Suburbs

[Mrs_Ob]

Hi All, Our PR visa application is finally in with immigration  

I am looking into suburbs , needs to have good schools, be safe & pref not too far away from places to shop etc. 

I was looking near Fulham gardens but looking into the future we would like to buy if we enjoy it in SA so being realistic I have looked more towards the hills..two areas I like the look of are MOUNT BARKER & FLAGSTAFF HILL.. 

can anyone give me their thoughts on these two locations or recommend other areas? Don’t want to move too far from the beach...

thanks all xx

[llessur]

It depends on what you mean by not wanting to be too far from the beach. Moving to the hills or Flaggy (i.e. east) is quite far from the beach compared to lots of other suburbs in Adelaide, but then on the other hand nowhere in Adelaide is hugely far from the beach - you're maybe a 20 minute drive to Brighton/Seacliff from there. You probably wouldn't want to do the drive to the beach every evening, but once or twice a week would probably be OK.

If you want to be genuinely close to the beach then you'd be better off looking towards the western suburbs. Seacliff, Brighton, Glenelg, West Beach, Henley, Grange, Semaphore etc. You can go further south but the commute to the city becomes longer (depends on where you'll be working etc and how close you want to be to the action). Some of these suburbs can be pretty pricey (Glenelg, Brighton, Henley etc) but you can often just move a suburb or two over and things become a bit more affordable (i.e. Glengowrie/Marion, North Brighton, Grange). There are also plenty of suburbs between the city and the beach which are still fairly affordable. Best to check out house listings on RealEstate - search via the map view and you'll get an idea of what's available for how much.

There are lots of other things to think about when considering a suburb to move to. Where you'll be working, what you want to do on weekends, whether you want to be car dependent, whether you want access to public transport, whether you want amenities other than a supermarket and hot chicken shop within walking distance etc. Some of this you can research online, some you'd be better off renting when you get over and getting the feel of different locations.

Nowhere in Adelaide is particularly unsafe, although some northern areas around Elizabeth don't have the best reputation.

[Mrs_Ob]

21 hours ago, llessur said:

It depends on what you mean by not wanting to be too far from the beach. Moving to the hills or Flaggy (i.e. east) is quite far from the beach compared to lots of other suburbs in Adelaide, but then on the other hand nowhere in Adelaide is hugely far from the beach - you're maybe a 20 minute drive to Brighton/Seacliff from there. You probably wouldn't want to do the drive to the beach every evening, but once or twice a week would probably be OK.

If you want to be genuinely close to the beach then you'd be better off looking towards the western suburbs. Seacliff, Brighton, Glenelg, West Beach, Henley, Grange, Semaphore etc. You can go further south but the commute to the city becomes longer (depends on where you'll be working etc and how close you want to be to the action). Some of these suburbs can be pretty pricey (Glenelg, Brighton, Henley etc) but you can often just move a suburb or two over and things become a bit more affordable (i.e. Glengowrie/Marion, North Brighton, Grange). There are also plenty of suburbs between the city and the beach which are still fairly affordable. Best to check out house listings on RealEstate - search via the map view and you'll get an idea of what's available for how much.

There are lots of other things to think about when considering a suburb to move to. Where you'll be working, what you want to do on weekends, whether you want to be car dependent, whether you want access to public transport, whether you want amenities other than a supermarket and hot chicken shop within walking distance etc. Some of this you can research online, some you'd be better off renting when you get over and getting the feel of different locations.

Nowhere in Adelaide is particularly unsafe, although some northern areas around Elizabeth don't have the best reputation.

Thanks so much for this response ! Really appreciate it, so much to look at  I will be working from home when we first arrive & my husband is a joiner so he will be looking for work. I would love to be close to a beach and really like the look of Henley beach but yes there are lots more to consider!! I will keep my research cap on for now....

[Marisawright]

1 hour ago, Mrs_Ob said:

Thanks so much for this response ! Really appreciate it, so much to look at  I will be working from home when we first arrive & my husband is a joiner so he will be looking for work. I would love to be close to a beach and really like the look of Henley beach but yes there are lots more to consider!! I will keep my research cap on for now....

It's probably not worth stressing too much about suburbs at this point.  Research where the good schools are , and browse around realestate.com.au to get an idea of how the prices vary, but that's that.

I say that because a very common experience, which we see related here on the forums a lot, is that people put hours and hours of effort into researching suburbs before they arrive - and then when they get here and drive around, they realise that the "feel" of a suburb is something that's impossible to judge from a distance.  It's very easy to get completely the wrong idea and build up an inaccurate picture in your mind. 

You'll have to book holiday accommodation for your first four weeks anyway, and that's when you hop in the car and drive around to check out areas.

Your biggest priority right now should be decluttering, because it will take a lot longer than you think!    Also do a trial shop to see what it would cost to replace your house contents.  You can use harveynorman.com.au or ikea.com.au for furniture, petersofkensington.com.au for pots, pans, crockery etc.   Myer.com.au for things like towels or Kmart.com.au for cheap alternatives.    A lot of people think they'll sell/give away all their stuff and "start afresh" in Australia, then get a rude shock when they discover how much it's going to cost to replace.