stariston

Sydney the tale of two citys / or tale of two suburbs


Mr Brown lives at Darley road Manley in a three bedroom semi cottage
reads the sun herald and drives a commodore
house price 1.5 million dollars

Mr Jonson lives in Ula crescent Baulkham hills in a three bedroom semi cottage reads the sun telegraph and drives a commodore
house price 500.000 five hundred thousand dollars

wats a mil between friends

stevemich

One and a quarter hours into Sydney??? Is that a typo, or are you talking about driving in at some ungodly hour? Peak time on the freeway is bad, but when you join the pacfic highway it gets to a snails pace.

I have a work colleague who comes in from Gosford and it takes him 2 hrs into the CBD (Wynyard) by train... then add a further 15 mins or so to get into Gosford from Terrigal. So by my maths, thats 1 hour more than your post.

www.131500.info backs this up - and this is when RailCorp manages to get trains to run on time...

DrWho

Guess it depends which train you catch... the 6.30 is shown as arriving at 7.52 which is a lot better than 2 hours...

stevemich

Agreed, although this is still almost 1.5 hours and this excludes the time to get to the station from home at the beginning - a bit different from the posters stated timescale...

I was working on the basis that most people would want to be in the city fo 8:30 as this is a common time to start work - but others may be more flexible in this regard.

the big nowhere

hi..........do you commute into sydney...if so how do you get in........cheers

spottydog

I live in Sutherland shire and have been watching the local market for a while. Houses here seem to be either selling in the first few weeks or sitting on the market for ages. As for price wise I have seen any gong for over asking price buy at the same time most are going within around 5% of asking price when they sell. I have also noticed in most cases it doesn't seem to be that sellers are having to drop their prices but just have to wait to find a buyer.

arkon

I agree, I've just bought in the shire after spending 6 months looking here and following up from first listing to final sales. What I found was the final price a house sells for is somewhere between 25k-40k less than the asking price, A 700k house will go for about 665-675k a 430k house for about 400-410k.

The areas I was searching was Menai, Bangor, Alfords point, Illawong and Barden Ridge. A 3 bed connected town house or duplex un-doneup is from 400k to 430k a done up version of the same house is about 460-480k. There then is a gap the 500k-630k detatched houses are mostly all knickers and no drawers, and I was dissapointed in what I saw in most of this price range. The same house say at 650k asking 700+ was generally much better both inside and out. If it doesn't have a pool then don't pay more than 650k.

The whole menai/bangor area is ringed by bypasses and busy roads so all properties within say 2 rows of a major road are at least 50k less than the same house away from the road.

The 400k townhouses sell within a few weeks, and there is very little supply of houses for sale here so prices are not falling.

I've been in the shire for a few months now and quite like it, I still detest Australia but this part is at least more bearable, a good comparison would be menai = Solihull. hope this helps, If anyone wants me to see a house in this region for them and comment on it's value I would be happy to do it.

stariston

The property market in Sydney remains static
Auction clearence rates are down from last year
further rate hikes will take the wind
out of the sales of the market further

Sounds like the Uk to be honest

Mazza12

Hey spottydog, thanks for your reply. It's useful to get up to date info from someone on the ground! It's a relief to hear that houses are not really going for more than 5% more than the asking price. In your experience is Sutherlandshire a good place to live? At the moment I live close enough to Glasgow to take advantage of the city and all it has to offer but far enough away to enjoy a quieter existence in a small town. I was kinda thinking it might feel a bit similar in Sutherlandshire - what do you think?

Mazza12

Good to hear that houses are selling for less than the asking price. Your information is really specific and helpful - thanks! I might take you up on the offer of checking out a property in the area, at a later date. Sorry to hear you detest Australia, however, hope you continue to like living in the shire!

spottydog

For me personally it is a bit quiet with little in the way of nightlife but if you don't want that then I would say it is great. For us we can go out in the city after work yet still get home easily then of a weekend we can enjoy the beach or national park or even just enjoy the wildlife from our balcony. If you have (or are planning) kids then I can't imagine anywhere better than the Shire as it is a safe pollution free environment but yet close enough to "the smoke" as they grow up.

I haven't seen a house go for more than the asking price in the whole time I have been here so I would say you are safe there. But I would warn you that they seem to be allowed a much more artistic licence with their photo's here when selling a house (keep an eye out for the cook as the shape of that often gives it away) and it is amazing how someone has always put a higher offer in for the house at the same time as you did!! (I don't know if it is just agents here the english accent and think we are stupid or they try this with everyone).

Rosscarbery

I explained the Property Misdescription Act to an agent here once who thought it was the funniest thing she had ever heard!

Jacque

The Trade Practices Act laws that protect the consumer here in Oz also pertain to the purchase of real estate, and misleading and deceptive conduct is not looked kindly upon by both the Dept of Fair Trading or the ACCC. The trouble lies in interpretation, and proof that is often difficult to obtain, given that most real estate agents put as little in writing these days as possible, including price guides.

http://www.accc.gov.au/content/index...onItemId=86167

IvanM

It is amazing the way people here underquote commute times. It is almost as if they have to justify their own migration by it. One person said it was an hour into the city from the Blue Mountains and another reckoned the Hills was good for commuting by public transport. I like Sydney but every day it gets more like London for travelling.

Right now my experience of house hunting indicates the market is stagnant. The dross has to really drop its price but good quality still sells, probably due to the amount of poorly built stuff.

Jacque

I've mentioned the Hills and transport several times, but then again I'm a resident and know what I'm talking about
No, we don't have a railway (though it's supposedly on the cards with the recent state govt release of sydlink- see here but a pretty good bus system, which I've used in both peak and off peak times without any issues at all. Dedicated bus lanes almost the entire way, a comfortable air con ride (admittedly if you get on at later stops you may have to stand during peak times) and still much cheaper than travelling by car to the city.