singinintherain

Hi

We (me, OH and dog) will be landing in Perth in March and will be looking for somewhere to rent in a good quality area which is as crime free as possible, close proximity to the beach but preferably within walking distance of amenities like cafes, parks (ideally restaurants but that may be asking a bit much). Also looking to get as much house for our $ as possible (isnt everyone!).

Can anyone give advice on the above areas given our criteria, esp like the look of houses for the $ in Innaloo, obviously would be better if we could come and have a look before we get there but due to £/$ don't think we will have the funds to do that.

Also - can anyone recommend where to go to for short term lets until we get ourselves settled in for me, OH and clean/non-shedding dog once she's out of quarantine.

Any help would be much appreciated - it's so difficult trying to research from in the UK without knowing the surrounding areas, am going goggle-eyed at the screen and going through ups and downs as to whether we are doing the right thing!

Thanks

JBJ14

Hi

Have you been to Perth before? Unfortunately the walking to anything is not very common here, everything is very spaced out and you need to have a car or you will go barmy!

Better market for buying right now, so could be good timing! The areas you have mentioned have good and bad. Not sure on your age, but the likes of Scarborough are quite full of students and people in shared houses.

The other suburbs are ok ... but just ok! Each will have it's good and not so good spots.

I would suggest moving a bit further north ... again depends on your budget though. Hillarys is very nice, and could be walking distance to the Hillarys marina and beach down there, quite pricey though.

Sorrento / Iluka / Ocean Reef / Mindarie are all nice coastal suburbs

stayz.com.au for short term furnished lets

Cheers
Wayne

Weebie

Jesus christ Wembley Downs, Scarborough, Innaloo and Doubleview are blue chip Perth suburbs. Those other suburbs you mentioned are except for Sorrento don't compare. There is a reason why the subrubs are half the price compared to the ones mentioned by the OP.

I grew up in Wembley Downs Great suburb, little crime, great palce to raise kids. These specific areas don't have cafes in walking distance but you can easily get to Scarborough, or Wembley, or the city....My record is 9 mins from around that area. None of these suburbs have counsil housing that's why little crime exists. Some of those suburbs mentioned like Iluka and Mindarie would be have a 1 to 6 counsil ration hence Australians don't live there.

JBJ14

I'm not bagging anything in particular, mentioned Hillarys as perfect for the walking issue as a #1 preference

There are council houses in Wembley Downs (not many, but some). Iluka and Mindarie actually have none.

Areas with highest council houses are (as per the homeswest info, this is on 2009 figures though):

Willagee
Karrawara
Koongamia
Manning

Wembley Downs has 19 houses which is less than 1% - this is a nice area though
Mindarie 0
Iluka 0
Scarborough 169 houses - just over 2%
Innaloo 409 houses - 11%
Doubleview 414 houses - almost 12%

Hard to pick from the other side of the world, but I still stick by my recommendations .... just an opinion though!

Mt Hawthorn is great for cafes etc to be walking distance, but that too has some council houses ... again only 1.5%

I suggest that most suburbs have their dark corners and for people to spend plenty of time scoping them out before buying anywhere

Cheers

Weebie

Scarborough, Wembley Downs Doubleview and to a lesser extent Innaloo are Perth middleclass areas which many educated locals aspire to raise their kids in. Iluka and Mindarie would be regarded as slums. There are reasons why houses in Wembley Downs cost upwards of millions and you could buy a house in iluka for sweet f**k all.

JBJ14

Disagree again

Median weekly household income (keeping in mind the average weekly income would be around $1300 at the current national average wage with one income earner):

Wembley Downs $1342
Doubleview $1118
Scarborough $1076
Innaloo $998
Iluka $1890
Mindarie $1522

Average house price Wembley Downs $895k
Average house price Iluka $810k
not much difference!

Have you been to Iluka and Mindarie? Iluka actually has a renowned park that people travel to for the kids playground, ponds, ducks and bike paths. Not sure how you could even consider naming them slums. Close to beaches, sporting ovals, schools, parks. And with housing price ranges from $700k to millions there is a great assortment of people. Downside is distance to the city if you enjoy city strolling, but there are shopping centres all over the place. And there is a huge expat population in the northern coastal corridor .... consider that good or bad depending on experience, but I like it.

Anyway, we can agree to disagree, just wanting to help a newcomer out. They can decide on what they are after as it comes down to personal preference and needs

Good luck on your trip over and your decision

Cheers

Weebie

Thats because the above areas are full of young middleclass twenty somethings who know that there friends will disown them if they move to Iluka or Mindarie.

I don't disagree that Iluka is now a good suburb and mindarie has massive 8 bedroom houses compared to the 3-4 bedders in the other suburbs but you can't compare the areas. The areas you mentioned are for working class migrants the other areas are for middle class professionals. It's not fair to compare the two areas.

Status and location are so important here in Perth and Iluka and Mindaire fall outside the boundary of respect and importance to the locals.

JBJ14

[QUOTE=Weebie;9097576]Thats because the above areas are full of young middleclass twenty somethings who know that there friends will disown them if they move to Iluka or Mindarie.QUOTE]

nice lol

jimbo_d

Iluka & Mindarie would not be good places to go unless you like the quiet life away from the city.

The original suburbs are great, i'd also consider Osborne Park, Tuart Hill, Joondanna, Mount Hawthorn, Leederville, North Perth etc, all a bit futher in on the action, Ossie Park still has cheap rents as well, we currently rent a nice 3x1 with big yard for $330 a week.

JBJ14

Agreed, if you like the city Iluka / Mindarie too far! But the quiet surburban beach life is perfect there.

Leederville is also great for cafes etc, easy to stumble home!

sylvesterthecat

Hi,

We live in Doubleview and really like it - close to beach, shops, city etc - but as another poster said, you really need a car to get around or be happy to use buses/trains etc. We can get a bus from the end of our road to take us to the beach in about 5 mins, so all good.
If we didn't have a child we would probably have lived in Leederville or Mount Hawthorn - both really nice.
You can get more for your money further north, but we'd rather pay more and live closer to the city/beach.

good luck with the move and feel free to ask any questions,
Lisa

HelenTD

My comments on OP's list of suburbs:

Scarborough - lots of variety in housing and competition for tenants. Choice of townhouses, villas, units, houses, mansions. About 37% of households rented, 50% privately owned - big development plans for Scarborough, over a long period, so lots of investors bought up in the area. Occasional trouble occurs around Scarborough Beach Road/West Coast Highway area. Cafés in various places, but mostly at the beach. Dog beach at southern end, Peasholm St. Two big parks popular with dog owners: Abbett Park and Butlers Reserve. Bush reserves from Trigg (next suburb north) heading north to Watermans Bay, or head south to Bold Park at City Beach. Bus services to Stirling or Glendalough train stations, from Scarborough to Whitfords along the coast, occasional bus to Karrinyup shopping centre or south to Fremantle.

Wembley Downs - next door to Scarborough, south east, not actually on coast but very close, so similar features and facilities. No big parks, though. Don't know if you can walk or exercise dogs in large grounds of Hale School. Less households rented at 19%, privately owned 74%.

Doubleview - next door to Scarborough, going east, again similar features and faciltiies. Two medium sized parks. Dwellings rented 34% privately owned 59%.

Innaloo - east of Doubleview. Some OK pockets, but much larger amount of Homes West tenants, 35% of dwellings rented, 56% privately owned.

Of those 4 suburbs, for someone in OP's situation, my order of preference would be as I've listed above.

Osborne Park - south east of Innaloo, very large commercial area which dominates the suburb. No parks, you'd have to go over the freeway to Herdsman Reserve or Lake Monger in West Leederville. OK café area around Main St/Royal St intersection.

Tuart Hill - east of Osborne Park, one large park, 1 smaller one.
Joondanna - east of Osborne Park, south of Tuart Hill, 2 small parks.
Mount Hawthorn, Leederville, North Perth - approx one park each, reasonable size (large in the case of Lake Monger on border of Mt Hawthorn). These 3 suburbs all have pubs and café areas and are inner suburbs.

Also look at Daglish, Shenton Park, Jolimont, Nedlands - more expensive inner suburbs, but more spacious and closer to CBD and river.

As others have said, north of Hillarys more suited to family life, or for older couples. Much further away from CBD and inner suburbs, much more expensive to get a taxi home if you want a night out (without a skipper).

EvannTel

Whats the number of council housing got to do with anything?
Myabe you should join the snobbery thread! LOL

singinintherain

The number of responses is amazing - thanks everyone - I think we definitely need to have a really good drive round our shortlisted suburbs when we get there and see what we like and what we can afford.

hoofie2002

A lot I think you will find - areas with a large percentage of homewest houses often have a bad reputation. You can get on your high horse about it but it's a fact.