Prior to relocation - research on Sydney suburbs - Part 1

Research on suburbs have been ongoing for the LONGEST while, and has not really been concluded yet.   But here is what ive found out.

Domain.com.au - Indispensable.   What would I do without you!!!

Items i love on Domain.com.au
1. Suburb Profile
Love the information on the demographics of the population

2. News and Finance - Finance calculators - What will my minimum loan repayments be
Beware, AU interest rates currently stand around 6% and might hit 8% by end of 2010 or 2011.  This calculator is so important if you are considering to rent or buy.  High interest rates totally changes things.

3. And of course the easy to use Buy and Rent features.

Sydney Suburbs I've identified..
I guess our priorities in picking suburbs would be price and safety.  Proximity to Asian communities would also be a consideration although much has been said about coming to Australia and integrating with the local Caucasian population.  While I have to agree that point has some merit, if we stay in a white community, where would we get Asian produce!  So, proximity to Asian communities is definitely important, seeing that we'd need the spices and herbs and Asian dried goods fairly regularly.

Rents per week we're looking not to exceed AUD470, so that will cost us almost AUD2k a month.  Coming here on a single income, with 2 sets of dependents to consider back in Singapore, sadly the rent will have to be minimized =(

Here are the suburbs still in consideration -
Northern Suburbs - front runner.  Love Epping, seems like a good combination of urban living and lots of green as well.  Eastwood just 1 station down seems to be a Chinese hub, and Top Ryde the new shopping center is nearby.   Ryde/Eastwood/Epping would really be our first choice, but rents here are fairly high, at least AUD470 for a 2 bed 2 bath place.

St. George - in consideration.  This would include suburbs we are considering like Rockdale/Hurstville/Penhurst/Beverly Hills.  Really good connectivity by train, minutes to the eastern beaches (such as Bondi) and loads loads of commercial facilities, restaurants etc.  Cons - Hurstville in particular seems to really lack parks, and the area seems a bit less safe than the Northern Suburbs.

Homebush - Less of a consideration.  Homebush West is near the Flemington market.  That in itself is wonderful (as i would assume, not being currently in Sydney).  Imagine having a huge market that you could walk to on days that it opens.  The market largely runs in the early mornings, so fighting to get there by train on a weekday is really not ideal.  Which will mean marketing will eat into half a day in our weekend, a boring exercise and a full freezer if its done just once a week.  Yucks.  Homebush west has lovely new 3 bedroom units at rents of AUD470 weekly!  An amazing price given its proximity to the huge parks in the Sydney Olympic Park, decent connectivity by train, and proximity to Flemington markets.  Cons...  You'd never guess - its also walking distance to Sydney's largest cemetery, Rookwood Cemetery.  Over 1 million dead are interred there.  FAINT.  Now you know....    A spin on Necropolis drive anyone?

Carlingford - in serious consideration.   May be the only area that meets the rent and safety criteria in the end.  3 bed room units available there for about AUD470 a week, and 2 bed 2 bath at just AUD 400.  Leafy, green, loads of parks, a small shopping center that has both a Woolies and a Coles and a Target to boot.  And seems the area also produces great schools. See School Ranking (Primary Schools, NSW) here. Cons...  although its fairly near the city just 15km from Sydney city, it takes 1 hour (excluding walking time) on public transport!!!  and, trains arrive only at half hour intervals (more on that shocking statistic about Sydney in another unwritten post).

Argh.  Decisions, decisions.  But more importantly, where will we stay with we first get into Sydney??

Prior to relocation - research on cars

We have decided to buy a used car, with budget of not more than 12k for starters.    Part of the budget will be funded by the sale of our current car in Singapore, where we will hopefully get SGD5k, and i suppose we will have to cough up the remaining SGD5k or so, or take out a small small loan.

The plan is to buy a wagon type car.  Ideally, we'd want something that we can use to transport bulky furniture (well not that bulky!), the stuff we buy from Ikea, or from garage sales and such.   This will save us money on movers, which are supposedly extremely expensive in Australia!  (No more cheap labour from Msia across the causeway!).

Seems the premier car site is www.drive.com.au, which, as with ALL Australian websites so far, has been absolutely a breeze and totally intuitive to use. Filters for used cars (once u make some initial selections) go right down to pricing, transmission, mileage etc!.   For wagon types, there seemed to be only 2 options that fit our budget - Holden Cruze and Daihatsu Terios.   Hubby has long eyed the Terios, essentially a Toyota Rush rebranded by Daihatsu.  Unfortunately, Daihatsu stopped selling cars in Australia, and will be assimilated into Toyota.  Parts will be a problem.

Holden Cruze (2002- 2006 versions) initially looked a good buy, lots of spare parts, affordable, easy on the eyes, lots of space with the back seats folded away.  But on further research, seems like the gearbox gives major major problems and costs major major moolah to repair.  So scratched yet again!

We have finally decided that it will likely be a Honda Jazz that we will settle on when we get there.  Although smaller than what we initially desired, the apparently spaciousness of the Jazz for carrying cargo, and the rave reviews, and also the reasonable pricetag and good resale value will probably be the ideal way to go.  One more item scratched off the list of things to consider...    Next up..  Mobile subscriptions!