ectomorph

Hi,

We're a family of 4 (2 kids aged 6 and 10) living in St Andrews just outside of Melbourne on a small acreage and would like to move to Brisbane. Could anyone give me any pointers to good areas around Brisbane and/or more rural locations (30 mins to city??) plus decent schools ?

Much appreciated.
Jason.

RobertC

There was a 'league table' of schools for Brisbane in the newspapers a few months back, I assume its available online somewhere too but I ddon't know exactly where.

To be honest though 30mins commute to CBD in Brisbane is the prime property area, it costs a lot of money for a basic house with virtually no garden and expect to pay lots more for anything with a view, on the plus side pretty much all of the state schools are good.

Your first big decision should be North or South (of the river), I find the roads much less pleasant on the North side though, the south has more motorway and dual carriageway so the 30min commute will extend a greater distance from the CBD.

What sort of budget are you looking at for the house, that will really help people here to recommend some areas to look at.

fish.01

Assume you mean 30 mins in peak hour traffic?

ectomorph

Thanks for those replies

around 500k +/- 50k for a house. 30 mins off peak travelling time.

rabsody

Brookfield - you might struggle to get anything for $500k though. Or a bit further out - Moggill, Bellbowrie, Karana Downs.

All of these have access to Kenmore State High when oldest gets to high school age, which is an excellent state school. Not sure about local primaries in those areas.

viviennef

Houses in Brookfield start at 900k I think . Further out is cheaper. I travel from Brookfield to the city in peak hour and it takes 1 - 1.5 hours. To get there in under an hour you have to leave before 7am or after 9am. moggill road is like the road leading to hell. The outer suburbs of bellbowrie etc make it even mroe horrendous and the new roads do not extend the entire way. Brookfield has hardly any public transport after 6 which you think wont be a problem until you cant face driving and want to pop to the shops etc after work.

I would prefer Indooroopilly or St Lucia or somewhere like that.

Kenmore is a good school but has also (like anywhere) has had lots of drug concerns over the years. Chapel Hill has a really good primary school. I think I would maybe choose Indooroopilly state if I had a choice of the two but maybe that is to do with children getting in with the wrong crowd and therefore clouding my viewpoint.

I sound like I hate it, I dont, but it aint paradise. It also sounds as if I am saying its rough - its not - not at all. its a really nice area. I lived in Chapel Hill too for quite a few years - nice but boring boring boring. I would prefer Chapel Hill to Brookfield.

fish.01

These houses are near good private schools 30 mins off peak from Brisbane and the Gold Coast and in a leafy, quiet area, within your budget (allowing for offers). It is not in a higher socio economic area of Brisbane but still has nice pockets (as do most area's in Brisbane):

http://www.realestate.com.au/cgi-bin...&tm=1264759195

http://www.realestate.com.au/cgi-bin...&tm=1264759195

If you are happy with a smaller house you could live in more inner area's or higher socio economic outer area's.

You could also look around Chandler, Rochedale, Mount Cotton, The Gap, Ferny Grove and lots more I can't think of

There are also some nice green, quiet, leafy area's closer to Brisbane if you just requested rural because you wanted green and peace and quiet. It is a lot less urban than Melbourne so can feel quite rural/suburban a lot closer in.

ABCDiamond

Mount Cotton to Brisbane
Distance: 39.6km Time: 32min (approx off peak)

An example of a recently sold house in Mount Cotton for $351,000
http://www.domain.com.au/Property/So...did=2008024014

But houses in Sanctuary Drive, Mount Cotton, are at the pricey end of the scale.

eg: $1.175m

fish.01

Mount Cotton from $450,000 to $550,000 ish....not sure if these are the sort of houses you are after?

http://www.realestate.com.au/cgi-bin...&tm=1264762909

http://www.realestate.com.au/cgi-bin...&tm=1264762909

http://www.realestate.com.au/cgi-bin...&tm=1264762909

http://www.realestate.com.au/cgi-bin...&tm=1264762909

http://www.realestate.com.au/cgi-bin...&tm=1264762909

http://www.realestate.com.au/cgi-bin...&tm=1264762909

http://www.realestate.com.au/cgi-bin...&tm=1264762909

http://www.realestate.com.au/cgi-bin...&tm=1264762909

rabsody

Hi Vivienne, I'm in Kenmore so we're practically neighbours!! Indooroopilly or St Lucia would be lovely, yes, but you won't find anything nice for under about $800k+. I know this as I've been looking lately as, like you say, boring, boring, boring out this way. I've lived here for almost 10 years and now the kids are of an age where they can catch the bus to school if we move closer in then we want to get out, but everywhere is soooo expensive.

My daughter goes to Kenmore High. I'm not bothered about the drug thing ... I think that happens in all schools and from what I remember it was only a few kids with pot. I looked at Indro High a few years back but it appeared to be very poorly resourced, they don't have uniform and (I could be wrong) but the discipline seemed pretty lax (i.e. the kids that showed us around said they couldn't be bothered to do their homework etc) and it was very liberal. Anyway, so far, I am happy with KH. DD knows that if her grades do not keep up she is off to Bris Girls Grammar so that seems to be keeping her in line thus far!!!

Re primaries, my two went to Kenmore South State School and this was number three in the state in the recent NAPLAN scores, and we've been really happy with it.

Personally I couldn't live further out than 10kms from the city due to the traffic issues, and it's so bloody boring, but thought these places were worth a mention for the sake of OP .. he might get a bargain, you never know!

ectomorph

Useful inisghts. Anyone got anything to say about West End area ?

bcworld

West End is an inner city suburb - doesn't seem like what you're after? Be careful you aren't looking at realestate.com listings for West End, TOWNSVILLE which often show up under Brisbane searches and appear encouragingly cheap!

fish.01

As bc said West End is a very expensive suburb next to the city. It is nominated as Brisbane's Bohemian suburb but, like all labels, this is applicable but not across the board. I have found that to buy an ok family house in a nicer part of West End (hill end) it would cost $850,000+. A lot of the houses are quite run down so this drives up the prices of the good one's. It is the sort of suburb where a zillionaire could live next door to a poor druggie. People who live there often say it has a great community. It has a restaurant/cafe/shopping strip with some good cafe's, book shops etc... Neighbouring Highgate Hill is really an extension of West End but has pockets that feel less edgy, more family.

Parts of it are undergoing mass rebuilding at the moment with hundreds of apts being built/planned along the river so the % mix of residents is set to change. The river road is going to be pedestrianised so West End residents will be able to walk/ride along a river boulevard, across the new Kurilpa bridge, and straight into the CBD.

It is in a great location in a loop of the river next to the CBD and is also getting the new high profile city glider bus service and will get several of the depots in the new city bike scheme. It already has one citycat ferry stop with another out to tender. You can also walk to the city and the beach at Southbank.

It has a great market every Sat with a good mix of homewares, gifts, food stalls, fruit/veg and people watching.

Definitely a place that some will love but not suitable for all. If you are looking for a nearby slightly more family orientated inner city suburb I would suggest across the river in the Paddington, Auchenflower, Red Hill, Kelvin Grove, Ashgrove, Bardon, Toowong, Taringa, Indooroopilly area.

fish.01

Drives me crazy...specially in map view

DeadVim

I swear the only people that have less than a 30 minute commute in Brisbane that aren't loaded are the homeless.

There's always a houseboat, I wonder how much the moorings are?