Moving to Melbourne

Good tip on the coffee thanks. I will need lots. Train for me if at all possible

Agreed. Parking is ridiculous, even worse if you miss the early bird specials and come in later.

 

Plus as well as parking there are the eastlink and citylink tolls which all add up (more than the trainfare alone) and the monash freeway is always choked.

 

in the last year i've had to get off the train once at bonbeach due to a train fault but thats itm, and after 15 minutes it was fixed and we were on our way. delays can and do happen, but for me its a no brainer compared to driving. Oh - and the coffee & compliements kiosk at Seaford Station serves awesome coffee!

Thanks for this. We have always been a 2 car family and I am used to driving around 40,000 miles a year commute.

I may be ready for a change! I could always get a car if the train isn't working for me.

Don't even bother catching trains to work. It's much better driving in. Several years ago I had to attend a course in Collins Street which is the centre of the city for a week, my wife said I was mad to drive in but it was so easy. I really enjoyed the daily drive in from Frankston which only took less than an hour. At least I wasn't standing, stuffed in a carriage with a couple of hundred strangers pushing against me. I could listen to 3AW talkback radio, have a coffee and a snack, a smoke and just relax. If you go by train you have to first drive to the nearest station and then try and find a car park. If you drive you just get in your car and go. There are regular breakdowns and accidents at railway crossing that means you will be unloaded off the train and then wait forever for a bus which will make you many hours late. I know there are occasional accidents on the road that can hold you up but I would put up with that any day rather than take a train.

I used to drive to the city every day from Edithvale where I lived for 11 years and used Beach Road, very easy but as has been said you need to have car parking, or find a reasonably priced car park because together with the fuel and parking its a large chunk out of wage.

Trains are fine, I would get on at Frankston because always get a seat.

I live on the Peninsula and we have a train that runs to Frankston and a lot of people park at the stations on the Westernport side and take the train to the city. No sweat and lots of parking at the stations.

Your budget is good but houses are rising in price rapidly in and around Frankston. Friends were recently looking to buy and they were cash buyers and they just could not get a foot in the door. Any house with a block of 500 to 600 or above gets snapped up by developers who build either a second home or units and town houses on the blocks. So its tough in the market.

Houses here in Somerville sell like hot cakes and they have gone up a 100,000 since the new freeway went in. The freeway has made a big difference to people's access to all areas of Melbourne via Eastlink. Takes me 40 minutes from Somerville to my daughter's place who lives off Lygon St in Brunswick. That is not in peak of course.

If it hasn't already been said then Point Cook - 20km from the city, 45 minutes on the train.

I find it much better value for money than the east, and really nice too. Great facilities, great infrastructure, and for that money you'll get a decent home.

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Mornington, Mouth Martha and Mount Eliza are great areas for ideal family living by the beach. Not to mention the area has undergone significant growth and property seems to be pretty popular and valuable these days.