Where to live Q....

[Ratchet]

Is there anywhere on the net that i could look to find out where are the best places to live in and around Melbourne?

I have a feeling i may be based in the city for work, im happy to commute, but considering childcare and life outside of of work i dont want to be travelling for hours. So im looking at 30mins travel time.
Where can i get in 30 mins on leaving the city? Or am i asking a really stupid question?? LOL

Thanks

Kelly

[moving2melbourne]

Hi Kelly
Have you a budget in mind as this is really important, the closer you live to the city and the more expensive it gets. The Bayside suburbs are lovely, you have Sandringham, Beaumaris, Brighton, Mordialloc. Williamstown is also nice.

[Ratchet]

Thankyou. We'll most likely be renting first so we can get a feel for the place, but then prob buy.

I take it we can get mortgages?

Our budget would have been better, but the current market is going to leave us with about 230kAus$ as a starting block with a view to adding to it from selling the furniture, cars, motorbikes << , and hubby's redundancy monies......

[Petals]

If you want to be thirty mins from the cbd then I would look at Ascotvale, Thornbury, South Melbourne, Yarraville, Williamstown, Fitzroy, Collingwood, Richmond. These are all pricey suburbs but they are near the city. The suburbs mentioned above would be an hour from the city. Also very pricey as well. Have a look at realestate.com and you will get an idea of the property around. Other areas are Hawthorn, Camberwell, Box Hill, Ivanhoe, Kew.

Good luck

[Ratchet]

After a bit more serching on the employer front. It appears the hospital will be near/in Fitzroy. So based on your info i can look further a field than intially thought.

Thanks folks!!

[moving2melbourne]

Originally Posted by Forgetmenot

The suburbs mentioned above would be an hour from the city.

Beaumaris is 35 minutes in rush hour, we liived there and I had to commute to North Melbourne on a frequent basis. Sandringham and Brighton are closer to the city with Brighton only been 11k away and 22minutes on the train.
You also have Port Melbourne which is a lovely place.

[treesea]

Fitzroy is on the north side. Brunswick Street, Fitzroy is a nice shopping strip. Lots of good cafes, and interesting one-off, i.e. not chain store, shops. We lived in North Carlton - good quality housing, good transport links and 5 minutes drive from Fitzroy. It has a very good secondary school (Princes Hill). Not too into Collingwood as a place to stay - too many council flats and can be a bit dangerous at night. It has an interesting shopping strip though (Smith Street, Collingwood). Northcote, just to the north east of Fitzroy, is a good place to live. I had a friend who lived on Northcote Hill. She had brilliant views over towards the city. Going a bit further north, I'm not into Thornbury, but Ivanhoe is really nice. Other than Ivanhoe, I wouldn't recommend living north of Bell Street (9 km north of the city, running east/west.

The Eastern suburbs are all pretty expensive. Balwyn has transport links that go through to Fitzroy, and has the best state school in Melbourne, but you wouldn't get much change out of $500K there.

For child care, we used one in Collingwood, which I think from memory was council run and opposite a small park with a few swings and a slide. The name of it escapes me, but it was very good. For sure though, your hospital colleagues will be well versed on good ones and ones to avoid.

For info on melbourne suburbs, try this site: www.cityhobo.com, select suburbs and then Melbourne. Then just grab a map (so you know where they are :-) and check out each suburb listed. They are not all listed, though a lot of the inner city ones are.

If you fancy living at the beach and still being inner city, I recommend St Kilda.

[Ratchet]

Thanks for your response treesea, its always nice to hear straight talking info about areas.

Ive been told tonight by the agency there are two employers they are going to try Delmont and healthscope. Ive had a look and they have places all over the show, inc Ivanhoe, which was one on the areas i had looked into.

I feel so much more positive now.

Thanks again.

Kelly.

[ash911]

Hi Kelly

We have just recently moved here and we live in Malvern East, which i love and it only takes us 30 mins to the city. I have a "where to live in Melbourne guide" which really helped me, so if you send me you email i would be happy to email it to you.

Emma

[treesea]

Malvern East would be a lovely place to live - likewise the adjoining suburbs like Armadale. Mind you, probably okay for renting (everywhere is expensive to rent in Melbourne within around 10mkm of the city, so why not live somewhere beautiful), but very expensive to buy.