Syd: max 1.2m where to buy house?

Discussion in 'Where to Buy' started by rooster123, 3rd Dec, 2015.

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  1. rooster123

    rooster123 Well-Known Member

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    Hi guys,

    We live in Winston Hills (own 3b house) and looking to buy a house in a good locality for better public schools for our daughters who are still 3 & 1 years old. I work in Hills suburb and hubby work in Nth Ryde. Our budget is max $1.2m ( with min requirement of 3 bedrooms house - no town house or apartment)

    We are confused wrt which suburb to look for with importance for good public primary schools. Appreciate your inputs in our situation.

    Thanks
    Stella and Mark
     
  2. euro73

    euro73 Well-Known Member Business Member

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    If you wait a little while, some of the areas near you may come off a touch...

    if you want to stay around the Hills area, you could consider Baulkham Hills ( where 1.2 Million "might" get you something decent ) Castle Hill ( where 1.2 Million "might" juuuuust get you an older 3 bed house ) or you could go out 5-7KM to Glenwood, The Ponds etc.....

    But I suspect that if you wait 12 months or so, some of the 1.4 Mil stock might come back a little towards 1.2 Mil and maybe you'll get something a little better for your money... I'm not suggesting a collapse, just a 10ish % softening in those areas that went a little ballistic in the past year or two. Of particular interest is that in the past, the biggest mortgage insurance and mortgage delinquency issues have been in the kellyville/bella vista type areas after a Sydney surge - as that's typically where new home owners with big debt tend to also take on another big chunk of Harvey Norman/ Good Guys interest free debt and the obligatory "keep up with the Joneses" car loan debt and the must have "upgraditis" debt .... You can probably throw in Rouse Hill and The Ponds this time around.... and to the South West - Prestons/Casula, Oran park, Harrington Park etc...

    Then again, it's Sydney and in spite of all logic, it might go the other way :) Unlikely though- APRA has kicked Sydney pretty hard and brought it to a pretty hard stop, so the luxury you have now is that you probably don't need to be in a rush.
     
  3. Gockie

    Gockie Life is good ☺️ Premium Member

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    With 1.2mill, consider make offers on a lot of houses in the general areas of Cheltenham, Epping and Carlingford. Epping is possibly still a little out of reach budget wise, but it doesn't hurt to try.... There are failed auctions now and a number of properties have been on the market for multiple weeks. You want the land... don't worry about the actual house too much. You can always knock down and rebuild. Just don't buy on a main road location as you have little kids.

    Epping is known for the schools. Carlingford is good too, but further from rail (forget that Carlingford train line exists... its next to useless. But the M2 bus service to the city is decent). For high school I'd try getting the girls into selective if they are that way inclined or else into Cheltenham. Note: this school is always very popular so enrolment acceptances can go by living distance to school. Even if you are in the stated catchment, if the school is oversubscribed, they will turn away students living further away.

    You can also try North Ryde. It isn't known for its schools, but its further East and it's the same sort of price as Epping and Cheltenham. And in general it is easier driving East to West in the morning than West to East. Besides, closer to the city.... closer to other jobs too.

    Heres a link for Cheltenham that recently sold for 1.175mill.
    60 Boronia Avenue Cheltenham NSW 2119 Sold Price for 60 Boronia Avenue Cheltenham NSW 2119

    1.2mill:
    21 Cobran Road Cheltenham NSW 2119 Sold Price for 21 Cobran Road Cheltenham NSW 2119

    1.25mill in Epping. Not near the station but a full block of land:
    24 Third Avenue Epping NSW 2121 Sold Price for 24 Third Avenue Epping NSW 2121

    1.16mill in July this year in my own suburb. This one is getting into bushland.
    24A Bedford Road North Epping NSW 2121 Sold Price for 24A Bedford Road North Epping NSW 2121

    Neat and tidy in North Ryde for 1.2mill:
    116 Coxs Road North Ryde NSW 2113 Sold Price for 116 Coxs Road North Ryde NSW 2113

    1.125mill North Ryde.... bargain
    95 Parklands Road North Ryde NSW 2113 Sold Price for 95 Parklands Road North Ryde NSW 2113

    1.17mill Carlingford (needs a spruce up)
    9 Montgomery Road Carlingford NSW 2118 Sold Price for 9 Montgomery Road Carlingford NSW 2118

    This one looks very nice... move straight in. Good frontage too. 1.11mill
    2 Thornton Avenue Carlingford NSW 2118 Sold Price for 2 Thornton Avenue Carlingford NSW 2118
    I hope this gives you food for thought. You will probably get 95% of home owners saying no... but the other 5%.... that's all you need. A foot in the door to these suburbs... and you'll have a winner. :)
     
    Last edited: 4th Dec, 2015
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  4. larrylarry

    larrylarry Well-Known Member

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    Just note that living in Cheltenham catchment may not necessarily get you into that school. It's very competitive. Public schools in Epping are increasingly crowded and competitive academically.

    Price wise, monitor the chosen market for another 6 months.
     
  5. Gockie

    Gockie Life is good ☺️ Premium Member

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    Yep. Agree 100%. I just bolded that while you commented!! :)
    Also there are heaps more girls in my suburb who got into Cheltenham this year so they changed one of our morning government bus services to a bendy bus... otherwise some students would have been missing out on getting on a bus... overcrowded.
     
    Last edited: 4th Dec, 2015
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  6. RetireRich101

    RetireRich101 Well-Known Member

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    For me I give more weighting in high school selection. Understood your children are very young age, but it never too early to plan the best high school. Based on my research the top 3 non selective and no government school are killara, Willoughby girls and cheerybrook. Mind you if you include the private and selective into the metrics, these 3 schools are barely in the top 50. Killara and cherrybrook have very strict entry, you need to live there 12mons prior entry is on of them. Willoughby have a wider catchment area so you need to check which property can fit in 1.2m but still in catchment. These info are all in their website but subject to change based on demand
     
  7. Chilliblue

    Chilliblue Well-Known Member

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    Careful of choosing a PPOR based solely on a schools catchment area. The "better" public schools are being hammered with all the extra development that is occurring and are not keeping up with the numbers that want to attend. I am aware of some high schools having up to 3 times the number of attendant requests to actual spots.

    This year a vast number of those schools reduced or altered their catchment area.

    @Gockie has given you some great ideas. Personally I would look around your husbands work as travelling to the Hills is an easier commute than the other way.
     
  8. Gockie

    Gockie Life is good ☺️ Premium Member

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    I get what you are saying but Killara and Willoughby areas are not 1.2mill house budget areas... and don't suit their jobs...
    Cherrybrook... its rather a hot area atm with the new train... one of the highest % growth areas recently. Will it last? I dont know, but I wouldn't bank on it personally. But it might be better to buy Cherrybrook over Carlingford.

    So to summarise....
    Epping yes, but a bit out of budget
    North Epping yes, but not walk to trains. East of the train line at Epping though which is a positive.
    Cherrybrook - do some research on the high school... could be a goer. New train going in in 2019, good local primaries too. (My nieces are students there and @Travelbug has been a long time teacher in that school too)
    Cheltenham... yes, yes, yes (100% for the high school. Very well regarded suburb too.) If you can pick up for 1.2mill, you are laughing. :)
    Carlingford - ok... a bit less preferred over other suburbs as the rail service is ***** but still good particularly in regards to primary schools
    North Ryde - yes, but not really for the school situation. Its further East which is good - there's limited ways to go from West of the northern line to the East, so that's a pain point if you drive to work in the morning. Unless paying M2 road tolls.
     
    Last edited: 4th Dec, 2015
  9. twobobsworth

    twobobsworth Well-Known Member

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    But....the metro line will run right through north ryde so the opposite may be the case from 2019 onwards.
     
  10. Tattler

    Tattler Well-Known Member

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    @rooster123, it is great that you are already planning your next house based on good education facilities for your children. It is never too early to plan this.

    A number of people here has suggested Cherrybrook, I live there for the last 7 years so I can provide a biased and unbiased opinion: :D

    Primary Schools: There are John Purchase Public, Cherrybrook Public and Oakhill Public. All three are great primary schools, with JP being academically strongest, Cherrybrook Public being more "all round" (e.g. they won the national cheerleader championship recently). JPPS has what is called "Gifted and Talented Classes" which a lot of parents wants to enrol their kids for:

    John Purchase Public School | Gifted & Talented Centre

    High Schools: This is the one why most people move into Cherrybrook for: Cherrybrook Technology High School (CTHS). It has been consistently one of the best performer academically for a government non-selective high school in NSW for last 20 years. Now the way to go into the school is to live within the CTHS catchment. The things to note though:

    - Not all parts of Cherrybrook can get into CTHS. For example, Edward bennett Drive, Neale Ave, Cedarwood Drive areas are actually zoned into Pennant Hills High, which is still a good high school, but nowhere near as good as CTHS.
    - You can get into CTHS by living in certain part of Dural (South Dural area) and Castle Hill (Oakhill area).

    Here is the catchment area for CTHS:
    Drawing Area
    http://web1.cherrybrok-h.schools.nsw.edu.au/wp-content/uploads/CatchmentArea_June2013.pdf

    So if you are going to buy Cherrybrook, please ensure you buy into CTHS area as it is normally 50K to 100K more than non-CTHS areas, especially in a market that is slowing down right now.

    For $1.2 million you can easily get a 3 bedder duplex in Cherrybrook. Most duplex are strata titled but NO strata fees, and you just share the cost of the building insurance with your neighbour. Here is an example of duplex just sold:

    Sold Price for 21B Merriwa Place Cherrybrook NSW 2126

    For 4 bedder house (most common in Cherrybrook), you can get them that are close to the high voltage power lines (close visibility), as per below:

    Sold Price for 1 Charles Place Cherrybrook NSW 2126

    Now I suggest you DON'T get them as they are very hard to sell in non overheated times. Those high voltage power lines are an eye sore.

    The following on that is on sale right now:
    8 Keighran Place Cherrybrook NSW 2126 - House for Sale #120923233 - realestate.com.au

    I just went to house opening yesterday. It is battle-axe block but no power lines. It is walkable to John Purchase and Cherrybrook Tech. It went down from vendor expected $1.28 million a few months ago, and recently had $1.15 million fell through. REA indicated that they would take offers from $1.1 million. You may want to consider this, if you need to buy in a hurry.

    Otherwise, you should drive around Cherrybrook and get a feel the suburb. It is very family friendly and safe suburb, with excellent mix of demographics (very balanced).

    Also with the upcoming train station scheduled to open at 2019, Cherrybrook will be very sought after suburb for years to come.
     
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  11. Mumbai

    Mumbai Well-Known Member

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    Sorry for hijacking the thread. @kamchatsky , I am also looking in Cherrybrook suburb. I just wanted to know if there are some streets, I should avoid, in terms of traffic, noise, etc?

    I was looking at some townhouses on the New line road specifically.
     
  12. twobobsworth

    twobobsworth Well-Known Member

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    New Line Road
     
  13. Scott No Mates

    Scott No Mates Well-Known Member

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    New Line Rd is busy and will only become busier as more people move to Dural/Galston corridor. Hillsbus is the only public transport until you get the metro at Cherrybrook.
     
  14. Tattler

    Tattler Well-Known Member

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    It depends on what you want, is school zoning important to you? New Line Road crosses a number of school zones.

    New Line Road is busy and I would try to avoid it. Some part of it has high voltage power lines which needs to be avoided at all costs. Which part of New Line Road is it?
     
  15. Mumbai

    Mumbai Well-Known Member

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    75 new line
     
  16. Chilliblue

    Chilliblue Well-Known Member

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  17. Gockie

    Gockie Life is good ☺️ Premium Member

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    Hi @rooster123, if you are still around, come to the January meetup at Wenty Leagues on the 20th organised by Skater.
     
  18. Tattler

    Tattler Well-Known Member

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    Is this what you are enquiring about?

    6/75-77 New Line Road, Cherrybrook NSW 2126 - Townhouse for Sale - 2012457617

    @Mumbai, the location is good for future station, it is about 15 minute walk. It is zoned into Pennant Hills High School though. The actual townhouse are entered via Edward Bennett Drive I think.

    Also there are plenty of M2 buses at New Line Road, even though you may have to stand (gets quite full during peak hours but there are plenty of buses if you wait a bit).

    Now it depends on your budget, if you can stretch it to high 900s you should be able to get a duplex instead of townhouse to avoid strata fee. However, if your budget is in the 800s, it is not a bad place if high school is not most important because it will do well for the future train station.

    More importantly, there are not many townhouses in Cherrybrook, compare to duplex as well as house, so if your budget is tight and can only afford townhouse, then you should consider this but definitely negotiate with them as the market has changed.

    Have a look at recent sold price for the same complex:

    $942500 (12 Nov 2015): Sold Price for 19/75-77 New Line Road, Cherrybrook NSW 2126 - 2012395039

    $915000 (7 Oct 2015): 23/75-77 New Line Road Cherrybrook, NSW

    So the vendor definitely has come down in price.

    Finally, how much is the strata fee for this property? Also, is the townhouse right next to New Line Road, or more of inside of the larger complex where other townhouse shields the noise from New Line Road?
     
  19. Mumbai

    Mumbai Well-Known Member

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    Thanks for the detailed response @kamchatsky
    Pmed you