Moving to the Small Country Town (Victoria)

J

JulieW

I'm thinking of buying in a smallish country town both as IP and future PPOR for when I want a quieter more retired life. Perhaps an acre and house in a town with hospital, railway and not too far off the beaten track, and preferably near water - river, lake, resevoir, ocean.

Future capital growth is not an issue, but short to mid-term rentability is. It could be as simple as 60-80 k out of Melbourne, or 200k to a good community.

To date I've glanced at a few options North of Melbourne - Bachus Marsh, Daylesford etc, and also West - Wihchelsea, Colac surrounds.

Can I draw on the experience and opinions here on where you'd be planning or buying. Thanks
 
I have had similar thoughts to you.

I live in bayside Aspendale. We have got a beach and with kids activities its not always easy to get away.

I bought 6 months ago in Goughs Bay. Its on Lake Eildon near Mansfield (about 17 kms away) and its a 45 mins drive to the top of Mt Buller. Its bang in the High Country. Its only a 2.5hr drive from bayside melbourne via Eastlink and the Yarra Valley. I love it up there. There are things to do in summer and winter. Water skiing, fishing, wineries, Mansfield Zoo (even got a lion), motor bikes, bush walks, swim in the rivers, visit Jamieson etc.

I decided as I live near the beach and am a short drive to the peninsula and Philip Island etc why buy there. From the few people i have met so far, my neighbor out back is from Frankston/Mornington and my next door neighbor has a son in Aspendale.

I love the country feel that does not exist in the suburbs. Mansfield is the gateway to Mt Buller and has many cafes, bakeries, picture theatres etc. There are only about 1000 people in Mansfield byt due to the tourist nature of the place it has many facilities. I only bought 6 months ago and its been great.

I went to the local Retravision and the lady says she was an electrical engineer and had enough of the city, moved up there and loves it. Dont be surprised if the same happens to you she reckons.

I suppose buy something that is on your side of the city. To finance it, I am putting it on the holiday rental market.
 
Hello

I did this. Bought 4.5 years back, moved 3.5 years back into Heritage Home on large lot but not acreage.

I am also in the unusual situation where I still have business in Sydney which means I spend 50% of my time there and 50% at the Macedon Ranges, 80km North West from Melb. Very much a “sliding doors” lifestyle.

Here are my experiences that apply in most instances;

PROS

People are genuinely friendly, less stressed, more outgoing and less judgmental. You can drive an average family car and not feel like the neighbor with the BMW think less of you. People say hi or beep their car horn when they see you in the street. A first we thought they were hoons!

Getting into childcare is easy. No waiting. Great carers. FLEXIBLE days (Can we move from Monday to Tuesday this week? No Worries) Cheap around $65 a day before rebates etc...

Schools are very good (in our area). Talented, motivated teachers offering special programs like music and organic farming for free and at primary level. Excellent secondary private schools also cheap compared to City at $5k per year.

Transport Great. Roads - very good with Freeway to Melb. Trains - great, with fast rail in modern cars via V Line.

No racial violence/tension. OK, I am no racist but it is very obvious that there are no groups/gangs of youths from one country baiting another group from another Country because 100 years back, one invaded/insulted the other. The overall sense is we are Australians. Not XXXians living in Australia. This leads to:

Strong Community Focus. Get involved and make a difference to local footy club, CFA, Landcare, scouts, heritage society, etc.. Our town just opened a$1M children’s park from local efforts and funding (took 4 years).

Lots of things to do. Local fairs, fetes, farmers markets, concerts, festivals often with surprising quality.

Eating out is very good. Kin our area we have great cafes and restaurants. Also cheap and not booked out all the time (although booking availability is getting harder).

Parking is easy, free and untimed.

Crime is very low (if you discount speeding). You can leave items in your yard, full view and no one touches them.

Personal service. The local post office knows our box and if mail is addressed wrong we still get it. The bank staff knows us and don’t give us the official line and fix the bank glitches that always occur.

Shopping is good , we have one of everything and the essentials are there. Coles is 7 days till 10pm.

CONS

No1. It is Cold! Really cold, most of the year. A town with in ground gas is a bonus. Or like cutting wood like I do. My wife hates the cold. IF we were to move back for any reason – it would be the Cold. Heating bills higher.

No2. In summer, in some parts, it is Hot! Bloody Hot. A water cooled AC on the roof would be essential. We are not too bad being elevated.

No 3. Fire Risk. Some of the places you mentioned are official areas of “high fire” risk. Acreage is often your own water so fight at your own risk. After Back Saturday a few residents have sold out of the bush blocks unwilling to take the chance. We are in town so if we burn, the whole town burns, but still a possibility – that’s life, pack, leave and hope for the best when you come back.

You spend more $ on petrol. Double than you would in the city. Also more Kms on the car so more servicing, tyres etc.. Buy a diesel, manual.
Winter brings Black Ice – dangerous stuff and potentially fatal, be aware and drive AWD or 4WD car.

Income. Local jobs pay less than City and subject to your occupation, are harder to find. However there is a shortage of skilled workers especially Hospitality, Medical.

Hospitals do the basics but serious stuff means Melbourne/Bendigo/Ballarat. All risky C sections are Melb for instance.

Capital gains is less than the City in most cases. WHY? Locals don’t have the money to buy the $1M stuff. Homes $300 to $500k eagerly sought but over that figure and the buying pool reduces and prices stagnate.

“PKYB” or People Know Your Business. Not an issue for me but wife finds it a bit claustrophobic. It does not help we are 2913restoring 150 year old heritage Icon in the centre of town.

Getting reliable trades. Good one are really good and crap ones are really crap. Things don’t move fast re DA and services etc but I think this one is universal.

Rents are less than Purchase price. That is a $250k unit rents for $220 a week. Unlike the city.

Travel – if work means you/spouse travels then you will do more. I miss my family a lot being interstate.

Shopping, have to travel for all the big chains like Harvey Norman, Target, Big W and , for a renovators, Bunnings.

SUMMARY

Great Place to raise a family, make good friends and gear down. You will travel more and that can get your down. Cold but warm hearts.

Hope this helps, Peter
 
i would consider phillip island perhaps even Cowes this has a huge tourist population who do short term stays,
Can buy beachfront houses for 1 mil' plus or go just 4 or 5 blocks back for under 400k some new estates there to near golf courses,surf,tourist atractions.
i would think high rental yields could be possible plus the bonus of self use & possible capital gains.
Most people i know who visit from overseas or interste allways want to visit phillip island.
Best advice talk to the locals get a feel for the area then look at whats available if it appeals.
Good luck with the venture.
 
So much to choose from.

We are facing some choices too, where to settle down? There are so many places we love.

http://www.liveinvictoria.vic.gov.au/living-in-victoria/melbourne-and-regional-victoria

There is the mixture of regional cities and towns.

The Murray river places, (and a bit inland), which is getting further away from Melbourne, but beautiful in their own right.

Coastal Victoria, my favorite places along the Great Ocean Road, Sunday morning lazy breakfasts in Port Fairy, near Warrnambool. Apollo Bay, with her beautiful forests inland and not that far from Colac.

South east Victoria, which I mostly only have seen via photographs, parts of it look breathtaking.

Inland to places like near Grampians/Gariwerd National Park, her incredible vistas and never mind the 3 hour-ish drive to Melbourne:p

Central Victoria, the old gold mining settled cities, Ballarat and Bendigo, the smaller towns around them.

The bigger places have rail and bus networks, the smaller places may possibly only have buses, (eg to Melbourne).

What usually happens is the smaller towns utilise the bigger nearby towns and cities. It is the smaller towns that are more susceptible to population decline, although that is generalising, there are some bucking the trends, and never underestimate country people's grit and determination and innovative creativity.

Averaged out, growth per annum, (at least this last decade), is relatively steady, figures here:

http://www.thedatahotel.com.au/median house prices by suburb.pdf

I personally reccommend, if it is possible for you, doing the tour, take in as many places as possible, at your leisure, the ones you think you might be interested in and fit some of your preferred criteria. Thus seeing firsthand, it's a lot of fun.

The sense of community spirit, friendliness is generally pretty special.

The sunrises and sunsets are amazing. That is something that I did miss in Melbourne and Sydney, the clear night skies, and sky filled color of the rises and sunsets as far as the eye can see.

Some of the lakes in regional Victoria have been filled, because quite a bit of parts of the state has "piped water" now, the catchment areas are not stressed from channel filling system, so some water has been allocated for recreational usage which is an incredible affect and benefit to towns, so even where you think there may not be water nearby there possibly is a great big lake, complete with camping/rec/fishing facilites.

There is so much. We are having difficulty deciding too, so best wishes on your decision.

I think we will probably go for Grampians/Gariwerd area, and it's only within 2 hours to sea, plus 3 ish to Melbourne, but am thinking we will just get an apartment in Docklands area to hang out there as our fancy takes us. Multiple choices at whim.:)
 
Thank you everyone for some great ideas. I'm travelling Grampians, Hamilton, Colac, Melbourne over the Christmas break to have a look in that region and I'll try and take in the coastal area if I can.

I'm thinking a town block - I have security 'issues' about being off the beaten track, so a moderate size town with enough anonymity to go quietly about my gardening and chores would be nice.

I've live in the country before - about 5 years on a remote property (like a healthy grave I thought). One thing was indeed that everyone knew your business - as they say hide a tree in a forest. No matter what you become a topic of conversation in a small community.
 
JulieW said:
I'm thinking a town block - I have security 'issues' about being off the beaten track, so a moderate size town with enough anonymity to go quietly about my gardening and chores would be nice.
Click to expand...

We have (two) town blocks in a small town. It is a really, really nice place to live. Once you get out of town you start getting issues with school bus routes, unsealed roads, lack of broadband/water/power, bushfires ...

I think you need to go over about 50,000 people or REALLY keep to yourself to get that anonymity though :) I had a human male stashed away in my house for a year at one stage and people didn't believe me he was there, so there's the lengths you need to go to to keep that anonymity lol
 
Oh I like that Rumpled Elf. :)

Population over 50k gives Warrnambool, Sunbury, Bendigo, Ballarat, or Melton.
Not sure where the likes of Colac, Hamilton, Horsham etc fit.

I might shop down - a bit large city for me, although a satellite/suburb to any of those could be good I'd think.
 
JulieW said:
Oh I like that Rumpled Elf. :)

Population over 50k gives Warrnambool, Sunbury, Bendigo, Ballarat, or Melton.
Not sure where the likes of Colac, Hamilton, Horsham etc fit.

I might shop down - a bit large city for me, although a satellite/suburb to any of those could be good I'd think.
Click to expand...

Dont go the big cities. they are not Country , you miss out all the benefits. Simply live near by.

Here is a tip: Castlemaine, VIC. Have direct express train to Melb CBD in 1hr and very good roads. Nice heritage houses for not a lot yet. Only 30min to Bendigo. 1hr 20m by road to Melb.

Peter
 
My son did this about 8 years ago and could not be happier.

He purchased in Beaufort, about 47 kms from Ballarat, roughly half way between Ballarat and Ararat. It has a population around 1,000 but has a lot of passing traffic through to Adeliade, so is a thriving town.

It was originally a large town so has all the attractions and amenities, as in primary school, high school, golf club, bowling club, lake, caravan park, park, brass band, squash courts, hotels, railway, hospital, recreation centre but a very small population.

Prices are very low and everyone knows everyone. When I visit I am spoken to as soon as I walk down the main street. Once a year they have the Rainbow Festival which brings thousands of people into the town and generates a lot of income for the local businesses. Twice a year there is a steam rally at Lake Goldsmith, which is fantastic and brings people from all over the world.

It is cold in the winter and hot in the summer but that is normal in country Victoria. My son loves living there and although he works in Geelong and Ballarat, involving quite a lot of travel there is no way he would move.

Chris
 
JulieW:
although a satellite/suburb to any of those could be good I'd think.
Click to expand...

Beautiful idea, you get satellite smaller place benefits with accessibility to the bigger places.

Affordability can also be a differing factor then, although not so much with coastal.

What sort of house and size land parcel?

Apollo Bay: http://www.realestate.com.au/cgi-bi...er=&cc=&c=7876665&s=vic&snf=ras&tm=1261549382

This immaculately presented home offers all the space you need for permanent living and would also make a great investment property. The house is positioned at the front of a large allotment with the potential for a 2 lot sub-division (STCA). Positioned in the very popular town centre area of Apollo Bay, living here you will be close to the school, shops, beach and all other amenities. The properties main features include:
* 3 bedrooms
* Large open living area and kitchen
* An undercover outdoor entertaining room & east-facing deck to catch the morning sun
Click to expand...

Axedale: (Not far out of Bendigo, nor Melbourne): http://www.realestate.com.au/cgi-bi...r=&cc=&c=44023288&s=vic&snf=ras&tm=1261549596

Horsham: Which is getting closer to 3 hours by road to Melbourne, but smaller regional city, this house not far from the beautiful Wimmera River, Grampians/Gariwerd Park, have no troubles renting a nice IP like this until ready to do your thing:

http://www.realestate.com.au/cgi-bi...r=&cc=&c=95607289&s=vic&snf=ras&tm=1261550005

The Castlemaines, Horshams Apollo Bays, etc are big enough and small enough to do anonimity to a degree.

Killarney: Between Port Fairy and Warrnambool, beautiful little spot, used to be potato and dairy block farms, I might be getting a bit grand here, you may want smaller size, less price:

http://www.realestate.com.au/cgi-bi...r=&cc=&c=53629120&s=vic&snf=ras&tm=1261550337

Port Fairy:http://www.realestate.com.au/cgi-bi...r=&cc=&c=90481357&s=vic&snf=ras&tm=1261550550

The Pea Soup they refer to is the one of two beaches at Port Fairy, the other beach is more waves and surf, the Pea Soup is rockier in places, more protected, clear, no rips like the other beach, I have photos if you want. This place "appears" to be relatively good value, not sure why, can't place the place by memory.

Hall's Gap:In the Grampians, so you are (reasonably) close to Stawell, Ararat, Pyrenees, Avoca, Horsham, Beaufort, Ballarat, 120k'sish to Bendigo, aboutish 2 hrs 50 mins to Melbourne...you wake up and have breakfast with birds and sweet animals, look at the mountains, plenty of waterfalls and lookouts around, Lakes..nature bush walks to whatever degree of difficulty you choose, parks, gardens, fires do hit hard if they go through is a negative though.

http://www.realestate.com.au/cgi-bi...bed=&maxbed=&parking=&minlandsize=&o=def&p=30

There are so many places. If you venture up around the Wimmera area, eg Horsham, if I am around, I'm happy to show you around as much as I know. Or the Wimmera Mallee region in general.
 
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....and one other little place I adore in the southwest is Port Campbell.:):D

By the coast, it reminds me of the quaintness of a Port Douglas (FNQ), BEFORE it was all commercialised. Not that Port Campbell will likely get that big, it just doesn't have the climate (nor GBR).

Realestate: http://www.realestate.com.au/cgi-bi...=0&fmt=&header=&c=6492844&s=vic&tm=1261601491

A little info: http://www.visitvictoria.com/displayobject.cfm/objectid.0002B6C4-7CEA-1A5E-88CD80C476A90318/

It ..(and the region) is well worth a visit, wonderful countryside, people, dining, take the camera and plenty to do and play via the water.

Reasonable distance to bigger places. I enjoy it out of touristy season.

It is near coastal beauty.
 
Thank you Our Obsession - very generous and wonderful post thanks (and other posters too - this is why I love Somersoft - people are so generous with sharings).

You've given me a giant deal of food for thought. My previous country residence was just our of Colac and so I'm familiar with a lot of the Great Ocean Road destinations. As you say a delightful area.

I tend to see Australia as a giant desert island with some lush coastal areas, and despite inland settlement, the inner is still inhospitable lving and the coastal areas, although they have challenges are still the place to be. I love the idea of doing some spearfishing again so Port Campbell (which wasn't on my radar thanks!) is a good suggestion. I love the coast down that way.

A few major minuses at Apollo Bay from my experience so I'd stay a bit further from there. The Otways, as beautiful as it is, is a good place to build a subterranean house, such is its bushfire and flooding potentials. (It hasn't burned for more than 50 years (skipped Ash Wednesday in a lot of parts) and from experience, a hot northerly and anywhere in those forests is a scary place to be. When that drought broke, a friend's farm almost washed down the mountain with 24 inches of rain falling over 24 hours. Took him weeks to repair some of the damage.

Axedale on the Campaspe River and near Bendigo sounds like a nice option too, although Warrnambool perhaps appeals more. Ahh so much more travelling to do and I'll keep your offer on my list! Thank you for the eye opener again. Much food for thought.
 
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