Sights set on Mackay Sept '16

[bigpoppadolph]

Hi all, first post

 

If all goes as planned we will be moving from Derbyshire UK to Mackay QLD in September 2016.

OH has family in Mackay who have a place on the harbour, very nice but out of our league.

 

After searching for a rental priced low to high on realestate.com we were surprised by the quantity and low prices around the blacks beach area. Did a little research and it seems perfect for us, close schools shops and beach, everything we need for our first base in Australia.

 

So my questions are, does anybody on here live near black's beach?

Thoughts and oppinions?

How are the schools from a people perspective? The annual reports seem pretty good for northern beaches high and eimeo road primary.

 

Any information would be much appreciated. I'm always a little dubious when something seems too cheap, or maybe it's because the houses are in abundance?

 

Thanks, BPD

[Bungo]

Might not get a lot of responses as Mackay isn't somewhere a lot of people will move to. I had a quick look around myself and didn't particularly notice that Blacks Beach area was cheaper than anywhere else close by. Speaking more generally though, yes you should assume as you would in the UK, that if an area is cheaper than everywhere else around it, then there will be a reason for that.

 

Employment in Mackay is very much based around resource industries so obviously it has taken a big hit recently, rising unemployment has probably left houses more affordable than they were in the good times. Are you confident you will be good for work in this struggling town?

[srg73]

I was speaking to a real estate agent the other week who's company deal in Mackay. She suggested that it is a dying town due to the numbers of people leaving due to no work. The employees for the mines are gone, secondary reliant jobs are gone and everybody there is feeling the pinch, especially property owners and landlords.

 

Mackey is meant to be great however if you don't have work secured before leaving, maybe think of alternatives initially where work prospects are more positive.

 

Best of luck in your adventures and don't be put off by my message, simply consider it as an additional consideration.

 

S

[bigpoppadolph]

Thanks Bungo

 

I haven't looked at specific agents just clicked 4 bedrooms, Mackay, search from low to high and the first 20 or so were mostly in black's beach. Surprisingly it's cheaper than renting a 3 bed over here. Family have secured me work and coming over on the OH visa as a midwife shouldn't be a problem from what I've read. Just wondered what people thought of the area and why it seems too good to be true.

 

Thanks, BPD

[bigpoppadolph]

Thanks srg73

 

We're not worried about the work aspect, was just dubious about the cheap rentals. But I guess if people are lacking work and they built too many houses during a suspected boom then that's probably why they're going so cheap.

I didn't find buying a property was cheap though, only rentals. We hope to rent for the first year to see how we get on then we'll see what's the best idea for our money.

 

Thanks, BPD

[bigpoppadolph]

Thanks srg73

 

We're not worried about the work aspect, was just dubious about the cheap rentals. But I guess if people are lacking work and they built too many houses during a suspected boom then that's probably why they're going so cheap.

I didn't find buying a property was cheap though, only rentals. We hope to rent for the first year to see how we get on then we'll see what's the best idea for our money.

 

Thanks, BPD

[Eera]

I know Black's Beach very well; I've had to fix settlement problems with a number of houses there recently.

 

There are two main areas in Black's Beach; the one you don't want is Blacks Beach Cove, which is where most of the rentals are; they are generally shoddily built, they have no back access to the yards so people tend to park everything they own on the nature strip and at weekends it looks like a giant jumble sale.

 

Basically, as rentals have been falling in the CBD people are moving from the outlying areas and into the town itself, saving themselves an hour a day in commute time. If you want a higher quality build and a more user-friendly area, look at the nearby Rural View; the covenant in the estate has created a better area hands down (but again, avoid the Plantation Palms area, it's new, the blocks are tiny and it's got the same issues as the Cove)

[bigpoppadolph]

Thanks eera, and I've also found the reply button!

 

I did notice that most houses have stuff outside just by having a look around on google street view, not a great selling point I guess. We stayed in Mackay in 2013 and loved the place, makes even more sense as we have family there. We have a big family so need at least a 4 bed possibly 5 and the prices around the CBD compared to the northern beaches were pretty much double, that's what made our mind up, or at least for the first year.

 

By settlement issues do you mean the foundations of the houses? I didn't really understand that sorry. I'll have a look around the Rural View area, thanks for the heads up!

[xxlornaxx]

I moved to mackay. .I'm a nurse and is plenty jobs in health care. .It is cheap to live there...We considered blacks beach but found even cheaper houses closer to hospital n got a great huge four bedroom with large yard, double garages etc in nice area in mount Pleasant...For half of what i was paying for tiny one bed apartment in Sydney so cheap doesn't necessarily mean it's a bad..It is just cheaper than other places...alot of my colleagues live out blacks beach way n love it. No idea about schools!

[bigpoppadolph]

Thanks Lorna

 

How long have you been in Mackay? Sounds like you got a bargain with your place

Do you work at the Mackay base hospital? My OH would like to work there so fingers crossed with applications but we're quite confident. Also, my step daughter was born there in 2007.

We looked at mount pleasant but everything at the time seemed quite expensive so we looked elsewhere, might have another look to make sure.

We're not fussy to be honest, as long as the schools are good. We live in a 3 bed semi-detached in the UK so a 4-bed+ in the sun with a short drive or walk to the beach is a dream to us! And a pool is a bonus but not essential. Our nearest beach at the moment is a 2 hour drive lol.

 

Thanks, BPD

[Eera]

Also Beaconsfield and Eimeo, I tend to avoid Andergrove as it had a rubbish reputation but that was a while ago, it might have cleaned up since. The hospital is great since they refurbished it, though the corridors all look the same and I get hideously lost every time I go there. I was going to send my kids to Eimeo primary but then changed my mind for convenience reasons to a place nearer my work, it has a good reputation. Couldn't say about Northern Beaches High (I did the footings design for that building, it pretty new). Shoal Point is also nice, Slade Point not so much.

 

You generally find in Mackay that there are roads or small areas which are less desirable next to really expensive places. so it can be a bit pot luck; the left side of Blacks Beach as you drive past the horse agistment is really nice, it's only the Cove which is a dive, for instances

[bigpoppadolph]

I noticed how new the Northern beaches high was and think the kids will like that, their schools are pretty new and hi-tech over here. Would've been nicer if they had a few more years of reports and experiences but looks good from what I can see so think we'll give it a go. That's if we get accepted, I was shocked when I saw the catchment area it's the largest I've seen.

So this horsey place you mentioned is that on the main road (blacks beach road) from Eimeo road all the way to the beach? And I'm guessing the left side is the older, more established blacks beach, the right side is the new estate (cove?) that you mentioned to not touch with a barge pole?

I appreciate the recommendations as all we have to go on is what info we can get on google maps/street view and the realestate.com site. We like the rural view area and although we would like to be close to the beach, the 5km from rural view is nothing, especially compared to what we have now.Plus it's closer for the schools/shops etc so makes sense to be looking there.

Do you (or anyone) have any experience of the new estate/houses in rural view? I wondered if these were from the same house builder you mentioned that was pretty poor?

 

Thanks, BPD

[Bobj]

For what it's worth, IMO Rural View is a rather nice, quiet area. But, as I am an old bloke, peace and quiet are better ...When I first came to Mackay in 1985, Rural View was open paddocks as was most of the land from the Bruce Hwy to Eimeo; indeed, Eimeo was only a small community.

 

All the best.

 

Cheers, Bobj.

[Eera]

I have to admit I'm biased; I live in Rural View, the covenant of the bit I'm in specified that the average block has to be about 900m square, the sort of build quality and a heap of other stuff which meant cheapy spec houses simply weren't built there; when it first went in they prohibited investors from building there so the quality is significantly higher. It shouldn't bother you as a renter but long term you'll have to know where to look. I used to live in South Mackay, and before that West Mackay, and to be honest I prefer south of the river, but we were looking for a bit of elevation and to move out of the storm surge zone so had to head north.

 

There's one massive price you'll have to pay if you choose to live close to the beach; sand flies (midgies), you don't tend to get them a couple of km away. Some friends of mine bought as close to the beach as they could get and it's miserable of an evening.

 

But yes, that's the agistment I'm talking about, the left side is hillier and more established and there are some really nice places there. I take the dog to the beach every day and it takes 7 minutes to drive the Blacks Beach, so it's not exactly a drag, plus we are very easy walking distance to the new Woolies and Coles.

 

Catchment areas are pretty loose here so don't worry about moving to an area for a specific school; I'm about 20 km outside the catchment of the school my child goes to.

 

If you want to know anything about a specific area, PM me and I'll give you the lowdown. I get slightly thrilled when people choose to move to the regions.

[bigpoppadolph]

Thanks bobj

 

It seems like we're looking in the right direction. Got sidetracked earlier with a nice rental we found in North Mackay so started looking round there and didn't like the primary school report so now we're back to rural view

I guess there'll be a lot of that during the next year but for now it's rural view all the way!

 

Thanks, BPD

[bigpoppadolph]

Cheers eera, really appreciate the advice and offer might have to take you up on that.

 

Looking through old photos I realised that we'd actually BEEN to rural view while we were over in 2013. What threw me off was the google images hasn't been updated since 2010 and the shopping precinct looks totally different. Not that we paid much attention to the area as from what I remember we'd stopped at mcdonalds for icecreams on the way back from a day at cape hillsborough and dolphin heads etc.

 

Thanks, BPD

[Eera]

If you want way better data the Google then Mackay Regional Council has probably the best public access GIS system in Australia (it got awards for it a few years ago). Google "MiMaps Mackay" and it'll bring up the link, from there you can access recent aerials with overlays for evacuation zones, council facilities, whether you lot has various conditions on it and more. It probably takes a bit of getting used to but once you learn how to navigate it, then it's magic.

[bigpoppadolph]

That's great, never seen anything like that before. Yea looks a bit tricky but I like a challenge. The evacuation zones are interesting. I've avoided the subject up to now but I'm like a fly with a blue light I want to read all about it.

 

Also, had positive word from a school this morning so things are looking up.

[Bobj]

Cheers eera, really appreciate the advice and offer might have to take you up on that.

 

Looking through old photos I realised that we'd actually BEEN to rural view while we were over in 2013. What threw me off was the google images hasn't been updated since 2010 and the shopping precinct looks totally different. Not that we paid much attention to the area as from what I remember we'd stopped at mcdonalds for icecreams on the way back from a day at cape hillsborough and dolphin heads etc.

 

Thanks, BPD

 

Aahh...My area, well, 9 km away.

 

Cheers, Bobj.

[jhampa]

Blacks Beach is a great part of town, best beaches IMO , its about 25min drive into town. great place to live.