Oscar Is Off to Melbourne (95% sure)

[oscar]

He all,

Appears that i'm going to be transferred to Melbourne within the next couple of weeks to a month.

The current office is located in Albion. Was hoping some Melbournites could give me an idea of suburds to and not to look at for purchasing a house.

I'd like something in good nick (i.e probably under 5 years old if possible), 3 (preferably 4) bedroom, approximately 225 sq.m under roof would be nice. My wife and i are a bit fussy (we must be, we keep discus)so it would be a big issue to accidentally end up in a 'bad' area of town. I would prefer to keep it around the $400k mark if possible, but i may be unrealistic as i have no idea of prices down there.

Also are there any current sub-divisions of land? Might just start from scratch. How hard is it to get a builder down there at the moment?

Any info would be greatly appreciated. As i indicated, i anticipate being on the ground before the end of November so i'm frantically trying to find as much info as possible.

I'll be flying down (probably) next weekend to have a look around and get a bit more of a feel for the current climes. I anticipate info that any of you nice people could provide will alow me to target my efforts as opposed to wandering around aimlessly.

Thanks in advance.

[oscar]

P.S. "Suburds" = Suburbs.

Cheers.

[nicholas76]

Gday

oh albion


that is a very average place to be.

right in the heart of the most "average" suburbs in melbourne suburbia

in between sunshine and ardeer. great place to get your car stolen, house broken into and your heroin cheap.

suburbs that are ok near it

williamstown, yarraville, docklands.

or on the same side of town

essendon, moonee ponds.


or much nicer areas on the other side of the westgate.

south melbourne
middle park
albert park
prahran
south yarra
malvern
hawthorn
richmond
toorak

[nicholas76]

oh

dont buy houses in areas like

broadmeadows
sunshine
albion
deer park
ardeer
st albans

saying this you good but some big new houses cheap in the new development areas but i just dont like the neighbours you will end up with.

[oscar]

Oh goody, nice to know.

The office is in Albion as were are a consulting & service company that services heavy industry and construction.

From what i see, it's relatively close to the ring-road so that offers me a bit of freedom. Am i being too optimistic. I'd prefer if i didn't have to travel for an eternity to get to and from work but will sacrifice that before i lower my living standards.

[nicholas76]

oscar

the ring road takes me over the west gate or bolte bridge and im home in 25 - 30 minutes , so its not that bad at all. freeeway driving is usually very good

really depends what your living standards are mate.!! best to see it with your own eyes, but do visit the areas i have mentioned.

again there are nice areas ( whihc are cheaper ) but they are further away!

[Ben]

oh albion


that is a very average place to be.

right in the heart of the most "average" suburbs in melbourne suburbia

in between sunshine and ardeer. great place to get your car stolen, house broken into and your heroin cheap.

i could not put it better my self!
very true!

[sammigold]

If you like the feel of country close to the city you might want to try places like Eltham, Greensborough, Diamond Creek, Rosanna, Lower Plenty...Lots of bush but still close to city and all easily accessible via the Ring Rd....
Some newer sub divisions are currently available in those areas as well as established homes.

HTH :D

[mcloughlin2]

And of course u will have to live within walking distance of the LFS...!! lol... :P

[chrissyoscar]

I agree with Sammi in that Eltham , Greensborough, Diamond creek, Rosanna are nice places to live and you should be able to get a nice house for around $400,000-450,000.
Nick named some nice suburbs as well but i think most of those are to pricey. For example Moonee Ponds and Essendon will set you back $500000+ for a nice size home and that's if you could find a nice size home in Moonee Ponds as most are small weather boards which have been renovated and pricey. Essendon has larger brick homes on big blocks but they'll cost to much. Williamstown is also very pricey and an older area.
all of these suburbs are to expensive.

South Melbourne - very expensive
Middle Park - Very expensive
Albert Park - very expensive
Prahran - yuppy and expensive
South Yarra - to trendy and very expensive
Malvern - expensive but nice
Hawthorn - expensive
Richmond - expensive
Toorak - most expensive suburb in Melbourne

You could try Doncaster or Doncaster East or even Blackburn North and Blackburn South, Mitchem, Nunawading, Vermont, Forest Hill. These are on the other side of town so getting to and from work might be a pain.
An area close to Albion which isn't to bad would be areas like Taylors Lake and Keilor and maybe Sunbury. I'm not sure on price but I would imagine $400000+ would get you something nice there.

[oscar]

My wife's uncle lives in Doncaster East so we know that area. It is a fair hike from Albion though.

It's a bit unfortunate...we also have an office in Mulgrave. Doncaster area would have been OK if i'd have been transferred there but we're relocating that office (head office) into Southbank.

Anyway i appreciate all this information, and please by all means keep it comming.

I'll be down there next weekend to look around.

Mcloughlin - A gym would take priority over LFS.

[chrissyoscar]

Other suburbs to consider which I think are ok (others might disagree lol)

Greenvale - Very high quality homes and has always been consider the Toorak of the North. If you stay away from looking at the mansions i'm sure yopu should be able to find a nice modern home for around $400 - 450,000
Tullamarine
Bulla
Gladstone park - It's close to Broadmeadows but Broadmeadows has changed from the bad bays)
maybe Glenroy, Oakpark and Pascoe vale (Pascoe Vale might be a little pricey now, I'm not sure)
Mill Park - isn't to bad with some very high quality homes but it's surrounded by some average suburbs
South Morang - has land available at reasonable prices $150-200,000. It's near Mill Park and also has some nice homes going up.

[oscar]

The other thing i never mentioned is i don't want to live in an "old peoples" suburb. I'm 25y.o and would prefer not to live in a precint that is known as a local Florida.

Any such suburbs i should look out for on that front?

[tank]

what are u doin with your fish stocks and tanks ?
are u going to move them

[oscar]

Tank,

Honestly i don't know.

My current thought is to pay LFS to mind the fish for a month of so and then freight the fish to Melbourne. The guy who owns it was once an avid discus breeder so he should know what to do with them.

By which time i'd have moved the current tanks (if i do) or set-up my new one(s).

If the fish are easy to offload and at a worthwhile value then i'd probably pass them on and start from scratch in Melbourne.

[sammigold]

Northern Suburbs such as Lalor, Thomastown, are a bit oldie places such as reservoir, Preston, Pascoevale, are having a new injection of first home buyers.... Places like Greensborough are well established but then Eltham, Diamond Creek etc are getting new estates happening which usually means an injection of younger blood but more likely to be second home owners than first...
If you want trendy you will be looking at areas such as inner city and surrounds which are Yarraville, williamstown on the Albion side of the city... As chrissyoscar said, Greenvale is nice but could be a bit "old" Places like taylors lakes has a lot of estates just coming up and lots of facilities for young families etc. HTH

[mcloughlin2]

Mcloughlin - A gym would take priority over LFS.

:shock: .. A gym over a fishshop? never in my day have i heard of such a thing! jokes ...lol... :lol: ...hopefully u find the perfect place for u and ya wife... :D

Sam... :P

[taksan]

One thing is that your going to struggle to buy a 225Sqm house under 5 years old for under $500k in any of the "nice" areas mentioned.
Eg: Malvern you would be looking above 2mil for that type of house.

Your best bet given the ring rd allows easy access would be doreen or plenty.

[oscar]

Thanks Taksan,

Yeah i understand what you are saying. I didn't necessarily say i wanted a "nice" area. I was more chasing an indication of suburbs i should stay away from.

The size and age of the home are negotiable, the standard of suburb i wish to live in is not.

I refuse to live in a suburb where people have pulled apart cars on driveways or in front/back yards. Unkempt yards, dodgy lean-to's, old crappy cars etc. I like things to be neat, tidy, and i don't expect to listen to the neighbours and their kids arguing constantly, or the radio on in the back yard 24/7.

My budget will ultimately depend on what i can sell my current house for.

Probably something else i should ask:
Are there any house features that are strongly recommended, strongly advised aginst for houses in Melbourne?

Reason i ask this is that being from out of town, an Estate agent may see me as easy prey and try to push propoerties that don't have the common requirements, or do have undesirable features such as those that are constructed during fads and those features are now avoided by locals.

[chrissyoscar]

I think the best thing you should do is try and get a 6 month lease and rent.
Then on weekends drive to the surburbs mentioned, have a walk in the shopping centers and check out the locals. Drive around the streets and look at the quality of the suburb.
You'll quickly figure out which suburb has a good feel to it and one you'll be happy to live in.
As for the earlier question about finding a suburb with young familys I think most are ok. The outer surburbs do have more younger familys but the older suburbs have a good mix. I live in Blackburn North which has mainly 30-40 year old houses in it and there are quite a few young familys living in the area.
My

[sammigold]

I totally agree with chrissyoscar... rent first buy later.. once you have really decided where you want to be.... there are many nice suburbs in Melbourne and even in the "iffy" suburbs you will always find a pocket of nice, quiet, well looked after homes... You just have to look HTH

[endless]

my wifes a realestate agent and im sure she could show you some houses if you want

[oscar]

Sure,

I'll be there this weekend from about 1400hrs Sat, to 0800hrs Tuesday.

It's probably a bit short notice? If so i'll probably be back on Thursday 17th Nov for about 1.5 weeks.

[oscar]

Hi all,

Oscar has decided to decline the offer to move to Melbourne. It was just a bit ill-timed. Six months down the track would have suited better...who knows, i may just do it then...

Thanks for all the advice anyway. I'm sure it'll come in handy.