working in North Sydney where should we rent?

Hi,

We are moving to Sydney this year and my husband will be working in North Sydney, near the train station. We have two kids aged 3 and 1. We will need to rent but the problem is we have no idea which suburbs would be best. If anyone can give us some advice or suggestions that would be great.

Many thanks

Any idea of budget? And do you see yourselves as being reliant on public transport for either commuting, or general life, or both?

A few other preferences might help - like what's acceptable in terms of commuting time to you, how much you want (or think you do) beach or proximity to water. But budget is the biggy. Lots of choice, but Sydney rents are expensive. With two very young ones I wouldn't write off a flat, it makes rents much more affordable

Hi,

As pintpot says I think you need to brainstorm your priorities and work out your budget then start looking on these websites:

http://www.domain.com.au/

http://www.realestate.com.au/rent

http://www.cityhobo.com/

http://www.cityrail.info/

http://www.sydneybuses.info/

Domain also provides suburb profiles.

You could start looking up and down the train line and see what property you get for your money, but I also wouldn't rule out travelling by bus. Neutral Bay, Cremorne and Mosman are all popular suburbs a short bus ride away.

Once you have a few suburbs in mind, jump back on here and see if anyone lives there or has visited and can recommend it :-)

All the best.

Any idea of budget? And do you see yourselves as being reliant on public transport for either commuting, or general life, or both?

 

A few other preferences might help - like what's acceptable in terms of commuting time to you, how much you want (or think you do) beach or proximity to water. But budget is the biggy. Lots of choice, but Sydney rents are expensive. With two very young ones I wouldn't write off a flat, it makes rents much more affordable

Thank you Pintpot, and thanks also shusselmann.

In terms of budget we were thinking about $500-$650 per week, maybe pushing to $700 if it was really special. I am guessing this is mid-range?

For communting it would be obviously as short as possible, but would not really want anything more than an hour.

For work my husband would definitely use public transport, bus or train. I haven't got a license yet so would probably use it as well. We may get a car for weekends as my OH can drive.

we love the beach, but this isn't a key priority. We do want a garden and that is why we want a house rather than a flat, but thanks for the suggestion. decent primary schools will be important as well as the oldest gets closer to school age.

We will look at your links tonight shusselmann.

Many thanks

Like everything, there’s a balance to be had and I reckon for you it’s going to come down to a choice of longer commute/bigger house, or shorter commute/smaller place (or flat)

*In general*, the more central you are and the closer to water you are, the more expensive although that really is very general. And the north side of the city tends to be more expensive than the south. For that rent you won’t be able to get a nice/comfortable 3 bed or larger house and be 5 minutes away from work. 2 kids of that age are tiring (I’m sure you don’t need me to tell you that!) so he question for you guys really is one of how important a short commute is.

Speaking personally, I have swapped a 90 minutes e/w commute in the UK for a 25-30 minute one here, and it has made a massive difference to our lives; I see my (4 yo) son every day instead of just at weekends (I used to leave before he got up and get back after he was in bed), my wife gets much more support because I’m around more, and I can get more jobs/shopping done during the week which frees up our weekends for leisure and family time. I wouldn’t go back to any longer a commute now until he’s much older, I’m getting an extra 2 hours a day of time back and that’s worth a lot. The pay off is that we have to pay a lot more for housing than we used to.

As for commuting, the quickest way of getting around is the train but the network is limited in some areas. Fortunately North Sydney is a major commuting hub and big area for business, so it’s one of the better places for a job to be located. That sort of rent level is OK for the outer reaches of Sydney, it can get you quite a nice house in a good area. The problem is that the commuting in to North Sydney from most of those areas will take quite a long time.

Take a look at a map of Sydney – on the north side of the harbour your budget won’t stretch to a decent house anywhere on the North Shore unless you go as far north as Hornsby (about 35-40 mins on the train from North Sydney), or west of the Lane Cove River somewhere in Ryde/Epping/the eastern bits of the Hills District. These are mostly pretty good areas, the closer you are to the railway the more convenient it will be obviously.

You might just about find something in Lane Cove for that money, and this is worth a look (it’s a nice, mixed, family suburb with quite a villagey feel – it’s cheaper because there’s no convenient train)

Also out of budget will be most of the Northern Beaches area, east of Middle Harbour. $800pw is pretty much entry level over there for a decent house

You might do OK somewhere in the Inner West (look along the red train line as it loops round from Central), houses tend to be quite small (but cosy) and lots of these are really good, community inner city type areas. Balmain is cute and very popular, commuting by ferry from here to Milsons Point is an option for your OH, just be careful of the limited operating hours of the ferries.

So if you really must have a house, then to keep the commute sensible I would say check out Lane Cove, Ryde, Epping or on the south side of the harbour the Inner West suburbs (Leichhardt, Stanmore, Glebe, Balmain etc).

Hence why I suggested keeping your options open and considering flats. This doesn’t mean you can’t have a garden, there are quite a few garden flats around. At your budget considering a flat opens up a whole bunch of other areas including those close to North Sydney like Neutral Bay, Kirribilli, Cammeray and so on. It really makes quite a difference, for example my S-i-L lives in a lovely flat in Neutral Bay that costs her $500, you couldn’t get a house round there for less than $1000 and even then you’d struggle

Provision of parks etc is really good I think all over Sydney so don’t worry too much about that, and the playgrounds are better for younger ones. You’ll also find mum & bub groups all over the place

Hope that helps, a bit

Why not look at suburbs around Nth Sydney, ie Crows Nest, St Leonards etc? You should find a garden flat, duplex, townhouse within your budget. Try for a short lease which gives you time to look around other suburbs to find somewhere you would like to live and OH,in the mean time, would have a short commute to work.

^ I do think that's the best solution in the short term. I think people get too hung up on the idea of a big(ger) house

Sydney is a major city, you have to look at it like London - if you're working centrally then unless you're on big bucks or can tolerate a long commute then be prepared to live more "urban" ie flats, small townhouses

Ellie what is crows nest and st Leonards like?I have been looking around stanmore/ Leichardt etc. Like the OP we have two children and will be using public transport.I know about how funky Newtown etc is but do not know much about the suburbs have asked you about.

Haven't been to these suburbs in some time so can't give an up to date opinion but http://www.myboot.com.au would give demographics. If working around Nth Sydney would be a reasonable starting point. Give you some time to get your bearings and find a suburb to settle in. Sydney metro area is very spread out and takes some time to become familiar with. It really depends on what you like and can afford.

Crows Nest is nice - plenty of shops, masses of cafes and restaurants, good food shops - everything you could want. Some nice (smallish) houses in the vicinity. It's only just up the road from North Sydney so pretty close to the city.

St Leonards, while it's just the next suburb up the Highway, has had a lot of new development around the station - some huge apartment blocks there now. It's not as nice as Crows Nest - a bit more commercial and not as traditionally residential.

^I'd agree with that. St Leonard's is sort of the commercial centre right next to Crow's Nest really, rather than a residential suburb. There's a huge hospital there and a bunch of offices, that sort of place. Also it's split in two by the Pacific Highway, never a good thing

Crow's Nest, I like. Lots of nice cafes and so on, a fair amount of young families too. I found out why it's called what it is, the first time I cycled through there from the CBD, coming uphill from the harbour bridge to Crow's Nest involves some stiff climbing! Nearby Cammeray and Northbridge are nice too, similar vibe in some ways although less of a restaurant strip. Also Willoughby is worth a look, a bit quieter/larger houses

All of these are flat/duplex/townhouse territory at these sort of budgets, but don't let that put you off

thanks for all the advice.

I have done some looking on the websites suggested.

The time to commute to Hornsby seems about our limit. Any opinions on Hornsby? It seems nice to me. Also Chatswood and Turramurra seemed like they had good links for the commute. Any thoughts on these places would be much appreciated.

We liked the look of Lane Cove, Ryde and Epping. Kirribilli looks amazing but could be too pricey.

Kirribilli is right in the action but it's definitely flat territory for that money

Chatswood is a busy commercial area - lots of office and tons of shops (two massive shopping centres). I work there as do many. If you know London, think Hammersmith - commercial centre a few ks out from the centre (though it's probably got a few less grotty bits around the edges than the big H). For a residential proposition it's a bit impersonal IMO, quite a few smallish houses around but I don't see a huge amount of community, the shopping centres tend to overwhelm things. It's also very Asian (in particular Chinese/Korean), not saying this is a problem but it alters the character of the community and area which you need to be prepared for. The other north shore suburbs north of Chatswood up as far as Gordon (so Roseville, Lindfield, Killara) are also very Asian areas. Very good commuting links but I think you'll be better off - and get better value - further out in Ryde/Epping or somewhere like Lane Cove where it's a bus/cycle type commute to North Sydney. Willoughby is probably a better residential bet than Chatswood, it feels more community-oriented and it's also an easy commute to North Sydney on a bus

Turramurra and surrounding suburbs - Pymble, St Ives, Wahroonga - are very green and leafy old money type suburbs. A bit quiet and expensive, mostly older families. Good if you have kids of school age but I think you'd run the risk of isolation if you're a stay at home mum with very young kids. I live in Wahroonga fwiw. Again good commuting links as they're on the railway (except St Ives), but your budget won't get you very far around here. Go up as far as Hornsby and it gets a lot cheaper as there are a lot more smaller houses and the like around. Hornsby is OK - look at it on the map and you'd think it would have a good town centre but again it's dominated by a big shopping centre (which obviously is useful) and a railway junction, around which it's built. OK but I think you'll be better off more central personally with kids of that age. Hornsby (and Wahroonga, North Turramurra and St Ives for that matter) do benefit from being right up against the National Park, there's lots of beautiful bush around. Again I'm not sure this is a massive priority with very small children

HTH a bit. I'm obviously promoting central locations where you'll find a shorter commute (so more time for your OH at home), more things close at hand and easier to access (and probably more young families) over space. I think support for you with your kids needs to be your No.1 priority. Don't stress it too much though - one good thing about rentals is that they are only for 6 months or a year generally, so if it doesn't work out you can move on