Melbourne Real Estate: How to find a property in the world most liveable city?

We often hear people suggesting that property prices throughout Melbourne tend to double in value every 7 to 10 years. It seems a lot, but when you do the calculations they often ring true.

As "the world most liveable city", Melbourne with a strong economy, good infrastructure and an excellent life style attracts people from all around the world. Not only people want to live in Melbourne, but a lot of foreigner investors also see good opportunities in the Melbourne real estate.

I had done a lot of research and had spent a fair amount of time on house hunting before I bought mine. House hunting could be exciting but it could become quite overwhelming if you are not well prepared.

But what is the real situation of Melbourne Real Estate?

What are the best ways to find his "dream home"?

Which are the most sought after places?

Melbourne Market: Where do you need to be?

The first thing you need to know when you are looking for a property is that it is all about location, location, location!

The location is always the most important thing when you need to invest in Melbourne real estate. 

Get a feel for the overall state of the market, but confine it to the general area you are interested in, one or two suburbs.

Melbourne is a huge city, there are so many good places that you would find "your dream home". It is not always easy to target your research, especially if you are not so familiar with the different suburbs in Melbourne.

I have listed some good Melbourne real estate places illustrated with maps that you should not miss out in my opinion.

Melbourne Real Estate Tips

One of my favourite Australian movie is 'The Castle'. It is the story of a Melbourne family who is forced to leave their beloved home, by the Government and airport authorities. 'The Castle' is a very funny story of how this family fights to remain in their house, taking their case as far as the High Court. If you have not seen 'The Castle', I would highly recommend you to watch it.

In this movie, this ordinary family home close to the airport is not only a house or a home for this family, it is truly 'their castle'.

Finding a place that suits your criteria is all that matters, isn't it? So take the following tips into consideration when buying Melbourne real estate...

• A place to live or a good investment: Of course it can be both but you may not have the same criteria for an investment property. For example, Melbourne Council has given a lot of permits to build buildings in the CBD and the CBD fringes like Southbank or Dockland. These places are great for investment because the rents are pretty high but they may not be a suitable environment to live for you and your family. I said may not, because some of my friends live in Dockland with their family and they are very happy. So, you need to go to see some of these apartments yourselves. Personally, I am not a big fan of these huge buildings but you may like them.
• Good transport options: Some of the most sound suburbs are well served by public transport and close to the free way.
  
• Many people love the Bayside: A lot of people dreamed to have a beach front property and the southern suburbs of Melbourne all along the Phillip Bay are traditionally the most popular ones.
• Be familiar with the different method of selling: Auction is a very popular method to sell a property in Melbourne. If you are not familiar with auctions, you need to gather more information before deciding to buy anything through auction. The Set Date Sell or the Private Sale are the 2 other ways to sell a property.
• Subscribe to the major real estate websites well before you start your house hunting. Having some good email Alerts from sites like Domain.com.au or Realestate.com.au are very important for you to have an overview of the market.
• Get your loan pre-approved:
  Pre-approval gives you the confidence of knowing how much you can afford before you start searching. Moreover an auction is unconditional, this means if you win you have to buy it regardless your finance condition. Bankers promise you the earth but once you really apply for a mortgage and they engage themselves in writing, things change. So don't put yourself in a delicate situation and get your loan pre-approved.
• School Zone may be an important point to check out if you have kids: House within the catchment zone of a very good public school can be a smart investment. Even if you do not have kids you could get a good rent if one day you need to put your property on the renting market. Learn more about the best schools in Melbourne.
  
• Be aware of extra expenses:
  When buying a house, make sure you take into account things like taxes, stamp duty, council rates, body corporate fee, insurance, maintenance costs, and costs of utilities such as gas, water and electricity. 
• Have a professional pest and building inspection carried out on the home or investment property:
  The standard inspection time is half an hour and it may not be enough to make the big decision. So make sure you use a professional with an impeccable track record to inspect the property with you. Especially if you foresee to do a lot of renovations. And again, do not forget that an auction is unconditional, without cooling-off period.