My partner and I intend to move to Australia as soon as the visa process is finished so we are looking at schooling for our son (secondary education will be 12 when we move). We are struggling to know what is a good and bad school in the Melbourne suburbs as many schools seem to have significant amounts of student rated as in the bottom quarter with very few in the top quarter on the myschool website.

Can anyone tell me more about the quality of schools and what its really like.

Also if anyone can advise of a good suberb near a good school that is an area where we can get a comfortable house (3/4 bedrooms) for $400K - $600K. We had looked at the Tarneit area but have read lots of bad things about crime, drugs and some racial comments which has got us concerned about the area.

Any advice appreciated.

Where will you be working? That's probably a better place to start. Then think about all the other things you want accessible as part of your everyday living. Schools usually reflect the suburbs they serve so if you can't imagine living in a suburb you wouldn't want to send your kids to a school there. Get a holiday let for when you first arrive then worry about it, you are quite spoiled for choice but nowhere is perfect and if you wanted one of the big name private schools you've probably left it too late.

Your budget for a home is a bit on the low side though I suspect.

I could be wrong, but $400K - $600K for a 3/4 bed house will probably end you up in the areas that are susceptible to crime, drugs and racial issues.

If buying is your thing, you might need to increase your budget to satisfy the crime, drugs and racial thing.

Exactly what I was thinking. To buy a 3/4 bed house in most areas with good schools will be at least $200k more than this.

BB

I agree with the others, that your budget is a bit on the low side. That said, we bought a house for just over $500k last year in Frankston, because of the school zone. Of course if our budget had been bigger we would have had more options, but of all the suburbs which we could afford to buy a house in, this was our preferred school.

Having said that, my OH had a job on this side of town (I work in the city) so somewhere like Tarneit would not have suited anyway. Personally, I wouldn't live in Tarneit, but that's just my opinion.

I love living down here, but Frankston does have somewhat of a mixed reputation. The high school has improved in leaps and bounds over the past few years and is now regarded as one of the best non-selective schools public in the state.

That major drawback is the commute if you are working in the CBD. It takes me 1.5 hours each way to commute so I am out of the house for about 12 hours a day. If you are working on the west side of the city, I wouldn't even consider living down here, but you will have your own ideas on a suitable commute.

Good luck. We did lots of research into suburbs and schools last year, so happy to help its any suggestions, but you are going to have very few options on that budget. Sorry.

Kiwikaye, I am over in a few days doing a recce on suburbs, so could I ask for any suggestions? I don't want to ' butt in' on the OP's thread though as am not going to be any help to them!

If you are thinking Tarneit I too would suggest you can do better; also agree the budget is on the low side for what you want. A better area to look for schools, socially and so on might be Point Cook. There are 'traffic issues' there with lots of people trying to get out and on to the freeway during peak time but worth considering. The latest median house price for 3030 postcode (Point Cook and Sanctuary Lakes which is on the higher side of the median) is around $504K which suggests an average 3 b/r home to me.

Our income will be c. $200K per annum, which is very comparable to what I earn in the UK (c. 2:1)

What I am struggling with is a $700K house equivalent is 350K property with a high monthly mortgage. I don't quite understand how, economically, people survive like this when other costs of living also appear higher.

Many people seem to manage though so what am I missing?

$200k per annum is quite a good salary in Melbourne. Most people manage on a lot less.

2:1 for costs and salary is probably not enough though, I always say 2.5:1, others say 2.2-2.3, you get the idea.

I think for every £40,000 you earn in the UK you need to earn around $100,000 here to have the same purchasing power, but a lot depends on how much of a mortgage you will have.

If you can bring a decent deposit, from the sale of your UK house for instance, this will help enormously.

BB

I recently asked this on another thread and was poo pooed about the reason for asking, but here goes again.

How do you figure 200k is comparable to what you earn in the UK? Lets hope you didn't do a straight exchange rate conversion.

You need to compare where you live in the UK, your outgoings, and where you live in Australia, and its outgoings. If you are moving from Glasgow to Melbourne, yes needs different considerations.

BTW, renting is dirt cheap in Australia compared to paying a mortgage. You can thank a thing call Negative Gearing for that. You can get really nice places if you rent.

If not more....we're in the outer east and a 4 bdrm out here is running around $890K average. Most of the recent auctions I've seen, they go for over a million. I agree with Beoz about the renting...rent in the suburb you want to live in and buy property elsewhere.

1) They bought 10-15 years ago (one group of our friends who live in what are now 1.5 million plus houses even out here in the sticks and they own rental properties as well).

2) They had massive financial wealth when they emigrated (one set of friends from a country I won't name, but sure you can work it out). So, they could buy property and businesses outright.

3) They rent.

Do you live in the north now? Because probably Melbourne property prices are more like the SE. I am sure you know you could not possibly would get a 3/4 bedroom house in the SE for £200-300k, you would be thinking more like £400-600k say and that is more in line with what you would be needing in Melbourne for a decent area.

Other than housing, I didn't particularly find any other cost of living particularly higher than in the UK. It was swings and roundabouts.

Maybe you have hit the nail on the head. I am from the North (Near Leeds, West Yorkshire) and I am comparing prices in Leeds City and surrounding area whereas perhaps I should have my head in more of a London mindset for prices.

I currently commute 45 mins to work (will be in the CBD) so don't mind a similar commute.

Does anyone have any experience of northern suburbs? I came across Sunbury yesterday which seems to tick all the boxes, good schools, houses similar to north England and about a 45 min commute. Does anyone know anything of this area?

I wouldn't really consider Sunbury to be a suburb of Melbourne.

If I was looking North, I'd have a look at Eltham and surrounding suburbs. Train commute is around that 45 min mark. I think this area has a really nice feel to it...very Australian...which is hard to explain!