Elizma Posted April 11, 2017 Report Share Posted April 11, 2017 We are doing our LSD trip in Oct and will be visiting 5 cities. I would like to know how other went about choosing a city and suburb to stay in, since we don't want to move around too much. We will probably choose 2 or 3 prefered cities, but what then? Find a job from SA and then go after the job? Choose one city and then find a work? Stay close to a school or to work? How do you choose which city, suburb and school? It feels quite overwhelming at this stage. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mara Posted April 12, 2017 Report Share Posted April 12, 2017 @Elizma the top priority in choosing a place to stay is to look at https://www.seek.com.au/ Check where the most jobs are in your chosen careers, then you concentrate on that city. It is all well and good to choose a city because you like it there and because it appears to be a great place to stay and raise your children, however, in the end, you have to work. You may also find, that the first 2 or 3 jobs are perhaps not to your liking and if you are in a city where there is little work for your qualifications, you are just heading for trouble. In the big cities, Melbourne and Sydney, travel time to work and back can take time. If your careers place you as working mostly in the city centre, then you will be using public transport. The closer to the city you live, the least time you will spend commuting, however, the closer to the city you stay, the higher the price of the rent you will be paying. I cannot talk about Sydney, as I have never lived there, but in Melbourne rent closer to the city could be $600 - $800 for a basic 3-bed home, but if you are prepared to travel 60mins by train, one way, then you may well get a newer, modern home, to rent for $350 - $600, even a newly built home. You have not said how old your children are, if they are pre-school age, one of you would probably be better off at home looking after them, as childcare in Australia can be very expensive, again this depends in which city you will be. If the kids are of school going age, then yes, especially in the city areas, you have to live in the zone, for your kids to attend the school of your choice. Be careful, however, I usually advise people to rent in an area where they can afford to buy, as these two cities are so big that it would almost be like moving towns, moving from one side of the city to the other. As for finding a job from South Africa, you would probably have to have a skill set which is in very great demand, or they will not give you the time of day... In most instances, people come over without jobs, to a specific city, and hit the ground running, looking for work! Once have checked where the jobs are, go to the top two cities, forget about the rest... Time enough to explore them, when you are living here. 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RedPanda Posted April 13, 2017 Report Share Posted April 13, 2017 I just want to add that those rents that @Mara quoted are dollars per week. The way we did it was to research the cities' economic activities, and then from those that suited us, we chose the weather that would be most to our liking. That's how we got Melbourne. (Yes, we came to Melbourne for the weather! And were not disappointed. A year on, and we're acclimatising nicely to the cold.) So yes, start from the outside and first ask "where are the jobs for us?" and then close the net slowly asking more "personal preference" questions the closer you get to 'home'. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DXB2OZ Posted April 13, 2017 Report Share Posted April 13, 2017 I don't know about other cities, but Melbourne also has the V-line which makes the commute from some suburbs incredibly realistic even though they are quite far from the CBD. Fully agree with the jobs first approach - not necessarily finding a job, but finding the city with the best possibilities. I do second Mara's statement of renting in an area where you will be able to buy, particularly if you are planning on kids attending the local government schools. Also review public transport options, perhaps taking the time to test out the commute. My investigation of a suburb usually consists of driving around, visiting a couple of homes for sale/rent, going to the local supermarket, walking past the local school at home time, visit a local coffee shop and/or park, check out the public transport. A suburb is quite a personal thing, it's a bit like dating. Both my husband and I work in the CBD. We didn't want an overly long commute, but we wanted the kids to be able to walk/ride to school. As they are both teenagers, they are fairly independent. Not only are they able to get to and from school unsupervised, there is a bus stop down the road from which they can get to the library/train station/local mall. They can catch a train to town and meet us for dinner during the holidays - the level of freedom they have is amazing. Having said all of that, nothing I said ever cast in stone. If you move and you really don't like it, you can move somewhere else. After making the move from halfway across the world, a move to a new suburb should be a piece of cake. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
monsta Posted April 13, 2017 Report Share Posted April 13, 2017 Its a bit of a catch... for example in IT many of the jobs are in the CBD or in Surrey Hills (next to the CBD). But to rent a house in the Surrey Hills area can cost well over $1000 per week!! That more than many people's take home pay. So, you would have to rent a small apartment in Surrey Hills for well north of $500 per week. Then be aware that the most common reason people give for leaving a job is because they found something with a shorter commute. So, recruiters will be a lot more keen to put you forward for jobs if it will give you a shorter commute. So, @Mara is 100% correct. Look on www.seek.com.au for jobs that you think you could do. Then see which areas they are generally in. Then look on google maps for suburbs you could live in but still commute there. Google maps can even give you directions on the public transport. Lets say you choose to live in Blacktown and commute to surrey hills. Just ask google maps for directions from a house in blacktown to a random company in Surrey Hills on the public transport... arriving at 8:45, during the week. You could get there in a little over an hour. Then use www.realestate.com.au to have a look at the suburb, e.g. https://www.realestate.com.au/neighbourhoods/surry hills-2010-nsw and decide if you like it. If you find a few suburbs you could probably get a job in and a few nice (affordable) suburbs where you could commute to work from... then you have a match! But @DXB2OZ is also onto something. You might be able to buck the trend. For example, you might get a job at WoolWorths which is out in the suburbs. They pay well and you would have a 30 minute drive to home. Unfortunately, in Sydney is a lot harder to find a suburb thats still affordable where you can still commute to the city in a resonable time. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blung Posted April 13, 2017 Report Share Posted April 13, 2017 Our approach was to find a job anywhere, rent a place close by, find a school close to the rental, find our feet and settle in for a year and then buy. Next stage is to find a better job once I've got 2 years Aussie experience under the belt. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
monsta Posted April 13, 2017 Report Share Posted April 13, 2017 @blung thats a brave thing to do with kids! Its hard enough to move them to Australia, but to move them twice in 2 years! The forum members always suggest doing a lot of investigation into where you want to live. But thats the advantage to Aussie... google maps can tell you how long it takes to get places on the public transport, prices for schools are usually on their website, realestate.com.au has fantastic suburb profiles, etc... Its well worth spending a few hours to (try to) find the right suburb the 1st time 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AFreshStart Posted April 14, 2017 Report Share Posted April 14, 2017 6 hours ago, monsta said: @blung thats a brave thing to do with kids! Its hard enough to move them to Australia, but to move them twice in 2 years! The forum members always suggest doing a lot of investigation into where you want to live. But thats the advantage to Aussie... google maps can tell you how long it takes to get places on the public transport, prices for schools are usually on their website, realestate.com.au has fantastic suburb profiles, etc... Its well worth spending a few hours to (try to) find the right suburb the 1st time We moved twice in year, once cross continentally, with a 5 and 3-year old, they are far more resilient that you think. You are not a rock, move if it makes sense, for a job, accommodation, school etc. Cheers Matt 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bob Posted April 14, 2017 Report Share Posted April 14, 2017 I think Mara's advice on going where the jobs are to be found is sound advice. However, I would like to add to that. I've spoken to many Australians over the years and invariably they want to get the hell out of Sydney as they are finding it far too expensive to buy or rent a property there. By all means work in Sydney for a couple of years, get some local Australian work experience, but all the Aussies I know that end up in Sydney because of a career move in their company want to move away after doing their time in Sydney. This implies that there are far easier places in Australia to buy a house, safer and gentler places to raise your kids and put them in better schools than in the suburbs of Sydney. It doesn't take much to drive up the east coast of Australia on holiday and check Brisbane out, or some of the inland country towns of New South Wales or Victoria. If you can take a downgrade in employment, the upside might be a delightful part of Australia to live in for the rest of your lives. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gerhardk Posted April 21, 2017 Report Share Posted April 21, 2017 When we arrived, we had some savings that could support us for a while and it made the choice easier. We did not have work when we arrived. Perth was the closest to SA (I hate flying) although by far not my first choice after LSD. Decided to get into Australia and can always move later. 6 years later still here and close to the same suburb we stayed in first. North of River in Perth. Suburb? We knew some people in the area and decided to go close to them. Best choice ever (other than moving to Australia). I doubt you will find paradise; we made peace with our decisions and make the best of it. We recently moved 500m to be closer to the beach and I will try my best not to do that again (any type of move) in the next 5 years. 500m or 1000km same amount of effort. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SurferMan Posted April 25, 2017 Report Share Posted April 25, 2017 We are moving again, move number 6! hate it but so it is with life! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eva Posted April 25, 2017 Report Share Posted April 25, 2017 2 hours ago, SurferMan said: We are moving again, move number 6! hate it but so it is with life! where are you off to this time? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mara Posted April 25, 2017 Report Share Posted April 25, 2017 @Eva and @SurferMan mark my words, one day he will still end up in Sunbury 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SurferMan Posted April 25, 2017 Report Share Posted April 25, 2017 Yeah yeah, And I know what will happen then, I will be made to bake cookies and manner of treats for young Mara!!! I am moving from Newport to the countryside, up in Morayfield. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RedPanda Posted April 27, 2017 Report Share Posted April 27, 2017 On 25/04/2017 at 3:46 PM, SurferMan said: Yeah yeah, And I know what will happen then, I will be made to bake cookies and manner of treats for young Mara!!! I am moving from Newport to the countryside, up in Morayfield. Nope. @Mara will have relocated by then...I think... But I can tell you now that I am just as voracious at eating cookies and treats! And I'm still gonna be around Melbourne for plenty long time to come! I'll trade you TimTams for cookies? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
monsta Posted April 29, 2017 Report Share Posted April 29, 2017 There is advise thats often given out in response to this question and nobody has given it out here Australia is controlled by a lot of olligopolies... i.e. large finance companies (e.g. the big 4 banks), big retailers (Woolworths and Westfarmers) and big mining companies. This means that certain jobs tend to concerntrate in certain cities. If you are a mining engineer, you probably want to live in Perth rather than Sydney. So, we often recommend that migrants start by looking on www.seek.com.au and find jobs they think they (and their partner) could do. Then look to see where those jobs are. You also need to be aware that jobs concerntrate in certain areas in the big cities... for example there are few IT jobs in Blacktown (in Sydney).. but tons in Surrey Hills and the Sydney CBD. If you lived in Blacktown you might work in a warehouse, for example. Ideally you want to live in the smallest city where there are still a good number of jobs you could apply for. The reason we say that is Sydney and Melbourne have a lack of infrastrucure at the moment... That means the average commute in Sydney is 1.5 hours (each way!). So, living in a smaller city would definately help there. Sure Sydney is building the wesconnex motorway and the metro train line... but with the expected migration, the new metro train line could be packed from day one (which is still years away). see http://www.mysydney.nsw.gov.au. That issue is because migrants see that there are tons of jobs in Sydney and Melbourne and decide to migrate there. So, if you are a school teacher, accountant, etc.. it could make sense to migrate to a smaller city. Also, if you do decide to migrate to a big city... head my advise about finding out exactly where in the city there are jobs for your profession! 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SurferMan Posted May 28, 2017 Report Share Posted May 28, 2017 I am looking here.. http://www.realestate.com.au/property-house-qld-peregian+beach-421059858 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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