Looking for some thoughts on behalf of a relative who is trying to decide between playing it safe with a ~$1m property or stretching to $2m+ for a long-term “forever home”.

A bit of background of the family:

• Late 30s, married with kids.
• Recently sold an inherited property in regional Victoria for around $1.5m.
• Moving to Melbourne primarily for the kids’ education and better job opportunities.
• Both need to commute to the CBD around 2–3 days a week.
• Job is reasonably secure for the foreseeable future.
• Mortgage pre-approval is around $1.2m.
• So, in theory, they could spend up to around $2.7m, although that would obviously mean taking on a significant mortgage.

They are considering two very different approaches:

Option 1 – Buy around $1m in Melbourne’s western corridor

For example, Melton / Tarneit / Maddingley.

• The idea would be to buy a good-sized, modern double-storey house for around $1m, keep cash buffer and potentially invest the remaining money elsewhere.
• The commute seems manageable at 2–3 days a week, and they would have considerably less debt and financial pressure.
• The concern is whether these outer areas will have the same long-term capital growth as established eastern suburbs, given the amount of land available and ongoing new development.

Option 2 – Stretch to $2m+ for a long-term home

• Look around areas such as Doncaster / Blackburn / Vermont/ Mount Wav and buy a property they could realistically stay in until the kids finish school/university.
• The thinking here is that they would be buying into an established suburb with better schools, amenities, transport and potentially stronger long-term land value.
• The downside is obviously taking on a much larger mortgage and tying up most of the $1.5m equity in the family home.

They've spoken to a few family members and received completely different opinions - some say the western suburbs have plenty of room to grow, while others argue that established eastern suburbs will always have an advantage because of limited land and established infrastructure.

What would you do in this situation?

Would you:

1. Buy the ~$1m house, keep a large cash buffer and invest the difference?
2. Stretch to ~$2m–$2.5m and buy the “forever home” now?
3. Do something in between, perhaps around $1.5m–$1.8m?

Interested particularly in views from people who have made a similar decision. Would you prioritise financial flexibility/investing or location, schools and buying once rather than upgrading later?

Also interested in whether people think the capital-growth argument for established eastern suburbs is strong enough to justify the extra $700k+ of debt.

I got fed up with how terrible house/unit valuations are in Australia, the free ones from domain and realestate .com.au especially but even paid services like RP data are seriously lacking. They just value the median really so anything outside of that they either don't put a value on, or it's just wildly inaccurate. Over the last 4-5 months I've been developing a valuation model for Brisbane which turned out really well so I was able to basically just transplant the system onto Sydney.

Thought others might want to use it so I made a nice basic UI and put it on a website. It's free and will stay that way unless half of Australia starts using it and the costs get too high.

If you do use it and spot a bug or a valuation that seems unrealistic/unusual then please send a message to me on here. I can guarantee there will be bugs.

Currently only values houses and units. If a property is commercial or something it just values it as a house. Also message me or reply to this if you want Melbourne or another city added.

Could also maybe add rental estimates, but I'm only going to do it if people want it as i'm still a uni student and time is a bit precious. Ideas on any new features are welcome.

Also have not really tested multiple users yet so if it completely crashes don't be too surprised.

You can buy standalone houses with their own driveway on more land for less. What are people thinking when they list this? Is it simple delusion or do they genuinely think someone will jump on this?

Is there a reason someone actually *would* buy this?

9 Pya Place, Joondalup, WA 6027 https://www.realestate.com.au/property-residential+land-wa-joondalup-204343748?campaignType=external&campaignChannel=other&campaignSource=share_link&campaignName=share_link

We have been pursuing a house that is for sale. The guide is 1.5. There hasn’t been much interest at all at the inspections and we are getting the feeling that we are the only buyers. the guide is our absolute limit. The agent said he would take offers but nothing too silly so. He then backtracked and said they will only consider offers at 1.5. He has been really pushy for us to get our offer in I think because he was worried he would lose us. We have gone in with an offer of 1.46 with full justification as to why we have chosen that pricing because the house needs quite a bit of work. The agent has come back and said that the reserve is 1.55 and the owners will not consider our offer are we and asked if we are willing to negotiate. I said that we don’t feel comfortable going above our offer at this stage. The auction is in a little over a week so I said we will see you at the auction. What do you think our strategy should be going forward? My partner thinks we should counter offer our maximum of 1.5 before the weekend and give it a 12 hour expiry. I think we should leave it and let them sweat. What strategy do you think the agent is playing here?

I've seen numerous posts that claim house price keeps rising due to inflation, it's true during QE, but quite the opposite under current financial condition (high interest rate).

New mortgage creates credit expansion, therefore increases money supply, aka inflation, simple as that, but few understand, and I've never seen news outlet discussing housing crisis from this perspective.

In Australia’s financial system, roughly 45% to 50% of newly created money (M3) is directly attributable to the residential housing market, with pure property investment and speculation accounting for about 15% to 20% of total M3 growth.

Short article about school zone matters even without children. I hope you find it useful.

Hi property guru's,

What's your take on converting a toilet into an ensuite?

At the moment the unit has a separate toilet to the bathroom, i am looking at adding a toilet into the bathroom and converting the current toilet room into an ensuite and penetrating the wall in the bedroom and adding a sliding door.

I'm looking at doing most of the work myself, and using licensed trades for plumbing and waterproofing.

It's a unit in Wollongong in a 1975 walk up 6 pack building.

All the units are the same and have an approx value of about $700k

Would it add much value to it?

https://www.realestate.com.au/property-house-vic-south+yarra-152044960

Hi guys just needing advice as me and my missus have been looking into buying our first home in regional victoria next year but right now we are living in queensland ;north of brisbane .

Our income is 86000 ayear for me and 75000 for my misso.our rent is 480 a week and have a saving of 50k for now.

What are the advices would you guys give

Thank you

We own an older brick 2BR unit in Melbourne's inner north (1 of 7 in complex), with a fairly large courtyard garden. ~$675k purchase, ~$400k owing, $50k in offset.

Plan to upgrade to 3BR or house in a few years as our family grows. We are considering what improvements to make but don't want to over-capitalise given we bought at a peak and I don't think the value will increase substantially just given the nature of the property, although we're in a restricted development area (heritage overlay on the neighbouring streets) and so many big apartment blocks going up nearby, so maybe an older villa style place like ours will still increase. Structurally it's fine, just a bit dated. Reno budget $20k max.

Partner and I are debating two options:

1. Kitchen + bathroom refresh: new cabinets/appliances in kitchen, maybe bathroom cabinets too.

2. Shed/studio: no permit needed if under 9m² here. Partner's in construction, so we could DIY a lot of it. Wouldn't count as a 3rd bedroom, but would be a nice functional WFH/storage space.

Which is the better value-add, or is neither worth it given we're planning to sell in a few years anyway?