VIC PPOR South East Melbourne

Seeking some recommendations/feedback to be able to buy PPOR. Currently live in West of Melbourne and looking to change suburb,
top criteria in below order:
# better school - kids go to private school Currently due to lack of good public schools in the area.
# multicultural community
# better lifestyle # Cafe, restaurants, pubs etc
# proximity to water & leafy lookout
Currently own 2 properties in Melbourne # 1 IP & 1 PPOR.
Considered following suburbs so far: wantirna, wantirna south, oakleigh south(rundown/demolish & build), blackburn, ringwood, ringwood North, Berwick # all short-listed based on good primary/secondary schools.
Berwick ticks all boxes but too far from city.
considered view bank too but low supply & over budget.
vermont south is over budget too.

My borrowing capacity is 800k & have close to 200k equity with 100k savings.

Any suggestions to conclude suburb will be much appreciated.
* I've travelled to all suburbs & won't mind living in any of them.

 

I presume your maximum budget is $1.1m. Blackburn would certainly be out of that price range. You can look at Vermont within Vermont secondary zone. Burwood east and Blackburn South would be in that range as well.

Knockdown rebuild in any of the suburbs you mentioned would cost significantly more.

 

Correct my maximum budget is 1.1m
Vermont/Vermont south - nothing within my budget unfortunately.
Thoughts on Wantirna? Primary school is really good, not so much secondary. Does anyone know if Vermont Secondary has zoning or can attend if you're outside zone.

Knockdown rebuild : I was looking at something like this
https://www.realestate.com.au/property-house-vic-oakleigh-136348686

 

I was talking about recent flood water in south east lol
I meant closer beaches as compared to my current location and that's 4th/last criteria on the list.

 

Vermont Secondary is zoned and and already a big school, so accepting students outside the zone is unlikely.

On knockdown rebuild, even if you can buy that house for say $750k (likely to go higher), I reckon total cost will be higher than $1.1m. One option worth considering would be buying a house in original condition and looking to renovate slowly over time.

 

Nothing in Vermont for less than $1.1m unless I opt for townhouse.
Would you recommend any other suburbs I should look at?

 

The other option is I could renovate and add additional rooms coz I need 4 bedroom house but feels like very time intensive exercise.

 

If you choose Berwick I recommend North Berwick (The North side of the railway). Good luck.

 

I agree, North of Berwick is beautiful. Berwick ticks all boxes - good schools, hospitals, shopping malls, restaurants - distance is a real concern for me.
One day when covid ends & we start to go to city for work, I can't see myself spending 1.5 hours commuting to work.

 

ringwood is a good option too and buy within Ringwood secondary , please check zoning.
FYI 2020 VCE result ringwood secondary did better than vermont secondary

good pocket in ringwood in my opinion south side of ringwood station (refer below circle in blue) mainly due to school zone and walk proximity to stations ( hetherdale and ringwood) , eastland (big shoping mall) , park and aquanation the big swimming pool.

with budget 1.1m in this pocket you will struggle to get 4 bedrooms on full block , 3 bedroom is a possibility but most likely will be unrenovated one.

below are currently on the market:

https://www.realestate.com.au/property-house-vic-ringwood-136474754?sourcePage=rea:buy:srp-map&sourceElement=listing-tile

https://www.realestate.com.au/property-house-vic-ringwood-136415878?sourcePage=rea:buy:srp-map&sourceElement=listing-tile


avoid x too many units over there

 

That's very helpful information, thank you!
Both properties you sent are weatherboard houses, any issues there?

Below properties looks good from price point of view

https://www.realestate.com.au/prope...ge=rea:buy:srp-map&sourceElement=listing-tile

https://www.realestate.com.au/property-house-vic-ringwood-136409246?
sourcePage=rea%3Abuy%3Asrp-map&sourceElement=listing-tile

Any thoughts on Heathmont, looks like few properties there could fit my budget and in Ringwood secondary zone too.
https://www.realestate.com.au/prope...ge=rea:buy:srp-map&sourceElement=listing-tile

https://www.realestate.com.au/prope...ge=rea:buy:srp-map&sourceElement=listing-tile

https://www.realestate.com.au/prope...ge=rea:buy:srp-map&sourceElement=listing-tile

 

nothing wrong with weatherboard , it requires a little bit more maintenance compared to brick.
and they look awesome as long as you maintain them. alot of people willing to pay top dollar for well looked after character weatherboard homes.

you are correct some part of heathmont also in the school zone , heathmonth is nice too you can walk to station but less shop but more quiet compared to ringwood.

whenever you can please avoid buying property on main arterial road e.g gret ryrie st , bedford road and wantirna road unless of course you get a good deal.

 

Cheltenham.

Increadible catchment of top 50 schools all in a 5km radius and close to the beach.

There would be about 8 high schools around the Mentone area and adjoining suburbs.

Mentone Girls Grammar
Mentone Grammar
St Bedes College
Kilbreda College
Mentone Girls Secondary
Beaumaris High School
Parkdale Secondary
Cheltenham Secondary




$1.1m should get you an unrenovated house on a full block.

 

Did you buy this?

 

Nope, it was sold for 877k. I wouldn't have gone beyond 800k based on my budget.