I am in the same position. Looking to buy a first PPOR (and property for that matter) under 400k. I am looking for a 2bd townhouse and started looking in Mt Lawley which has townhouses for about 430ish, so a little high for me.
I wanted to keep it under 400k to keep the debt manageable and also to get the extra 2k grant.
I've since looked at Maylands and whilst quite different to Mt Lawley (less old heritage houses with nice european cars and soccer mums), it looks quite nice from the outside. I've only really walked around the west side of maylands closer to Beaufort st so unsure of what the river side is like.
Im looking for a place close to the airport (I work FIFO) and somewhere which I can fix up (I did lots of renovations in our family home). Would you go Maylands or Vic Park for capital gains?
edit: I've just looked at Rivervale and that is even cheaper....Any thoughts on that area?
I like the prospects of rivervale, check out "the springs" development that is currently underway. This will lift the area but there needs to be better links to the river across great eastern hwy. Especially since they are now also widening the hwy to the airport (pros and cons for the area I guess).
Like all suburbs there's good and bad bits... I think the south western corner of rivervale is probably the good bit.
Also there's a burswood/belmont area master plan around somewhere which details massive changes for that entire area.