Moving to Sydney, advice?

[Colin]

yes I imagine they would be.. but quality living costs money these days

 

[pythonmum]

In the outer areas of Hornsby up through Berowra the rents aren't too bad and there are houses available. There is still plenty of bushland around and your partner can get frequent trains to work while you look for a vet practice nearby.

 

[euphorion]

So many choices! Melbourne would probably have been a better choice in terms of affordability i'm sure, but at least if we go to Sydney we're close to family. It would be so hard to see family we we were spread across Brisbane, Sydney AND Melbourne! Research research research bleh!

 

[snakeynewbie]

My brother lives in Sydney but the only reason they could afford that is because his fiances parents paid for most of their house

We live on the upper South Coast and I much prefer that to Sydney, infact I'm loving it(having moved from Melbourne), love the beaches, the people, the national parks, etc. We are two hours from Sydney if we want to go up for the day or two hours from Canberra also and the housing is very affordable here.

 

[saximus]

You should come down for a recon mission and get someone to show you around the areas you are considering. It might make the choice a little easier when you can actually see the places and get a feel for them

 

[traceylee]

I'm another one for the Central Coast. So much more affordable than Sydney, and more relaxed. People aren't in such a hurry all the time. Close to beaches, lots of open space....

I lived out in Arcadia, Galston and Hornsby - which were nice. But it's a lot more expensive there still.

 

[euphorion]

I hear you Sax, i have actually just been offered free flights to Sydney TOMORROW until Sunday to see my bro (among other things) so im trying to see if i can actually make it down there ASAP weeeeeee!

 

[SamNabz]

While there's no denying that Sydney is incredibly expensive, it is most definitely not a dump as some people have mentioned on here.

"Oh the roads are so busy" -- what do you expect in a major city?

Shoo, as people have mentioned, the Sutherland Shire is definitely one of the nicest areas to live in and isn't too far from the city, although some/most areas are expensive. However, if you go just out of the Shire to places like Engadine, Wooloware etc. the properties are much more affordable. There's also a lot of parks, and plenty of shops etc.

I live near the city (15 mins-or-so away) and the missus lives in the shire so I travel there quite a bit at all times of the day/week, and whilst the traffic is bad, it's not as bad as some people are whinging about on here. It's only ever 'frustrating' when there's an accident, because for some reason that's when 85% of drivers decide it's time to drive at 5 km/h so they can catch a glimpse of the accident.

As sax mentioned, I think it's a good idea if you and/or your partner can come down for a weekend to drive through certain areas and experience them first hand.

Good luck.

 

[Kristy_07]

Shoo, don't go

 

[euphorion]

Won't be for a while yet Kristy! Daniel is the one really wanting to go so he has to be the real catalyst, i'm just trying to be prepared

 

[NotoriouS]

I've been in Sydney for quite some time, I like it. Yes, rent is expense (depending on where you want to live). I used to live 15 minutes from the city, was paying $310 for a 2 bedroom apartment (1 minute walk from the station). This was 3 years ago, same place is now $400 a week. I've moved a bit further away now (30 minutes from the city) purely because I wanted a nice house and large yard for the kids. From personal experience, cheaper areas where houses are affordable would include Penshurst (I was paying $400 for a full brick house, 2 bedrooms, quite large etc, 2 minutes walk from the station), Bankstown/Canterbury area ($400 a week for a 3 bedroom full brick house), and most places out west or down south. I've just moved into a brand new 4 bedroom house, for which i'm paying an arm and a leg - but my family and kids love it!

 

[fugawi]

We are paying around $350 pw for a 3 br brick house in Quakers Hill.
Here we go.......Sydney.........

First thing is Brissy is like a country town compared to Sydney and Melbourne. If you draw a semi circle from the harbour as the pivot point and use Penrith as the western part of the curve going to the sea north and south you will have between an hour to an hour and a half travelling time to the city (depending on traffic). There are various enclaves of races of people in certain areas of Sydney, there is a corridor from around Rockdale to Parramatta, south of Parramatta Rd, that has a high concentration of Middle Eastern (Lebanese predominately) people especially around Bankstown. Around the general Liverpool area is a large population of Vietnamese especially around Cabramatta. There is a long corridor between Parramatta to Penrith that has a bad reputation for the typical bogan aussie element. On the northern side of Sydney from the ocean to the mountains is known as the North Shore and is considered to be more "upper class" and you will see that in the rent prices. Beyond Penrith is the Blue Mountains and can be described as simply stunning with a national park the size of Belgium but can be cold in winter and can regularly get light snowfall. Sydney is a huge basin surrounded on three sides by mountainous bushland, meaning during summer, bushfires around the outskirts.
In conclusion.....the further from the CBD you are, the cheaper the rents (in general). Around the Parramatta to Blacktown distance from the CBD you should expect between the $3-400 pw for a 3 br standard house with an average yard (add $100 for the north shore areas Kellyville/Rouse Hill etc).

(P.S. I mean no offence towards people of Middle Eastern, Vietnamese or Bogan descent).