Re: Where to settle in Perth?
 

Hi..

We have just rented a house in Attadale and we love it here, we are a couple of streets back from the river and it takes us about 15 minutes to walk to the sand spit with the kids (3 and 1). I would say that the river beaches are better for young children (hillarys good also) and Attadale seems to be a lovely area, quiet but still close to Fremantle for dining out etc

We are looking to buy here in the next 6 to 12 months, budget permitting!

Cheers

Paul

Attadale, attadale, attadale !!! can you tell I'm a fan :D ?

Alternatively Bicton or Rossmoyne. Maybe Applecross (expensive - $800k average but absolutely fabby) or salter Point -the cheaper version of Rossmoyne ($380k average) ? having said that both Rossmoyne and Salter Point have taken a bit of a hit recently in terms of house prices.

Also none of the nice Southern 'burbs are on the beach. They are all river based. The southern Beach suburbs are all affected by the kwinana industrial area.[/QUOTE]

Re: Where to settle in Perth?
 

Tell me bout it, it's going around the back of the houses opposite :eek:

Re: Where to settle in Perth?
 

only reason I know all this is cos we have been house hunting for the last 5 months ;) lots of searches with www.whereis.com.au, www.reiwa.com.au, and www.aussiehome.com :D plus the west newspaper every wednesday and saturday. :D

Actually if you want good northern 'burbs advise you should email sunchaser who is working as an estate agent in the northern suburbs area.

in the meantime, my two pennies worth is ..........


If you want to be within walking distance of the beach you must be west of marmion ave. so the only suburbs near to greenwood to consider are ocean reef, mullaroo, kallaroo, hillarys, Sorrento or watermans.

Sorrentos probably a bit expensive (normally about $600k but you can get some bargains) and watermans even more so, about $700k on average, although still bargains to be had.

personally out of these suburbs I would prob pick Ocean Reef, but thats just my opinion. (one mans meat and all that...) the only downside IMHO is that its a bit further out from the city than the others. Plus side is that its v.pretty (hillarys is pretty also and has good cafes/restaurants/pubs)

Ocean reef and mullaroo you should be able to get something decent for under $450k.

have a look around all of them when you get here and if you dont like any of the suburbs I've suggested ....... I apologise :D

Regards
mairi

Re: Where to settle in Perth?
 

Right, I've been researching Thornlie allday! :D At work, so I didn't do much real work ;)

A few colleagues live there, and I had the UBD with me, so everyone was telling me what to avoid (older part, on Maddington side). Forrest Lakes area is new, and I'd like inbetween, so near Berewith st, Storey st.
Yep, new trainstation will be there end of Feb, and another is proposed at Nicholson rd, and that is also the spot that you get onto the Roe hwy, that indeed is being extended to the Freeway.
The bit I'm looking at, the houses are about 15 years old, and so dark bricks, which isn't my favourite, but I'm more concerned with the block size (800/900 often, very good) and that it's a good area.
I drove around after work. The gardens all look very tidy etc. And big front gardens.
Thornlie plaza isn't flash, but the Cannington big one is near by, and Maddington forum has quite a few shops.

I'm getting more and more into this, and can see ourselves buying within the next month or two!!

Even with only a few days research, I'm quite convinced Thornlie will continue to grow for a while.

Anyway, I'll keep researching!

Anyone with comments, GO!

:D

Re: Where to settle in Perth?
 

Hi, my mate shad a great unfurnished at ocean reef, they were paying $280 per week. Also had a pool.

get yourself a furnished place fro a couple of weeks then take the time to have a real good look around. Do you have to think about schooling at all.
We settled for kinross, as 1) we like the suburb and 20 It has a bloody good high school.
Youngest is doing really well there, mind you he is the 'brain of britain'

Send me a pm if you need

all the best

Re: Where to settle in Perth?
 

Best private school in Perth can I ask the name of it.
I also understand that Wembly Downs is a good area more established.
It is really important to us to have the right area especially when it comes to schools.
Being not too far from Ikea is also a plus point.
I see that you like gooseberry hill.
This was one of my favourite areas when i first stated researching the area on the internet 18 months ago.It does look really nice.Dreamaway

Re: Where to settle in Perth?
 

School is St Hilda's http://www.sthildas.wa.edu.au

It is expensive, but has an excellent reputation here in Perth. (plus they have a really nice uniform ;) )

Dont have kids myself so cant speak from personal experience, but a friend who has investigated this also tells me it's one of the best.

Re: Where to settle in Perth?
 

Mairi, excellent help with the 'where to live' debate! Would you mind being more specific about why Gooseberry Hills is a fav area for you? Reason I'm asking is that one friend has bought in Lesmurdie, and other friends hoping to arrive in October will be looking at Kalamunda/Gooseberry Hills area (they have rellies in Kalamunda). They are all trying to persuade us to move up that way too, and although I won't know until we get there and have had a good look at the areas I am keen to get another person's perspective on why its great! I am split between being near the coast and up in the hills. Hubby has a very real fear of snakes and is convinced that he'll get polished off in the hills!

I know Simone spent time up there (sorry Simone, but I've done some thorough searches!!) and a few others rave, but as is mentioned in other posts, most people seem to settle in the northern burbs.

How much hotter/colder does it get in the hills? And everyone talks about how windy it is on the coast. Does this detract from spending time on the beach?

Is this post long enough? !! I've had too much coffee after having our Chest Xrays this morning and am feeling closer to being there. Maybe its the biting snow I walked home through that has affected my brain.

Thanks for any help.

Re: Where to settle in Perth?
 

ha, lol!
Well.... it was nearly 15 years ago :eek: , I was 6 to 9.....

I like it up there because I like the hills, the trees, the view(the expensive ones..) and the still country town sort of feel (less suburby, which also for me means less new, still cottages around etc).

Why I'm not living there: Prices to high for me(median Kalamunda 280 or something?) and to far from the city for Pascal's work/no train line.
And APPARENTLY(I've heard from 1 source, but I could believe it), it's not that great crime and hoon wise. But I'm not sure how bad this is, and you can get this in nearly every suburb actually, to different degrees(example: Marmion Ave has hoons, and we(Mount Hawthorn) had a letterbox drop from the police warning us to keep our cars save/nothing valuable inside).

Things for you to consider: yes, temps a few degrees higher, and no seabreeze in the afternoon, what you do feel, but could get used too(if you don't spend nearly your entire day in aircon, because then you'll never get used to it).
It's cheaper than a lot of the northern suburbs like Hillary's etc.
It's further away from most work, and there's no highway(you have to allways go down Kalamunda rd first, or through Lesmurdie and then Welshpool rd), and no train line. There is a bus though, I think it's about an hour to get into the CBD (city centre)(I THINK driving would take a lot longer than that, considering the rush hour traffic)

Hope that helps, can't give any tips on living there, and there's nobody that does on here(though a few in the foothills).

Good luck with the decision!

ps: having friends around would be good reason for moving up there..... :)

Re: Where to settle in Perth?
 

We made a visit to Perth last year. We found our paradise in Secret Harbour. It is about 45 mins drive south from central Perth. Lovely place to live, great place to bring up children and still close to the city to work. We did some research on the schools, having 3 primary school aged children. The class sizes are smaller than in the Uk and the enrolment system is quite simple, once you live the area. They are building another new school there this year, and a new high school to be completed in 2007. We spoke to the Assistant Principle at one school, who said that they felt british students were 1 year behind their ciriculum, but they do not take long to catch up.

From what I have seen the education system is better than here in the UK. why do you think we are moving.......

Re: Where to settle in Perth?
 

I agree, Secret Harbour is beautiful....

Re: Where to settle in Perth?
 

Ooops, sorry, missed this post before.

Reasons for GH area being my fav are .... the less suburban feel it has (much more rural feeling), the block sizes are generally bigger, more character in the houses (old cottages are still avail and havent been knocked down), the views, plus I'm not really a beachy person.

The hills are a generally a couple of degrees hotter than the coast, but the coast can get unpleasantly windy some times and some of the beaches can be down right dangerous (rip tides etc) if you are not a strong swimmer.

Regarding snakes, not really a problem IMO. Snakes are much more afraid of you and tend to scuttle off as soon as they hear you coming. Just make sure hubby stomps a lot so they hear him from a long way a way :D

As Simone says the Public transport is not good in the Kalamunda / GH area so you have to be able to drive, but thats true of a lot of 'burbs in Perth.

If you have friends in the area, that will make a huge difference for helping you settle and should be a major factor in deciding where to live.