Buying Your New Home in the Dandenong Ranges
Buying a New Home in the Dandenong Ranges
“You are so lucky to live there”
“We are there all the time”
“We love it (insert tourist attraction or cafe)
Buying your new home, or your next home in an area that is out of your familiarity zone is equally exciting and daunting. Your head becomes full of all the opportunities and the increased lifestyle you are going to enjoy. As a buyers advocate or guide I wish everyone ran through the questions that I ask my clients. Moving is expensive particularly if you are buying, the purchase price and stamp duty alone plus the time, energy and stress with making a poor decision.
Buying a New Home, My Clients and Wanting an Area
My clients often want a particular area, we unpack this and through our worksheets we determine why they want this area, does it meet their needs,
Why, what, where, when, how and who are six questions that we work through. Before you do anything in life, knowing your ‘Why’ is vital. Without your why then you are playing a strange game of roulette with your family and your finances. Uprooting from the familiar, from friends and maybe family, school, workplaces, all to follow a dream that may be unrealistic or not well thought out.
Buying a New Home, Perception vs Reality
Perception vs reality, your expectations, does the area provide them, can you do what you want to do by moving here
You decide that the place you want to live is the Dandenong Ranges in Victoria Australia. I get it. My family has been living here since 1969 and has associations with the Hill even longer. My father wanted a more peaceful lifestyle and uprooted my three sisters and my very community minded mother from the Northern suburbs to pursue his dream.
Firstly, we had the wrangle with William Ricketts about where we wanted to build. Ask yourself particularly when you buy a block of land “can I do what I want on this block, will the Shire let me, will the neighbours create a stink and create roadblocks to my dream”. If you buy your dream house, how much sun does it get, how damp is it outside and inside, what renovations do you want to make and what zones and overlays exist.
I am very picky personally and with my clients. For example, we are personally looking at selling in Olinda and we have been looking for over 12 months. It took us two and a half years to buy our first home back in the Hills in Mt Dandenong. Your needs will change, as did ours but you want the move to be for a positive reason not because you have to, not because you listened to your heart not your head.
Buying your new home, House Price plus Stamps plus costs including maintenance, rates etc.
We are predominantly Melbourne metropolitan in the Dandenong Ranges yet deliveries may cost you more, removalists may cost you more because of your driveway and accessibility (ferns, trees over the driveway, gradient etc), our rates are expensive comparatively to some suburban areas because our Shire is HUGE and there is a lot of territory to cover.
That beautiful garden can easily get out of control because of our climate and yes, our climate is different. If you are a gardener then the Hills are a paradise with fast growth and amazingly beautiful plants. Watering is something that is an occasional occupation rather than daily like down in the ‘burbs in Summer.
You need to consider your budget as there will be additional costs and expenses traveling back to visit family and friends, commuting to work etc and insurance is high up here
Buying Your New Home and Getting to Know the Community
Our Hills communities are AWESOME particularly if you have children heading into preschool or primary. You will make life-long friends. We don’t have all the clubs you might have in your current area but you might be able to create them if you put the time and energy in.
Our population is small which can be limiting, you can get involved or just move here and chill – it’s your choice. My dad wanted to chill and so he did. My mum wanted to recreate her life in Watsonia and rapidly became involved in school groups, our local historical society (Mt Dandenong and District, we meet the first Saturday of each month and yes, I am involved) and eventually became a mature-age student at Monbulk Secondary.
It’s a small area and you get to know people when you get involved. Take a class at Olinda Community House, join Probus or Rotary or the CWA. Participate and you will quickly be absorbed into the community. Give the Hills a chance to prove to you that we are more than our tourist spots and cafes. You will be glad you did.
If you want to become a local then I can help you make that happen. I offer a range of choices to suit most budgets and I can help move you from tourist to local.
www.sro.vic.gov.au
www.yarraranges.vic.gov.au
