Moving to work in Williamstown,Vic
 

We're currently in Sydney and looking at a job opportunity in Williamstown. We don't know Melbourne at all. Kids are grade 5 and 6 so looking for a good public high school and primary. Will rent first, currently paying $750 pw and want to pay less! Looking at being able to buy house at less than $700k for a 3/4 bed. We like open space and parks around us so not too built up. Husband hates commuting so trying to stay with 1/2 hour of Williamstown. Any suggestions for which suburbs to consider?

Re: Moving to work in Williamstown,Vic
 

Oz Tennis will be along shortly:sneaky: He appears to be the resident BE Willamstown expert.

You can try PM him directly as his ears in his old age may be playing up.

Re: Moving to work in Williamstown,Vic
 

Hi, well obviously there is Williamstown itself which is very nice. I presume you want to avoid crossing the Westgate Bridge when commuting, although you would be going against the traffic.

As well as Williamstown, consider Newport, Yarraville, Seddon which are all reasonable inner city areas, maybe also consider further north such as Moonee Ponds, Newmarket, Kensington, Flemington, Ascot Vale.

If you want to live in a new estate Point Cook, Caroline Springs etc are fairly close although I personally wouldn't consider them, but each to their own.

HTH

BB

Re: Moving to work in Williamstown,Vic
 

No, we're definitely not into new build or new estates. I think our key driver is going to be the high school. We have our daughter a place at a lovely high school here which she can walk to but sadly we can't afford to buy a place in Sydney.

Assuming for now we are staying with public schooling then Williamstown High is the only one I can find info on and that's because they are listed on Better Schools Top Schools list.....

Re: Moving to work in Williamstown,Vic
 

You could try myschool.com.au although please take the ratings with a pinch of salt, there are ways that schools can fudge their figures and make themselves look better than they are statistically.

Nothing beats visiting a school yourselves and getting a feel for it.

BB

Re: Moving to work in Williamstown,Vic
 

Thanks BB, I know you're right about visiting the place, I need to wangle a trip down to Melbourne and have a look around.

Re: Moving to work in Williamstown,Vic
 

I'd agree with most of those suburbs, particularly if you don't want new-build. You are going to struggle with staying under $700k for house purchase though if you want a decent-size family home. A friend of mine tried to buy in Williamstown a year or so ago and got laughed at by the agent when he said he only had $1million to spend (agent was a bit of a prat though).

As you say, your driver is going to be the high school and sadly decent public secondary schools are harder to find on that side of town. I agree your best bet is to try and wangle a trip down and have a look - check out a few schools. Some of the ones around Moonee Ponds/Essendon could be worth a look but that might be a bit far from Williamstown.

There is also Macrobertson Girls which is near the CBD, but I think that's selective so you would need to get accepted.

Re: Moving to work in Williamstown,Vic
 

I would seriously consider looking at property in Williamstown/Newport first. Search domain.com.au, realestateview.com.au and realestate.com.au on postcode 3016 only first and then tick surrounding suburbs next. As a Williamstown old boy and Williamstown High School old boy and Williamstown property owner I might be able to help. Please feel free to PM or post questions in the thread.

You will get a feel for the area here:

http://www.travelvictoria.com.au/williamstown/

Locals think of it as a town within a city. It's on a peninsula, no through traffic, end of railway line, 20 mins to city on train, similar or slightly longer by road if you know how to avoid Westgate Bridge by going in Footscray Rd or Dynon Rd.

I did a thread ages ago with some photos, not sure if it will work:

http://britishexpats.com/forum/showt...t=williamstown

Re: Moving to work in Williamstown,Vic
 

Oh and yes, property on the water, near the water in Williamstown is dear but $700K is do-able if you accept you won't get 3/4 BR on or near water for that, unless it needs a lot spent on it.

I did a quick search, $600-$700K, 3+ BR 3016 only and got 5 properties (out of 68 at all prices), similar search including surrounding suburbs threw up 65 properties. Newport, Spotswood, Yarraville, Seddon is the direction to go (north) in my view rather than west (Altona, Altona North). You indicated that Point Cook etc is not for you by what you said.

Renting on a budget of $650 to $750 at least 3 BR threw up 5 in 3016.

Here's a good one in Newport, 2 or 3 miles from Williamstown for $660 pw:

http://www.domain.com.au/Property/Fo.../?adid=8460496

Re: Moving to work in Williamstown,Vic
 

look in Altona but avoid Altona meadows or Altona north if you can, seaholme is the nicest part of Altona but very expensive.

south kingsville isn't too bad but doesn't have the villagey feel. some parts of spottswood are good too and newport has some brilliant areas some of which are practically in williamstown.

I left Williamstown 1 week ago to live in Sydney its a fantastic area with parks, lacrosse club and a fantastic shore cycling walking path and a bike punt into the city which is free at weekends only $5 in the week.
good luck and if you want any more info just ask :thumbsup:

Re: Moving to work in Williamstown,Vic
 

You and the OP could simply have swapped houses...... :D

BB

Re: Moving to work in Williamstown,Vic
 

Thank you everyone for your help. It is igreat that the advice you are giving me backs up the research I have been doing on that side of Melbourne. I had a good look at the Williamstown High School website and all the stuff about limited numbers in year groups etc makes me think we'd have to be careful where we moved to to be in catchment. It does look lovely, very different to where we are in Sydney.

So the other question is if we looked at living the other side of Melbourne for better schools just how horrendous is the commute?

Re: Moving to work in Williamstown,Vic
 

You will be dependent on the Westgate bridge which is a bottleneck, you will be going against the traffic though as most people who live West would work in the CBD/East.

If you go on to www.whereis.com, select "get directions" and enter the address in Williamstown as a destination. you can enter sample suburbs in the origin field and it will tell you the rough travel time.

BB

Re: Moving to work in Williamstown,Vic
 

Thanks BB, I haven't use that website before - I will go and have a play......

Re: Moving to work in Williamstown,Vic
 

I'd be slightly careful!

If I put my address in St Kilda it tells me I'll get to Williamstown (17km) in 23 minutes whereas I'm pretty sure in that time I could easily still find myself in the first 5kms of the journey queuing in the citybound / freeway on ramp traffic.