Mount Waverley, Monash City

[didl]

Hello!

We are still in Pretoria, but hope to move in next few months. I did some research, on Melbourne and neighborhoods, however I don't have a feeling on how it really looks like and what I can expect from different places.

As we have small kids I would like to know if Monash City - Mount Waverley area is a family friendly area. Are public schools good in the area?

Is transport good there? I see it is on Glen Waverley line, however don't have a feeling on how public transport works: do I first take a bus or tram and then take a train, or must I have a car to take me to the nearby train station?

I noticed the house prices are high, but have a feeling it might be a general trend. Is it very upmarket and expensive area or just an "average" Melbourne area and I just have to manage to get a well paid job to afford it.

Last but not least, are there any other members of the Forum living in Monash City?

Thanks!

Kind regards,

didl

[wislon]

Hi didl,

I spent a week with some friends in that general area (near the Waverly park/AFL stadium actually) and I must say the area is very nice. The people I stayed with aren't exactly rolling in money, but they bought a $400K house last year, a double story 3-bedroom (they have a foster child) with a reasonable back yard for the dogs to run around in. It wasn't one of the really superduper upmarket areas, but I could quite happily live there. Very family oriented, 2.5 kids, 1.2 dogs, white picket fence, you know the drill.

I was told that anything over about $75k (gross) would be OK, and if you were pulling in $100K or over on a combined salary you'd be smiling.

It's all very clean (actually most of what I saw in Oz was clean), no dodgy okes hanging out on street corners etc. No beggars or bergies either. During the week I was there, the creepiest thing I saw was a sweaty fat guy talking to himself very loudly at a bus stop, and then it just turned out he had a hands-free, and was yapping on his mobile

There were a number of schools in the area, and there were a lot of buses and trains and public transport (the railways are organised into zones, kind of like the tube in the UK). I didn't see many trams outside of the CBD tho. Where we were, down near the old stadium, we'd have to get in a car or take a bus and drive to a station just past the Monash University to actually get a train into town, the station was about 8km away, if I remember right.

I hope that's of some use to you

Edited February 6, 2008 by wislon

[HansaPlease]

I was told that anything over about $75k (gross) would be OK, and if you were pulling in $100K or over on a combined salary you'd be smiling.

I'd agree with most of what you said, except this part. $100k on a combined salary isn't that much. It's liveable with some clever budgeting, but I don't think you'd be smiling on it in the Glen Waverley/Mount Waverley area with a family.

If you weren't paying a mortgage you'd be fine, but a $250,000 mortgage is around $2000 a month. I very much doubt you'd get a family home for less than $400k in that area.

[Stuart and Jill]

Hi there, we've been in Melbourne almost a month now.

Melbourne is a wonderful city, a vibrant and cosmopolitan city with a rich culture, people who love art, great coffee and fantastic restaurants. It is clean and safe and my family and I often go walking about with hoards of other late night shoppers and patrons at all hours of the evening. Public transport works period, the trams inner city are reliable and most people rely on trams or trains to get them to work and back in the evening. Some people close by ride bikes in to work but most others will walk, ride or drive to a local station and catch the train.

Properties closer in to the city are small and expensive to rent. We have found that most rentals will not have a garden we are used to but will often be done up very nicely inside. The rental marked it a real pain and very tough, we're still looking for a rental and you'll often have 10-15 families through rentals at show times. The property market has gone up in the last little while and there has been an interest rate hike to 7% which everyone is bemoaning like it's the end of the world - coming from our interest rates I still find it quite refreshing.

It's really difficult to know where to stay or to look for a place. We had Jill's cousin draw us a circle on a map and we then looked at and contacted schools while still in SA. Once we got conlan into a school we looked in surrounding areas to live. I still have that map if it'll help.

Further out (about an hours commute) you can get huge properties and land - my boss has a 100 hectare farm and house for pretty much what you'd pay for a house in the suburbs. If you're prepared to travel you can have a really nice plot of land.

Rentals in the areas we're looking at (not overly larny) 3-4 bedrooms; usually 1 garage, 1.5-2 bathrooms $550-850 per week if you don't want grot.

Things are pricey here until you start earning dollars then they're not anymore. We found we needed capital to get going, pay schooling deposits, buy uniforms, buy food, pay for entrance to museums and places of interest, pay for tram tickets and parking, have spending money until the bank cards arrive, buy a car as they're not keen to extend credit to people with no credit history.

It's been a bit of a roller-coaster ride for us. I personally have found it not to be as easy as some people would like to make out but I wouldn't change the outcome for anything. If you're prepared to push through the little bit of extra discomfort this side then you are in a much much better position than when you left.

Hello!

We are still in Pretoria, but hope to move in next few months. I did some research, on Melbourne and neighborhoods, however I don't have a feeling on how it really looks like and what I can expect from different places.

As we have small kids I would like to know if Monash City - Mount Waverley area is a family friendly area. Are public schools good in the area?

Is transport good there? I see it is on Glen Waverley line, however don't have a feeling on how public transport works: do I first take a bus or tram and then take a train, or must I have a car to take me to the nearby train station?

I noticed the house prices are high, but have a feeling it might be a general trend. Is it very upmarket and expensive area or just an "average" Melbourne area and I just have to manage to get a well paid job to afford it.

Last but not least, are there any other members of the Forum living in Monash City?

Thanks!

Kind regards,

didl

[HansaPlease]

I'd agree with most of what you said, except this part. $100k on a combined salary isn't that much. It's liveable with some clever budgeting, but I don't think you'd be smiling on it in the Glen Waverley/Mount Waverley area with a family.

If you weren't paying a mortgage you'd be fine, but a $250,000 mortgage is around $2000 a month. I very much doubt you'd get a family home for less than $400k in that area.

Sorry, my previous post was a bit rushed, so hope I didn't sound abrupt.

To answer your question about the area - I don't really know Monash City, but I know that both Glen Waverly and Mount Waverly are pretty good areas to live. As wilson said - white picket fences, good family living, etc.

I was talking to a friend the other day, who was saying that a lot of people who can't afford to buy in Glen Waverly and Mount Waverly are actually doing their best to rent in the area so that they can be considered to be in the catchment area for schools. I'd say based on that that the schools must be pretty good.

We drive through the area quite a bit - I like it. Probably the main reason that kept us out of there is that we couldn't afford the same house as we're building in that area - would have cost us a fortune.

[NikkiH]

Hi

I live in Glen Waverley. I walk to the train station in the morning and catch the train to work. Its very easy. One leaves every 7-8mins in the morning.

You can find houses for $500k in the area, but then it will be a bit further from shops and the public transport. The closer you are to the public transport (the train in glen waverley - there is no tram here) the more expensive the property is. Glen Waverley has high property prices (a bit overpriced I think) even though it is 36mins by train to the city, because of the good schools in the area. A good house costs 650K up (I would personally look at 750K up in glen waverley). But you can rent for a lot less that the installment on a house. A little further away and on a different train line is Boronia, Bayswater and Ferntree Valley. There you can buy a nice place from 380K up. And its just a few more mins to the city (46-50). But I have been warned about forest fires in that area.

There is also Wheelers hill where you can get better value for your money, simply because it is a little further from the public transport. Being able to walk to the shops or to the train increases the value of property a lot. That is because here you can actually walk from place to place in safety.

Mount Waverley looks nice, it is a couple of stops closer to the city. A lot of school kids take the train in the morning.

I like the area, it has nice shops and parks and its close to public transport.

Watch out for the line that goes through clayton and oakleigh. There are some dodgy areas on that train line (oakleigh is still fine I think clayton is the problem - but I may be mistaken) and then you will find that reports of crime are at stations on that line when you read the local monash paper.

Michelle M lives in wheelers hill and has kids that go to school so she may be able to give a little more insight into that aspect.

[didl]

Thanks for all the inputs!!

At the moment I have a great news, as our visa is granted today . I will take time to study your answers when I am a back to myself.

It really looks like it could be a good starting point. If both of us get a job we will be able to afford buying in the area. I am sure we will be renting for at least a year, but would like to rent and buy at the same area without moving to much and disrupting everyone's life again.

Any further info is welcome.

Cheers!

didl

[matman]

hi Didl

I made this suggesiton to someone else on another post. Have a look at where you are or your husband is going to work and bear in mind that is where you will spend most of your time. Determine what is an acceptable period of time you are prepared to travel (whether it be car, tram, trian, bus etc)

Go to google and print off a set of maps of Melbourne. Also on google use the From and To cpability to determine distances from point A to Point B to work out an approximate time/distance. Then draw a set of circles using your work location as the centre point. Draw a circle around your work and your husbands work based on the acceptable travel time you have agreed upon.

I would go as far as using colour coding to draw circles at 15, 30, 45, 60mins from your work locations. Then have a look and see where your circle intersects with your husbands circle. Have a look and see what facilities and amenities can be found in these intersecting areas. Now you may not find someting in the 15min intersection, but then have a look at the 30min intersection. if that does not work then maybe it may be a case of haivng to live closer to your work because that is closer to the kids school and you will need to drop and pick them up each day. Means hubby may have to travel longer to work.

You need to have a good think about how much time you are prepared to travel as this can make or break immigrating. I hear people how much they hated moving here and when you talk to them and drill down. You eventually find out they hate living here because they did not do their homework properly and the husband is having to travel 60mins to work.

Also way up whether you are ok to travel 45-60mins to work each day, but want to rather be closer to what you love doing on the weekends - like being close to the beach or like myself - living on a golf course.

I can suggets looking at places like Aspendale Gardens, Keysborough, Patterson River, & Narre Warren as I have lived there or had friends live there. My brother in law is moving to Berwick shortly. There ae some lovely new places out this way like MArriott Waters with House and Land packages starting at $340K

Also dont make the mistake we made. In South Africa the value is in the house and not the land, whereas in Aus the value is in the land and not the house. First time I heard this I was amazed - people will buy a block of land with a perfectly good house on it and knock the house down and build someting new. When we bought our first block of land here for $155K that was more than the sale of our whole house and land in S.A. We had thought we had overspent and were getitng ourselves into trouble. Only later we realised we could have actually bought a bigger & better block of land which we subsequently did.

Rgds

Matman

Edited February 8, 2008 by matman

[Oryx]

Further out (about an hours commute) you can get huge properties and land - my boss has a 100 hectare farm and house for pretty much what you'd pay for a house in the suburbs. If you're prepared to travel you can have a really nice plot of land.

Where would this be?

[Mara]

Check out Sunbury, it is a 35min commute by train and there are a number of big properties to be had!

[Guest Chris Rimmer]

Thanks for all the inputs!!

At the moment I have a great news, as our visa is granted today . I will take time to study your answers when I am a back to myself.

It really looks like it could be a good starting point. If both of us get a job we will be able to afford buying in the area. I am sure we will be renting for at least a year, but would like to rent and buy at the same area without moving to much and disrupting everyone's life again.

Any further info is welcome.

Cheers!

didl

Hi Didi,

Realize this thread is a bit old by now. I live in the Monash area and it's great for families. My wife and I have two little kids who play with all the neighbours. The Clayton area is regarded as a bit downmarket but Glen Waverley and Oakleigh are really great places. Oakleigh is quite multicultural as a lot of Greek and Italian migrants moved there in the 1950's and 60's. Their legacy is a vibrant little village with loads of independently owned delis, butchers and fishmongers which is unusual in this corporate age. You can expect to pay about 550K for a place in Oakleigh. It's serviced by rail and bus routes and is 15kms from the city. Rents are on the up and several renters have recently moved out and further away from the city. This has created a number of properties available for lease which is unusual in Melbourne generally where vacancy rates are at a scary 1%! It's 11kms to beach.

Remember also that until recently, the Monash area (with the exception of Glen Waverley) had a reputation of being a bit dodgy although by Hillbrow standards it was always a walk in the park by comparison. The area's proximity to the city combined with quality housing stock has lead to a significant shift in the socio economic make up of the area. There are many smart renovations going on and I'm seeing quite a few BMW's in driveways. I hear many S.A. accents in the local mall and the local supermarket has started stocking Mrs Ball's chutney. What does that tell you?

PM me if I can can help you out.

[DD1]

All,

For what its worth - this thread of discussion has been of significant help to me - most of the suggestions above are now part of my planning. They seem so obvoius but there is so much going on that you you run the risk of losing sight of the 'smaller' stuff which can later become huge issues.

So in that regards, this forum is proving to be priceless.

Its quite ironical - here are many South african ( and ex- southafricans ) helping each other out in this forum - but at home, I dont even know my neghbour's name !

Thanks a million - especially for the tip on drawing circles on a map and working your way outward !

Very smart!

[Mara]

Hi DD1

Thank you, it is so nice to get a compliment about this forum instead of having our heads bashed in!

So if you have any further questions about Melbourne, throw them our way!