Little Lisa 1971

Hi Everyone, my husband and I along with our two children aged 12 & 15yrs will be moving out to Western Australia very soon. I would really appreciate an insight into the three areas we are considering moving to, good and bad points please.

The places we have in mind are Fremantle, Rockingham and Mandurah.

My key desires are: jobs in roofing, good schools, fairly close to the beach, and a good area to live in. I know I don't want much!!

We have about £330,000.00 to spend on a house and also wondered what sort of house that money could get us as I realise Australian Homes have rocketed it the last 5 years.

Thanks in advance for your help, any comments would be great

EvannTel

Hi Lisa.
Do you want a mortgage or not? If not Fremantle is out - by a long way!
Have a look on realestate.com.au, you can put in your budget and areas and see whats available. Mandurah has some blinding bargains as it was very over supplied with housing during the last boom.
Rockingham is near the beach, good beaches too.
Can't with schools I;m afraid and workise people go where the work is (and Freo isnt an easy commute as not Freeways).

Bt I LOVE Freo!

Little Lisa 1971

Thanks EvannTel, I've had a hell of a suprise on the cost of houses! We were hoping not to have a mortgage but I think looking at things we might have to

If anyone else can help with info especially on good high schools I'd really appreciate it.

Thanks

HelenTD

Another BE member posted this link to high school rankings: http://bettereducation.com.au/results/WA/all.aspx. This gives you a general idea of how a school performed in the Year 12 results for 2010 and there are links to each school. The MySchool Australia website has more info http://www.myschool.edu.au/. The state high school in Fremantle is John Curtin, which has a good reputation: http://www.jc.wa.edu.au/Admissions/default.aspx. There are private schools dotted around all over Perth and about 1/3 of all WA kids go to private schools.

The subject of schools in the Rockingham and Mandurah areas has arisen a few times recently. If you search for those areas you should pick up the threads, or try seaching for Living Waters Lutheran College, Maranatha or Comet Bay College (state). Comet Bay may not offer Year 12 yet, but it might by the time your children need it. Some BE members are at these schools and you could pm them or they might post here.

Little Lisa 1971

Thank you Helen for the fab reply

PoppetUK

Worth even phoning schools to see if they have places. We were looking at the younger years (primary) and couldn't get the kids in.

RossCountyLoyal

Goes without saying really, but you need to visit these places yourself to get your own feel for them. We are on holiday in Perth before we emigrate later this year, and had Rockingham on our list to visit due to the affordability of house prices. We visited Rockingham on Friday and will not be back. Not impressed at all. The Town Centre has 7 estate agents, 235 chippies (ok, maybe I exaggarate) and 2 Adult / porn shops. I don't think the Rockingham Council Planners (if they have any) have had much consideration for how first impressions last.

(sorry to anyone who lives happily in Rockingham, but sorry not for me. I'm not against porn, each to their own and all that)

Weebie

go to Fremantle if you can. The locals in Perth regard Mandurah and Rockingham as slums which is essentially waht they are. AS you've already pointed 330k sterling isn't much money in Australia.

HelenTD

There's an expression about "if something sounds too good to be true, then it probably is". There is a marina planned for Rockingham, which would improve the area, but it takes a long time for the demographics to be changed. There are plenty of other suburbs to avoid in Perth. That doesn't mean that the people who live in the less desirable suburbs aren't good people, or that it is impossible to have a good life living there, but it does mean that you are taking more of a risk choosing to live there. This is in terms of day-to-day living and re-sale value. It takes time to know good and bad areas, just as it would in the UK. There are several good reasons not to rush into a house purchase here, or even a rental.

geordiebloke

330k stirling, I think equates to about $530k.

I'm pretty sure that this would get you something decent in Mandurah and Rockingham and would be a good deposit towards something in fremantle.

If money was not an object, which it always will be, I would chose Fremantle, but there are nice places in the Rockingham and Mandurah areas.

Ignore the above comments about slum, this guy is always posting garbage like that and clearly has no idea whats he's on about

vicstick

Hi, We aren't there yet but all being well are aiming for somewhere near Rockingham later this year. We have visited Rockingham but not Freo or Mandurah, and whilst not the prettiest little town it seemed fine to us. We don't want to land ourselves with huge mortgage so I think Fremantles property prices are out for us. Got more research to do on schools and stuff but will spend at least 1 year looking round getting to know places before committing to an area.
Good luck,
V

eddie007

pity you didn't spend any time getting to know the area, Sounds very much like you failed to make it past the seafront.... Town centre is further in and has NO chippies... And only one estate agent... But this isnt a bad thing... keeps house prices affordable for people like us... Who truely know the local area.

eddie007

Agreed... Stay away from Mandurah and Rockingham... If you're anything like as pig ignorant as the above poster..... You wouldn't fit in with nice normal people who choose to live there on their lovely quiet, underpriced executive estates and take advantage of the well established community, and services that have had millions pumped into them over the last few years, living within walking distance of the ocean without millions on a mortgage...

Keep the urban legend alive that they are slum towns...

al150n

I do love reading the threads when Rockingham gets mentioned It's never ceases to amaze me how blinkered some people can be on some areas.

To the OP sorry I'm no help on the areas you're looking at as I'm in the northern suburbs. But I would say you need to spend time looking at the areas yourself when you arrive to get your own perspective on where to live.

Alison x

eddie007

I do have my rose tinted glasses on with regards to Rocko..., there are areas I wouldn't buy in. Locally, But its come a long way from the pommie shanty town of yesteryear...

And I think that 330k GBP is a serious lump for anyone to be bringing with them....

But thats because I live in the slums eh?