nosuchluck

Hello again!
does Sophie want Chanelle's email addy? then maybe they could 'get to know each other before we become neighbours!!!'!
Chanelle has days too when she says 'i'll make new friends won't i?' as if she needs to convince herself!
we too like the look of Victoria Point, think that they have one school there for 100 odd kids, i loved the look of it but Chanelle didn't!!!!
No we haven't been to Brisbane before, not even been to Oz! but will go out there (DIMIA willing) and give it our best shots!!!
Redland Bay area looks nice too by the way and Samford although i've read that it is in a valley and gets very very hot in the summer, suits me but i'm not sure about hubby!
keep in touch and if Sophie wants Chanelle's email private message me!
regards
rach & chanelle

Joanie Babes

Hi Rach,
One quick point which I wish someone had told me....
Don't bother brining your tv as you will not be able to have any sound (as I found out)- the frequency to picture is different! Aparantly you can get a chip put in it, but I have yet to find anyone who will do it as they normally end up breaking the tele any way.
You would be better off selling them and bringing the money, electrical goods are a lot cheaper out here. About the spiders- you only really see them if you go looking for them- I have only seen one redback in 9 months (and that was at a mine site two hours in from Mackay!!!)

As for Brisbane it is "spot on", and I am sure you will have a lovely time. I am living in Red Hill, 4km west of the city. I get woken up by possums running on the roof and have a view of the rolling hills behind Brissie. Lovely.
If you are worried about the heat then live closer to the coast. There is no sand on the coast around Brissie (and they joke about our beaches), you have to go to Gold or Sunshine coast for that. Brisbane is "protected" by Stradbroke Island which hogs all the sand.

For Rob and Kim Noosa is lovely, a bit expensive (by Aussie standards, but you get what you pay for- 3 bed house with pool in Noosa Heads is about $650K) but the National Park is to long for. It is aparantly getting a bit more like Surfer's Paradise (i.e. the place to be) and is near Steve Irwin' Australia Zoo so you can go and visit the crocs whenever you want.

Anyway best do some work before my boss ships me back to the UK.

P.S. if you have any questions give me a shout and I will try and find out for you.


PP.S. about the pubs- yes they are a weird anti-social lot here, but then again SkySports does not rule all the sporting events and chareg 10 per football game, so they don't have to go to the pub to watch them. However, I have been assured that the Aussies will be on fine form for the world cup.... well drinking any way


J
8 days to go..... Bring on the World Cup

MrsDagboy

Brisbane bred here too, currently living down by the bay near beautiful Manly with my gorgeous hubby & 2 adorable kids . Agree with whoever said that Noosa is 2 hrs north of Brisbane, no way you would commute from there anyway LOL. Certainly not part of Brisbane as such. Its the northern end of the Sunshine Coast, personally I dont much like the place anymore, too many yuppies & jetsetting tourists & latte drinking snobs for my liking, but then that suits some people down to the ground .

Acacia Ridge is working class area, as Brisgal said, alot of industrial areas & about 20 mins commute into town. Great train & bus services. Not where I would choose to live - then again I could think of worse as well! It certainly gone up in price in the last few years but then so has all of the rest of Brisbane & I think you will find its still one of the cheaper parts of town & thats for a reason. Oh & theres a light aircraft airfield there as well if noise is likely to put you off.

Rach, seriously, think very long & hard about Samford area, it honestly can get shockingly uncomfortable out that way in summer. Its ok to fob it off with "Its ok, I dont mind the heat" thats until you spend 1 summer here, then you will be :scared: . Too hot for me & Im a local . Cleveland, Victoria Point, Redland Bay are IMO a much better choice.

TrickyTree

Hi we are looking pretty close to the city.

Around the Indooroopilly, Tarina or Toowong areas
When we were over there we had a good look round and they seemed what we were after.
You pay a little more being central but it cuts the travel time.

TT

readytogo

So what other ares would you say to avoid ? if you had a choice what 5 areas would you choose to live in and why ??

thanks

DagBoy

Mrs D and the little DagBoys are on their way into town to meet me, but I will try and answer for us.

Actually - it is too hard a question - too general. It really depends what you are looking for.

Areas I would be happy to live in, from what I have seen:

Manly/Wynnum (where we live)
Sherwood/Graceville (where MIL lived)
Clayfield
Bulimba
Salisbury

All for slightly different reasons, but all were places where we seriously looked.

Places I would not want to live:
Loganlea (where we used to live - not a particularly nice place, but even there the house prices are rising)
Woodridge (next to Loganlea - put there to make Loganlea look good)
Inala

Those three all have reputations as "rougher" areas. I personally would also not particularly like to live in some of the new estates just north of the Brisbane City Council limits (Pine River area). Lots of modern brick houses - all look the same. Nothing intrinsically wrong with it - just not my cup of tea.

Feel free to ask away about different areas. When we were house hunting we covered just about every suburb within 15km of Bris.

Also - you asked about bringing your stuff. It has been discussed at length on here before (search archive and you will probably find it) but as I recall the consensus from people who had actually done the move was BRING EVERYTHING

Even TV and video (which as it was pointed out will not pick up sound) - if they are any good, bring them so you can have a TV in a rumpus room for playing videos on. Also - if you get cable or satellite, the decoder box usually has an AV output that can then be played through video/TV.

Hope that helps,

Cheers,

DagBoy

DavidT

Hope you don't mind me jumping in, we are hoping to go tto Brissie early next year. I have a 9 yr old girl who would like to make friends also. PM me if that is ok with you. If not, don't.

readytogo

thanks for that DagBoy

HKH

I have sent you a private message.

nosuchluck

Hi J
what do you think of Redland Bay, Victoria Point? We have an 11 year old daughter and basically want to live in a nice area, 4/5 bed house with pool near to good school and close to other children so daughter can integrate easily. We are happy for there not to be any loud nightlife!
any tips on areas would be great, thanks too for all the above info
regards
rach

Brisgal

Down Redland Bay / Cleveland is rapidly expanding, lots of new estates where you can get what's called a 'house & land' package where you get your 4 bedrooms, 2 car garage, swimming pool and room for a pony LOL
Brisbane is bursting with lots of new communities - little cities within suburbs.

The government's idea was to try to keep residents in their own areas creating communal living. So you have schools, parks, shopping precincts and just about anything else you can imagine, no need to trek to the City. Cleveland is about 30 minutes from Central Brisbane on a good run. Raby Bay is the nexy suburb over and has homes for $1 million +.. great to rollerblade around and gawk at the lovely homes.

I live in Robertson which is on the southside. Having lived there since I was 13, I can't see myself living anywhere else. My parents still live in Robertson too!!

Decent areas.... EDIT The areas listed below are not in the $150K + house & land category, sorry to confuse! They are quite a lot more, please see Mrs Dagboy's post below)
Cleveland
Forest Lake (not in Brisbane, on outskirts West)
Carindale (more expensive but lovely)
Sunnybank Hills (new estates are nice)

these are all on the southside. I agree with whoever said the West was hot....... very hot, you get NO seabreezes there. Stifling in the hot summer months.

As for the Northside, there aren't a lot of newer estates within 30 mins of Brisbane.. still if you are used to living in the UK, commuting won't be different except buy a car with air cond!

whew.....that's it for now

nosuchluck

Thanks for that, nothing like getting it straight from the horses mouth!
i'll check these out over the weekend via the net!
thanks again, been great chatting with you all night
rach x

Brisgal

you too Rach, any questions my PM is open all hours!!

I searched on Yahoo Aus & NZ - House prices in Brisbane. Here is an interesting site to get an idea about prices and some 'burbs to check out.

http://www.brisbaneproperties.com.au/Research.htm

Rudy

Hi Brisgal,

Thanks for the great info. We too are heading for Brisbane as soon as ........ DIMIA decides to send us a few visas.

We have been looking at Forest Lake and surrounding areas, also Callamvale and Cashmere, but someone mentioned that the Forest Lake area was not that great. I was surprised because it looks like a neat area. Do you have any views.

We have a 12 year old daughter and a 14 year old son, so our main priority is a nice neighbourhood with a good school. Oh and we have to have a pool, thats the agreement with the kids!

Hazel

MrsDagboy

Guys! I hate to burst your bubble, but you will NOT get a house in any of those suburbs for $150k. Not even for $200k. You might just get a 1 or 2 bedroom unit/flat for that but even that wont be a nice one! Hell you can hardly even buy a house in Woodridge for $150K anymore Brisgal! Alot of the info Brisgal has given is good re the communities etc, but if you think you can come & buy a house for that sort of money, especially the "big ' ouse & pool" concept you are in for a very very rude shock. I should know .... buying & selling houses seems to have been my consumming passion over the last 3 years LOL. We've just sold again (2 houses this time!) & will be back plodding through the swamp of agents & vendors again soon by the look of it.

Seriously, if you want to check out prices try Real Estate dot com dot au
or
Property dot com dot au

Put in the suburbs you are interested in & a price range & see what comes up. You will struggle to buy a house anywhere in Brisbane nowdays for under $250k, & most places you wont even get a foot in the door for under $300k. Just as an example I did a search for Cleveland, under $300k .. & got diddly squat. Some in surrounding areas, almost all of which were $280-$300K, & none of which I would particularly want to live in!

Im not trying to be negative, but I am being realistic. Im not dotty in disguise, honest Im not!! Think fluffy thoughts

PS. For those with young daughters, forget the pony idea as well, unless you can afford to buy acreage (harder & harder to get & prices just keep going up & up!), you cant keep a horse on anything zoned residential anyway. Sorry!

PPS. for the person that asked about Forest Lake .. great in concept ie community all around a lake, great parks, walking trails etc. What they fail to tell you is that the parks & community areas make up for your lack of backyard. You will be lucky to have 1 metre from your fence either back or sides to your house & your neighbours will be the same effectively cutting out any sunshine that you may be able to get apart from an hour at midday. Your backyard will consist of a small patio with a BBQ & 4 square metres of grass. Great if you dont like cutting the lawn I guess . Cashmere is the back of woopwoop, fine if you dont have to commute anywhere & Calamvale is ok as long as you dont mind a new housing estate. At least you will be able to put a pool in there, unlike Forest Lake .

Please be realistic in your expectations or you will be sorely disappointed. If an area seems cheap, theres always a reason! Similarly if a house seems cheap within a suburb, theres a reason as well! Hope all this helps.