Building in Doreen, Victoria

Merry Christmas..

My wife and I are not familiar with the northern suburbs.. we've found a few nice estates that are within our budget namely vantage point, plenty river and laurimar. After going thru the land price lists.. laurimar appears to be biggest estate and most well-planned among the three.

Does anyone have any experience using Frenken Homes in Doreen? I see they mostly build in outer South East.

Also, it would be great if anyone could comment abt the 3 estates that I've mentioned.

Hi, sorry can't comment on the builder but out of the three Estates you've shortlisted I would have to say Laurimar gets my vote. It's a lovely Estate, looks great as you drive through it. Laurimar, Mitchell's Run and Eminence Estates are all in a good location. You have the added bonus of shops, schools, childcare, bus service etc. We are in Mernda Villages and I love the facilities Laurimar now offers us with the Shopping

We're building in Laurimar. We looked around, but nothing came close to what we needed (ie access to facilities, transport, schools, etc). Being close to shops, school and childcare for the kids, bus runs to the major shopping centres and plenty of parks made Laurimar an esay choice for us.

Out of the ones you mention Laurimar definitely! I believe that they will also be starting the supermarket in Mernda Village in the new year too which will be great

We have bought land in Eminence estate in Doreen. It is right next to The Ridge estate (?). The road at the end of our street (Painted Hills Road) goes straight through to the Laurimer Town Centre.
Eminence has a proposed Kindy to year 12 school also in the Estate. I believe this should be open in the next few years.
We found the blocks reasonably priced and are very happy with the location of the estate and their guidelines are strict enough without being crazy.

There's heaps of estates in Doreen, I dont think anyone has listed Vaucluse or Cornell's Hill.

We're in Mitchell's Run, right next door to Laurimar, walking distance from Laurimar town centre. Laurimar would have more available land than any other Doreen estate because it's so bloody huge!

Sorry, cant help you with the builder, do a seach on this site and see what you find

We bought at Vantage Point so they have our vote! We liked them because the design guidelines were not quite as stringent as a couple of the other estates mentioned, and it is right next to the grammar school on Bridge Inn road. We are currently building there and they have opened up anoth 2 stages since we bought. I think it may be quite a big estate.

We also liked it because (as ridiculous as it sounds) it was a bit "quieter" than the others we looked at. Its hard to describe, but we get the impression that our kids will be safe playing kick to kick on our street without having to worry about cars coming screaming down it.

Good luck - it can be hard choosing but you will know when you find the right one!

We decided to stick to building in the northern suburbs and concentrated on looking at land mostly within the South Morang area as alot of our friends had told us Doreen was too far. We looked at buying at Hawkstowe and Mernda however found that the prices were too high for our budget and the design guidelines were fairly restrictive. We decided to take a drive up to Laurimar one weekend and fell in love from the moment we crossed the bridge on Hazel Glen Drive. We loved the fact that there was a shopping centre, a primary school and a community centre and got the feeling it was developed with families in mind. We headed straight into the sales centre that very day and put a deposit down on the land a few days later and haven't regretted the decision since. I think it all comes down to purchasing a land based on whats important to you. For us the selling point was the access to school and shops as well as the gorgeous parklands the estate has to offer.

Congrats on both buying in Laurimar and building with Henley Which part of Laurmiar did you settle on?

Pfft. Too far from what?

Hi aaron4erin

Thanks!

We settled on a block on Laurimar Boulevard, just up the road from where Eliot Avenue ends (or begins depending on where you are entering it from)

I think it was part of the Stage 9 Release.

Great location! Walking distance to the town centre We're about the same distanace away, but heading the other direction

I know - We are so excited to start our build which I am hoping will be in Feb sometime.
Had a look at your blog - The house looks amazing. You must be pretty excited about it being almost finished...

G'day all,

We just put a deposit down on a block in "Mitchell's Run". The estate stage is 14 and is slated to be ready for development June/July 2011.

Currently living over in Perth, and want to move back to Melbourne. This block was bought sight unseen, just took a chance as everything about it 'ticked' all the right boxes.

Congratulations! You'll love the area! We've been in our house now 2 1/2 months and we're loving it

Laurimar gets my vote
We owner built a weatherboard reproduction home in Brookwood Ave wayyyyy back in 2000 (I'm pretty sure the house is still standing!). There was about 10 other residents living there when we built - my how it's changed!! We have since followed our dreams and done the sea change thing, but we would still be living there otherwise. It's a lovely area.

Well, the home we want to build is by Henley, and is the Monterey 993 Q1. Applied to the developers for an 'approval in principle' for the siting of the house on the land. Due to the house being rather large it did encroach on some setbacks.

Now it's back to the drawing board and see if we can 'shrink' the house a bit. My wife has her heart set on the Monterey 993 Q1 and wont budge. Anyway, not to worry a solution is 'out there'.

Cheers to all.