Where to live - Metro

[JLT]

My husbands most likely to find his type of job in the city. Where shall we be looking to live that's within a decent commute of central Perth? It's hard to tell from a map. We've young children so need schools. Somewhere likely to be family oriented.

[Jules2409]

Hi there,

We're moving to Perth & both have jobs in the CBD so have a similar dillema. An awful lot depends on how much money you have to spend. We got hold of a map of the median house prices when we were in Perth which has been very useful & I have just yesterday found in on-line

Perth Median Price Map - Real Estate Institute of WA

This also indicates the main routes into Perth by road and rail

Our process has been to look at area's where we can afford the median house price, then use aussiemove.com to find out the High Schools in the area & look into their performance. DS is only 5 but we were advised that getting into the 'right' catchment area for the High School is more important than Primary school but of course I am looking at those as well.

It also depends whether you want to live by the coast, in the suburbs or in the Hills - we have been around in circles on that one!! For us to live a reasonable commute away (30-40mins) means not living on the coast.

To work out commute times I've used whereis.com for driving and transperth.wa.gov.au for buses/trains

If it helps at all Willetton is our current favourite choice.

Jules

[rpillinger]

have a look at the meve.com.au web site

[ali]

Willeton is a nice choice and a neigbouring suburb to Leeming where I live. I find the location of these two (and surrounding suburbs) to be ideal for us as a family. 10 min on the train to the City, and places like heathcote, point walter and wireless hill which are great spots for picnics. 20 mins into Freo and beaches, schools have good reputations and the areas are well served by ammenities.

Having said that, further south - Madurah, secret Harbour etc., now only take about 50 mins by train into the city as the new rail line is open. I don't know anything about the northern suburbs so can't comment on what they're like (we have members who live there so will be able to tell you more).

I work in Armadale, and whilst there are some nice parts of that - I wouldn't chose to live in Armadale itself, but the surrounding suburbs are nice.

[JLT]

Hi there,

We're moving to Perth & both have jobs in the CBD so have a similar dillema. An awful lot depends on how much money you have to spend. We got hold of a map of the median house prices when we were in Perth which has been very useful & I have just yesterday found in on-line

Perth Median Price Map - Real Estate Institute of WA

This also indicates the main routes into Perth by road and rail

Our process has been to look at area's where we can afford the median house price, then use aussiemove.com to find out the High Schools in the area & look into their performance. DS is only 5 but we were advised that getting into the 'right' catchment area for the High School is more important than Primary school but of course I am looking at those as well.

It also depends whether you want to live by the coast, in the suburbs or in the Hills - we have been around in circles on that one!! For us to live a reasonable commute away (30-40mins) means not living on the coast.

To work out commute times I've used whereis.com for driving and transperth.wa.gov.au for buses/trains

If it helps at all Willetton is our current favourite choice.

Jules

Thanks. Some really useful info there I'll be checking out later. Luckily we've decided to go out next summer for 3 weeks to get our bearings but helps to know where yr aiming for.
I would like to be about half an hours drive from the beach and equally for the city and it seems that many of the perth suburbs fulfil that criteria - well, so it appears!
I can't wait to go!
Jo

[Jules2409]

Thanks. Some really useful info there I'll be checking out later. Luckily we've decided to go out next summer for 3 weeks to get our bearings but helps to know where yr aiming for.
I would like to be about half an hours drive from the beach and equally for the city and it seems that many of the perth suburbs fulfil that criteria - well, so it appears!
I can't wait to go!
Jo

We went out for two weeks and it was really worth it, you might have thought of this already but if you can rent in the kind of suburb you might live rather than staying in a hotel. We rented a house in Sorrento to really try out the lifestyle we hope to have and the interviews at employers and schools we had set up even brought a bit of reality into the situation!

Staying somewhere around Hillary's is quite a good bet, the big aquarium is there & you can get the ferry to Rottnest & the boat harbour is a nice place in itself. We'd love to live there but it's out of our price range!

When you say 'summer' I assume you mean UK summer so one last tip, take jeans and jumpers, I froze!! We were away for 5 weeks in total and I only took one pair of jeans - big mistake! I bought clothes out there and airmailed summer stuff back home!

Jules x

[JLT]

We went out for two weeks and it was really worth it, you might have thought of this already but if you can rent in the kind of suburb you might live rather than staying in a hotel. We rented a house in Sorrento to really try out the lifestyle we hope to have and the interviews at employers and schools we had set up even brought a bit of reality into the situation!

Staying somewhere around Hillary's is quite a good bet, the big aquarium is there & you can get the ferry to Rottnest & the boat harbour is a nice place in itself. We'd love to live there but it's out of our price range!

When you say 'summer' I assume you mean UK summer so one last tip, take jeans and jumpers, I froze!! We were away for 5 weeks in total and I only took one pair of jeans - big mistake! I bought clothes out there and airmailed summer stuff back home!

Jules x

Thanks. I think we'll forget UK summer for a visit now. Our travel agent said weather was warm! Apparently average temp yesterday was 8! Not paying 10K for crap weather. Get it here for free! Guess I'll have to wait til Christmas 09 now. Pain having to wait for a lengthy school holiday too.
How did you go about setting up meetings re jobs? We're struggling to find the work apparently they're so desperate to fill. What work are you after?
The area you mentioned looks quite pricey... Double the median price of Central Perth. Good for eveything tho. How about the schools there?
What accommodation did you stay in? We don't want to stay in a hotel. Need to feel like a local to get a good view on if it's the life for us.
Hope you don't mind answering all this!

[JLT]

Willeton is a nice choice and a neigbouring suburb to Leeming where I live. I find the location of these two (and surrounding suburbs) to be ideal for us as a family. 10 min on the train to the City, and places like heathcote, point walter and wireless hill which are great spots for picnics. 20 mins into Freo and beaches, schools have good reputations and the areas are well served by ammenities.

Having said that, further south - Madurah, secret Harbour etc., now only take about 50 mins by train into the city as the new rail line is open. I don't know anything about the northern suburbs so can't comment on what they're like (we have members who live there so will be able to tell you more).

I work in Armadale, and whilst there are some nice parts of that - I wouldn't chose to live in Armadale itself, but the surrounding suburbs are nice.

Hi, thanks for the info. Good to hear from someone actually living there. How is the work situation? Where were you from in the UK? How long have you been there? Are you enjoying your life better there?
Would be nice to keep in touch and meet up when we come over for our rekkie - get the full picture!
Any help appreciated x

[Jules2409]

Thanks. I think we'll forget UK summer for a visit now. Our travel agent said weather was warm! Apparently average temp yesterday was 8! Not paying 10K for crap weather. Get it here for free! Guess I'll have to wait til Christmas 09 now. Pain having to wait for a lengthy school holiday too.
How did you go about setting up meetings re jobs? We're struggling to find the work apparently they're so desperate to fill. What work are you after?
The area you mentioned looks quite pricey... Double the median price of Central Perth. Good for eveything tho. How about the schools there?
What accommodation did you stay in? We don't want to stay in a hotel. Need to feel like a local to get a good view on if it's the life for us.
Hope you don't mind answering all this!

Oh I didn't mean to put you off altogether - we had some lovely days. Inside was colder than outside, the aussie houses are designed for cooling and carpets and curtains aren't the norm & no central heating!!! I just wasn't suitably attired! When people say Aussie Winter is like UK summer that's right - just think about the cold rainy days we have in the summer too!! I actually think it's a good time for a reccy, if you like the lifestyle in the winter think how much better it will be in the summer (although we do wonder if we should have experienced the heat!). And of course a 6 week school holiday to play with - we were away for five weeks in total.

Re: interviews. We went to expo's in the UK - the Australia needs Skills one being the most useful (that's an Aussie gov invite only one) & met agencies and employers. It has to totally depend on what your skills are, we both work in IT & there is a lot of jobs advertised on sites like seek.com, we blatently ignored the 'you must have a visa' note and kept on applying, when we were asked how soon we could be out we said 6-8 weeks (probably a lie!), we also had our reccy booked so could offer face to face interviews & I think the clinched it. DH & I have both been offered jobs at the same company that we met at the expo, apparently they had 1000 CV's and so far we are the only two to be offered jobs, we don't have expectional skills or anything and both do different jobs it is simply because we were able to go to the office and gee them along a bit (the locals say WA stands for 'wait awhile' nothing happens fast :spinny:)

The High School in Willetton is one of the very best state schools which is definitely swaying my decision but living there does mean us both working but the company we are going to work for is very family friendly, DH will take DS to school and work 10-6:00 and I'll work 8-4:00 so after-school care will be limited and we can take 12 weeks holiday a year.

We stayed in your typical 4 bed 2 bath house with pool in Sorrento, it was called Sorrento Beach House, you should be able to google it . I was slightly disappointed, it was a bit 'tired' but we had just come from an amazing boutique spa hotel in Singapore so it was back down to earth with a bump!

No probs answering your questions so fire away!

[JLT]

Oh I didn't mean to put you off altogether - we had some lovely days. Inside was colder than outside, the aussie houses are designed for cooling and carpets and curtains aren't the norm & no central heating!!! I just wasn't suitably attired! When people say Aussie Winter is like UK summer that's right - just think about the cold rainy days we have in the summer too!! I actually think it's a good time for a reccy, if you like the lifestyle in the winter think how much better it will be in the summer (although we do wonder if we should have experienced the heat!). And of course a 6 week school holiday to play with - we were away for five weeks in total.

ETC!

Thanks Jules, this is all such good advice and info. We're going to an EXPO in October so hopefully will pick up some info on jobs there. My hubby does IT too (SAP/Project Manager) and we're headed yr way which is sssooo useful! Which company are you going to?
When are you heading out to live? We're 2 yrs away yet. Need to do this reccy first to absolutely make sure it's right. We did the same for Canada but I didn't like it. Didn't feel right.
I looked at the senior school in Willeton. It looks great! So many places have a primary school but not a state senior school so good to find somewhere that has both. And both that are good. The house prices are good too. Looked at realestate.au and some very nice houses for sale and going on current exchange rates they'll be in our reach.
I'm also feeling a bit better about the spiders now. Been doing some research and getting more confident that it'll be OK.
Be good to hear back from you. Be good to keep in touch as we're heading in the same direction and doing the same job! Well, not me...I'm a Fitness Instructor/Personal Training so don't envisage much work for me there. Might need a career change before I go.
Cheers and write back soon.
Jo x