Thank you for that, and no worries. I guess this I gotta find out for myself then on Saturday. A few houses about the price of first home buyers but the houses do look a little older. Decent land size though.

Both the missus and myself have been looking at houses/units since last year (except Dec) on Saturdays.. it's pretty tough to find a layout we like in a good location. Lots of new homes that are decent are over our budget and some units isn't done up too well.

I personally don't mind a slightly older house near the train station than newer ones much further away.

Loads of new apartments in Epping seems to be having troubled being sold:
https://www.smh.com.au/business/companies/h...130-p50ulb.html

Yes, a few of the properties I've looked at:
- Townhouse in Auburn: Selling for 680 but seller is willing to drop it down to first home buyer range to release it ASAP. Right in front of the hospital.
- Lidcombe top floor unit 1/1/1, owner bought at 550k, selling at 515k. Probably negotiable. Right next to train station overlooking a park.
- Few other new places willing to go down for a cheaper price in Schofields but needed a fair bit of work (probably where the new home grant can be used - not sure if it's only for off the plan houses)

On the other hand:
- Nice townhouse-ish place in Acacia Gardens, current owners bought at 30k (!!) and are selling it for 700k, probably willing to go slightly less. I really liked this place but it was too far from trains
- A place in Seven Hills, selling for 700k but looks like it was in a middle of a bad renovation when they ran out of money
- Auction for house + granny flat which I think feels great, but a little small - starting bid at 700k

Plenty of people still trying to sell of whatever they're holding, some for a price higher than one would think reasonable (or at least me). As prices are going down now, we're not sure when it may stop and head back up again. I guess right now it's the fear of not buying a house when it's a buyer's market. Friends tell me to be patient but sometimes I get the urge to settle with the first affordable okay place I find.

Does he want to sell off any of his interest only loan houses? Haha..

Well it can't be helped as many others feel the interest only would work for them as long as they could sell off the property for a profit. I would've done it too if I had extra capital and earning power to do it. In a way it's like a quick short term money generation scheme as people were buying up houses almost non-stop until the current oversupply.

We will be checking out Haymarket this Sunday, probably hoping to catch some of the festive spirit. Hopefully it will not be too crowded, but I am probably deluding myself about the festive season crowds.

Went to Queen Victoria Building to look at the sakura-pig-tree, which was interesting but nothing too fancy. Will probably never see this in Msia.

Then moved to Circulay Quay and checked out all the different zodiacs on display. I must say some of the designs/ideas were weird/absurd, especially the Rat(s).

Happy CNY from Shepparton, the production facility is quite warm. Just like the Msian weather. Aternoon weather is pretty hot too, but thankfully no where close to the 40 degrees from a few weeks back.

Man those rats are huge compared to the Msian variants, pretty scary. Wouldn't wanna tangle with one. Read in the news that the reads are stirred up by all the construction work, which doesn't quite reflect as to why there are rats in eateries. Kinda out of their control when rats are just going into the shops from outside. Bad timing too considering it's CNY and it'll probably mess up their CNY goals.

The applicant would require the appropriate skill for the job, wouldn't they? I doubt any random person can apply just like that. Or is that already the assumption when we're talking bout these topics?

Flew over on Monday, and will be flying back today at 6 - if my flight is not delayed again. Been a busy two days in the factory and glad today is better a bit. Standing for 11 hours is pretty tough, don't know how these factory guys do it. Gotta have really good cushioning in the shoes.

Its actually pretty decent here, a lot of amenities and shops. Plenty of fast food, bars, asian eateries, and woolies/coles.
Nice big lake like Desapark City, plenty of people walkin their dogs. Feels like a nice isolated suburb. Granted that's just from a 2.5 days observation so it may not be too accurate. A lot less traffic, but people generally drive similar to Sydney. Big greek population here I think, sometimes I still can't distinguish between them. Overall, it feels pretty much self-sufficient here with a fair few township & manufacturing jobs.

The 2 hours drive from Melbourne isn't very fun though. Scenery was pretty much the same for 2 hours with dried out grass. I reckon it could use some of the rain north Queensland is drenched in.

Not too familiar with Doreen, but maps says it's 25km away from CBD. I think in Sydney even 25km away from CBD wouldn't net you anything for 325k. =(
Even less desirable areas that are 40 mins drive from CBD is like 500k+ for a small plot of land.

Some nicer suburbs near the 30km mark is easily 1mil+ easily on average. Sounds like moving out of NSW to the other states will save one a lot of money.

I was totally open to to any relocating options when job hunting, and now with both myself/missus finally landed a permanent role in Sydney we're probably too reluctant to move.

Kudos to the Msian healthcare industry! Pretty weird that it can beat the countries the doctors trained in. Many of the previous top contenders for top healthcare countries were also not on the list. Not sure if the judging criteria puts them in different categories.

https://www.thestar.com.my/news/nation/2019...hcare-category/

https://thecostaricanews.com/top-6-countrie...the-world-2019/

Well to be fair it will have to be from a point of view outside of Msia. If a Malaysia source were to claim that I'd be highly doubtful of it. I think it's pretty good that the standard of Msian can entice market audience globally, despite certain how certain services cost quite a fair bit.

My aunt who was admitted for a brain viral infection a few years ago cost nearly 200k, without any major surgery. In/out ICU a few times and brain scan. Can't imagine how much more it would cost if she was in the hospital any longer than that. In conditions like that, you're right, only those rich enough can burn through their cash to survive. Even after selling my Myvi I would've only lasted at most half a month.

[As usual] On a side note, Schofields and Riverstone feels like pretty nice communities, if it weren't a bloody 40 min drive away from Chester Hill. Can't imagine driving from Schofields/Riverstone to Taren Point for a daily commute.

You're right, we're prepared to travel, but I'm not sure how many years I can bear with it. All the homes we've checked are close to the train stations as it's a major criteria for us (accessibility) to cater for any potential job change.

Honestly a little bit wary of units now after some of the stories mentioned here, but generally not keen on paying strata. Since prices are dropping (in some places) we're just looking for a house that ticks most of the boxes at first home buyer's price range. Suffer paying a slightly more expensive price to get a houses, is what we're thinking. Probably glad to buy even in Chester Hill if there's a suitable place. Trying not to jump into anything immediately with all the buyer's market signs. Not really looking for a huge place, but just thinking of possible expansions or even granny flat in the future.

Realistically I think we'll probably look as far as Schofields/Seven Hills/Campbelltown. But it's good exploring the different suburbs and getting a feel of the place, even if it's half a day or less.

House hunting club! Haha, I think there are plenty of houses which are great if I didn't have to bother about trains that much, but I work in these 3 locations mainly - Marrickville (10 mins walk from station), Taren Point (drive), & Ingleburn (drive) & my wife works in Old Toongabbie.
I don't think the rent near workplace works really well for the both of us based on our work location differences. Love taking the Chester Hill train to Marrickville (primary base of ops for now). Your strata experience has managed to scare me off units for now. Maybe if I can't find anything in a year or two I'll look for units again.

Saw a house or two that was pretty nice, but I think the proximity to the train station helps a lot with any future-proofing: Rental or sale of the home. I'm sure these does not apply to those mega-expensive suburbs. If I could afford a multi-million house I probably wouldn't worry about buying an additional car or two.

I'm also in agreement with you regarding break-ins to dwellings near train station, I see it a lot of mirocburbs, which is why I have no issue with walking up to 20-30 mins from the train station. Less likely to get caught and easy get-away on the trains, though it's good there are plenty of CCTVs.

Thank you for all the links, I use the ones below:

Suburb review, questions, etc:
https://www.homely.com.au/wattle-grove-live...new-south-wales

Safety, shops, eateries, ethnicity (especially if you like asian suburbs), etc. - may have to register for free to view more than 3 suburbs I think:
https://www.microburbs.com.au/

The most important.... nbn (I game a lot, good internet makes me happy)
https://www.nbnco.com.au/connect-home-or-bu...ck-your-address

I would love to say I'm pretty young, but I think it's subjective depending on the age difference. I'm in my early thirties, and I game for several reasons:
- Helps me disconnect from the world and keeps my sanity
- I suppose it's the closing thing I would consider a passion
- It saves me money as I don't go out and spend on other things - games can cost a fair bit but I always buy on discount, like groceries

We do our best to save, and always buy stuff on sale. We managed to maintain our current lifestyle even after both of us secured permanent roles, which helps with building that 20% deposit. The AUD has been pretty unstable lately, constantly up & down. I think MYR is probably doing better.

Career - still finding for something I can feel passionate about and pursue, but none at the moment. Just trudging along my current career path.

I'm just justifying my own hobbies, haha.. but thank you for the clarification. Like it or not, gaming does not have a very good perception among many, especially parents who have kids that are absolutely addicted to games. Also the general perception of gaming as a more juvenile hobby, like a few other unpopular hobbies. A lot more 'adult' or sophisticated hobbies are treated with a lot respect. At the moment, gaming is just a hobby or passion to some, which is slowly gaining a lot more traction over time, but still very holds a very negative impression linked to violence and addiction.

With a lot more limited time now I've cut down on working out & reading. In Msia, I used to join friends for a bit of rock climbing/bouldering, movies and yumcha at the mamak. Here it's just both missus and myself, so I get to keep to self when not out dealing with client/colleagues. Also gaming used to be the best way to stay in touch with buddies, before life regained the reigns.

Woodcroft seems to be a pretty nice suburb as well, and a lot of houses in the area going for first home buyer prices. Same applies to Quaker Hills & Stanhope Garden. A house we were looking at was reduced by 20k in the price listing this week. As you guys mentioned, might be a good idea to just keep holding on. At this point with the price dropping we're able to eye houses instead of townhouses/apartments. If this trend continues, we might even be able to afford 4 bedder (old) houses.

Can still see plenty of houses selling for 2018 prices at the moment, so I'm i total agreement with Gary in regards to house prices going lower the longer we wait (unless we find something that ticks all boxes). Saw a nice townhouse without strata yesterday. bought for 600k-ish in 2015, and agent said all offers are not even 625k. It felt pretty tough now, but most buyers are demanding for less, if not meeting the suggested price of the seller.

This does beg the question however: how much more can the price of properties increase now? If it's already dropping, how and why would it increase again to make investors interested? Already in the news investors are going for Adelaide, Brisbane or all other areas save Melbourne and Sydney.

If I could afford 12(!!) houses, I'd reckon the rent itself would be enough for me to stop working. 12 x 1200/month = 14,400/month. Just like the news of the young Aussie bloke who has 12 properties around AUS generating 200k per annum.

As long as you're living a life you're happy/satisfied with, I don't think it matters so much if you're one of the poorer relatives. I'm definitely with you on this, maybe because I can relate as well being the poorer relative in my extended family.


Best of luck with your purchase. I'm slightly envious that you're able to find something suitable so quickly. I'm sure things will work out for ya.

It depends on your job, is it in the job list required? If not, regardless of your work experience you can't get through. A short while ago someone posted about a Msian company hiring staff in Aus. You could try contacting that person to ask if it's still available & if it applies to you.

Also, I think having about 5 years work experience is optimum as it gives you the most points to apply for a PR. For a specific sponsored job they'd probably need people with a lot more experience to bring them in from overseas rather than finding someone locally with slightly less than 2 years experience.

Hey Garysydney, any opinions on Doonside? I'm doing more research now cuz I saw a nice place that's about 20-20+ mins walk from station, which seems alright.
The house is in pretty damn good condition, but the garden is huge, and so much work needed to tend to the front & backyard, which my missus loves, but not me. Spiders galore too.

And one weird small door that leads to under the house, any idea what that's for? Someone will probably have to crawl to get into that spot.

However this site says its pretty dodgy an area (safety score 5/10 vs like Chester Hill (8/10):
https://www.microburbs.com.au/NSW/Sydney-We...cktown/Doonside

Thank you for the feedback anyway. All's good. Doonside has a lot of areas with housos, though not sure if it's still the case now. Eastern suburbs are wayyyy to expensive for us (as first home buyers), and west is the most affordable for the size/price. Kinda stuck between Chester Hill (older average sized houses, okay size land, but so much closer to most parts of CBD, Sydney) vs the west areas like Woodcroft/Doonside (bigger homes, 4 room houses for <700k, but bloody far). Good to see auctions are still aplenty, but we avoid it as we think it's not a good idea for us to go into an auction in the current market. Doing as much research on these suburbs now to see if it's worth buying a home.

The house we saw today was really, really well maintained. Compared to another house in Girraween which was so badly maintained (dirty as heck carpet, unwashed toilets, etc). One of the best maintained houses I've seen so far.

I'm pretty happy my rent isn't going up, but always good to know the rent is going down. I have heard of landlords offering 2 weeks rental off, or other benefits to attract potential renters. But then there's my colleague who's landlord wanted 2k deposit from her, and gave her the wrong bank account. She banked it in to the wrong account and the bank could only reimburse 800 as the wrongly banked into account owner withdrew everything out of the account.

Yes, plenty of articles going around mentioning what you have said, but I think if it does happen, it's probably a cut down on more expensive/luxury based items that the people used to buy. It's all about the lifestyle anyway, especially if you live to impress. Some articles writers are expecting the property prices to drop from another 10% up to 50%(!), which doesn't sound right, but could possibly in the middle depending on the suburb and how much of an oversupply there is at the moment.

I'm just hoping the interest rate retains as is for longer than the 1-2 years mentioned.


I was researching on Doonside for a few good hours till past midnight, and it paints an overall bleak picture about Doonside. The housos are slowly being moved out of the area, but gentrification may not be coming anytime soon, hence the bad impression stays. There are pockets of areas that okay,and pockets of areas to be avoided - which may be outdated.

Woodcroft is definitely better, you get a pretty big change in feel to the suburbs when one crosses into Doonside from Woodcroft. That being said Woodcroft has a slightly better rep than Doonside from my research, but it's not way better - Doonside's presence seems to be linked to increased crime and safety concerns. I think the presence of more indians and philippinos in that area makes it feel somewhat more asian (though still lacking a lot of chinese/oriental population).

Missus dislikes Schofields or parts of the more affordable places due to its proximity to new developments. Quakers Hill seems okay but some of the houses have shown break-in signs - same ass some townhouses in Woodcroft bordering Doonside. The reason we like Woodcroft was that we liked the feel of the suburb, not too busy & quiet with an express train to city if required. It's also close to Old Toongabbie where my missus is working.

We were looking for a unit initially, then townhouse, followed by a 3 bedder. Then we saw these 4/2/X houses in Doonside and thought might as well just pay about first home buyer prices for a house in great quality which we can probably live in for a good 10 years, then see how it goes from there. However, schools will be a concern in the future and I'm still checking on the Doonside area before we commit to anything. There were no other people checking out the house, and I think that's a shame. On the plus side might get better negotiating power. Haha...

*Edit: Messed up quotes

This post has been edited by kagenn: Feb 24 2019, 07:07 AM