ozbaz

Hi

sorry, but I am obsessed with real estate and suburb profiles in Sydney ! So here goes:
Sydney has around 700 suburbs and a large Expat population with most suburbs showing at least a 4% British population. So I figure I can get a rundown of all 700 suburbs on here- theoretically!!!

But I am only interested in what we consider affordable, so forget North Shore, inner city and start with anything outside a 30 km radius of CBD.

Within districts like LIverpool, Fairfield - which are often and generally labelled ' unsafe/ run down- there surely must be suburbs which defy this general picture?? Or not??

I don't want to think that anywhere affordable is affordable for negative reasons, like crime etc...

Anyone around Ingleburn/ Wattle Grove/ Wentworthville, Quakers Hill , Marayong etc etc etc , who feel they have found a good place to live for a family ?

Right now we are used to leaving our door unlocked and often the car key is still in the ignition in the morning...( small town Ireland)...would be nice to think that while we learn to lock our doors , we wouldn't be burgled if we forget once in a while!!

So, where do you live, and what do you find good or bad about your suburb???Why should we consider living there??

Thanks in advance, I'll be checking the forum every 10 minutes in anticipation!!

Mrs Ozbaz

chocciecake

well, i grew up in australia, but no one i know would ever purposely leave their car/house unlocked!
we've never been burgled, but if you were your insurance wouldn't cover you if you left the doors unlocked!
what kind of rent per week were you thinking???
that will give people an idea of what you mean by affordable...
and would you commute from somewhere like wollongong, to have lovely place to live,at a cheaper price?

we lived in ultimo, sydney, right near haymarket, and i never ever felt unsafe walking round there,even at 3am in the morning on a new years eve!
but we lived in a warhouse apt,as a couple, for £440 wk, so not exactly family living...
we also lived in leichhardt, in a victorian semi, for £360 wk, and that was a great suburb, and close to everything....

ozbaz

Hi

By 'affordable' I mean we have decided to eventually buy a house for around 350.000 tops! Meaning we don't want to work to pay the mortgage, but are willing to compromise on location ( ie we won't be near a beach ) in order to be able to live a little!

And having lived in London before, I am sure we'll get used to locking the doors again!

chocciecake

as i don't know any of the suburbs you've asked about, firstly i'd think "yikes, $350,000...." as i never saw anything for near that 7 years ago..so best i leave the suggestions on that to those who know the current market, but i do know in wollongong, you would get beaches and more for your money and something nicer than an outer syd suburb...OR you could wait a while, and buy at the bottom of the market, and you'll be laughing!!!

chocciecake

bumpy for you...

NickyC

If your top budget is $350k I'd be concentrating on the Campbelltown/Narellan area (some nice new suburbs there and actually not too far from the Wollongong beaches) or the Penrith/lower Blue Mountains area. Also consider the Hawkesbury region (Windsor/Richmond).

Whilst cheap suburbs do not automatically mean 'unsafe', really cheap city suburbs are usually cheap for a reason. They tend to attract poorer migrants from non-English speaking countries and some suburbs, particularly in the Bankstown region do have some social problems. Schools can be a bit hit and miss, too.

ABCDiamond

I used to live in the St Clair / Erskine Park area, just East of Penrith.
I commuted from there to Sydney CBD for a few years, and so did my wife.

It is a safe area, but.. do not leave your car unlocked

House prices in the area are reasonable. I still have one there, and will be selling it when the house prices have risen again (one day)

As an idea, mine has 5 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, 2 kitchens, 2 front doors (it's a split house, 2 separate buildings) and the agents say it is currently valued at about $375-$400k.
Actually you could buy mine and rent part out, which is what we used to do

There are plenty of standard 3 bed houses in the area for under $300k.

medwaymark

Wouldn't rule out all the suburbs around Liverpool. We concentrated our search on that area because we wanted to be close to family. There are some suburbs in that area that I wouldn't want to live in, but we have bought in Prestons and are very happy with this suburb. Hinchinbrook & Green Valley are cheaper & seem OK.

ozbaz

Thanks for all your replies. I have searched all the mentioned suburbs ..some look a little ' new', I'd prefer a older suburb .
If anyone lives in Windsor/South Windsor ...what's it like??

If Oz wasn't so far away from Europe we'd probably be willing to spend more on housing, but for us its important to be able to set money aside for the odd trip back. Compromises compromises....

Thanks again
Mrs Ozbaz

Hutch

Have a look at Oatley and Mortdale ...

TiddlyPom

Mrs Jackaroo lives in Windsor.

Nice place.

Hutch

Yea, but I'm not so keen on that bloody great castle by the M4 ruining the view of the sewage works.

ABCDiamond

Some nice parts, some not so nice.

When we lived in St Clair, my wife ended up working in Windsor, about a 20 min drive away. After having a good look around, we were at one stage tempted to live in Windsor, but QLD won

There are some nice areas, only about 5 mins north(ish) of Windsor if I recall correctly.

TiddlyPom

Narf!

Mrs Jackaroo

Here I am!

I live in Richmond which is about 7km from Windsor. South Windsor & Bligh Park are pretty much considered to be a no no (thats coming from my friend whos a copper - although I'm sure there are plenty of people who live in South Windsor & Bligh Park who have no problems) but Richmond, where we live is really nice. Well we like it anyway (although when we first arrived I wasnt keen!). Its very oldy worldy and like stepping back in time 20 years (as are the majority of places in Oz I think) but its nice and laid back which is great. The nearest beach is about an hour away (northern beaches) but there are plenty of other things to keep you entertained. The blue mountains are stunning for example (TiddlyPom can tell you more about that!).

We've just bought a house which needed work and it cost us $290k -

here it is:

The average 3 bed house price in Richmond (postcode 2753) is around $320k - $350k for something that doesn't need much work and the average plot is around 560 sqm (ours is 581 sqm)

Its a 45 min drive into Darling Harbour from here (not during rush hour obviousyl!) and about 30 mins to the airport. It is still classed as Sydney but is the furthest out you can get...last stop on the train!

If you've got anymore questions just fire away