Browse Forums General Discussion 1 Aug 14, 2008 8:59 am Hello
We have engineering! But now we are getting nervous about moving to a new suburb, and wants to stop and think before we commit to a slab on the ground! We are quite settled here in Bayside VIC, we have a lot of friends and our children go to a great pre-school and swim school. But we have always wanted acreage, which is just not available here, for any money. But now we are asking ourselves, is the dream of acreage worth uprooting ourselves and moving 25 mins drive up the road to an area where we don't know very many people (we do know a couple of families), to a place that we think might be "soul-less", where we can no longer walk to the beach....... aaarrrrgggghhhh just when I thought we were progressing with this!!!! Does anyone have any advice? We don't want to make a big and expensive mistake, with the property market the way it is, I don't think we could build and then sell profitably if we didn't like living there! Thanks a very confused and stressed Simon. Building an architect designed home out of Insulated Concrete Forms on acreage in semi-rural SE Melbourne. Developer approval obtained, engineering complete, getting quotes Re: Is anyone getting nervous about moving to a new suburb? 2Aug 14, 2008 9:23 am This is pretty normal Simon! I'm going through the exact same thing. While I'm not moving to acreage, we are moving from Footscray (townhouse) to Wallan (1/3 acre.)
My DS is really settled at his current school (after a lot of trauma at a previous school) and I'm really worried this is the wrong thing for him. But then I think about the attachment to nature, the cleaner air, the (semi) country mentality, the true sense of community that is so lacking in suburbia. You are about to give your children all this! I think they will be eternally grateful. And if you don't follow this dream, you may always live with "what if?". Go for it Simon!! It has been your dream for a reason. Jo I leave you to fend for yourself, figure things out yourself. Terrence Malick Re: Is anyone getting nervous about moving to a new suburb? 3Aug 14, 2008 9:37 am It's entirely natural to have doubts immediately before a big decision. You just need to trust the whole string of decisions and analysis leading up to this point. You gave it a lot of thought in the past ? And came up with this plan ? Then I think what's left is just last-minute nerves.... Do the hard jobs first. The easy jobs will take care of themselves. - Dale Carnegie Re: Is anyone getting nervous about moving to a new suburb? 4Aug 14, 2008 9:46 am Hi Simon,
We currently live in Vermont and have two girls at primary school and one boy in 3yo kinder. We are building in Mernda which is about 45mins away. There were a few reasons why we are moving. We wanted a new house, a good sized backyard for the kids and be closer to DH's work which is in Heidelberg West. I have some great friends in Vermont but know that our friendships will continue even though I'm moving away. My girls go to a school that does extremely well in sport and is academic. But I'm not happy with it, it really has a clicky feel to it and if you are not in the "in" group then you will be left out (I'm talking about kids not parents). I will be pleased to leave it. Our kinder here is great and I'm sad my son won't experience 4yo there like his sisters did but I'm sure he'll have just as much fun at his new kinder which we are going to see this afternoon. My girls dance and I'm good friends with their teacher, my eldest has played Netball for a club for the past three years and I know she will miss that. Location is handy to everything especially the new Eastlink! It's a nice area but all of that does not make me want to stay. I'm looking forward to settling into a new area, our Estate only a few years old and thanks to this forum I have some cyber friends who will be living near me. Oh and there is a brand new Westfields at South Morang which opened this year and is only 8mins from home I'm sure the kids will settle in no matter where they go. I think you need to look at the big picture, sure it's going to be hard on everyone to move and say goodbye but there is also going to be the excitement of a new house and new surrounds. Your family is lucky to have the extra space of acreage around them, your kids will love it! 25mins is not that far for friends to come and visit. I think it's quite normal to doubt yourself, I've done it alot but at the end of the day I know it's going to be a good thing for us. Hope you feel better about it all soon. Toni Happy at Home Re: Is anyone getting nervous about moving to a new suburb? 5Aug 14, 2008 9:48 am yes - i am freaking out too- we live in west melb- near funky cafes, groovy side streets and a great huge shopping centre
to kath and kim counrty with one major shapping centre which is till 20m drive and NO great japanese food. on the plus side 15m drive form my parents i am very sad aout omving but praying it is the best for us. Re: Is anyone getting nervous about moving to a new suburb? 7Aug 14, 2008 11:34 am Simon, I've found that new friendships are made through your children at school, so I wouldn't worry about not knowing anyone there yet.
And 25 mins isn't that far, if your friends are true friends, they will trek over to visit. I think you will love the space and feel of acreage. Good luck - I'm sure its just last minute jitters. Paula Re: Is anyone getting nervous about moving to a new suburb? 8Aug 14, 2008 11:46 am I think its normal with any big decision like this - we knocked down our old weatherboard and rebuilt, as we wanted to stay in the area. But even then, you lie awake at night thinking - should I have sold and bought something else in the area, rather than going into the unknown by building? It's big dollars, big changes, and will always make you second guess your decisions! I guess God didn't use subbies... Re: Is anyone getting nervous about moving to a new suburb? 9Aug 14, 2008 12:36 pm Simon
I really feel for you, it is a big decision. I'm with Cabinfever and Paula on this one, last minute nerves but you do need to get in straight in your mind. There must have been a dominant reason why you wanted to move in the first place. Maybe just go back over the reasons and that will re-confirm your decision for you. Change is a big thing so of course you would have doubt. If acreage is your dream, doesn't that far outweigh any of the other things that you mention. It's only 25 minutes from where you previously lived, that's not really that far. And not too far for all your friends or kids friends to visit. If you liked the area so much for the beach and cafes then you still have weekends to go for a drive back there and enjoy those things. It could be the best of both worlds really. Your kids will absolutely love having all the extra space to play in, I know mine would. You mentioned that your children are in pre-school. Don't worry, kids are really adaptable at that age. The friends they have now may not even be the ones they have in a couple of years. When they get to school they make a whole set of new friends and as a parent you meet even more people and make new friendships. I'm guessing that you have already checked out the schools in the area and are happy with them so that should be one less concern for you. You will find another great swim school, kids love swimming more than I think they care about the swim teacher they have (which can change just about every term). Because you say this is your dream, to me that means something you would want over everything else and there would be no doubt. Why would you think the place is "soul-less". There was obviously something about it that you liked, and not just acreage because that would not be the only reason to move somewhere, there has to be other things you really liked. I think that some people are really good at making decisions, they say they are going to do something and just do it. And then there are people like me who absolutely do their head in over every decision. I had a hard enough time with the decision to pull our house down and re-build. I think sometimes you just have to make a decision and go with it. Maybe time to get out of the comfort zone and have another adventure. Good luck with whatever you decide. Re: Is anyone getting nervous about moving to a new suburb? 10Aug 14, 2008 12:39 pm Well said photogirl ! Happy at Home Re: Is anyone getting nervous about moving to a new suburb? 11Aug 14, 2008 11:08 pm LOL, isn't it amazing how many of us have been in this predicament!
We did the same thing, moved away from family and most of the friends....i have one cousin nearby now who told us once we move out to Berwick, we wouldn't move back in to the inner burbs....there is something about the area that is so peaceful....well, i'm still tossing up whether we made the right decision, but i know we have a beautiful new home and there is peace and quiet when we lay in bed at night, no cars, no noise....nothing!!! We picked up our 11yo out of his school and moved him.... He took a while to settle.. but here he has found out that he can kick the footy around, ride his bike without us worrying about being hit by a car etc, play with the other kids in the court, things he hasnt been able to do before! He loves it here now!!! And keeps in touch with his old friends through MSN. The kids will adapt!! True friends will come to visit - no matter what!!! Hey and for those that think its too far to come out and visit you....well....you know what to tell them!! But if you dreamt of the acreage lifestyle, what has occurred to give you doubts? Its funny how the smallest of comments from dear ones can put doubts in your mind.....and then it sort of grows and stresses you out! Think of the big picture for the family....think of the opportunities....think of the sounds of birds and nature to wake up to each morning, the open space for the kids to enjoy, the peace and quiet that only such a property can give you!!!! If this is truely your dream...then believe in it... (the other option is hold onto it and subdivide in 10 yrs! & make a fortune!!! ) Re: Is anyone getting nervous about moving to a new suburb? 12Aug 15, 2008 8:01 am Thanks for all your thoughts guys!
We have acreage that is rather unusual.... it's acreage in a suburban estate, so while that gives us all the benefits of acreage, and we have no problems with the block itself, its the suburban estate bit that concerns us. Of course, I hear you say, we should have thought about that before we bought the land. And I would agree with your comment. We bought it in 2007 when everyone was falling over themselves to pay over the odds for anything when it came on the market, and we rushed a bit to pick up the block at what is still a very reasonable price IMO. Other similar blocks were going for $100,000 more. But then they weren't in the suburban estates...... Having said that, being in the estate, and its only a small estate of 230 houses, with the smallest block on the estate being 1000m2 (ours is a whopping 6300m2 - I am showing off now!), does mean we can walk to a shopping centre and playpark and sports grounds in 10 minutes. As for road noise, even acreage dwellers don't always escape this, and on a still day we can clearly hear a couple of roads that are over 1km away. We are thinking of having a waterfall so that these are drowned out completely. We should be feeling so excited about everything that we are doing and we feel a bit "*" that we're not! Does that make sense? Simon Building an architect designed home out of Insulated Concrete Forms on acreage in semi-rural SE Melbourne. Developer approval obtained, engineering complete, getting quotes Re: Is anyone getting nervous about moving to a new suburb? 13Aug 15, 2008 10:02 am I'm going though a similar train of second thoughts and worries myself at the moment! We are only moving to the next suburb, but I love our current house (we built it over 10 years ago) - we have a nice private corner block and we will be moving to a smaller block, right in the middle of the street.
Our current yard has a lovely outlook and we are visited by an array of regular wild birds - some of them have been coming here for 10 years. It will be heartbreaking to leave them and wondering if the next owner will be kind to them or not...my outdoor pets Our kids are teenagers and nearly finished school, so we don't have to worry about that so much. It's just the thought of leaving our privacy, and having to live really close to other people again that worries me - I've met all our new neighbours and they all seem lovely - in fact, most are moving from the same suburb as us! But as much as I love our current house - it's just not big enough for us all now - and it looks as though we can count on the teenagers being around for quite a bit longer these days.....our new house is BIG and I know it's the right the thing to do but still....... Built a Clarendon 'Balmain' 2008 Re: Is anyone getting nervous about moving to a new suburb? 14Aug 15, 2008 10:12 am Maxie I'm going though a similar train of second thoughts and worries myself at the moment! We are only moving to the next suburb, but I love our current house (we built it over 10 years ago) - we have a nice private corner block and we will be moving to a smaller block, right in the middle of the street. Our current yard has a lovely outlook and we are visited by an array of regular wild birds - some of them have been coming here for 10 years. It will be heartbreaking to leave them and wondering if the next owner will be kind to them or not...my outdoor pets Our kids are teenagers and nearly finished school, so we don't have to worry about that so much. It's just the thought of leaving our privacy, and having to live really close to other people again that worries me - I've met all our new neighbours and they all seem lovely - in fact, most are moving from the same suburb as us! But as much as I love our current house - it's just not big enough for us all now - and it looks as though we can count on the teenagers being around for quite a bit longer these days.....our new house is BIG and I know it's the right the thing to do but still....... BIG alright! If the photo is anything to go by!!! I hope that your move goes well Maxie, maybe the excitement of having another brand new house and settling into that will override everything else. I'm sue ALL of us will be okay. I'm really looking forward to moving and starting again, I keep telling myself that we will all be okay. I think it's always the Mum and kids who do it the hardest, DH's still go off to work everyday. I've met most of our neighbours and they all seem really nice and very excited so I hope it will be good. If not I'll just go up to Sharee's and cry. Will you get the birds still? We are one house away from the Bellbird Dell and have a tonne of birds. The most annoying one starts just after 6:30am every morning and has the most awful sound, I have been known to go out and throw sticks at the tree to make it fly away Happy at Home Re: Is anyone getting nervous about moving to a new suburb? 15Aug 15, 2008 10:30 am yep Toni, If our suburb turns out to be full of horrible people - at least we'll have each other!
I think everyone feels a bit aprehensive, we aren't really moving that far away and we actually never really got to know most of our neighbours so I am really excited to start again!! It was sad to sell the first house we bought together as a family - but I can't wait to start the next part of our lives! and Phoenix is right if it all turns to crap you can always sell up and make some money! Re: Is anyone getting nervous about moving to a new suburb? 16Aug 15, 2008 10:40 am Sharee :lol: yep Toni, If our suburb turns out to be full of horrible people - at least we'll have each other! I think everyone feels a bit aprehensive, we aren't really moving that far away and we actually never really got to know most of our neighbours so I am really excited to start again!! It was sad to sell the first house we bought together as a family - but I can't wait to start the next part of our lives! and Phoenix is right if it all turns to crap you can always sell up and make some money! That's right Sharee. We live in a court at the moment and hardly see any of our neighbours. The kids next door are not allowed to play out the front and they range from 8 to 13 I'm hoping that alot of people will be in the same position as us, worried about the change, worried if they are going to have nice neighbours etc etc, hopefully seeing as we all have that in common it might be really good! There are 12 blocks in our release and from what I know most of them are families, they are all 800m2 blocks and have to be double storey homes so I think they have been targeted at 2nd and 3rd time home owners. I've not had to go through the heartache of leaving the "family home" we sold it last year and are now in a rental. I was just pleased to get all the $$ to fund this new house. Chapter 7 for us this time around and the 4th big move. And I have Sharee just up the road Happy at Home Re: Is anyone getting nervous about moving to a new suburb? 17Aug 15, 2008 12:13 pm There are some very interesting points raised on this thread.
I'm one of the luckier ones. We are only moving about 3km away for our temp accommodation, then back to the same 'piece of dirt' once the new house is built. I know kids are pretty resilient, but my kids have been through enough in the last couple of years (starting prep, new Kinder teachers, school fire, sickness and operations, Dad out of work for 6 months), and I think a move to another suburb/school/kinder would be a tad too much for them...and me!! As much as I am keen to get rid of the current house, seeing it being demolished will be hard. There are so many memories here, it is our first house and the kids were born here (not literally but I'm sure you know what I mean!) I admire anyone who can up and move their family to another suburb/town/city etc. I have only ever lived in 2 houses! It will be nice to 'come back home' to the same street and neighbours and in our huge dream home, but I'm still going to miss this tiny place Henley - Wilshire Mk 3 ... I love my house!! Site start: 4th Feb 09 Handover: 10th Sep 09 Blog: http://stormygirlscastle.blogspot.com/ Build Thread: viewtopic.php?t=7166 Re: Is anyone getting nervous about moving to a new suburb? 18Aug 15, 2008 12:19 pm I agree Stormy
We couldn't leave our current suburb, we are close to the city, close to the beach, close to my work (not DHs ) close to family and friends, close to great schools, kindergartens and I have lived here for 20+ years! DH is from WA so thankfully fell in love with our area. We were considering moving further west into an estate at one point when land was becoming to hard to find for a fair price, but luckily got an old house, perfect land size, great price and around the corner from where we live now I too admire people who can move to a new area and make a new start, I sometimes wonder what other great suburbs I have missed out on living in the one area My karma ran over your dogma Re: Is anyone getting nervous about moving to a new suburb? 19Aug 15, 2008 12:48 pm We've lived in our current house for the last 21 years... since moving from rental accommodation in Richmond (which we lived in for 2 years) all those years ago.
We decided to stay on the same side of the city and only a couple of suburbs over in a new estate, but still it will be a change to leave the place where we literally grew up and established in. 4th purchase (out of 5) but first time moving after being in a house for so long. We didn't need to actually move, but decided it was time to upgrade and enjoy the fruits of our labour. With a new wife and hopefully some kiddies along the way it will give us lots of room to grow... Re: Is anyone getting nervous about moving to a new suburb? 20Aug 15, 2008 12:54 pm We're the same as you, Stormy & Bel - we demolished and are renting about 2.5 km away, so no change of schools, or anything. I really admire people who can move far away, too! I'm such a homebody!
Kids are such a great way to meet people, too - and in these new estates I imagine you're sort of all in the same boat, so hopefully that will encourage a real sense of community - that I'd really love! We're renting in a court, and no one even came to say hi, this is when the bins go out.....whatever...! We've only met people here b/c of my overly outgoing 6yo DD who would introduce herself to anyone and invite herself in! The guy across the road even told my 10yo DS off for scooting on the footpath!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Shock! Horror! a boy scooting on a footpath!!! Call the Police! He said he'd had to "wash it down" b/c of him! I sooo can't wait to get back home! Hopefully these new estates will be filled with families who want to get to know their neighbours and actually interact with them!!! Solidarity, not solidity.......The Lexicon of Life Hello everyone, I have a question regarding moving a chandelier after it has been mounted. The chandelier in question is quite large, measuring 4 meters… 0 72334 Use a product like Equisol's Vitalise to clean the deck then coat with a penetrating timber oil. It will look 10 years younger and add value to your home. Visit for… 1 15784 How much are you ahead in payments compared to where the build is at? Have you fully drawn down the loan? 5 11915 |