No I dont reckon people travel from Castkemaine to meklbourne. But the town is an example of a place where inner urban funcky city slickers are happy to live and find work. Many will work as architects, designers or it people who can work from home.
I could live there!
- Thread starter aussierogue
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When I bought my first house way back in 2002 I also could not afford to buy where I wanted to live so I purchased a 30 year old 3/1 on one of the busiest roads in one of the least desireable areas of Brisbane (Logan) for $83,000 with the thought that I would live in it for the requisite 12 months to get the FHOG and then move somewhere nicer. Well you know what I lived in that house for 4 years and during that time was able to buy 3 more properties. When I sold that house it had more than doubled in value and I could afford to live of the money while studying full time for 2 years. If I had just complained that I couldn't afford a house in my preferred area (Paddington/Bardon) I would still be working in a job I hated for a pretty low wage and living in a share house.
No one has a "right" to anything even affordable housing - you have to make sacrifices and choices and not expect to be given something for no effort or work on your own part.
Oh, and 8 years after buying that first house with a $million + protfolio I still can't afford to buy in the areas I want to live in
No one has a "right" to anything even affordable housing - you have to make sacrifices and choices and not expect to be given something for no effort or work on your own part.
Oh, and 8 years after buying that first house with a $million + protfolio I still can't afford to buy in the areas I want to live in
I have to agree/disagree here. We do have "rights" to some things in life, not necessarily tangible things like housing but (and here's the agree bit) we should not expect to be given something for nothing!
Hope you eventually get to buy in your dream area, especially as you've worked so (and with a $million portfolio to date) clearly, very hard for it! Best of luck Nat.
BB's when they bought their first house, which was much more "affordable", got it without, curtains, driveways, carpet, air conditioning, landscaping, theatre/family/rumpus rooms which have become the norm, and if you could buy a reasonable house you got all of 10-12 squares.
Slim
Let's add to this the lack of a FHOG and no stamps for your first AND the joy of 17.5% interest rates.
Our first home was the cheapest, dodgiest, nastiest, house, in need of a huge amount of TLC. It was located near a large Housing Commission area in Wollongong where the most affordable homes were. So much so, that the next to purchase it bulldozed it immediately. There was no way in the world that we could afford anywhere in Sydney at that time, so my Husband did the commute, sometimes leaving home at 4.00am to return at 6-7.00pm. All our furniture was in a VERY used, secondhand condition, and we lived with NO discretionary spending for quite a long while because the mortgage took up most of our salary.
These days we could afford to purchase somewhere a lot closer to the city, but I really prefer the suburbs. Less traffic, and friends and family are nearby. Of course, to go closer to the city we would need to liquidate some assets (or restructure somewhat) and I'm not willing to do this. Liquidating assets would somewhat reduce the cashflow, which we need for the next stage of life.
Sunbury is a great place to live.
We are Gen X with little kids, I wonder what their generation will be called?
Certainly at the school my daughter goes to, there seems to be a big push to improve on the Gen Y lot.
I like to think of Gen Y'ers renting from my kids one day. Or is that not the right thing to think? Some Gen Y'ers are good people, some aren't.
We are Gen X with little kids, I wonder what their generation will be called?
Certainly at the school my daughter goes to, there seems to be a big push to improve on the Gen Y lot.
I like to think of Gen Y'ers renting from my kids one day.
Or is that not the right thing to think? Some Gen Y'ers are good people, some aren't.
Castlemaine is more like 125km, and unlikely to have too many commuters to Melb CBD. Even the train is about 1.5hrs, and doesn't run too regularly.
However, go out the other side (east) and you'll see places like Drouin putting in "park and ride" terminals where people can get a V/Line train to the CBD in < 1hr. (OK, still need to allow a bit of time each end) You can get a 3br on nearly 900m[sup]2[/sup] for about $250k. Like this.
This is probably better value that Pakenham, where you need to catch a suburban train which stops at about 500 stations and is closer to 1.5hr.
There are also hundreds commuting from Geelong (75km) every day to Melbourne. And there's some very affordable property in the North/Western suburbs.
So I agree, there IS affordable housing - and within reasonable reach of the CBD if you want it.
Hence my use of the word "some" before the 100 km.
If you drive at law breaking speeds
and in a straight line, it's probably closer to the 105ish km mark. Although I would not recommend this....I stand corrected. And while not particularly regular, it looks like Vline trains from Pakenham (about 1hr) are quicker than from Drouin (more like 1.5hr). I'd been led to believe, from locals, that Drouin had expresses that were about 1hr.
Anyway... I didn't mean to antagonise - I'm actually agreeing with the OP (and others) that there are affordable properties within reach of the CBD.
My starting salary out of high school (trainee accountant) was $13k (1989). We bought our first home in 1996 for $146k (11 times), tiny weatherboard house near Parramatta NSW. Not our ideal location, and I had to sell my car to raise the deposit.
Graduate salaries for that job are now around $55k, median house price in Sydney is a something like $600k (11 times), so you could argue that all things are relative and the difference is 3 years of uni and a bit of sacrifice
So are you saying that from 89 - 96 your salary didn't change?
I find that very hard to believe, unless you have terrible negotiating skills.
With 7 years experience as an accountant I'd imagine in 96 that $146k house wasn't so expensive after all
So are you saying that from 89 - 96 your salary didn't change?
I find that very hard to believe, unless you have terrible negotiating skills.
With 7 years experience as an accountant I'd imagine in 96 that $146k house wasn't so expensive after all
Buying power has certainly diminished. A high school leaver could buy at 11x in his first year in the workforce, where as today it takes a university graduate to do that. It's the old story. You make money when you buy.
I'm assuming 96 prices and 89 prices are similar?
My starting salary out of high school (trainee accountant) was $13k (1989). We bought our first home in 1996 for $146k (11 times), tiny weatherboard house near Parramatta NSW. Not our ideal location, and I had to sell my car to raise the deposit.
Graduate salaries for that job are now around $55k, median house price in Sydney is a something like $600k (11 times), so you could argue that all things are relative and the difference is 3 years of uni and a bit of sacrifice
So it sounds like you had it pretty good geting a job straight out of high school. Too bad these days you need to sit through at least 3 years of uni and come out with a 20K debt to get to the same level that you were on.
I'm not too sure what point your making comparing your starting salary with house prices 7 years down the track. What about comparing what salary you were actually on when you bought the house?
