Family Areas to Live

[Doodle]

This may sound like a silly question, as I bet everywhere is suitable but;

Whats the best kinda location in terms of family, good schools, lots of potential employment, not too far inland and a nice neighbourhood, either in the suburbs or closeish to them?

Its just I have been on the real estate websites and everywhere looks amazing, but it would really nice if I could narrow my search a bit!??!!?!?!?!?

Any help would be much appreciated.

[dglamoore]

Hi Doodle

It's is so hard isn't it trying to narrow down the areas. Our favourites seem to change on a weekly basis!! Do you have a suburb map to check out the areas??

Most of the schools seem to have a goood reputation in SA -what age are your children?

Employment seems to be varied too as everywhere seems to be quite accessable.

We have narrowed our search area down to the western and southern suburbs as would like to be fairly close to the beach. Once we get out there we will have a good drive around the areas and visit some schools then hopefully decide!

Lisa :lol:

[Angela]

i am in turmoil (again). My OH bumped into a friend whose just returned from SA (personal reasons).
ANYWAY - he strongly recommends North around Para Hills :?: I have checked it out a little & most certainly you appear to get a lot of house for your money & I fell its perhaps got plenty of Brits there.

Does anyone else recommend it??

I had sort of come round to South, West if not to far from the beach - my preference is location rather than size but now my OH is really keen to learn more about North :?:

Can anyone help a confused pommie?

Angela

[BJF]

You can check out areas for school and parks on Google Earth http://earth.google.com/

and Google Maps, http://maps.google.com/
just search for Adelaide and then move around the areas. We'll be living in Northgate which is about 8K's NE of the city.

Areas that were recommended to us are Mawson Lakes, Golden Grove, Greenwith, Northgate, Oakden and Gawler. Some people said to avoid Craigmore, Elizabeth area's and Salisbury north.

We've been allocated a house in Northgate. It's walking distance to schools, Dr's, a hospital and a shopping mall.

Wherever you all decide to live be sure the house has Air Con, do NOT fool yourselves into thinking air con is a luxary, it's not, air con is essential, cieling and floor fans are not enough.

[Angela]

Thanks bjf

I will check out the links.

Angela :)

[Gary]

Hi All,

As a pom who emigrated here in 1994 and then returned to England in 1997 and the missed it so much I came back in 2003, I thought I'd give you some info about suburbs I've picked up over the years. These are only my personal opinions so don't be offended if I list an area to avoid and you are going there!

The northern suburbs of Elizabeth, Burton, Salisbury and the like are predominently "English", as in that's where most of the original migrates from England went to in the 60's and 70's. It's a rough area and has a larger share of crime than other areas. However, Salisbury Heights is a sought after suburb!

The Eastern suburbs of Adelaide, along with the foothills, are the most sought after and expensive. These include Burnside, Wattle Park, Mitcham, Kingswood, Malvern etc.

The Western suburbs are cheaper and closer to the beach, but over the last 10 years even they have increased in price significantly. Woodville Park, West Lakes, Findon, Grange and the like are all within 10 minutes of the beach.

Any beachfront property is now expensive - this includes properties 3-4 hours drive from Adelaide.

Mount Barker in the hills (I live 13km from there) is the fastest growing non-coastal town in Australia. It is 20 minutes drive from the city down the freeway (what's a traffic jam? unless a koala crosses the freeway....) and from here you can access Victor Harbour and Goolwa (beaches) which are as close as those down in the city.

Property is not as cheap as it was, but if you are fortunate enough to be selling in the UK and coming over with a big chuck of cash you should be in a strong position to get a very, very nice house.

Good luck.

Gary

[ladybird]

Thanks Gary that was really helpful. There seems to be so many different suburbs and unless you've got a map in front of you it's really hard to know where they all are so putting east/south/west etc. was a big help

Thanks again :D

[Tracey Smith]

Hi I've just found this site and it looks really interesting.

Does anybody know anything about the new developments out at Andrews Farm, Playford North etc. We are hoping to come out later this year if we can ever sell our house!