Advice needed re suburbs near Pakenham!

Hi PIO,

I am hoping you will be able to help me with my research!

I am currently on the Central coast with a young family (4yr old and 4 month old), and my husband has a new job nr Pakenham starting at the end of October.

So i am wondering if you may advise.....

1. What suburbs to recommend to look for rentals and which to avoid in your experiences... and

2. What the areas are like to live in as im a little nervous after just getting relatively settled in here! and if any mums have any info that might help us find our feet again!

Any comments will be gratefuly received so thank you in advance :-)

I had an in-law who has sold last year in Pakenham. There is a massive amount of new builds in this area so be mindful as there may not be alot of other infrastructure without jumping into the car every minute. But I would say that as I am from London so not used to this! I would say anywhere SW of Pakenham has seen the growth so stick with the known towns for friendship/established groups etc. I am moving to Frankston in October for a little while which has a thriving community if you seek such. Good luck!

Thank you London Pom, yes community very important to me.. where i am at the moment i have to drive everywhere so would love somewhere where we could walk to shops/parks etc. We really are clueless at this moment as weve never even been to Melbourne before. Also if anyone would say which our closest beach would be that would be very helpful! Clyde seems to have some great rentals would that be an option?

Thank you London Pom, yes community very important to me.. where i am at the moment i have to drive everywhere so would love somewhere where we could walk to shops/parks etc. We really are clueless at this moment as weve never even been to Melbourne before. Also if anyone would say which our closest beach would be that would be very helpful!

A lot of Brits have settled in Berwick.

I would think you find a rental in Berwick or Pakenham that will suit you.

They are popular with young families and if work is there it will be ideal.

People I know bought a new build in Pakenham because of its affordability. They never really liked Pakenham and after five years they have moved to Frankston but that meant they could only get an older house that needs renovation but they had a young family and wanted to live by the seaside and are now much happier.

Thank you London Pom, yes community very important to me.. where i am at the moment i have to drive everywhere so would love somewhere where we could walk to shops/parks etc. We really are clueless at this moment as weve never even been to Melbourne before. Also if anyone would say which our closest beach would be that would be very helpful!

Well, Pakenham is not actually in Melbourne, it is in Gippsland which has advantages and disadvantages. Your nearest beach would probably be Frankston which would be about 45 mins?

On most of the new build estates you have to drive everywhere, its the older areas that have shops you can actually walk to.

Thays helpful thank you @Buzzybee thank you yes I know its not in Melbourne I like the look of the Gippsland but its tricky without actually goi ng there.. so its really helpful to have some names of places to research and arrange viewings for our visit. The older areas with shops you mention are there any you would recommend for me to add to my list? We love the beach although im well aware we will be compromising in this move, but maybe places in between frankston/pakenham area sounds like something to consider. I appreciate your comments thank you

The older areas with shops you mention are there any you would recommend for me to add to my list?

Depending on your budget, maybe look at Somerville, Tooradin, Baxter.

I will thats great thank you!

For community and walk to everything then there is only the towns on the westernport side of the Peninsula. In Somerville we can walk to everything and have four supermarkets, Target, Reject all the staples plus lots of doctors schools etc all can be walked to. Also have the train. Tyabb is a nice little area and has a two primary schools. Tyabb Rail you could walk to. The kindergarten is walkable as well. As our the sports grounds. Hastings, good areas and bad, reasonable and depending where you pick can walk to everything. Train line goes through all these small towns. The reason they are so good is that the council realised a while ago that over development such as happened in Mornington and Mount Martha is not good and changed the planning to circle the towns with larger land sizes to keep them contained. Bittern is nice and has the train line as well. Of course it comes at a cost, when a house goes up for sale its gone in a weekend. There are rentals but they also disappear very quickly. On another plus for us at Somerville we have access to the Peninsula Link freeway which is about five minutes from the town. This has forced up property prices. I have had an agent ring me twice in the last weeks was I interested in selling, no. Why would I. Never get what we have here back.

Langwarrin is ok but its not as accessible. Frankston up the hill is fine and once again any house that comes on the market that is a reasonable price or renovation project goes straight away. I know this because my friends and found that whilst thinking about it the house sold. In the end they had to give their name to an agent in Carrum Downs who contacted them when a house came on the market and was not yet advertised and they were able to secure a purchase.

These areas used to get a bad wrap but the secret was that us locals knew they were hot property and unfortunately for us we are discovered. Beaches all around us.

Wow @Petals that's great thank you so much for the info i will check this out

For community and walk to everything then there is only the towns on the westernport side of the Peninsula. In Somerville we can walk to everything and have four supermarkets, Target, Reject all the staples plus lots of doctors schools etc all can be walked to. Also have the train. Tyabb is a nice little area and has a two primary schools. Tyabb Rail you could walk to. The kindergarten is walkable as well. As our the sports grounds. Hastings, good areas and bad, reasonable and depending where you pick can walk to everything. Train line goes through all these small towns. The reason they are so good is that the council realised a while ago that over development such as happened in Mornington and Mount Martha is not good and changed the planning to circle the towns with larger land sizes to keep them contained. Bittern is nice and has the train line as well. Of course it comes at a cost, when a house goes up for sale its gone in a weekend. There are rentals but they also disappear very quickly. On another plus for us at Somerville we have access to the Peninsula Link freeway which is about five minutes from the town. This has forced up property prices. I have had an agent ring me twice in the last weeks was I interested in selling, no. Why would I. Never get what we have here back.

 

Langwarrin is ok but its not as accessible. Frankston up the hill is fine and once again any house that comes on the market that is a reasonable price or renovation project goes straight away. I know this because my friends and found that whilst thinking about it the house sold. In the end they had to give their name to an agent in Carrum Downs who contacted them when a house came on the market and was not yet advertised and they were able to secure a purchase.

 

These areas used to get a bad wrap but the secret was that us locals knew they were hot property and unfortunately for us we are discovered. Beaches all around us.

Petals do you know much about Clyde? Only that it keeps popping up in my searches. And only a 20 min commute for my husband. Somerville and frankston look fab but the commute saying 40 mins, one of the resons we moving is for the shorter commute as he currently doing an hr and ten mins each way atlease.. but i know we will have to compromise to get all the things we are looking for. I definately am over this moving malarkey so im going to try my best to get it right. Any recommendations on a holiday rental spot to base ourselves until we secure a rental? Thats the way we are going to do it... pack up here and drive down to find a place where our things can follow. Really appreciate any opinions

Petals do you know much about Clyde? Only that it keeps popping up in my searches. And only a 20 min commute for my husband. Somerville and frankston look fab but the commute saying 40 mins, one of the resons we moving is for the shorter commute as he currently doing an hr and ten mins each way atlease.. but i know we will have to compromise to get all the things we are looking for. I definately am over this moving malarkey so im going to try my best to get it right. Any recommendations on a holiday rental spot to base ourselves until we secure a rental? Thats the way we are going to do it... pack up here and drive down to find a place where our things can follow. Really appreciate any opinions

I am not a fan of Clyde mainly because its just housing and large estates all around and you depending where you lived you would have to drive to most things. Also its very busy over that neck of the woods these days. I worked in Dandenong and it used to take be 30 minutes to get to work and when I left work it was taken about 45 and its not the distance its just the volume of traffic in the area. South Gippsland Highway gets gridlockedin peak. From 3 pm on its very busy the whole area of Berwick Narree Warren, Cranbourne. All the traffic funnels towards the south eastern car park (freeway) and its a car park. My brother lived at Beaconsfield and often took him over an hour and half to get to the CBD for work. Eastlink freeway is good at present but obviously it will get used more as time goes on and new housing comes in.

I take the view that living on the beach side there is a little less traffic, that is because people do not drive cars off the Bay therefore we only have the traffic coming from one side and south north etc ha ha

We live in Clyde North. The area is undergoing housing expansion similar to Pakenham so the newer estates won't have the infrastructure. However the older estates like Cascades and Selandra Rise do have schools, kinder, shops and cafes. There is also a bus that takes you to Cranbourne. As for commute it depends on where your husband will be working. If it is towards the city the traffic will be very busy. My husband travels towards Carrum Downs and doesn't find it too bad.

Thank you! We have a house in Cranbourne East now- the Mayfield estate and its still being built but weve got a great spot to find our where we want to be as he is working in Pakenham. Id love to be somewhere near the countryside so we will see, finding a kindy for my son provi ng the challenge at the mo. Ive enrolled him at a great little place for now, all the ones we visited were soooo busy so ive found him somewhere with a smaller class size but still looking.. purely because i would like somewhere where there are other children his age not going to school this coming year as i keeping him back to start the year after... i seem to be in the minority so far as all the other children starting next year. Thank you for your reply! Still finding our feet .. and getting used to the change in weather! Clyde north looks lovely, just driven past there to take my son to a great little park we found in Cardinia.

No problem at all. If you have any questions just send me a message. I'm a teacher so know a bit about the local schools and kinders.

On a completely random note do you know where you can buy the best fruit and veg that isnt coles/ woolies? :-)

Hi there South Chick

My son lives in Berwick and it's a great area. good schools, train station and a very friendly community..I love the whole area, close to the Dandenong Ranges which is very beautiful, Pakenham not too far away either, a big mall at Narre Warren for everything ..I absolutely love Melbourne ...we are currently in Sydney which is lovely but not very affordable, hoping to move to Melbourne or Brisbane

On a completely random note do you know where you can buy the best fruit and veg that isnt coles/ woolies? :-)

There is a large fruit and veggie place in Fountaingate Shopping Mall that is an independant. Stuff there is well priced, and cheaper than the supermarkets.

We are in Lyndhurst and the amount of development in the area (Lyndhurst, Cranbourne, Clyde) over the past few years has changed the feel of the area dramatically. We are lucky enough to be walking distance to a primary school, great selection of restaurants, take aways, shops including two supermarkets, train station and have just got a bus route. In our estate it is very nice, we have parks, waterways a residents club with a pool and gym and outside of peak hour traffic its generally a nice place to live. During peak hour we have a crazy amount of through traffic that cut through to avoid the westernport highway and thompsons road section, this makes getting out of the estate a lengthily process never mind getting abused by other drivers for not driving at 80 in a 50 zone. On paper the new developments are great and it depends on how important community is to you as you cant replicate the community feel of a town with shops and facilities, it takes time and the right people, IMO the new areas are a melting pot of cultures and attitudes that most people keep themselves to themselves unfortunately. If I could turn back the clock I would choose either Mornington Peninsula or somewhere like Belgrave, a lot more friendly and not as crowded as the outer suburbs.

We are in Lyndhurst and the amount of development in the area (Lyndhurst, Cranbourne, Clyde) over the past few years has changed the feel of the area dramatically. We are lucky enough to be walking distance to a primary school, great selection of restaurants, take aways, shops including two supermarkets, train station and have just got a bus route. In our estate it is very nice, we have parks, waterways a residents club with a pool and gym and outside of peak hour traffic its generally a nice place to live. During peak hour we have a crazy amount of through traffic that cut through to avoid the westernport highway and thompsons road section, this makes getting out of the estate a lengthily process never mind getting abused by other drivers for not driving at 80 in a 50 zone. On paper the new developments are great and it depends on how important community is to you as you cant replicate the community feel of a town with shops and facilities, it takes time and the right people, IMO the new areas are a melting pot of cultures and attitudes that most people keep themselves to themselves unfortunately. If I could turn back the clock I would choose either Mornington Peninsula or somewhere like Belgrave, a lot more friendly and not as crowded as the outer suburbs.

I think this is going to be an issue with any off the outer suburbs in Melbourne in the near future, lack of planning and development of infrastucture.

One of the biggest issues, is trying to find suitable work outside the CBD, that is depending on what you do. Some will find it easier than others. But some will find roles are really geared up to work in the CBD. Thus long commutes!!!

I work from home so do not have to deal with the rush hour commutes and recently(on a Sunday) went from SE Melbourne to North Melbourne as was surprised by the traffic on the road, how bad it was. I could have used public transport but it would have taken nearly double the time listed. Even during the week traffic round my surrounding suburbs is crazy at certain points.

Traffic in the area around Berwick, Narre Warren, Cranbourne is dire. My brother lives in Upper Beaconsfield, back of Berwick, and he has just moved to town near Ballarat. He says the area has changed so much its horrible and they have a drug problem etc which was never around before all the new housing came into being. I agree that the Peninsula is a good place to live however there is not a lot of development going on and therefore there is not much land for sale and housing seems to be increasing in price. I can drive from where I live on the Peninsula to my daughter's place in Brunswick in 40 - 50 minutes in non peak traffic as the freeways are linked.

Traffic in the area around Berwick, Narre Warren, Cranbourne is dire. My brother lives in Upper Beaconsfield, back of Berwick, and he has just moved to town near Ballarat. He says the area has changed so much its horrible and they have a drug problem etc which was never around before all the new housing came into being. I agree that the Peninsula is a good place to live however there is not a lot of development going on and therefore there is not much land for sale and housing seems to be increasing in price. I can drive from where I live on the Peninsula to my daughter's place in Brunswick in 40 - 50 minutes in non peak traffic as the freeways are linked.

Berwick was on our list when we first moved here but it has changed a lot, the through traffic is terrible and takes away from the village feel. I keep a close eye on the property prices on the Peninsula and they are going up but basically in line with where we are or at a slightly slower rate for some areas. It really comes down to lifestyle and priorities, unfortunately its not always possible to have the lifestyle you would like based on those priorities.

Hi Southchick,

Please can I ask which Kindie you have enrolled your son in as we are in the same boat and want to get Bella into a smaller one where the kids arent all off to school now.

Thanks,

Dave.