Sydneysider open houses and auctions

I don’t think I can afford the prices in your hood. I can’t believe it... so crazy... what the... speechless

 

I’m not sure what your budget is, but maybe you could try suburbs like Baulkham Hills, Thornleigh, Hornsby, Carlingford, North Rocks, North Epping, Dundas?

 

Are there any good primary and non selective high schools in North rocks, north epping and Dundas..it seems not.
@Gockie What is your view whether to hold and watch or buy in Thornleigh, Hornsby, normanhurst, Baulkham hills markets atm. Do you think prices will stabilise or come down as more stock is coming in. No crystal ball but asking you since I think you know this market

Thanks

 

Epping North primary school is ok (truth though, some parents take their kids to weekend coaching, like other parents in other Epping primary schools), and the whole of North Epping is in the catchment for Cheltenham Girls and Epping Boys, both very highly regarded high schools, you probably can't do any better for non selective high schooling.

What holds back North Epping from Epping is that it's all a bit further from the station than Epping, but it's a beautiful quiet suburb that nobody uses to rat race as there is nowhere to rat race to. So it's very undiscovered unless you happen to need to go there.

Really nice people live in North Epping. Neighbours are all very neighbourly (at least in my experience). It attracts people who enjoy the bush, peace and quiet, sporting activities, gardening, dog walking, bike riding, birdlife etc. There are a mix of older homes and newer homes all on over 700sqm. A fair percentage of properties back onto bush or include bush so it's an oasis in the middle of suburbia. You'd have to build with fire rated materials on many parcels of land, so it's something to look for in the sales contract. I lived there for 7 years till we saw an amazing place in Epping, but we had no intentions of moving.

North Rocks - I'd think the majority of High School students in North Rocks go to Muirfield, but I'd suggest if they make it into a selective school, they probably aim for Baulkham Hills as its really not that far away. (James Ruse also isn't that far away but it's really hard to get into). North Rocks has a good bus stop on the M2, it's really quick and easy to get into the city from that bus stop. I personally like North Rocks but watch for accessibility to transport. (Lots of hills too, not ideal for bike riding for commuting).

Dundas - Dundas Valley high schoolers were going to Cumberland High in Carlingford back in my day (Choosing it over Marsden in Ermington/West Ryde). I think it's the same for Dundas too.

Primary schools in Dundas and Dundas Valley are not exactly highly regarded. Parents may be relying on external coaching to push their kids unless you can get your kids into some place like Carlingford West Public (and there you will likely have your other classmates doing extra weekend coaching to get into selective high schools, the main aim being James Ruse).

Historically, driven parents wanted their kids to go to Eastwood public but it's basically impossible to send your kids there unless you live in Eastwood.
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I think the buyers are well and truly back now, anything good is selling quickly and at high prices.

I think all the old stock that was unmovable has been soaked up right now.
Maybe keep your eye out around Baulkham Hills and North Epping (though there's not really much on offer at North Epping). There's also suburbs north of Hornsby like Asquith and Berowra. They are really nice, leafy, bushy (National Park facing) like North Epping. Have a think, could that appeal?

I have a colleague who bought in Cherrybrook 2 weeks ago, they were looking for a few months and a place they bid on in West Pennant Hills had a lot more interest than they expected and it went for more than they were preparing to offer. The market has really changed, I'd even say Epping prices are back at the peak, with a few >2 mill sales recently.

I think it will stay like this throughout spring. In most years December and January the market dies, it could be ok to buy then but there's not going to be the A grade homes available as they would have been snapped up already. Only the homes nobody wants tend to still be in the market at that time (or homes with vendors who put their property on the market too late for Spring).

The market is currently hot and getting hotter imo, I think we are really back at peak in many suburbs. There's a FOMO. Days on market are back to being really low. Multiple buyers for many properties, pushing up prices.

Maybe you can still find the odd home where you can buy at nonpeak prices and perhaps the buying frenzy will run out of puff and it will all be quiet again next year. I don't know though! It's still worth inspecting places and making offers you are comfortable with on properties you are willing to own. If the place goes for more, don't worry, let it go.

Otherwise... You can try the southern side of Sydney. You could get more bang for buck. It doesn't have the same feel as the North West and Hills, but you'll save $$$.

 

Cheltenham Girls and Epping Boys are good for education, but socially leave a lot to be desired.

Yates Ave PS in Dundas is a nice school from what I’ve heard.

 

Yates Ave was never a high performing public school unfortunately. Nice grounds though.

 

There is so much more to schools than performance.

 

Yeah that's is what I thought. @Hetty What are the positive aspects of this school.

 

I’m a teacher and spoke to a colleague who worked in the school, and she said it’s a good school. I didn’t ask for further clarification of what exactly is good about it, I was asking because we were looking in Dundas and would only buy in a good catchment. She said it was a good school, I was satisfied with her professional judgement and happy to move into that catchment.

From our discussions about schools though, it’d be teacher quality and passion, educational programs, school community.

A lot of people only care about a school’s academic performance but that’s just one part of what makes a school “good.”

I went to a public school in Epping that was probably considered to be a good school. I completely missed out on year 6 because my teacher was having a nervous breakdown and no one on the staff worked it out until term 4. As a teacher now I see how atrocious that is. He tried to make all the boys in the class wear a t-shirt that said “man, I feel like a woman” because he was obsessed with Shania Twain. That was his undoing. But it took until term 4. I also went to Cheltenham Girls and it was nasty. Off the charts bullying. Rich kids shoplifting - that was rife in my year group. Overall they got great results though!

I’d much rather send my child to a school that’s supportive, with a focus on student wellbeing, than send somewhere that has academic achievement and lets their students down in other respects. It’s not just about marks.

 

You missed out year 6? So did I. I went to Yates Ave and my year 6 class was a composite year 5/6 class. But they only has 5 year 6'es in that class and the rest of the class was year 5 students. We got minimal guidance and teaching the whole year. Maths homework was fill in exercise sheets (division, subtraction, multiplication, addition that's it)... Nobody reviewed the homework and it was not anything that was going to push you... And we were the brightest year 6 kids of the grade.... The rest of the year 6 kids were in 1 normal class. There were decent students in that class too, but when we went into high school all these decent kids got put into the middle stream of the high school. There was no practising of selective school tests but other schools did it...

Every year I was in a composite class, because the school had low enrolments. Plus it was all a bit of a revolving door in early primary. One term you'd have one teacher, then they'd leave, the next term you'd have someone else....

But if you compare to a school like Carlingford West that has multiple classes of each year, the teaching should be so much better targeted to the kid's ability.

 

I agree composite classes are crap but lots of schools have them, the school I went to in Epping had them too. They’re less common nowadays and teachers are better equipped to handle them.

 

Having max ~20 kids in a class would certainly help that, because when I was a student we always had 30 odd kids in each class. (The kids weren't always so odd) lol

 

Thank you @Gockie for taking time to guide on this

 

Went to an auction at Thornleigh today and no bids! Two houses on one title and only 5 mins walk to the station. They originally quoted $1.4 and the at the auction started with $1.5 and it was over in 1 minute. Afterward at least 4 groups of people waiting around for negotiations.

Pretty nice property and ready for in-laws to move in. Don’t need to do anything to the property, looks pretty new.

 

Whichone u r referring. It seems all sold?.

 

46 Eddy Street, Thornleigh, NSW 2120

Didn’t sell at auction. Back on market for private treaty.