Tockalosh

All, possible move for a job in St Kilda (top end) that we are looking at and just weighing up costs of housing etc to ensure it all adds up

I dont ideally want to commute more than 1 hour by any method of travel, (personal car, train, bus, walk) and I prefer more modern houses with 4 beds and a garden the kids can play in and I dont want to pay more than 650 a week.

Would Keilor East or Heidleburg heights fall into the one hour commute or they too far out in rush hour ?

Any other comments on the locations welcome

Thanks

RedDragon2008

http://www.visitvictoria.com/Informa...e-planner.aspx

http://ptv.vic.gov.au/

You will be pretty accessible to most of Melbourne from St Kilda. An hour is a good amount of time to travel from most places.

Tockalosh

Thanks for that, much appreciated. Obviously far quicker to drive than to take public transport which was a surprise.

Any comments on the general areas would be helpful as they seem too good to be true with regards to house prices and short commutes which has a few alarm bells ringing

RedDragon2008

Dont know much about those areas other than Heidelberg is a nice area having driven through it. But is known for being snake (animal type) central.

Have you started using www.realestate.com.au for property prices and type searches? Based on $650 it might be a bit tight on eastern areas but how about Glen Waverley, Mount Waverley? (easy journey in on train - shortest train line)

Tockalosh

lmao, I will probably leave Heidleburg well alone then as my mrs is not that keen on slitherers in the garden. We have been spoiled up here as not seen a single critter or slitherer in 6 months

I have been scanning realestate but will give those suburbs a quick dose of looking at now thanks

Tockalosh

great tip on waverley, thanks. Looks ideal and right on budget/commute

Kiwikaye

Hi, I can second Glen Waverley/Mount Waverley. We live in Mount and love it (been here nearly a year now). One thing I would say is Heidelberg itself might be quite nice (driven through it years ago but never lived there). Heidelberg Heights on the other hand is a bit of a ghetto in parts - a lot of it is social/state housing so while you might get a lot for $650 a week there, its not necessarily somewhere you might want to live, especially if you've got kids.

I also think you'd be pushing it to do the commute in 1 hour from either there or Keilor East. Public transport in Keilor East is not that great. I commute from Mount Waverley Station to the city and you would easily do it in an hour exiting at Flinders St station and you can catch a tram from there down St Kilda Road if necessary.

Feel free to let me know if you want any more info and good luck with the move.

Mummy3

I echo about Heidelberg, heard not great things. What sort of lifestyle do you want? Beach access, Access to Mountains, vineyards? or city living.
Am also happy to help as spent a long time choosing an area. We are in Eastern Melbourne.

Tockalosh

Thanks for the offers of advice, if we get this job in the bag I'll be back to you . Can't beat local advice. My mrs wants to know about kindys and hopefully they are more available than they are up here. It looks like a good place and the mrs has found half a dozen houses she would be happy with, within my budget which makes me happy
Thanks again

As for choice of lifestyle, we learnt a lot in QLD. Just because you live near the beach doesn't mean you will have time to go every day and if you have to pack a car full of beach crap to drive 10 mins then you might as well live 40 mins away by car. So beach or drive to the mountains at weekend. Access to coffee and a kebab is a must, lack of hoons, don't want to live next door to nigerians bbq'ing goats heads on a weekend. That must be about it

RedDragon2008

From Glen Waverley/Mount Waverley you will pass increasingly expensive suburbs on the way to your prospective workplace in St Kilda Road. Each will also have Kindy options. Its also well know area for good schooling.

Mummy3

When it comes to areas, you can google the demographic, realestate.com.au is one place I think similarly schooling can be done on myschool.com.au
Do take time to get here and drive around as we found when we got here places we had highlighted were not where we ended up!

stuartsummers1980

if you're thinking about driving I'd probably look at the suburbs as you drive down the Nepean Highway or certainly anywhere south of the Monash (M1). I'd probably advise against moving north or north east of the CBD, as traffic can be a bitch getting from one side of the city to the other. I'm not saying the Nepean is always fun, but I'm pretty sure places like Heidelberg require accessing the south via Punt Road, and that is probably one of the most congested roads around.

Research wise realestate.com is probably better for when you're literally looking. Try Realestateview.com.au when it comes to research, as it's owned by the REIV, who are the "stattos" of real estate in Victoria.

bcworld

Yup, avoid Hoddle St / Punt Rd at all costs!

Tockalosh

Thanks folks all useful stuff, cheers

Kiwikaye

+1

One of the things we like about where we are is that you have several options to get into town, depending on traffic conditions on any particular day.