Hi

My hubbie and I are taking the plunge this year and moving to Australia from London.

Can anyone recommend nice area's in Sydney to live for a young couple easy reach to the CBD, we have been to Sydney many times always staying by the northern shores and we feel this is too expensive for what you get.

if I move I would like to live the dream (so to speak) and don't want to live in an apartment (spent all my years in one, until could afford a house). We have relatives who have moved to cherrybrook and mentioned its wonderful, definately living the dream and very happy. Although I think this might be too far.

any views???

Hi, what do you consider easy reach to the CBD? And how much are you spending on your home? Cherrybrook is in the Hills district, northwest suburbs of Sydney. It is considered a safe, family friendly nice area of Sydney but would be quite a distance from the city because there is no direct train service.

You could consider the southern suburbs on the Illawarra train line which has very frequent train service to the city with lots of express trains especially during peak hour. Anywhere from Allawah right through to Cronulla (where the beach is), considering the distance further out. There are also some nice surrounding suburbs if you were to drive or catch a bus to the train station. Some inner west suburbs may suit you, anywhere from Stanmore through to Strathfield are quite nice, established suburbs with older style homes on the Inner West line, which are very close to the city. Anywhere further west of these suburbs on this line I wouldn't consider. Check out www.staterail.com.au for train timetables.

If you can narrow down what you think you might be looking for ie modern or federation home, near the beach, how close to the CBD you want etc we can be more specific.

Also do a search on this forum, this topic has been covered heaps before so you'll see other people's opinions as well.

Hi

Thanks for the reply, I guess I was being abit open with the question, now that I think about it. We currently live about 30 minutes into the city (of london) and train links are frequent etc. At this stage we have no idea where the office will be (where husband will be working) so its quite open question. At this stage, I am trying to gage the nice area's to look into but will definately view the area's you mentioned. I've just come back to the forums so will check out further.

Thanks for getting back.

If you are young without kids and don't want to live in Suburbia surrounded by 2.4 children do not live so far away from city!

Try looking at Eastern Suburbs. It's tremendous...

Would he definitely be working in the CBD? Parramatta & the Ryde area are big centres too....

If they cant afford the north shore, I think the eastern suburbs are out too. I lived in Drummoyne which I loved - a 3 bed house was about 800k 3 years ago which is why we had to move.

With children I coudlnt afford anywhere I wanted to live.

Cherrybrook is nice, bit further out. Five Dock, Marrickville, Newtown etc were a bit less than Drummoyne. Parts of Randwick were a bit less too. Lane Cove.

None of it was cheap! But coming from London is ok cost wise

renting - you can rent anywhere and afford it - its only the buying that kills you.

realestate.com.au gives a good guide and its all just distance from city and beach cost wise
Viv

Or the Inner West, such as Balmain, Glebe or Newtown areas for restaurants & pubs

The trains may be frequent but its an old and very slow line into the city. It can take a long while to cover a short distance... but it is cheap. The small towns on the coast between Wollongong and Sydney are all attractive places, but none of them are cheap, and defo not bustling places to live.

I wouldn't recommend a childless young couple move to the Hills or Illawara, etc. I'm not young but childless and non-working and I think I would die in either location.

I love the Lower North Shore but then I'm not exactly out clubbing every night these days.

Eastern Suburbs and Inner West, for sure, but you might have to revise the "no apartment" rule depending on your budget.

Congratulations on your decision!!

I have a simple view on some specifics of areas. These are:

1) Stay away areas: Anywhere in Western Sydney or close to Cronulla.
2) Desired locations for families: Anywhere in the Northern Beaches.
3) Desired locations for single people: Surry Hills, Bondi, Coogee, Kings Cross
4) Not bad at all (but need transport to get to beaches): Chatswood, Lane Cove, Blue mountains
5) Businessy feel but can walk to beaches areas: North Sydney, Balmain, Mosmon, Cremorne.

Hope this does help you in some ways...

I lived in kings cross - hated it - and I was young and single but the heroin addicts, the constant muggings of backpackers and street people fighting just got me down in the end.

I was on first name terms with all the prostitutes and street people and was worming and de-fleaing their dogs, we lived at Potts point (they claimed) but I caught the train to work and it was dreadful.

Moved to darlinghurst, still got the prostitutes but at least I could walk to stanley street and didnt feel stressed.

I love sydney, it is my favourite place

Vivienne

It's utter nonsense to dismiss 'Anywhere in Western Sydney or close to Cronulla'? There are some gorgous and historic areas in some western Sydney suburbs with expensive housing, excellent schools and great shopping.

Cronulla has a fantastic beach, great cafes and restaurants and good transport links. What could you possibly have against it and its surrounding suburbs?

I'd also love to know where the 'beaches' are that you can walk to from Balmain?

How long have you been here? About three weeks, isn't it?

I didnt like to comment on the Cronulla thing - I wish someone would buy me a house in Cronulla!

and actually there is a beach in Balmain - its kind of behind balmain down by the park, and it has a sign saying beware of the sharks. We used to take our dog there its about 30ft long

I agree, I live in Western Sydney and love it.... and we go to Cronulla quite often....

That's a huge area to discount there. Yes there are places that I wouldn't choose to live in, but there are some very nice suburbs. Just cos your dollar buys you a lot more out this way, doesn't mean it's all bad. I would recommend anyone researches ANY suburb they might want to live in....see what fits THEM.

We looked to live in the Western Suburbs (actually think we are South West, but lets not split hairs) because I did not want to work in the city. I was looking for work in Parramatta, so it made perfect sense to live in the western suburbs.

Oh yeah....personally like the Cronulla area and, depending on your definition of "close to" you could rule out very sought after areas like Grays Point....where I would love to live!