1.2m PPOR Inner West SYD

You'll be surprised what you may unearth if you make offers on properties with expectations between $1.2-1.4m.

Inspect everything 24/7 with that sort of price guide and tell the agents you're finance approved and ready to go (ensure you are). Then sign a contract with your offer and hand it to them. Trust me, this is the market to do it.

I'm more of a city guy so no, places further out are not for me. Townhouse ok but I still prefer a small house/semi. No limits on what you can do, strata levies, annoying owners in the lock etc. I started out buying apartments and once I snared my first house, its been houses ever since.

 

Thanks Lacrim, I like this approach. We're very much city people too, enough to let the charm of the inner west hold us prisoner... If you (or anyone else!) have any other advice, I'm all ears.

 

Why no love for Ashfield? This place sold for $1.27m recently.
Take a look at this property on www.domain.com.au:

CHARMING FREESTANDING COTTAGE
8 Margaret Street, Ashfield

Sold 8 Margaret Street, Ashfield NSW 2131 on 04 Jul 2020 - 2016300899 | Domain

 

That screens $1.2m+ to me!



I'm glad other people like the area, but as I said before, I just don't get it.

 

It was a very poorly lit property but nothing a renovation couldn't solve. I saw it in March so it was in the market for a while. The guide was 1.3-1.4 m back then.

 

Also, only skinny people can shower/bathe!

 

Super convenient to access the whole of Sydney from. Train station. Good value for families. Diversity. All socioeconomic classes. Good primary schools. Decent shopping centre. Good parks. Lots of reasons. But not for everyone I suppose.

 

Yeah I checked it out too. I was annoyed when the price guide went from $1.2m to $1.4. I gave up because of that, but should have stuck to it. A fair bit of renos required to get light in, open the space up etc. But doable, of course. I also got put off by some really loud neighbouring dogs barking like crazy, which weren’t around at the inspection time funny enough!

 

Very cute house! Pretty much what we're looking for. I guess we would still need to save more or go for a lower LVR

Less love for Ashfield as both partner and I worked there a couple years ago and didn't love the main street area. There were also some dodgy incidents that happened to co-workers in the evening which turned us off more...

Curious what kind of renos for more light? skylights?

 

Earlwood is great. Us Marrickville people rarely venture across the river, but when I do I like it. It's a hilly suburb so there are some great views. And lots of houses have interesting backyards with rock walls. The shopping strip is pretty good, too. I bet the prices for similar properties are about $200K less than in Marrickville where $1.4m is the starting price for a house in any condition.
Scott

 

I was just going to live in the dungeon until I could afford to build a second story on top bathed in natural light. Otherwise yes, possibly skylights and also trim the front hedge which blocks most of the afternoon sun.

 

Do they have hills on their other side of the harbour?

 

Yeah I'm keeping an eye out for the streets near the river that are still walkable to Dulwich and Hurlstone station. It seems like a very tightly held... very few listings for the size of the suburb!

 

I wouldn't call Ashfield diverse. There's a certain type of diversity there. Good primary schools is subjective, mostly are private and cater to certain religious types. Shopping centre? most people overlook Ashfield mall for the right reasons, there's Burwood Westfield. The suburb is questionable in terms of cleanliness. Ashfield is an overpriced, over-glorified Campsie sharing many overpopulated, slum characteristics.

 

What's people's view of St Peters? Looks like there might be some nice pockets close to Sydney Park and away from the industrial side of Sydenham? Any insights?

 

At Ashfield Public School, 75% of students enrolled at the school are from a non–English speaking background with 44 language backgrounds
including ABORIGINAL ENGLISH, AFRIKAANS, AKAN, ARABIC, BENGALI, CANTONESE, CHINESE, CZECH,
DUTCH, FILIPINO, FRENCH, GEORGIAN, GERMAN, GREEK, GUJARATI, HINDI, HUNGARIAN, ILOKANO,
INDONESIAN, IRANIC, ITALIAN, JAPANESE, KANNADA, KONKANI, KOREAN, MALAY, MALAYALAM, MANDARIN,
MAORI COOK ISLAND, MARATHI, MONGOLIAN, NEPALI, PERSIAN, PIDGIN, POLISH, PORTUGUESE, PUNJABI,
RUSSIAN, SERBIAN, SINDHI, SINHALESE, SPANISH, SWEDISH, TAGALOG, TAMIL, TELUGU, THAI, TONGAN,
TURKISH, URDU and VIETNAMESE.
What kind of diversity would you describe this as? If you don’t think this is diversity I’d love to hear your definition of diversity!

I know of parents with children who attend Ashfield PS, Haberfield PS, Croydon PS, Summer Hill PS and Ashbury PS. All very good feedback on these public schools. You’ll always get a few outliers of disgruntled parents, as you do in all areas of life. But overall, these are good public schools I’d be happy to send any of my children to.

Ashfield Mall has an Aldi, Woolies, Coles, Tongli and Kmart. Free three hour rooftop parking, easily accessible. It attracts grocery shoppers not the hoards, relatively stress free shopping.

Cleanliness can be improved, sure. Yes, it’s overpriced. So yeah, everyone should stay away, so I can buy a house there lols!!!

 

Sydney Park is great, and they keep making it better it seems. I have family living on Amy St. The streets are very narrow and it can be difficult to get a park, but the walkability score is tops!

 

If you are comfortable with a bit of airplane noise, it is great. Also pockets closer to Sydenham are good as they will be getting the Metro there.

 

I think Amy St is considered Erskineville, which comes with a higher price tag unfortunately. Definitely nice pocket around there!

I don't really understand this, as the streets closer to Sydenham mean that it's between the two station and therefore less walkable to either of them. Also means further from accessing Sydney Park and King St. Am I missing something?

I also know there are a number of streets sitting above tunnels - anyone know of any evidence on whether this is an issue with living there at all?

 

Yes sorry, I think you’re right about Amy St area being more Erskineville.

We’ve parked in that triangle directly to the left of Sydney Park south of St Peters station before and I thought some of the houses there were very cute. Sort of mixed in with some old industrial kinds of buildings.

Not sure about tunnels and planes etc. Maybe go for walks around the area to try and suss it out a bit more.