bazz Posted May 2, 2010 Share Posted May 2, 2010 hi, ok we have decided to live in goldcoast but wondered if anyone could advise on an area? we would like to be close to a beach, preferable a more quiet beach (not tourist). but then have to bare in mind cost! any advice would be great thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
calNgary Posted May 2, 2010 Share Posted May 2, 2010 The least touristy of the beach front suburbs seem to be at the south end, places like Kirra, Currumbin, Coolangatta are gorgeous and well worth a look. Cal x Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
velden Posted May 9, 2010 Share Posted May 9, 2010 Gold Coast is a great place to live, it's not hard to be close to a beach. Living very close to the beach is however very expensive... I agree with CalNgary that the least touristy part in on the south side. Even Burleigh which is the north end of the south and is quite built up and busy is still stunningly beautiful and a great place for the kids to ride bikes, rip-sticks, power-wings, rollar blades, kick balls etc (while happy mums and dad take care of the bbq and a couple of wines). Regarding areas, this is not everything, just the ones that stick out for me: Central 1. Sorrento, Isle of Capri, a few parts of Bundall (not the industrial side) - great place to live, just inland from Surfers (approx 2kms) but you can easily forget that Surfers exists. Mix of old houses, rennovated houses and new houses. Many are waterfront. One of the more expensive areas - BUT you could get an affordable smaller house on a dry block (600K small dry blocks, 1300K nice 4 bedroom on water, can go much higher) 2. Broadbeach Waters/Mermaid Waters (this is where I live) - also a fantastic place to live. We are close to everything - beach, shopping, dining. Like the area above many houses are on canals but cheaper dry blocks do exist (550K small dry blocks, 1100K nice 4 bedroom on water, can go much higher) Both 1. and 2. could be considered "inner-city" living 3. Clear Island Waters - beautiful houses, lovely streets, just a few kilometres back from Broadbeach Waters. Waterfront homes are on rocks as opposed to other suburbs which are on sand. If the midges (like sand flies) bother you then it is much better to be on rocks (the midges breed in the sand). Only problem with this suburb is that is it just houses, nothing else might feel a little "Stepford" (starting 1.2 but that would be about the worse house in the estate) 4. Varsity/Merrimac - I just picked two suburbs in the area here.... some newer suburbs built on the canals. Some are in golf estates. Here you will have a nicer house but you will pay about at least the same as Sorrento, Broadbeach Waters etc and over 10-15 I don't think your return will be as good. Of course there are other areas of Merrimac/Varisty and surrounds where 500K-700K will get you a beautiful house 5. Robina - (not sure if this is central GC or top of southern) very family friendly, bike riding paths, parks, beautiful shopping centre. Very good primary school, about 10 minutes drive from Burleigh Beach. Houses are about 20-30 years old in parts, newer in other parts, good sized nice house on good sized land (say 1000sqm land) with pool and double garage around 700K Southern 6. Benowa - I might insult some people but I would call this a slightly up-market Robina, sans beautiful shopping mall. Some on water, some not (as is Robina by the way). Be careful if you do want water that you actually can go somewhere on the water, some of these estates are simply on contained water with no access to anything. The golf estates are beautiful. 7. Burleigh Waters - again a mix of slightly older looking to be rennovated and beautiful new mansions. Prices similar to Broadbeach/Mermaid. 8. Miami/Palm Beach - good mix of expensive and quite a bit cheaper. Lots of renters. I don't really know much about these suburbs 9. Currumbin - beautiful, natural surrounds, the least touristy part but pretty expensive. More NSW prices than QLD prices. Not sure what a dry block without views could get you but a 4 bedroom not that attractive house with views will go well over 1000K. North 10. Paradise point, runaway bay etc - these canal suburbs are great for people who are really into boating because that provide great access to the broadwater. I think they are slightly more expensive than Broadbeach Waters Hinterland 11. Tallai/Mudgeeraba/Gilston etc - beautiful, only about a 20 minute drive into the coast. Houses range from small to huge with amazing views of the whole GC. If you want a little land this is a beautiful area and they are not that far out 12. Highland Park - around Tallai, its a suburbs so normal sized blocks (mostly), 900K will get a BEAUTIFUL home but you could go much cheaper. Still reasonably close to beaches 13. Currumbin Valley - BEAUTIFUL but it rains A LOT Have a look at domain.com.au to get a better idea of the prices. There is also a whole other area about 20 minutes north of the GC - Helensvale, Hope Island, Pacific Pines etc. All very popular, nice areas BUT they are not that close to a beach so I ignored them (I also ignored them because I don't know much about them). 13. Southport/Labrador - I'm not sure if this is still true but 18 months ago you could get a 30 year old house on good block (maybe even res 2B zoning - meaning that you could pull it down in the future and build some town houses - dependant on block size) for around 420K. Some people will tell you these areas are scummy but I disagree, I think they have a nice vibe and they are fantastically positioned and in my opinion can only go up in price. Do you have children? school age? if you do then the state schools at Robina and Benowa really are good. In the other areas the lower years in the States schools seem to do alright and then they drop off as the kids get older (and discover the beach :-( ). The Catholic private schools are very reasonably priced, the Christian and Independant schools average between 4.5K to 9K a year, a few schools go over this price TSS (really over) and Somerset (a little over). Depends what you want, not sure what you consider as being "close to beach", also if you are young and without kids or older with kids left home (then maybe you want to really live on the beaches), whether you want a boat, where you will work, are you going to have 2 cars etc etc. And I totally left out Nerang/Ashmore because I just don't know enough about them. If I could afford, I would live: 5 million - Sovereign Islands 900K - 1.5 million - Broadbeach Waters/Mermaid Waters/Sorrento 800K - Benowa dry block 500K - 700K - Robina (or Hinterland if I didn't need to be close) If I was renting, gees for 650 a week you can get a million dollar house (renting is really not that bad of an idea). Where you rent would really depend upon what you want - beach, public transport, work etc but your rental dollars can go a long way. So if I didn't have a heap of money available. I would rent a nice house in a suburb that you feel right in and then buy a 350K-450K investment property in either one of the newer suburbs or in Labrador/Southport - the shortfall between interest and rental is still a tax deduction here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest thelongwait Posted May 9, 2010 Share Posted May 9, 2010 hi you could always consider just over the new south wales border, in tweed heads. coolangatta is expensive, but the NSW/QLD border runs through it. tweed heads you are still 5 mins walk from the beach but lots cheaper...try tweed heads west as well or banora point, just 5mins in the car from the beach, very quiet areas. i've been living in coolangatta for 4 yrs now and it is my favourite place on earth. the beaches are stunningly beautiful, and never busy, even in the summer holidays. less traffic and less built up than the northern end of the gold coast (surfers paradise, broadbeach etc). it has the feel of a quiet sleepy seaside town, if that's what you are into. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bazz Posted May 9, 2010 Author Share Posted May 9, 2010 hi, thank you both for your comments, that has gave me an idea of different places to look, as we dont know goldcoast to well but I will now get researching on some of the places you have mentioned! we have no kids, we are a young couple. We would love to be right next to a beach but obviously that would come at a high price so 10-15mins walk from a beach would be nice! We are looking to rent for the first year or so, we have savings incase we dont get jobs in the first few months but we have put some of our savings aside for when we want to buy and over the year or so of renting we will try and add to that! Thank you for your help, it is so nice to get advice and info from people who are out there! Sarah x Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest thelongwait Posted May 15, 2010 Share Posted May 15, 2010 hiya if you're renting, i'm sure you can find a place right near the beach. prices aren't so different for renting. for example here in coolangatta, we are 3mins walk from the beach and pay around $300 per week for a 2 bed unit... if you arrive in their holiday season, which i guess is december and january, it'll be harder and expensive, outside of that, no problem... try the websites realestate.com.au and domain.com.au. to get an idea of rental prices. it'll probably be hard for you to find a long term rental til you get here (they get applications from lots of applicants and then they choose their favourite, so you have to compete with many other applicants sometimes). Best option is look for a short term holiday let for a couple of weeks, unless you got friends to stay with. these are great way to start as they are fully furnished with all kitchen equipment. try real estate websites like Rainbow Bay Bealty for Coolangatta area, or Ray White - all over aus. and by the way, interest rates are great over here for savings, you get about 6% at the moment... good luck, and you are going to love this place. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest brooksey Posted May 16, 2010 Share Posted May 16, 2010 We want to live in Coolangata once our kid has left school in pac pines. (don't want to move schools) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ancient brits Posted May 16, 2010 Share Posted May 16, 2010 We live in Tugun and OH works in Coolangatta. Wouldn't want to live anywhere else. Beaches perfect, just 6 mins walk from my front door and not all high rise. Great transport links both to busier parts of Gold Coast and also Tweed. Perfect. Rita Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Cakes Galore Posted May 16, 2010 Share Posted May 16, 2010 Yep the further down the coast towards the NSW border is lovely, Elanora, Currumbin, Rainbow Bay, Kirra and Coolie (coolangatta) all very stunning, love this end! Lots of rentals in Palmy (palm beach) and also lots of holiday rentals. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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