Help with Melbourne Suburbs!

[tarlyn]

Some background....my wife is Australian and we have 3 boys together....11, 7, & 6.

We have been living in the US for the last 11 or so years and are moving back to Australia in July.....will be spending 2-3 months with her parents in Swan Hill while we wait for our stuff to arrive and then are looking for a suburb to live.

General things we are looking for is a 4 bedroom house to rent for $350/week or under which from what I can tell limits use to mostly the outer suburbs. Other things looking for are suburbs with a train station close as we most likely wont have a car for possibly the first year. A safe neighborhood and good schools would also be great.

From the info I can look up online we have a short list but are open to other suburbs if they fit what we are looking for.

Pakenham (currently our favorite)
Epping
Craigieburn
Frankston

Currently I work from home as a consultant and it sounds like I will be able to keep the job once I move so commute into the city not a huge issue as I can take time to find the right opportunity within a reasonable distance from wherever we decide to settle in.

Any help especially regarding schools and safety of the above neighborhoods or any others you think we should look into please let me know!

[Jayceee]

Hi Tarlyn,

All four suburbs you list are on the train lines, Pakenham and Frankston are the best ones in my opinion, but thats not to say the other two are not good suburbs.

Pakenham is a really nice place, semi rural. As one of Melbourne's growth corridor suburbs the newer areas can lack services. The older parts are close to the railway line and are more established so try and stick to them.

Frankston is a bayside suburb so it's close to some really great beaches.

Areas of Frankston will be the first in Melbourne to be connected to NBN (Optic Fibre) network later this year, so thats ideal for working from home.

http://www.nbnco.com.au

Frankston has an unfair, in my opinion, reputation of being a "Bogan" suburb but I lived there when I first arrived and it's fine.

http://thingsboganslike.com/about/

Melbourne's train network is overloaded and struggling due to decades of failure to plan ahead by successive governments of all political persuasions. The trains are overcrowded and as the network is at peak capacity minor issues cause delays and disruptions they wouldn't otherwise.

Melbourne train commuters are battled hardened and weary troopers, a cynical lot who've seen it all before and who take it in their stride, and there is a great camaraderie amongst them. Be prepared to stand for most of the one hour ride home to all four suburbs you mention.

For info on schools check out www.myschool.edu.au it's not designed to be a league table, it's designed to compare statistically comparative schools so it's important to look at the Socio economic data of schools you're comparing. If you don't you're not comparing Apples to Apples

Jaycee

[tarlyn]

Originally Posted by Jayceee

Hi Tarlyn,

All four suburbs you list are on the train lines, Pakenham and Frankston are the best ones in my opinion, but thats not to say the other two are not good suburbs.

Pakenham is a really nice place, semi rural. As one of Melbourne's growth corridor suburbs the newer areas can lack services. The older parts are close to the railway line and are more established so try and stick to them.

Frankston is a bayside suburb so it's close to some really great beaches.

Areas of Frankston will be the first in Melbourne to be connected to NBN (Optic Fibre) network later this year, so thats ideal for working from home.

NBN Co - Home page

Frankston has an unfair, in my opinion, reputation of being a "Bogan" suburb but I lived there when I first arrived and it's fine.

What is a Bogan Today? « Things Bogans Like

Melbourne's train network is overloaded and struggling due to decades of failure to plan ahead by successive governments of all political persuasions. The trains are overcrowded and as the network is at peak capacity minor issues cause delays and disruptions they wouldn't otherwise.

Melbourne train commuters are battled hardened and weary troopers, a cynical lot who've seen it all before and who take it in their stride, and there is a great camaraderie amongst them. Be prepared to stand for most of the one hour ride home to all four suburbs you mention.

For info on schools check out My School Home | ACARA it's not designed to be a league table, it's designed to compare statistically comparative schools so it's important to look at the Socio economic data of schools you're comparing. If you don't you're not comparing Apples to Apples

Jaycee

Thanks for that......great to hear about Frankston and the internet as we do love us some fast internet.....have about 30 down right which is awesome.

I had also heard about the Frankston reputation but also heard that like most other suburbs you have to figure out the good parts from the bad parts. We are not really the type of people that freak out if a group of teenagers are hanging out at the train station like many are.

I think I was on that edu website as it listed a bunch of statistics for schools....guess I gotta dig into it a bit more.

[shussel]

Hi there,
Can't help personally with these suburbs but here are some useful links to read more and research suburb profiles:
Moving to Sydney Melbourne Brisbane Adelaide Perth? Find where to live cityhobo.com - Home
Melbournism – find the best and worst of anything in Melbourne and surrounding suburbs
Myboot ? Australia?s suburb profiles, crime rates, free business listing, online classifieds ads

All the best with your plans.