NSW House in Kellyville vs. Apartment in Epping

Agree on the M2 comment. That's a really good service. Other parts with the views in North Rocks you could consider taking a bus to Parramatta and then a train onto the city.

 

The OP can consider this house below. It would suit their kids school needs and closer to city than Kellyville:

5/3 Elabana Crescent, Castle Hill NSW 2154 - Townhouse For Sale | Domain

 

Be ambitious.

Syndey is tanking. You might not be able to get the right house now....but that doesn't mean it won't be a possibility in six months time.

Get organised and grab yourself a bargain.

 

Don't give up hope @Never giveup as it's certainly possible to buy freestanding houses in the Northmead/Parra end of North Rocks - they'll be compromised in some way either position-wise (main road or near high tension power lines) or via condition (nothing a good reno and $$$ can't fix) but it really comes down to your essential criteria and where you'll willing to compromise. Keep on top of the market, contact agents and even try some canvassing for private sellers. You might also want to consider nearby suburbs including Northmead, Winston Hills, Old Toongabbie etc. Best of luck with your impending purchase

 

Agree, with above. Look at Winston Hills.
m2 access, short drive to Parramatta, Castle Hills etc

 

Shortlisted 1 in North Ricks and 1 in Winston Hills. From the quality point of view Winston hill property won as it ticked nearly all boxes and made an offer but got rejected and vendor dropped the price and after another open home accepted someone else offer.

I was shocked that RE agent didn't try to generate competition and there wasn't much negotiation happened.

 

be upfront with the agent - you need this address for the school catchment, will pay a one-off fee, say 5k for all the hassle. Landlord will most likely say yes, or if not then find another, too many to choose. Will let you use address for bills / drivers licence change / electoral roll etc whatever the school requires. Will produce 18mo lease agreement to show the school. Landlord then gets to rent it to someone else, your kid gets into the right school, everyone's happy.

 

Hi Jacque

My niece has gone with the let’s rent a while and see what happens , but part of that relates to where they buy . He likes freshwater / manly , but she’s concerned about travelling to work from there .

I’m not watching the Sydney market at the moment , so i’m wondering how you’re finding it . Are you seeing any highly motivated sellers at this stage or new units failing to complete then selling well below original asking price ?

Cliff

 

Well.... if you think of it in another way, it is fraud and you are then making the school then take 1 or more less actual locals.....
@ymmf's post is also similar though. What do people's consciences say?

 

Not sure when you’re kids become high school age but prices in Epping are in a big downtrend at present. Maybe reant for a few years and you can then probably buy a house in Epping in your budget.

 

why are locals more deserving though? if someone wants to get into that particular school badly enough to jump through all these hoops, perhaps he/she is more deserving

 

Then why not actually live in the property?

At my sister's primary school the teacher (year 3) set the kids a homework task saying what is their route home.

And by the time kids are actually in high school, the kids will all know that the school only takes students living in a certain area. And think about transport to and from school. Is there a practical way? Other students will learn that you don't live in the area if your train or bus ride is a lot more substantial than everybody else's.

 

other kids / staff knowing the kid doesn't live in the area isn't an issue - lots of people move homes every few years, schools won't kick out a student if they no longer meet the geography requirements.

as for why not live there - certianly that's a choice, but what if the family is more comfortable staying where they are? in any case, while the school might not like it, it's a way in for those who want it.

I've actually given this heaps of thought. If my 2 girls are too dumb to make it into a decent selective, the next choice is private school, but then there's always this alternative to consider (e.g. getting them into Cheltenham if the school is still decent in 10 years). Gotta plan ahead...

 

Not getting into selective does not mean "dumb"

 

sorry didnt mean to offend, just my shorthand way of expressing the notion that if they didn't make it in. Consider me mildly autistic lol.

 

Disregard which school your girls get into later on I'm sure you'll educate them about financial literacy upfront and early, which to me is way more important than whichever school they end up get into

Unfortunately our current education system only teaches us on how to become a good worker but not about how to take care of our own finances....

But I'll shut up now so we can get back onto the topic.

Cheers,
David

 

But this is my understanding. You suggested that they don't ever even live in the catchment area. You suggested to use someone else's address to get your utilities/electoral roll name under so your kids can get into school here. I see you could bribe a local real estate agent. Hello.....

That's a huge worry. You will have the right to vote in my local elections even though you don't live here? Your votes wont represent the local people.
Hence I'd think of this as a huge fraud.

Good thing I don't really know who you are....

 

We've met before. Anyway you can worry about it. I don't think it's a big deal, I'm sure it happens quite often. If I end up doing something like this I wouldn't be wasting the time to vote and I doubt anyone would be interested in mucking around with local elections. I wouldn't even get the envelope because I wouldn't be monitoring the mailbox after the kid is enrolled.

 

Don't get me wrong - my intention was to physically live in the rented property temporarily, but later on move to a PPOR out of the catchment area.

But I'm sure there are people who would just rent the letterbox.

 

The topic on people getting their kids into schools whilst not being in the catchment is a bit of a digression, however I see two scenarios where I question whether it is equitable to do so.

If a school has excess capacity then it's catchment area, I assume that they would take in out of catchment students based on merit or needs. If people take these excess spots, then they would be taking spots of other students who may need it more. E.g. a school has particular services for kids with certain abilities or disabilities. This is my assumption and I'm not very familiar with schools.

Other scenario is if a school is at capacity with its catchment area. People who aren't in the catchment area increase pressure on the school. One result is all legitimate students receive less resources than would otherwise have been received. Another result could be redefining the boundaries so kids who would have been in the catchment are now out of the catchment. Those parents sure got screwed over.

I get the world is not fair, some schools are better than others, and everyone wants the best for their kids. But isn't it a bad example to teach your kids to screw others over in order to get what you want? Unless they don't work it out that them being in the school is screwing someone over and cheating the system, if that's the case then I'm not sure going to the good school is working out too well for them.