hubbard

I am desperate for some advise on areas to look at to buy a house in Sydney. We have been looking on and off for about a year and seen nothing that we like and can afford.

The budget is $910k. The remit is:
House only no units
2 beds + 1 study minimum
Width of property to be 4.5 mtres +
Off road parking space for 1 car
Character property or interestingly modern (no McMansions or brick and tile bungalows with those hideous white railings).
Commute into CBD 45 - 50 mins by accessible public transport.
Streets to be either tree lined or interesting (suburban sprawls like Maroubra, Kensington, are a no no).

We currently live in Paddington and love it but have come to sad conclusion we can't afford the area. Don't mind if the property is East, North - draw the line at outer west and south west though.

Any thoughts on areas would help as I am slowly losing the will to live. We have the money in the bank , mortgage agreed, rolling months rental lease, but can we find anything that meets our wish list..... no. Am I being unrealistic with my wish list?????

Geordie George

Have you looked into the inner west areas?

stevemich

Lane Cove or Riverview may be a possibility...

NickyC

My first thought was also inner west - Annandale, Glebe, Leichhardt etc. but
your requirement for a car park spot probably limits you for a lot of houses in a most inner west suburbs. Prices are in your range and you might get lucky with something with a carport or garage. Checkout Stanmore or Petersham too.

Alternatively why not try Frenchs Forest or Forestville. Reasonably priced houses, parking no problem though it's not quite so urban.

Kernow1

Concord? North Strathfield is nice.

northerner

No car space, but I'd seriously be looking in Inner West...

http://www.realestate.com.au/cgi-bin...&tm=1179819744

Graham

chels

Willoughby. Green and leafy. Federation and californian bungalow styles, freestanding houses quite often. Nice local shops and restaurants. Apparently 2 sets of traffic lights to the city on the bus. Not under the flight path like the innerwest. You get more for your money than the Eastern Suburbs.

I also like Naremburn (we nearly bought a house there) but you have to be careful to buy in the right part of it, otherwise road noise can be an issue.

There are also some nice places on the Crows Nest / Naremburn border, so you get the nice restaurants in Crows Nest (and st leonards train station) but the leafy green bits of Naremburn too.

After 6 months of looking in the Eastern Suburbs and feeling miserable about the shoeboxes we couldn't afford there, the lower north shore was a really pleasant surprise. It felt spacious, and very green, but lots of character.

I live in the inner west, I really like it here, but I don't want to buy here. Houses are too small, most don't have parking, and I want a proper garden / backyard not a small slab of concrete.

Bad news - prices apparently going mad in the lower north shore, up more than 10% in the last quarter. And not much coming on the market. But worth a look.

Back2Oz

Try Manly/Fairlight/Balgowlah. Ferry to Circular is 35 min.plus express buses
Plenty of 2-3 bed federations available in the $850k+ range. unbeatable area for shops and resturants

Jaidee

Manly doesnt seem to be as nice a place as it was say 5-6 years ago!

Back2Oz

Manly downtown has had a few yob problems, mainly from day trippers. However back from the beach, fairlight, balgowlah is a beautiful area.

hubbard

Thanks for the responses. I have had a look at what's on offer in the inner west, and particularly in the areas mentioned, and there seems to be a fair amount.

I think the parking space will be a 'nice to have' rather than a criteria, but hopefully these areas are way less popular with shoppers and restaurant patrons than Paddington so finding on street parking won't be so problematic. One concern I do have about the inner west is the flight path noise factor. Anyone live near Stanmore, Glebe, Petersham, Leichardt and have an opinion on airplane noise??

chels

You get used to it...

hubbard

Ohh.... how often a day would the planes be going over???

chels

It's dependent on which runway is being used, weather conditions etc. Sometimes we get planes going over every 30 seconds or so for about 4 hours in the morning, and for another 4 hours in the evening, for a couple of days. That is the VERY worst it gets. We can also go 5 days or so with no planes flying over us. Some days they fly very low, and that can make it difficult to have conversations outside (and sometimes inside - I've been on the phone before and people have asked me what that noise is!). Usually we're lucky and they fly just to the side of our house, so technically we are only 'partially' under the flight path. And if we lived on the other side of Victoria Road, they would never fly over us.

When we were first looking at houses in the inner west, plane noise was a big factor and it ruled out quite a few houses for us, especially in Leichhardt. It wasn't until we had signed the lease on our current house in Rozelle, and I was driving away, that I noticed a bloody plane flying above it! All the other times we'd been in the area, the planes hadn't been flying on that path

To give you an official view:

http://www.airservices.gov.au/servic...monitoring.asp

I'll also try to search for an SMH article that give a good breakdown on hourly movements and projected increases in air traffic.

http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2004/...939840789.html

There it is.

Geordie George

I live in Glebe - we don't get any plane noise at all. I think Annandale is more on the flight path than Glebe is.