, and was only 20 mins from where we have settled. Everything we needed to arrange, such as Medicare, car rego etc was all within 10 mins, so very convenient.

realestate.com.au is a good place to check out areas and rental prices. There can be quite a difference in price from 3 beds to 4 beds, so that may well drive your decision too.

This website http://www.homehelp4u.net/postcode_t...de_list_SA.php gives you some info about the specific areas and it would be a good idea to familiarise yourself with a map, so you get a general idea of where places are.

Anything close to the beach, and fairly close to the city will, in general be quite pricey. The further south you go, the cheaper it generally gets, so Christie's Beach, Port Noarlunga, all the way down to Aldinga, are reasonable.

The further into the Hills you go again, the cheaper in general, it gets (except for the tourist areas of Hahndorf, Stirling).

Flagstaff Hill and Aberfoyle Park are mid-range, but Happy Valley, which is within the same postcode, can be quite a bit cheaper. Coromandel Valley is beautiful and quite reasonable too

Don't know much about the Northern/north eastern areas, but pretty much everyone says to stay away from Salisbury/Elizabeth. We did research Greenwith, Wynn Vale and Golden Grove, but there weren't many rentals around at that time. Good schools there though. Oh and most areas have really good outdoor play areas and some fantastic parks and conservation areas around

IMO, it isn't worth paying extra to live near a beach, when you're kids are young. A trip to the beach will generally become like a full day out experience as you have to take everything with you. So you may as well save yourself some bucks and live a 20 mins drive away

If you need more info, just shout up

Zen10

I kind of understand that but if you live within sight of the ocean then it's not really the case. In the summer when we walk off the beach we often comment on the people brushing the sand off themselves and loading their cars etc and are very grateful we have a 60 second walk to the shower. So it can be worth it.

rasen78

Take it you don't have kids? A 60 second walk for you would be a 30 minute packing everything up, listening to the kids whinge about being cold, sand everywhere etc. And the equivalent house that we are in now would cost more in rent, unless we moved further south which, given that ROMFT already has an hour's commute, would be a bit pointless

Oh, and we do have sight of the ocean; from the top of the hill

Zen10

Yes I am a father, and yes it takes longer, but we can see the ocean from the front room so we can nip back and forth to get things etc. Not a hassle, plus some night one of us goes down on our own for a swim and other stays at home babysitting. I'm just saying the beach suburbs are viable and they are nice places and it is fun nipping out for an ocean swim before dinner, etc. We pay $1000 to rent our place per month - just a unit. Will probably buy in hills as houses are over-priced here.

benedict1843

Thank you all so much for your replies. Seems like there are plenty of options,

benedict1843

Where abouts are you? beach life sounds nice, and the rent seems good too