Suburbs in Melbourne

[The_Hawk]

For the Melbournites, what are the good suburbs (or the ones to avoid) if someone was looking at moving down that way??

[Dutch77]

As someone who is/was going through this process myself very recently I really liked the Albert Park - South Melbourne area (we stayed with a friend who has a view of the last few corners of the F1 track which might have swayed me though).

Sidenote: looks like life is taking me in another direction to an opposite corner of the country though.

[Ideo]

Budget?

[Silver dub]

How far out of the city are you prepared to be?

[The_Hawk]

Details are sketchy at this point with no definitive plans on if/when/where, just a few pokers in the fire that could see me in Melbourne CBD.

But for the sake of argument:

East is what the missus has looked at so far... But I'm open to suggestion.

Rent vs Buy is equally valid

~$500k to buy
~$500 / week to rent??

Travel... hard to answer. Right now I travel just over an hour door to door so I wouldn't want to go further than that but would prefer to be closer. Would probably trade off land for travel... but closer is nicer.

Would also be looking for 4+ bedrooms, 2+ bathrooms, 2+ car spaces (bonus points for 5+ bedrooms (or a study) and a decent shed or garage for automotive tinkering).

[kaanage]

~$500k to buy
...
Right now I travel just over an hour door to door so I wouldn't want to go further than that
...
Would also be looking for 4+ bedrooms, 2+ bathrooms, 2+ car spaces (bonus points for 5+ bedrooms (or a study) and a decent shed or garage for automotive tinkering).

You'd have to look West for that combination unless the amount you quoted is a deposit

[SLAJ]

You could find a very nice place in the south east for that money, much nicer/safer than the west and with the Peninsula Link and Eastlink your trips to the city won't be too long

[The_Hawk]

I'm poking at realestate.com.au but it wants postcodes and the "surrounding suburbs" option doesn't search that far. I want to be able to pick Melbourne CBD and have it give me a 50km radius

edit: Domain seems to let me just pick the whole area then display it on a map. Nice.

edit2: There is 25 places showing up with 5+ parking spaces in my search

[dylan8]

We live a hour or so out from the city to the east. My gf takes the train daily to work.
Can buy houses for well under your price range, the difference between 30mins from the city and 1hours drive is about half the price for property (400k vs 800k+)

West is looking good lately as it's so much more affordable so much closer to the cbd. But as Slaj said it's been known to have rougher areas (not saying east doesnt have its bad spots)

[Jarred]

west is generally more affordable, although, generally also not as nicer areas.
anywhere east is generally ok. but as dyl said, you're looking to get out a touch before it becomes affordable (and quality of the suburbs can sometimes drop off a bit as you go further out).
ferntree gully scorsby, bayswater, knox, anything around that area should be in budget and requirements, and generally about 1hr from te city, give or take.