Need help for buying house !

Hi !phone

I can give you my perspective on point cook as I’ve lived here for 5 years now. We bought land in point cook in 2003 and finished building the house and moved here in 2005. In 2005 there was nothing around our estate, it really felt like a frontier town. The land was dusty and no landscaping had been done by the developer yet, we had to use the facilities in sanctuary lakes (which in all honesty is not far). Now, 5 years later the transformation has taken shape and its pretty nice here. The point cook town centre is great, I like the design in a sense that it’s not just a big box with shops in it but has streets and alleys going through it. There’s a restaurant / café strip in there somewhere as well. There are new schools around and the kids look pretty smart in their uniforms (looks can be deceiving I guess). Lots of soccer mums in X5s, Q7s and Lexus 4x4. In general the area feels much more established.

Now the bad stuff. Traffic is fudged. It used to take me 40mins in peak hour to get to port Melbourne (circa 2007). Now, I have no idea as I leave a lot earlier to try beat the traffic but even at 6.30am it starts building at the point cook bend and slow from Ring Road merge all the way across the bridge. There are still hoons around here, they mostly come out at night, mostly. I have a theory that its riff raff from Werribee that come here as the roads are newer and there are some twisty back roads that are ‘fun’ to drive fast on. Can’t think of much else that’s bad, oh yeah no ADSL2… that’s about it. Traffic is the biggest problem but I guess it’s the price we pay for progress.

I like point cook a lot more than altona meadows, especially for PPOR purposes. I guess its bias coming through but maybe not. It feels a lot ‘richer’ driving through point cook and its estates seeing new mcmansions with BMWs/ Mercs/ Audis in drive ways then driving down Queen street in altona meadows, although this is the only side of altona meadows I see as I only take that road when I’m around there.

Hope that helped

Cheers

P.S. waiting for pro altona meadow members for rebuttal (did I spell that right?)
 
zed_kid said:
P.S. waiting for pro altona meadow members for rebuttal (did I spell that right?)
Click to expand...

No rubuttal from me, you obviously know Point Cook quite well. I will however say, that I wouldn't judge Altona Meadows based on just driving down Queen Street. I got to know the area fairly well recently, although not as in depth as someone who lives in the area. My feeling was that north of Queen Street is a bit rougher and older homes, but go south and it's quite nice. Take a drive down Markham Way and tell me Altona Meadows doesn't have any wealth or McMansions. :)

As a PPOR you have to go with what you prefer, you need to visit the areas yourself. As an IP I do prefer Altona Meadows for reasons I have already mentioned in this thread.
 
Lots of chinese in Box hill area. For 400-550k try East Doncaster, Mitcham, Blackburn North, East Burwood or Nunawading. Good / huge asian communities in these areas.
 
Hey Biggles,

Yep I agree that for IPs Altona Meadows is better just due to stuff like land scarcity, older / bigger blocks, train station and proximity to city and water. And that’s just looking at the surface with no in-depth analysis.

Biggles said:
My feeling was that north of Queen Street is a bit rougher and older homes, but go south and it's quite nice.
Click to expand...

But south of Queen St is Point Cook, can you see the correlation there? Hehe only kidding. Congrats on the IP by the way, I wish I had money in 2007 to buy in there… oh well.
 
zed_kid said:
But south of Queen St is Point Cook, can you see the correlation there? Hehe only kidding.
Click to expand...

Not really, Point Cook is SW? To the NE you have Altona and isn't that more expensive than Point Cook? :p :)

Congrats on the IP by the way, I wish I had money in 2007 to buy in there… oh well.
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Yeah, I wish I bought back in 2007 too, would have saved a bit! Oh well, it appears to have had fairly steady growth over a long period. Hopefully in the long term that will continue. Not too many places left you can buy a reasonable 3 bedroom house under $400K about 20km to CBD and up the road from the beach.
 
Thanks zed_kid, biggles.... :)
Definitely Altona Meadows is attractive but will look around more to get to know the area better to see if it suits us.....
 
aussierogue said:
Lots of chinese in Box hill area. For 400-550k try East Doncaster, Mitcham, Blackburn North, East Burwood or Nunawading. Good / huge asian communities in these areas.
Click to expand...

East Doncaster, Blacky North, East Burwood won't meet the original poster's train criterea.

The Y-man
 
aussierogue said:
Lots of chinese in Box hill area. For 400-550k try East Doncaster, Mitcham, Blackburn North, East Burwood or Nunawading. Good / huge asian communities in these areas.
Click to expand...
I live in Mitcham and maybe 3 years ago you could pick up a 3 bdr house with a single garage for b/w $400-550k but not today unless you go for a unit or very compact dual occ.
This place sold for $655k http://www.realestate.com.au/property-house-vic-mitcham-106482732
and this one for $605k http://www.realestate.com.au/property-house-vic-mitcham-106467983
Even Nunawading which is slightly cheaper than Mitcham is going to be right at the top of the range.
A better bet would probably be Croydon or Boronia/Bayswater.
 
thanks for the report

Lady.J said:
Hi Guys,

I asked my Fiance to write a report for us. Here it is ! :p
your comments will be welcome !

Sorry it is a bit long ! :D

------------
I grew up in the south-east. Mulgave to be exact. Although my parents have given me the impression of the West is bad throughout my life, I visited Altona Meadows to have a good walk around with a totally clear mind.

I left work at about 6:20pm from St Kilda road was pleasently surprised by how long it only too about 35mins in medium level traffic. Would be totally awesome in non peak traffic On the freeway, smelt the familiar rotten smell in two sections of the freeway before turning off at Altona. Drove past those petro-chemical plant(s). Reached Altona beach front, was surprised by the night time view across the bay. (First time I saw in my life) Then on to the drive to Altona Meadows 5 mins down the road *bonus*. Was driving South of Central Ave, saw someone walking the dog on the road. Thought what the.. why are they walking on the road? Parked at Macneil Dr and went for a walk south. Found out reason for people walking on the road, not all footpaths have been installed? most streets have footpaths just on one side of the road for this part of the area.

Noticed in this part of Altona Meadows alot of kind of on the kind of small (not too small) houses mixed up with some decent sized ones. Looks
like the house styles from probably the late 80's early 90's? Saw Waratah Dr, I got a surprise. How come theres all these McMansions here? Pretty much one next to another. I guess these were built around early 2000? Must have been very cheap land at the time to have that ability. Constantly I was smelling the air for any hint of factory airfluent. I smelt something that wasn't fresh but it wasn't the expected Altona factory smell. I thought to myself, it smells like Country China where every house burns a wood fire for heating & cooking.. Thats when I looked up at a McMansion, ohh I saw a wood heater chimey.. Then I looked at the next McMansion and the next with them.. hought to myself its the wood burning off. even a few non McMansions had wood heaters. In my part of the east theres just the odd few people that have these. I thought probably not good for asthma suffers. It was a still windless night so thats understandable.

Walked back to my car along side a park, was surprised to see Sanctuary Lakes on the other side. I saw airfluent in the distance being produced
by Laverton factories (to take a guess).. This made me a little worried for air quality. Thought to myself, oh poor Laventon ppl if they have to put up with that.

Hoped back into car went to older part of Altona Meadows closer to the north end. Hoped out of car at Powlett St.. Was surprised to see the same type of houses I grew up with. I was very happy to see this style. I guess these were built in the late 70's ? I thought great this is what style I like the most. Then I listened and heard the freeway noise. Sounded pretty loud. I thought I was far enough from the freeway but I guess in the West it doesnt have a good enough sound proofing as the East side freeways do. I live the same distance from the South-Eastern free way and in the East I can only hear a faint background noise its low enough to forget about it unless you listen for it.. East link is even better, it just sounds like a light swooooossh even when your next to it at some parts, well for at least my area. So I drove to Talbot St and listened again.. ahh a little better, buildings in front helping to block the noise. ?Looked at the people walking the street. Seems average families and a few rough looking people whom are not so bad. Forgot I was in the West while looking around. Above Queen St and Central Ave, can see graffiti tags on alot of signs, fire hydrants. In the newer areas these were absent.

Overall I can see the appeal of this suburb for people who grew up on the west. Seems like a very family orientated suburb and a great place for first home buyers to get their foot in the door especially if your accustomed with living in the Western Suburbs. As for me born in the East it was okay, but Im a little worried about the air quality. I felt a little sick on the way back home, I know it was from the air but I wouldnt think Altona Meadows has a problem like that. factory along the freeway perhaps To me the older style houses in the South East part of Altona Meadows appeals to me for the older style and distance far away from the freeway which should be quieter.
I would be nervous about air quality. Not sure if the area is affected by any airfluent from Laverton? but I felt a bit sick on the way home from the air I breathed from somewhere. Maybe probably from the freeway drive passing factories there.

Altona Meadows is great for affordability and close drive to the city, but for myself for a PPOR I would prefer to buy within the southeast somewhere within an area that has a slightly tarnished reputation and try to find a good pocketed area within there. I think it has more to do with knowing surrounding distance suburb areas are more environmentally cleaner. Well those McMansions seem appealling but thats crazy big places.

Above all I see this suburb a good choice for IP for sure. Just make sure its close to the station.

After that went to see Point Cook, seems nice suburb but doesnt really have charactor.. Has a generic feeling to it. All those houses seem the samedesign that I guess thats why plus its still developing.. Looks more better planned than Altona Meadows in regards to the newer part of that suburb. Maybe coz I saw more completed footpaths :)

---End
Click to expand...

Great report, thanks for taking the time. I actually live on Waratah Drive in one of those McMansions. We bought our block in 2000 for $75,000, friends who own vacant blocks on Waratah, (only a couple left) have been offered more than $400,000 for them, so not a bad investment I guess. At the time we bought our block we also looked at Sanctuary Lakes, the blocks at Sactuary Lakes were 40% more expensive than for similar block in our estate, now you would pay more for a block on our side of the creek. We love it here, and I actually enjoy the smell of the wood fires. We have had ducks and frogs in our pool, and many blue tongue lizards in our backyard, as we back on to a bird life reserve. Just have to watch out for tiger snakes, all our surrounding neighbours have had them visit, so far we have been lucky.
If you come over our way again drive through the Altona Bay area of Altona Meadows Tatman Drive/ Pollywoodside drive etc. Curvy roads, interesting street scapes, quaint liittle courts, all backing on to Cheetham Wetlands and bush, and all tightly held as it is a secret and special area. You have to visit the 100 steps of federation, I think its the best view of Port Phillip bay in Melbourne, panoramic. Lots of great retro houses in Altona Bay, love it, and it's just getting better.
 
hercules500bc said:
It is quite clear to me that people who criticise mcmansions are the ones who cant afford to build them or buy them !!!!!
Click to expand...

Who's criticising them? But since you mentioned it...

Would I live in one? Nope!
Am I jealous? Nope!
Do I prefer my 55sqm of living space by the beach and city? Yep!

:p
 
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