Melbourne suburbs

[Guest]

Hi all

 

Despite being scared of the weather, we will be visiting Melbourne in August (maybe this would be a good time to test out the weather?). We will allocate some time to Sydney and some to Melbourne. Previously I thought we would stick to NSW, but I am furiously gobbling up information on Melbourne in the event that we find Sydney overwhelming and prefer what Melbourne has to offer.

 

I've had a look at a theoretical list of the top suburbs in Melbourne:

 

http://www.domain.com.au/news/melbournes-321-suburbs-ranked-for-liveability-20151106-gkq447/

 

Can anyone living here say whether this list should be approached with a large pinch of salt? (I know those living in Sunbury might certainly say so).

 

Requirements would be: small freestanding home (three bedrooms/two bedrooms with a broom cupboard), single garage, small garden, not a long commute to the city (maximum, say, 25 minutes one way), and a kid-friendly environment for the future kids. Sorry I can't provide a budget. Interests: nature, being outdoors, being active, home-type things. I see from another thread that 'nature' and 'close to the city' don't seem to be that compatible. How 'green' is the city? (Last visit was some years back and I can't recall from memory, though I've looked at pictures).

 

I'm trying to get an impression of whether a suitable house would cost $$$$$$$$$$ or $$$$, or whether it's worth going for something smaller/further out, etc.

 

Thanks!

 

Edited April 12, 2016 by KirstenT
Grammar :)

[Mara]

@KirstenT I went to the link, but there are too many choices, therefore I was not sure which list you were checking.

 

With regard to cost for what you have listed. There are certainly green spaces, lots of them, opposite parks closer to the city, but you are talking of mainly apartments, or rows of semi-detached homes. A little further and yes, probably within your 25min commute time, but now you are entering the wealthy suburbs, so you will probably be paying rent upwards of $700 per week. You will have quite a way to go to get to nature, as you put it.

 

Yup, there are quite a number of us that live in Sunbury, which has everything we need, close by, plus green open spaces, bike trails, walking trails, wine farms, bigger properties, smaller properties, birdsong, sorry... here I go again...

 

I am sure that the forum members will be giving you lots of advice... good luck in your search.  I will be away in August from the 12th to the 29th, but should you visit Melbourne whilst I am here, I would be happy to show you around Sunbury.

[Sol1]

The suburbs you decide on are going to depend on many factors ie cost of rental and where you are going to be working. If its the CBD and you want a 25 mins commute time then as Mara said living close to the City will be more expensive and also suburbs which have predominantly apartment living. If you don't mind paying 600 plus a week rental and a small apartment to start you off then its fine. Without having a budget in mind though its hard to advise you. Closer to CBD will always mean higher rental. We have a house exactly as you described and live 30 mins from the City, rental is 400 per week but you can get cheaper for 350. If you get the train its around 30 mins but the bus services here are not good.If you miss the bus coming home sometimes its an half hour before another one comes along. We don't live far from the train station though. If your driving would take an hour. The advantage of living out of the City is affordable rental, greener living, great family lifestyle, beach 10 mins away. Infact we live 10 mins also from.the open range zoo. Lots of activities for kids and a great community. There are lots of people on the forum who can advise you on other suburbs. If you need any more information then just drop me a personal message. ?

[TeeTMI]

Before moving to Sunbury     we lived in the Elsternwick/Elwood areas which rank very high on that list (6 & 20).  We did like the area - great if you like being close to the beach and cafe culture and we enjoyed life there.  There were parks around and green spaces but it took quite a while for us to drive out of the inner then outer suburbs to reach anywhere with significant green space.  I imagine the 3 bed house you describe in those areas (although many being knocked down to build multiple houses or flats on) would be in the $1.5 - 2 million range. 

 

If you go onto realestate.com.au and look at the map view you can filter the houses by price range, and type, to get an idea of the type of price you are looking at. 

[RedPanda]

I've looked at the article, and the only problem that I have is that they give me this lovely list, but then they don't give me any clue how they composed it, and therefore it's useless to me. If you don't know how someone defines "Liveable" then you don't know if you agree or not. (Ok, perhaps there is a link somewhere that I missed) But I feel the article should start with: This is how we define "Liveable", these are the 16 categories that we scored the suburbs on, this was our weighting of those scores. After that, by all means, give me the list. Because I promise you that I weight them differently from eg Mara, or AFreshStart... So really, a breakdown would also good, then I can look for the 'most leafy suburbs' and then rank them according to other things like transport and internet coverage etc, that would be excellent information.

Anyway, gripe over....

[Guest]

Thank all for the helpful insight.

 

This here gives a small amount of background into how the list was compiled. @Mara I filtered from 1 to 321 and then took a look at, say, the top 20 suburbs. @TeeTMI you are completely right. Many of the high-ranking suburbs have very expensive property attached and I saw this when I filtered for anything bigger than an apartment or a house that doesn't meet our requirements, e.g. no garage or two tiny bedrooms. The $1.5 to $2-million price range is completely unaffordable for us. I would say the maximum we could afford would be about $1.2-million (including stamp duty and such). This is based on a very rough estimate of a deposit plus a dual income, but as others have said, sometimes the jobs on SEEK are not all they're cracked up to be and the actual offer has been less than what's advertised.

 

@Mara I am so sorry to be missing you in August! We will come from 4 to 21 August, with our first stop being in Sydney, so will miss you entirely. I do, however, have a connection in Sydney (an aunt of a friend), so we are going to meet up with her to find out more. We will definitely drive all around, including to Sunbury, to see what each place has to offer. My worry is that currently we live in a lovely leafy, green suburb 45mins outside of Cape Town (in traffic, 20mins without) and really contend with a lot of traffic. While there is no viable public transport option for us here, I'm not sure we can face a long commute again in a different place ('long' to me is 45mins each way). Will have to weigh that up when we see what the suburbs are like.

[RedPanda]

Aha...thank you very much for that link!  
They actually touch on exactly what I was thinking (and what you have just said) that they specifically did not include the price of housing, so that they could basically show you which are the most desirable suburbs. Whereas for me, affordability is very high on the list when I think 'Liveability', as in 'if you can't afford to live there, then it's not liveable for you'...makes sense?

Anyway, I still think they probably have quite a few good maps in their data. I think I will see if I can find more of it. Thanks for putting me onto this trail..  

[Guest]

@elleneo you mentioned that you lived in Melbourne for 3 years, if I remember correctly? What suburbs did you like?

[TeeTMI]

I also thing @RedPanda is spot on with asking what were the selection criteria for the placements .

 

 

I think one of the key things when selecting is where you will be working.  If for example you will be in the CBD you would do well to look at the http://ptv.vic.gov.au/journey#jpsearch[action]=showPlanner

this will give you an idea of time by public transport - you can also gauge time to drive - but be aware it can be very different at peak time.   If you are trying to cross the CBD at peak time it can add a large amount of time to your journey especially if needing to change trains etc. so if you know where you will work then work outwards from there.  

For me 45 mins with a seat on a not so packed train - is much preferable than 25 mins (because whilst it was a 1/4 of the distance it was slower) standing with my face against someone else's back.  LOL

 

 

If you can afford to rent a while it really is useful to see the suburbs and get a feel for the different areas.  There are plenty of nice suburbs that are not those crazy prices.  The areas I mentioned above are very nice areas, close to the bay and close to the CBD as you move away from those the prices drop.  

 

If you are looking at the SE suburbs, maybe also look at Caulifield / Highett / Mordialloc      NE I quite liked Heidelberg and surrounds  - and also but again Sunbury type distances to the CBD are Eltham and Diamond Creek (lovely places)

SW there are quite a lot of migrants Poms - some South Africans in Point Cook and surrounds

 

 

[Shellfish]

Kirsten, we live in a suburb called North Balwyn. It is in the inner east, which is green and leafy but pricey. There are suburbs next to us called Doncaster and Templestowe which are popular with South Africans. They are pretty pricey too and unfortunately, don't have a trainline but do have good bus links to the city. I think they are well liked by Saffas because of the good schools, good shopping, parks, decent sized houses and gardens and they are reasonably far out so you don't have that 'city' feel. 

[Guest]

@TeeTMI and @Shellfish thanks very much for these suburb ideas. I am going to take a closer look. North Balwyn looks lovely but pricey!

[Guest]

P.S. @Mara happy birthday!

[elleneo]

I lived in sanctuary lakes/point cook but if I could choose I would live in Eltham....so beautiful and leafy...for good schools templestowe and surrounds...for culture,,,st kinda...its hard to decide...

[DXB2OZ]

KirstenT, I would also suggest you look at the rationale behind your requirements. Is a garage required to ensure security for your car? If so, not as much of an issue here as SA. Is it required to store stuff? Perhaps a storage shed. Can you compromise from a free standing to a town house? If all of this is only for future kids, why don't you rent somewhere for a year or two and get the lay of the land first? You really don't need to find that perfect forever home in your first five weeks.

 

it is very hard to advise about suburbs - it is a bit like trying to describe a blind date. You just don't know if you are going to connect. Personally (assuming I had recently won the lotto), I find the older areas of Toorak to be quite charming with wide roads and enormous historical houses. However, a large part of Toorak is full of houses squeezed together to maximize the price of the property, the roads are always crowded and there is never ever ever any parking even down a side street. Now, as it is highly unlikely I would ever be able to afford Toorak, that isn't really a problem I have to contend with, but there you go.

 

Moving is hard - very very very hard. my suggestion would be to not add additional financial and emotional pressure points to that. Take your time, explore, get a feel and then jump in feet first and eyes wide open.

[Guest]

Thanks @DXB2OZ. We definitely would not be looking to purchase a house right away (maybe only after a year or more), as it's impossible to just pick something off a map and go for it after a month of moving to a new city.

 

However, many people have commented and advised against renting and then buying in a completely different area many suburbs away if at all possible, especially renting in a much nicer area than one can afford to buy into, so I would prefer to get a good feel of 'reasonable' suburbs beforehand (Toorak at $2-million + not falling into the category, of course), not with the view to buying straight off the bat.

 

The garage is for the husband to 'tinker' in, as opposed to car safety, and I think is non-negotiable for his happiness  I only really understood this requirement when we moved into a house with a garage (me being a strict minimalist and anti-hoarder), having previously lived in a two-bedroomed flat. While you can take a bike apart and wash it in your back yard (even if it has no garden), taking it apart on your living room floor while it rains outside with the tools stored in a small shed is not ideal. Not even bikes: trying to solder something together without having a small work bench, etc. I think he would find very frustrating. I'm aware that there are much larger properties available a good distance from the CBD, but I would prefer to downsize and keep things simpler (tired of home maintenance).

 

[DXB2OZ]

Oh that vision of the greasy bike in the lounge did make me chuckle. Fully appreciate your frustration. Depending on the areas, some people don't have garages or have converted theirs - keep in mind that you could always add a workshop.

 

I believe Mara was the big driver behind the "don't rent where you couldn't afford to buy" and that I believe to be fantastic advise and absolutely second it. That is more about getting used to a style and level of building which you will find difficult to maintain.

 

However, to my mind the restriction about moving suburbs is more applicable to those with school going children, as they will get used to school zones, local parks, etc. Before or without kids, you do have more flexibility.

 

it can be very difficult to get a feel for what you can afford and for the house prices as the sales price has a nasty habit of being waaaaay above the listing price - i.e. Always look at the sold section when doing your research.

 

I can only tell you some of the things which worked for us/which we have found out afterwards but would have loved before:

1. Good local schools was top of the list and really our driving factor

2. House prices (sold)

3. Train lines and time to city. PTV app is fantastic for this as it gives you train and journey times. Remember, when looking at train times that several lines also have express trains. Personally, I would advise against driving into the city, but that is a personal preference.

4. Google street view up and down the side streets and outside shops, etc

5. City council sites, local newsletters, etc

6. You don't mention pets - as a dog owner, the proximity of dog walking parks, etc can be a factor. We have a park and a beach where dogs are allowed off leash and that is lovely to have close by.

 

Best of luck.