kd1812

Hi, my husband is moving to Perth in September. Our 457 visa all approved. He is going to be living in shared accomodation until I move out early next year. I am going to start to look at areas for rental, there is just the 2 of us, no kids, so 2 bed house or apartment. Really want a nice, safe neighbourhood as will be alone a lot of the time due to his job. So any ideas of good areas would be a good starting point. Any advice would be appreaciated. Thanks

HelenTD

Hi kd1812, apart from a safe neighbourhood, what else are you looking for in a suburb? Do you want to be near the beach or the river? Do you want to be close to the CBD, in an inner suburb with older-style houses and high street type of shops, or a bit further out, with a modern enclosed shopping centre? Close to cafes, restaurants, bars and pubs, and public transport or somewhere where you would have to drive to get anywhere?

kd1812

Hi, ideally would like to be near the beach, but within easy reach of shops, restaurants etc. Prefer modern style house/apartment. husband is going to be staying at Scarborough beach until I arrive. Any advice on nice areas appreciated. Many thanks

mark213

plenty of nice new apartments in East Perth. All depends where you are working in the end!

Siren & Brian

More depends on $$$$$$$.

HelenTD

If kd1812's husband will get LAFHA, then perhaps $ won't be so much of an issue, which gives a few more possibilities. Most of the suburbs below are inner suburbs, which tend to have more public transport options, cafes, smaller shopping areas, and more of a community feel.

Coastal
North Fremantle, Cottesloe, Swanbourne, City Beach, Scarborough, Trigg, North Beach, Watermans Bay

Older-style
Claremont, Nedlands, Shenton Park, Subiaco, North Perth, Mt Hawthorn, Leederville, West Leederville, Wembley

A few others
Mt Claremont, Floreat, Wembley Downs, Doubleview, Karrinyup, Carine, Marmion, Duncraig, Sorrento, Hillarys. Also Fremantle, East Fremantle or Mosman Park.

Jackier

Agree with Helen TD, but also worth looking at Mount Lawley if there's just the two of you and you like to get out and about. It's not coastal but there's lots going on and it's central and on the train line.

Also if you like coastal check out North Beach & Trigg.

If you fancy south of the river have a look at Como, South Perth and Applecross.

HelenTD

I knew I'd missed one or two of the inner suburbs NOR - yes, Mt Lawley's good, Inglewood next door worth a look too, possibly Highgate (not near the park). Lots of possibilities in Scarborough, but would avoid a few of the busy streets (West Coast Highway, Scarborough Beach Road, Hastings St, Stanley St, Duke St).

smidsy

My Wife and I have just moved here about 6 weeks ago. This is my opinion, I may be wrong, as im only new here, and im sure others will disagree, who hopefully will correct me.

We lived in Aus for a year on the east coast, and decided to try perth.

Check out www.realestate.com.au

Thats the website we used.

The biggest factor by far is cash. You either have it, or you dont.

As im planning to not work, and study for the next 6 months, we dont have much of it. Also, since my wife is soon to work in Perth Royal, in CBD, we needed to be close, as she doesnt want a long commute.

Anyway, Fremantle is fantastic(beach, harbour, history, scenery, pubs, clubs coffee shops, restaurants), but too far from Perth for commuting for her. Perth CBD is a bit sterile, but thats where the jobs are.

Between the beach & Perth is the priciest homes, and anywhere near the beach & the city is very expensive.

Inner suburbs northside(Subiaco & West Perth), are extremely bad for traffic. It was too full on for me.

We looked at Herdsman Parade in Wembley at first, and although there is loads of cheap rentals there, its just reminded me too much of blocks of council flats back home, with lots of bogans(chavs) walking around. Im not saying its a bad area, I dont know, I just know what I seen on the one time I visited the place.

Further north, near the freeway(for commuting & trains), you can get much better value for money & if you work outside the rush hours, commuting isnt bad at all.

However, further north, we couldnt find any village life, just suburb upon suburb, houses upon houses, no village centre life at all. We were 12/14 kilometers outside the city, and figured that that was far enough, but maybe its in Joondalup, but thats too far for her to commute. What they have is small and big shopping malls a plenty, but this does not appeal to me. I was rather disappointed with this, as I had naively thought Perth would be similar to Melbourne, in that Melbourne has little village centres everywhere.

If you go East of the city, its really nice & open, like in the countryside, but far from the beach & apparently(i dont know this myself), in Summer, its much hotter & the flys get very bad.

I dont know this for sure, but I was advised to stay away from the further out South East suburbs.

We found that we really liked the Victoria Park village life(Cafe strips), and we wanted that within walking distance, so we picked a place thats within walking distance of there, but still in a quiet cul de sac. 100 meters from a train station.

Furnished places are way overpriced, so you'll need to budget for furniture. Thats another difficulty for us, as we want nice stuff, but buying it all at once, we had to compromise.

Anyway, we got a 3 bed Villa(more of a little bungalow house), for $350 a week. Admittedly, the rooms are pretty small, but it gives us options of renting out a room, while still have a spare for guests, or storage. In 6 months I will be getting a job, and then we might move, or if we are happy, we may stay and build up a deposit for a house.

Oh, and make sure you get Air Con, its not hot yet, but I have been reliably informed, it will be.

Dont rely on public transport too much, the trains are good, but the busses are not(stuck at 6.30 pm a few times, as the busses had stopped for the day, some dont run weekends), and the location of the train stations outside the inner city(middle of the freeway), make them difficult to get to, without the bus, although very quick once you can actually get on one.

Finally, if you have money, and must have a short CBD commute, I would highly recommend South Perth, it just looked really nice to me, although I suspet by the Land Rovers, Mercs & BMWs parked there, & massive houses, people with money agree.

kd1812

Thank you everyone, we have been looking at some of the suburbs advised. I had not heard of LAFHA!! (until I just googled it) Will ask OH to speak to his employer as that would make a difference to rent budget!!! currently looking at places up to $500 - $600 per week. not sure where I will be working yet, but imagine I will need to commute. Many thanks again for all your suggestions!! Can't wait to get there now!!

smidsy

I came across this chap http://www.viacorp.com/perth-suburbs-compared.html

found it very interesting !

Good luck withy the search, but you shouldnt have much difficulty with your budget.