Where would you choose to live?

[Guest richdownunder]

Hello,

 

If you were moving to Adelaide and were not concerned about having a commute of about 40 mins or more from the CBD where would you choose to live? We are looking for a family friendly area, house budget up to $550 - 600,000 for a 4 bed property and not too concerned if it's near the beach / hills as we'd be equally happy with both.

 

Would appreciate any thoughts on some lovely suburbs.

 

Thanks, Rich

[snifter]

Hi there.

 

Its worth remembering everyone will have a personal opinion on where they like to live. And that what suits one won't always suit another. You've already asked in another thread which areas you should avoid so I hope you'll get some replies on which ones people are liking living in here. Taste is subjective

 

 

I'd suggest have a list of what you'd like from an area, in terms of facilities, commute, schools or childcare and so on. And then take your limit price wise and chuck it in to realestate.com.au and put in various areas of Adelaide (they have a list or you can take suburbs off google maps etc) and see what you get for the price. Then read up on the area in terms of what it has there. Places like Wikipedia and local Aus websites are good for that to give you a feel for things. I do random stuff like 'swimming lessons for kids, Hallet Cove' to get info on things that I'd require.

 

Personally I love the southern suburbs closer to the city, Brighton, Glenelg and so on but they are often far more pricey. I don't know the northern side. I'd not want to live further south than Seaview as that is too far out for us with regards to being closer to family and friends and so on. Also we have our eye on a few schools and so on and too far south means those would not be possible in terms of a drive to get to them. I also like the feel of the older suburbs more, the style of housing and so on. We'll be starting off in Glenelg for the first year anyways and I'll be using that time to find areas I could really see us living in longer term. Glenelg also has the tram into the CBD which is handy.

 

If you plan on having a short term rental when you arrive you'll have time to go visit some suburbs and so on and will get a good idea of what they are like once you are on the ground.

 

TBH you could head pretty much anywhere south and probably do ok as many of our members live happily in lots of the southern suburbs. Same for the northern ones, we have members happily living in some of those. Have a look on google maps to get an idea of where Hallet Cove, Aldinga, Port Willunga and so on are in relation to Adelaide itself. You'll notice they are further down the coast. You could put in directions to the CBD and get drive times up and give yourself an idea, although allow for rush hour to perhaps take a bit longer.

[NicF]

On that budget I'd live in Rostrevor - oh, that's right I already do . Although I'd want to be on the side in the catchment for Norwood Morialta High, which is the side we are building our house on, because it has a much better reputation than Charles Campbell where the other half of Rostrevor is zoned for.

 

If money was no object I'd like to live somewhere like Burnside, Kensigton Gardens, Unley, Norwood, Magil or North Adelaide. I'm not bothered about the beach and would want to be near my Mother in law who is on the eastern side of the city. For your budget you could get something nice in lots of areas of Adelaide, although you would get far more for your money in some of them than others. It really depends on what you want from an area and how you feel about it.

 

We were at Moana today and drove back along the beach through places like Port Noarlunga, Seaford, Brighton and Glenelg. Some of the southern suburbs are lovely but I couldn't live there because to me they feel isolated. This has nothing to do with whether they are isolated or not, it's just how I feel travelling to and from them. I used to feel the same about a place we lived for a while in the UK even though it was only five minutes away from a place where I didn't feel isolated.

 

The best thing would be to find short term rental somewhere centralish and then have a good look around the different suburbs. Sometimes places just feel right and others, no matter how nice, just don't.

[noworriesmate]

Nic - must have just missed you, we were at Moana and drove back up the coast today too! The beach was fantastic today!

[Guest Jo&Phil]

Here's my totally subjective answer based on what I like ............

 

Older suburbs rather than newer ones because I find large roads leading to subdivisions and housing estates unappealing

Blackwood - because it feels quite villagey

Brighton and Somerton Park - proximityto beach and transport links

Flagstaff Hill -where I actually live as it has calm, quiet feel to it ... despite me saying it was like living on the set of Neighbours when I first arrived haha -- and in reality it's a 40 min communte into city at peak time so anything more than 20kms out of the city will take longer on a standard day

Stepney - close to city, cute houses

Norwood - ditto but probably more expensive than your budget

Mitcham - close to city and family friendly feel

Kingswood - ditto

I'm sure I've missed a few .................. all purely subjective and you may hate what I like so could be of little use to you at all!

 

When people ask this question, it's helpful (to me at least) to know where they live now and what they like/dislike about it ........... it puts some context into the question

 

Good luck with your home/suburb search