WeGottaGetOuttaThisPlace

Has anyone got any advice on the area of Seaford, Victoria?

We currently live in an unsafe, can't-go-out-after-dark area in the UK and even during the day it can be pretty hairy. We have a little baby now so safety is an even bigger issue now and we really want somewhere that is safe to walk around, family-friendly and basically a good place to stay. We can't afford to stay too close to CBD and have heard mixed reports on Frankston since we don't know which parts of Frankston are ok and which are not.

We chose our current location based on price and on hindsight realise we should have done more research on the area so don't wanna move to the other side of the world and make the same mistake.

Thanks very much for your responses to this one and I hope there are some Seaford residents around who can give us some insider info!

Cheers

Geelong Gent

Sent you a PM, if you have questions let me know.

Have no problems recommending Seaford both as an investment area or do live yourself.

camponotus

I know the Seaford area fairly well. Generally, I don't think it's too bad but I also don't think it's considered one of the nicest suburbs along the peninsula between Melbourne and Frankston. It is one of the more affordable suburbs and naturally that means that it hasn't necessarily got the best of everything. You are very near Frankston if you are in Seaford and most Aussies here seem to consider Frankston a dodgy area. That's not obviously based on anything other than my own impressions and what people have told me over the past few years.

Petals

I have answered you elsewhere and said that the Nepean Highway is a major road and noisy day and night.

Properties along the Seaford stretch of the road command high prices and are in demand because they are across the road from the beach.

Frankston Gould Street you cannot get a good property under a million dollars and its right in Frankston.

Frankston gets a bad name I do not know why, there are areas that I would not live in Frankston however there are areas in most suburbs of Melbourne where I would find it undesirable to live. South Frankston is a very nice area anywhere up on the hills overlooking the bay, Baxter, Somerville, Mount Eliza, Mornington, Mount Martha, Langwarrin all good areas to live. I have lived in the area for over twenty years and love it. To those of us who live in this area we know its good and if you checked with the estate agents around you would find most people only move streets to a bigger property they do not move out of the area unless of course it is for work somewhere a long way away.

The migrants in the area are mainly Brits and have always been so people slating Frankston are actually slating their own people in a way. Karingal Shopping Centre is full of elderly Brits during the week who emigrated years and years ago. Most of the children who my children went to school with had one or both parents from Britain or grandparents.

Seaford Pines is considered an undesirable place to live and north Frankston because most of the housing is commission housing (council houses) however most are now owned by people and there are people who love living there. Some parts of South Frankston behind the hospital have old commission houses too. Our housing department no longer has estates they spot buy now so you could buy a smart apartment like my friend's daughter has in St Kilda East and find that the housing commission owns a couple of the units in the block and they are rented to housing commission customers. The same goes for new estates the housing commission spot buys and builds houses similar to others on the estate for their customers.

Undesirable people come from all walks of life rich, poor, successful and unsuccesful and its trial and error. I have had some doozy neighbours over the years but they move and others come. Its not lack of money that makes them bad just the way they act.

WeGottaGetOuttaThisPlace

You make really good points here. It's the same here in the UK with respect to the council owning private housing that is then rented out and it's true it's the way people act that causes the problems.

We're just trying to get as much info on the areas we are looking at before deciding where to go but Melbourne and surrounding area is so huge that we want to make sure we end up somewhere affordable that is also safe.

Thanks to everyone for your replies.

Midaho

We have lived here for only 9 months now in Somerville, out on the Peninsula. I have travelled around Melbourne quite a lot with work over this period. We originally came from Dartford in Kent. Dartford is a middle of the road kind of town in England. Not the best and not the worst. I can honestly say I have yet to find anywhere in Melbourne, other than perhaps Fitzroy just to the north of the city, that isn`t safer than Dartford. Sure there are some places like Frankston Beach that shouldn`t be ventured onto after dark. But on the whole, Melbourne is a far safer place than most towns from England.

As Petals says, Seaford can be noisy on the main drag there, and Frankston hasa bad rap, but to be fair, the only part I don`t like is the link between the Shopping centre and the cinema; too many school children dressed in drag for my liking.

Personnaly, anywhere south or east of Frankston and you can`t go far wrong.

suzyambrose

I think you can do endless research on different areas but you'll never get a feel for a place and find out what it's really like until you get there. Seaford is an area ive looked amongst other's but ultimatley it will be decided on which affordable area is within commuting distance for my husband to travel to work and obviously it has to be suitable for my two young children. Most of the areas I've looked ate that are in our price range are a bit further inland like Narre Warren or Point Cook on the West but we'll have to see what happens when we get there!

Midaho

And of course, the wisest thing to do would be to rent initially. We don`t intend to buy for a little while longer still.

BadgeIsBack

My view is that the middle of the bay - S of say Mordy (I said that to be nice to my old mate Buzzy who is renting there) and N of South Frankston is not as nice as the bits both further south (the Mt Eliza's, Mornington and the real Peninsula) and north (Brighton, Elwood, Sandringham etc.)

It is relative though - Seaford ain't bad.

S E A N

Well I live in Seaford

It's a nice place to live, our house has never been burgled no assaults

But it definitely not the prettiest suburb thanks to this 12 year drought everything is looking rather miserable (dying trees, parched lawns...the parks have really taken a toll etc etc) in the winter things may pick up. There is somewhat of a graffiti problem but on the whole it's a nice multicultural place to live....Ohhh and Seaford has a great beach, thanks to the bay its safe for kids (no currents, huge waves or dangerous jellyfish!)

PS....Frankston ain't that bad (well maybe station street )

Buzzy--Bee

And loves it so much he is now building there..... but that's a story for another time.

Mordialloc has probably the most character of any area along the bay.

Buzzy

BadgeIsBack

I thought you were building further south? Further south(east) of Frankston? And therefore in a bit which I think (relatively) is nice, say compared to Frankston or Carrum etc. Or have I misread you?

Buzzy--Bee

As I said, that's a story for another time!

We are building in Mordialloc 4 streets from where we rent.

Buzzy

Sherro

I used to play in a band at the Seaford Hotel. Seaford is OK like everyone else has put, and if you come from an environment where you are afraid to go out your front door at dark it will probably be Utopia.

However, it is about an hour out of Melbourne by car along the beach front.

If it were me i'd move to Mentone or Moordialloc or Parkdale, much niver areas and within running distance from Seaford.

But if thats not an option, Seaford is fine, although not much there you will probably spend more time in frankston or Cheltenham....

Mentone is beautiful, lovely beach, reasonable accommodation rents, nice pubs, great restaurants and not so many bogans (WWF t-shirts and girls with Moustaches)

thebardies

when we first arrived in australia we rented in seaford and liked the area, great beach easy to get into melbourne etc,and unlike mordialloc/mentone/parkdale there is no heads up arses sorry did i say unit..i meant townhouse . But when the new east link was nearing completion house prices shot up a fair bit, so we ended up in cranbourne north/narre warren south whatever you want to call it, we have now just sold up here as we liked living nearer to frankston as the bayside shopping centre is great and the investment into franga now is really changing the beachfront, so we are off to leafy langwarrin in the next few weeks to live the dream