Young couple about to have kids what should they take into account re buying ppor

[motivated 5555]

A young couple about to have kids are buying a house and asked me re Melbourne suburbs eg cheltenham bentleigh Glenhuntly gardenvale .

What are other things they should know about pls re areas or choosing a house or re buying process

I've mentioned that it's wonderful to be in walking distance of the kids school so to think about that

Convenient to park and supermarket

How close does she want to live near a sibling she's close to that kids can play go to park swimming shop together .
How do we find out about flooding history of that street as in floods in was it February this year some streets were known to be in flood catchments . How do we find this out and what else should be researched

I've mentioned building and Pest reports
And ways to put in offers with conditions and time limits
Ways to compare value in that area

What other things would help them to choose a home they will b happy with long term but is in their price range

Any other suburbs they could look at ? They don't want to be too far from relatives who live around Elwood .

 

[Rolf Latham]

Separate but topical, make sure they can afford the break they will be having

ta
rolf

 

[BuildingBlocks]

And that they will be able to afford it on the one income ...at least for a while.

 

[motivated 5555]

That's such a good point as redundancies are common these days and he already experienced one . Her income wouldn't support them .

A different friend became redundant this week and they assured they could easilly pay mortgage on one income before buying their ppor . The wife of my friend who just became redundant took on more days and as an accountant is possibly on a good income so they are ok .

I've mentioned they can rent it out for a year to pay for it . I think they feel very cramped where they are though but they could also rent out where they are which they own to help pay for it .

 

[RumpledElf]

We've ticked all the boxes here and loving it.

Location:
- Walking distance to a good school
- Walking distance to parks, bike riding trails, creeks full of yabbies and ducks and tadpoles and stuff
- Walking distance to supermarket (not that we walk that often - too hard to get baby + toddler + shopping home, but the elder kid does)
- Several of the oldest kid's friends within 2 streets so she regularly wanders off to play
- Community that is so nice it is sometimes hard to grasp

House:
- Big laundry or other space to park the pram
- Some way to get into the house with a pram, ie not steep steps
- More than one separate toilet.
- One bedroom per prospective child or, like we just had for the last year, you may be destined to share a room with a baby that refuses to sleep and not have a good night's sleep EVER. Now he has his own room he magically sleeps all night, go figure. This obviously depends on the baby, we have the worst case scenario model here. Actually, two of them.
- Overhead cupboards in the kitchen and high cupboards in the laundry for breakables/poisons
- Decent sized yard with a fence

That's about it really, we just built a house specifically for us and 3 kiddies, no complains so far

 

[devank]

- you may be destined to share a room with a baby that refuses to sleep and not have a good night's sleep EVER.

That sounds like me now!

Here is my list of things in a house to have:
1. timber flooring – Easy to keep it clean, not too cold and it doesn’t hurt much when they fall. It is a good balance between carpet and tiles.

2. Bath room next to where the baby is – Quick transfer from bath to room without exposing them to cold. Easier to keep the nappy bin. Easier to wash hands while they can still see/hear you.

3. Secure doors, gates and fence. Secure windows if it is double story.

4. Landing area if it has staircase. At least they will fall only half way

5. Clean bath tub. Wide vanity so that you can keep them on it and wash them. Single tap for hot&cold.

 

[RumpledElf]

Here is my list of things in a house to have:

Hehehe we have all those too - except the yard part, which is currently just unfenced mud. Will get onto that ... later. Can't have everything at once!

We thought long and hard about this house before we built it and it shows. Mud notwithstanding, we're very happy with the end result

 

[ldriver]

-convenient to public transport so the kids can move themselves around when they get older
- school zoning if there are 'special' schools in the area- though you never know if the zoning will move.