Browse Forums Building A New House 1 Dec 15, 2008 10:18 pm Hi guys,
I am looking to buy a block early next year. I have basically narrowed it down to three main areas. Caroline Springs, Taylors Hill and Craigieburn. I am interested to hear peoples views about the plusses and minuses of each of these areas. A little bit about us which might help your advice...I am from Perth, moved to Melbourne 12 months ago and work in Flemington, my fiancee is a teacher, and she is starting at a school in Kings Park/St Albans area, but obviously, being a teacher, there are jobs all over, so her location isn't the most important in making our decision where we will buy as we don't know if she will still be working at that school beyond next year. We both have cars, however access to public transport would be great. We are looking for a larger block (approx 18x32-34ish) and have a budget up to about 185k. I know there are blocks around that will fall into our budget. I looked around the north and west and have the following brief observations. Mernda/South Morang/Epping/Doreen- Nice...but too far from Flemington, poor public transport Pt Cook- too expensive. Wyndam Vale- too far away Tarneit/Truganina- getting a little too far away. Affordable. I have heard their is a bit of crime and 'dodginess' around that area. Deer Park/Derrimut- proximity to city is good, access to public transport is not that great. A little bit industrial. On driving through the estate, it did make me feel a bit uncomfortable seeing the amount of broken windows/vandalism etc in the new estates. So, that left us with; Caroline Springs- looks nice..perhaps a little bit far from public transport. Not too far to drive into Flemington. Craigieburn- have friends there, Craigieburn train line is convenient as it is the closest train line to Flemington. New Craigieburn Town Centre will be good. Taylors Hill- love the big blocks on the Estate. Close to Sydenham Train Station and Watergardens..only 25 min drive in to Flemington. I am interested in hearing peoples views about the long term prospects of each of these areas. Assuming I could buy the same size block, for the same price at each of these areas, which would you choose, and why? Built in now city 2009, now moving to the country to embark on another build. Check out our previous blog http://ourpalazzo.blogspot.com/ Re: Which Estate? Taylor's Hill v Caroline Springs v Craigieburn 3Dec 16, 2008 6:13 am Hi Jas n Rach,
This is only IMHO Out of the 3 choices I picked Caroline Springs. reasons....it has a really nice community feel, the schools are starting to have a much better reputation than others in the outer West, good quality housing and nice streets, obviously homeowners are taking pride in their gardens. shopping centre is very central and already established. As for best capital growth prospect...hard to say as I am not an expert but I would buy in a suburb like Maidstone. I dont know Craigieburn at all so I cant comment but travelling would be a very stressful daily grind if you worked in the West. Mrs B Re: Which Estate? Taylor's Hill v Caroline Springs v Craigieburn 4Dec 16, 2008 6:30 am Out of all those, I would vote Craigeburn... I was through the estate just 2 weeks ago and was very impressed. Had a very community feel to it and a beautiful place. Public transport is already present and you say it leads to the station you actually want. Remember that public transport in Melbourne cross-lines is the pits. So if you have to change trains, buses and trams it can be an absolute nightmare. Caroline springs is still a bit so-so for me, I run past it every other week or so, and I guess it seems ordinary now and the no train station does it in compared to Craigeburn. Re: Which Estate? Taylor's Hill v Caroline Springs v Craigieburn 5Dec 16, 2008 6:58 am Thanks guys, I value your input.
Mrs B Hi Jas n Rach, This is only IMHO Out of the 3 choices I picked Caroline Springs. reasons....it has a really nice community feel, the schools are starting to have a much better reputation than others in the outer West, good quality housing and nice streets, obviously homeowners are taking pride in their gardens. shopping centre is very central and already established. As for best capital growth prospect...hard to say as I am not an expert but I would buy in a suburb like Maidstone. I dont know Craigieburn at all so I cant comment but travelling would be a very stressful daily grind if you worked in the West. Mrs B Mrs B, would love to live in Edgewater (Maidstone) but I can't afford it We would also prefer a bigger block (500m2+) and our land budget maxes out at about 190k. Has anyone heard or seen anything about River Valley Estate (www.rivervalleyestate.com.au) in Sunshine North? It is only 11km from the city which is good, just wondering how pricey it is. I will have to go and check it out. Built in now city 2009, now moving to the country to embark on another build. Check out our previous blog http://ourpalazzo.blogspot.com/ Re: Which Estate? Taylor's Hill v Caroline Springs v Craigieburn 6Dec 16, 2008 7:23 am I would NOT go to caroline springs. Instead I would just go outside it and get bigger blocks for the same price. Taylors Hill is an option,
But better still I would try Arbour on the park. It is a smaller estate with Large blocks. If your luckly you will find blocks 1000square meters. Anyway the main benifit is that the estate is tucked away in front of Caroline springs. Currently commercial road which will run through to caroline springs in not built yet. However Once it is yo will be closer to the facilities (mainly town centre) than the people who live in caroline springs are but you will have the benifit of large blocks. Because of the size of the land the houses that it attracts are of better quality. C/s has a lot of small *** hosues. I think arbour will give you the best of both worlds. Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Re: Which Estate? Taylor's Hill v Caroline Springs v Craigieburn 7Dec 16, 2008 7:38 am out of the 3 mentioned I like Taylors Hill. The streeets and houses already established there look elegant and I *think* maybe it would be not far to travel to Flemington from there?
Caroline Springs is getting big; I imagine there are lots of separate 'pockets' of it and there might be some good ones and bad ones ... and Craigieburn too far away IMO. River Valley is lovely , I drive past it on my way to our house sometimes. But most of the blocks have some slope so I imagine you would be payimng extra to have a house designed to suit the slope? Re: Which Estate? Taylor's Hill v Caroline Springs v Craigieburn 8Dec 16, 2008 9:18 am borg I would NOT go to caroline springs. Instead I would just go outside it and get bigger blocks for the same price. Taylors Hill is an option, But better still I would try Arbour on the park. It is a smaller estate with Large blocks. If your luckly you will find blocks 1000square meters. Anyway the main benifit is that the estate is tucked away in front of Caroline springs. Currently commercial road which will run through to caroline springs in not built yet. However Once it is yo will be closer to the facilities (mainly town centre) than the people who live in caroline springs are but you will have the benifit of large blocks. Because of the size of the land the houses that it attracts are of better quality. C/s has a lot of small *** hosues. I think arbour will give you the best of both worlds. Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Thanks Borg, I have been searching for info on Arbour on the Park on the net, do you know if the development has a website? And how advanced is it? I mean, is it already established or still in its infancy? Built in now city 2009, now moving to the country to embark on another build. Check out our previous blog http://ourpalazzo.blogspot.com/ Re: Which Estate? Taylor's Hill v Caroline Springs v Craigieburn 9Dec 16, 2008 9:29 am All remaing blocks have been sold to private people. What you will find is people on selling them. With the slight slowdown you may be lucky enough to get something bigger than 700squares for 185K. If your looking on realestate it will come under Burnside or Burnside Heights. Some stages generally from 9 and 10 upwards also come with free fencing.
The website has been shut down. But estate is almost finsihed. THe things that are still fantasy are some of the main roads that are yet to open. The sports park is still not complete but started. The primary school which will open in 2011. I thin this will happen but yeah not ready yet. Re: Which Estate? Taylor's Hill v Caroline Springs v Craigieburn 10Dec 16, 2008 9:54 am I will have to have a drive around Burnside and have a good look around. Thanks for the advice. Built in now city 2009, now moving to the country to embark on another build. Check out our previous blog http://ourpalazzo.blogspot.com/ Re: Which Estate? Taylor's Hill v Caroline Springs v Craigieburn 11Dec 16, 2008 9:56 am Jas 'n' Rach Has anyone heard or seen anything about River Valley Estate (www.rivervalleyestate.com.au) in Sunshine North? It is only 11km from the city which is good, just wondering how pricey it is. I will have to go and check it out. River Valley will set you back at least 220k for anything remotely close to 500m2 if you can even find them. The problem with that estate as far as I can see is the very strict covenants. Some people like that, but combined with the sloping arrangement, large rocks, it will be very expensive to build and the costs may well just blow you out of the river (pun intended). Re: Which Estate? Taylor's Hill v Caroline Springs v Craigieburn 12Dec 16, 2008 10:07 am Joey, I just spoke to John from River Valley Estate. I think you are right, the cheapest he has was a 400m2 (14.71m frontage) block for around 220k. It also had quite a bit of slope, so I will cross River Valley off my list as it is out of my budget. Built in now city 2009, now moving to the country to embark on another build. Check out our previous blog http://ourpalazzo.blogspot.com/ Re: Which Estate? Taylor's Hill v Caroline Springs v Craigieburn 13Dec 16, 2008 10:54 am I'd vote for Taylor's Hill. Close to an already-established area, so no waiting for things to be organised. I would stay away from Caroline Springs--we live just the other side of Kororoit Creek, and hear nothing but trouble about it--especially the hoon drivers on the streets at night. Craigieburn is all right, but I think the growing "hub" nature of the Taylor's Lakes area will stand you in far better stead than Craigieburn, which is trying to be residential and (IMO) not succeeding.
As for driving to Flemington from any of those areas, before you rely on any reported travel times I suggest you try it during peak hour. Going in along the Western Highway, or along Raleigh Road etc will most likely take at least 45 minutes in the mornings, and even longer in the evenings. I used to drive from Albanvale to Glen Iris every morning (along the Ring Road and then the Monash) and that was typically a 50-minute trip--the return trip was usually an hour plus. Traffic is horrendous in Melbourne (largely thanks to a series of governments who haven't invested appropriately in mass transit or freight routes), so you'd be well advised to check out travel times yourself from any of your desired locations. --Mike Everything I know, I learned from SBS. LATEST: Frame Complete http://metricon-mercer.livejournal.com Re: Which Estate? Taylor's Hill v Caroline Springs v Craigieburn 14Dec 16, 2008 11:59 am This is interesting, I am glad I asked these questions. Starting to hear a few things about Caroline Springs that I wasn't aware of.
Re. travel time, I am fortunate that I don't have flexible start times with my work, I tend to arrive around 9.30am so I can miss most of the morning peak hour, and then leave the office a bit later. I am staying with friends at Craigieburn at the moment, and it took me about 40 minutes this morning. I will try to leave the office at 5pm today, and time how long it takes me. I plan to do several 'dry runs' from each of Craigieburn, Taylors Hill and Caroline Springs prior to making the final purchasing decision. I have driven into work from Taylors Lakes (not far from Taylors Hill) one afternoon (not in peak time) and it took me around 25 minutes. Travel time is one point, but I am also interested in the long term growth potential of each of the areas (real estate value and also the amenities that will be in the area). I know there is plans for further develop the area north-west of Taylors Hill, between Sydenham and Melton so that should be interesting. The good thing about Taylors Hill is the Watergardens Shopping Centre and Sydenham Train Station are already established. I have never been into the Watergardens Centre, is it 'nice'? Not sure how much further up from Craigieburn they will go??? The new 'town centre' will be a plus, but not sure how long that will take to develop. Kinda like the Caroline Springs train line I suppose?? I am interested in everyones contribution on this subject, do any of you live in either or these areas? Jason Built in now city 2009, now moving to the country to embark on another build. Check out our previous blog http://ourpalazzo.blogspot.com/ Re: Which Estate? Taylor's Hill v Caroline Springs v Craigieburn 15Dec 16, 2008 12:09 pm Jas 'n' Rach I have never been into the Watergardens Centre, is it 'nice'? I go there pretty much every week, it has been set up to rival the Highpoint shopping centre as the regional area to shop. Its very large now with the new extension and with two general classes of shops - fashion trendy catering for the younger crowd and home improvement for all the new home owners in the area. The people there are ok, generally a younger teenie bopper crowd with a bit of the bogan element (trakie daks) - but otherwise ok. Re: Which Estate? Taylor's Hill v Caroline Springs v Craigieburn 16Dec 16, 2008 12:29 pm I went through a similar dilema (Caroline Springs vs Taylors Hill vs Hillside) about 2 years ago.
In the end I chose Taylors Hill estate (not Watervale) as it was more affordable while at the same time most of the streets looked asthetically pleasing (i.e. lower rate of 'bummy' houses) and its location provided me with greater flexibility regarding facilities as its right in between Watergardens and Caroline Springs. The Taylors Hill estate also had less restrictive covenants. Having now moved into Taylors Hill, I am please with the decision I made. I dont know much about Craigieburn but it is a bit of the way out and if you dont use public transport travelling in and out of the northern suburbs can try your patience at times...but then again, I suppose the air is a bit cleaner out that way. Re: Which Estate? Taylor's Hill v Caroline Springs v Craigieburn 17Dec 16, 2008 12:33 pm Craigieburn is fine as long as you use the rail system to get to work. Driving can be a nightmare though - both the Ring Road and especially the Tullamarine Fwy are just HORRIBLE. Sydney Rd isn't a lot of fun either. Re: Which Estate? Taylor's Hill v Caroline Springs v Craigieburn 18Dec 16, 2008 12:38 pm kek Craigieburn is fine as long as you use the rail system to get to work. Driving can be a nightmare though Yep - if you work in the city I guess it would be ok (providing the Trains run on time), but if you work in the west in the industrial zone (Altona, Laverton etc) it would be hopeless. Re: Which Estate? Taylor's Hill v Caroline Springs v Craigieburn 19Dec 16, 2008 12:51 pm Hi,
I also voted for Taylors Hill. We looked at Caroline Springs but for the money the blocks were much smaller and some of the convenants would raise the cost of the house (ie roof pitch, rendering etc). In the end we purchased at Burnside Heights in the Tenterfield estate (as it was cheaper than Taylors Hill although the blocks a bit smaller). The Arbour on the Park estate is nice as well, and I noticed on realestate.com.au there is a block for sale that is 713.5m2 for $189000. I also catch the train from Watergardens every morning, the train service is ok. At least getting on the start of the line you always get a seat. Once you get out of the peak period trains are every 30 minutes. Parking can also be an issue at the station depending on what time you are travelling. Shopping at watergardens is fine, it has everything you need. Re: Which Estate? Taylor's Hill v Caroline Springs v Craigieburn 20Dec 16, 2008 2:07 pm kek Craigieburn is fine as long as you use the rail system to get to work. Driving can be a nightmare though - both the Ring Road and especially the Tullamarine Fwy are just HORRIBLE. Sydney Rd isn't a lot of fun either. I drive from Craigieburn to Flemington via Pascoe Vale Rd (took me 35-40 mins this morning). My room mate works in the city and takes the train. Built in now city 2009, now moving to the country to embark on another build. Check out our previous blog http://ourpalazzo.blogspot.com/ Howdy all. I am looking for feedback on what people would do to maximise and make an area as flat as possible. First, out the front of the house is a sloping hill, pretty… 0 20163 I brought terry road box hill in June 2022 House was meant to be completed Nov 2023 That did not happen I had to chase them so much to the land Registration and… 0 2512 |