VIC Purchasing a Beach House, Geelong side of the bay

Long time reader, first time poster, thanks for all the great information on here.

My Wife and I are considering buying a beach house, Geelong side of the bay, we know this may not be the most sound investment choice but considering it for lifestyle and our future. I've tried to do some research on the subject to get some tips both on here and elsewhere and struggling to find much info.

My current situation
PPOR (well currently being rented out but will return to it) 3Bdrm, 2 Bath in Altona North, almost paid off, circa 700k
Early 30s
No kids yet but hopefully soon
Living overseas but back in September

Our current thoughts
Beach house stumbling distance to a nice beach
Max 2hrs from Altona, as far as say Skenes Creek
Max spend about 700k
AirBnB when not using it, I am currently a GM of a serviced apartment group in Tokyo so experienced with running AirBnBs, understand it won't cover all costs but anything is a bonus.

Questions
Where? Queenscliff side or along the Great Ocean road? Nice places stumbling distance from beach in Indented Heads, why are they so cheap? Is the beach nice? Not trendy? Any gem locations out there on the up?

Better to buy established or buy a block and build? We see blocks very close to the beach in say Skenes creek or a little further from the beach closer to Anglesea. 200mts from the beach further out (2hrs drive) better than 800mts out (1hr20 drive) from Melbourne? Building has the tax benefits.

If we do choose to build is it much more expensive building closer to the beach? Obviously need to go up to get the view, if we see blocks for 300k is it unrealistic to think for another 300k we could build a 2 story display home with 3 bedrooms.

Sorry for the wall of questions, trying to do as much research as I can from Tokyo. Appreciate your thoughts.

 

We own a rental in Anglesea, purchased with the intent it could be our beach house a bit further down the track. Prices have moved in recent years, 700k will not get you stumbling distance to the beach but everywhere in town is within 5min drive. No more land being released at this stage so only older blocks or subdivisions available now.

Torquay is very busy now & constantly expanding, but lots of land releases. Tough for walking distance to beach though.

Indented Heads is nice but very quiet / sleepy. Haven't been that way in a couple years & I'm sure it's changing but was very limited for shopping & things to do at the time, it's a bay beach so no surf but fine if you just want to relax on the sand.

Skenes Creek is lovely but very hilly, hence the cheaper prices for blocks but be prepared for much higher build costs. Also believe there's more involved in building due to fire risks of area. Kennett River (next town over, similar set up, steeper blocks) lost a large part of the town to bush fires recently.

Apollo Bay might be an option for you to look at, roughly 2hrs driving time if you take the inland roads.

 

I think you should more clearly define for yourself what your future will look like, and what lifestyle requirements you will need to support it. I.e.: how many years down the track do you want start using this new property yourself, and what are the particular lifestyle requirements that you and your family will need? Also, if Air B&Bing now, what sort of accommodation will your guests be wanting (new and shmicko or run down beach shack) in the mean time?

If you're shoppers (or plan to be in future) and need a healthy array of retail outlets, then sleepy hollows wont cut it unless there are developments in the pipeworks between now and when you want to use the house.

Understanding this in some more detail will help you eliminate the 'noise' from your search and narrow things down another level.

Good luck.

PS. nice position to be in nearly owning your own home!

 

$700k is by the skin of its teeth able to buy a 2 bedroom unit in the likes of Barwon Heads.

As @Steven_S has suggested, clearly define your requirements for your future in terms of dollars, proximity to services etc and work backwards from there. If you like going to to the beach sometimes, it might turn out more appropriate for you to rent a property someone else owns near the beach, rather than buy one.

 

Thanks everyone for the great replies, thanks @lidz for the area tips, helps a lot.

Will work on clearly defining our requirements and then work backwards from there. It's a very valid point as there is a lot of uncertainty, hence the questions. Lots to think about

 

Built our holiday house in 2011 @ Indented Head and it's a beautiful (quiet) place, half moon bay is a very calm beach - as previous poster has pointed out it isn't the rowdiest place but really depends what you're looking for.

IMHO Indented Head is about to see big growth over the next few years.