Relocation Advise

[dru]

Hi Everyone,

My partner and I are considering the big move out west from Sydney to Perth. Main reason being a lot better opportunities for my line of work.

So I just want some opinions on places that would be suitable to live. We would probably be buying, looking around the 400k mark but might rent for anything up to 500 per week. Needs to have reasonable sized blocks within a good neighborhood. Want to be within 1.5 hour of the city. My partner is pregnant with our first and will be home alone assuming I land the work I want which entails 2-4 weeks away at a time, hence wanting somewhere safe for her. Dont mind doing renos but not full rebuilds :-)

When I was in Perth I went through rockingham and thought it wasnt too bad, unfortunately I didnt have time to check out many other suburbs.

Any suggestions would be great. Hard to get a feel for place via realestate.com!

Cheers!
Andrew.

[twiz]

Somewhere that isnt rockingham would be a good start, ideally youd want to be close to the airport if your going fifo!

[Rosey]

400k, are there still houses in Perth for that?

[Frogger]

if you do end up in rockingham at least you will be amoung riders who don't think there shit don't stink.

[dru]

Not to fussed on location close to airport. Missus can drive me in or catch transport. That is all good, at the moment I am 50km from sydney airport and find that reasonable. So I gather rockingham is a no go?

[Macca]

My wife did fifo from rockingham for 4 years, Rockingham is fine just like all areas there are pockets that are better than others.

Where i live is great, great house on above average size land, for much less than the average price (Which is what 450k now?).

To put it another way i'd rather be in Rockingham than Balga

[Geeman]

Within 1.5hr of the city pretty much covers the entire area from Mandurah to Lancelin so its a pretty wide choice!! Depends what you want, do you want to be close to the beach, or a rural area east of Perth. Rocky and Mandurah are pretty much suburbs of perth now, which is fine if thats what you want but north you can get more space only 30-45mins from the CBD, and just a little further you have quinns, two rocks, Seabird, Lancelin etc if your happy to live that far out. There are plenty on here who live out in the hills direction as well which would be well within that price range, under an hour from the CBD, and half that time to the airport if your FIFO!
Plenty on here who live down in and near rockingham, and probably love it with good reason, close to the beach, away from Perth. But it has a reputation. Then again so does Armadale, Kelmscott, Balga, Mirrabooka etc etc...

[boeman]

Girrawheen.

Seriously, can scoop up 600m2 for around $400k still, and its maybe 15km from CBD. Most houses will need reno, and its proposed rezoning so within 2-3 years you could always sell off part of your block for a bit of a cash injection/reduce the mortgage.

[Macca]

I'm on 750m2 for 350k, but trade-off is the distance from the CBD. But i'm happy to make that trade

[chocky]

Girrawheen.

Seriously, can scoop up 600m2 for around $400k still, and its maybe 15km from CBD. Most houses will need reno, and its proposed rezoning so within 2-3 years you could always sell off part of your block for a bit of a cash injection/reduce the mortgage.

He said safe =p

Maybe check out wattle grove or around there? My brother got a house and land there. Not sure if there's any left but maybe can get places about that? Blocks are a bit smaller though..

But ya a bit hard pressed to buy with a budget if $400k unless u build somewhere in whoop whoop.

But you can definitely get a decent rental for $500 a week. I'm in leeming (west side near kwinana fwy) and I think it's an awesome location. Easy access to roe hwy to get to airport. Close to hospital for the bun in the oven. And 10-15mins from city ) oh and really nice and safe neighborhood

[Waikikablukar]

Have a look at new developments around whiteman park if you are looking at new houses for less than $400k. Not too far from airport, near the swan valley and not to far from the city really if you want to go there. The one downside is no (or very little) public transport to the area yet.

[Doug68]

Not to fussed on location close to airport. Missus can drive me in or catch transport.

That's funny, you mean get taxi to the airport 'transport' as in 'public transport' means there's one bus (the no 37) to the domestic terminal and none to the international terminal, the nearest station is 7km from the airport.

My tip on moving to Perth would get as close to the city as possible, even if the house is not what you would ideally choose.

[dru]

Cheers for the replies so far.

I will have a look tonight at some of those places listed. In terms of lifestyle, I wouldn't mind living somewhere close to the beach (with say 10 minutes). In saying that, pending on a few other things we could possibly move our range up closer to the 500k mark but would prefer not to at this point.

It's funny comparing property with Sydney though, I live ~50kms from the city and you are hard pressed to find something under 400k! The only other with moving is finding a new social group, especially for the missus when I will be away for weeks on end!

Thanks again guys. Food for thought

[out_in_front]

Places to avoid - Balga, Armadale, Westfield, Forrestfield, Kwinana, Rockingham - probably their adjacent suburbs too. Sure there may be good bits to these areas, but they probably are not for sale!

Near Airport - I would consider Bayswater if you can afford it, Next in line would probably be up the hill towards Kalamunda or North to the new houses in Caversham / behind Beechboro, the last two might be a bit average in terms of neighbors though....

[dru]

What about places south? Areas around Mandurah, like Falcon & Erskine?

I know it's actually just over an hour to Perth, according to Google Maps, but has houses in our range that are close to the water and of decent quality?