Sydney - Basic Questions
 

Hi, we have an outside chance to come over and work in Sydney for 2 years through my partners job. At the moment are a bit thrown but slightly intrigued.

With no ideas of areas (although we presume the north is possibly where we might want to be), we would be after a 2/3 bedroomed place very near a nice beach, in a good area. Probably with pool.

- Anyone care to give me a ball park rental figure for something like that ?
- Basic area suggestions ?
- To achieve the above, what would we be looking at, timewise, for a daily commute into the centre (rhodes).
- Is it true that 90% of rentals do not allow pets/cats ?
- In terms of my job, Is the IT job market ok ? (I know thats hard without specifics)

As a value guide, although we will rent, I guess we are looking at renting houses in the 850k bracket if that helps.

All very general, but grateful for any answers.

Re: Sydney - Basic Questions
 

Just to let you know that Rhodes is no where near the centre of anything.

You will need a car or at least face some lengthy transportation from the leafy north shore where you are likely to find a house with pool. Price will really depend on what area you really want. For instance, upper north shore will get you a nice house, big yard and pool.

Re: Sydney - Basic Questions
 

If we were buying it would be around the 850k dollar mark, so I guess I need to know how far out I would have to go to get to a point where I could get a decent place with pool by the beach for 850k dollars.

And then roughly how much would it cost to rent one of those.

And how long it would take to get from there to Rhodes for the commute. Would prefer a commute by rail, but no one seems overly positive about the rail system.

Re: Sydney - Basic Questions
 

By the beach - not very likely in Sydney for that price - not even remotely close to Sydney. Near you could probably get something with 3 bedrooms, smallish garden and quite a bit older. But there is no train system to any of the beach suburbs unless you live east or south. But that will mean a long train ride involving a change or trains to Rhodes train station. There is no direct public transport link between the north shore/northern beaches and rhodes. All will involve a connection.

Re: Sydney - Basic Questions
 

Yeah - I have to agree $850K to buy a 3 bed house with pool and close to the beach in an easily commutable suburb of Sydney (good bus or train links) is a very hard ask. You'd need to go over the $1 million figure.

Re: Sydney - Basic Questions
 

You'll have to compromise on something ;).

There's only one area of Sydney near the beach and easily commutable - and that's the Eastern Suburbs. $850k might buy you a small house in the south eastern suburbs (Matraville, Malabar area) but there's no way it will have a pool, and it most likely will need work.

You could probably get a house in the upper Northern Beaches area (around North Avalon) for that price, but the commute from up there is horrible - it's a long way and has no trains. $850k is the lower end of the price range up there so a pool is unlikely.

Sutherland might be a better bet. Cronulla beach is nice and the commute (via train) is not too bad. :)

Re: Sydney - Basic Questions
 

Sutherland 'Shire' certainly an option - Big up the south!

Re: Sydney - Basic Questions
 

Rhodes does have a train station so to that end isnt as far out of the back end of nowhere as implied!

Re: Sydney - Basic Questions
 

Look at Concord and North Strathfield. They're just down the road from Rhodes, making for an easy commute. There's some lovely houses - a nice mix of old and new - and you might get lucky and find one with a pool.

Rhodes is about half an hour by train to Sydney, but trains aren't that frequent outside of rush hour so getting from anywhere outside the area isn't going to be much fun on public transport.

Have a look at www.domain.com.au and www.realestate.com.au.

Re: Sydney - Basic Questions
 

Further to my reply above, have a look at this place http://www.domain.com.au/Public/Prop...006718174&ts=1.

Not sure if apartments are your thing, but it's beautiful, near the water and has a pool and other facilities for $650,000. Rhodes would be about ten minutes drive away, I think.

Re: Sydney - Basic Questions
 

Just out of interest, bearing in mind the climate down there, how common are homes with pools and if anyone has one, how often does it get used if you don't have it heated? I know before we started researching, I stupidly assumed that pool ownership was the norm all over the country and the weather was good enough for all year round swimming :rofl: This is obviously not the case, not even up here but it may help those in the UK to know what the likelihood of ever having or needing a pool is.

Re: Sydney - Basic Questions
 

Have a snoop around using Google Earth and you'll get an idea how many pools are around. Not that many in the areas I've been looking although I'm sure you'll find more further out where there's more space. (Google is a wonderful thing. I loves it. I saw my mate's house near Redfern station last night. :) )

I hardly ever go in the pool here because it's too cold, and the air temp is usually above 30C. Doubt I'll be going in much in Sydney. :unsure:

Re: Sydney - Basic Questions
 

There are zillions of pools in Sydney but probably not the same concentration of them right near the beach (don't really need a pool when you've got the beach down the road ;)). Also it's that much cooler right on the coast because of the sea breezes so you don't have that desperation to cool off at the end of a hot day.

The areas where you find most pools are inland, where the housing blocks are bigger and the weather is hotter.

Re: Sydney - Basic Questions
 

I only have one friend with a pool. They do use it a fair bit, depending on the weather of course, but they're the first to admit that it's a very expensive luxury.

We've found that the best option is to have friends with a pool rather than have one yourself. We get to use it when we go over and when they go on holiday they give us access so we can use it whenever we want.

Re: Sydney - Basic Questions
 

I like your style. :thumbsup: I've had swimming lessons at the house of a friend here, so I don't have to go to a yukky public pool.