Territory05

Dirty, shabby, impoverished. This is how my mother described Newtown, St Peter's and Erskinville where I grew up. She hated the area. Her single fronted terrace house recently resold for $1.2 million. We sold it for $364,000 ten years ago. She finally 'got out' and moved 'up the coast'. What my mother saw as a dangerous place, full of ethnic people with their smelly food has turned into the mecca that the inner city area is today. Fastforward ten years and where do I live - you got it - right in the middle of Sydney - Bankstown. Ten minutes from the M5, three minutes from Bankstown Square, 5 minutes from two train stations in a quiet leafy street with a mix of families with - horror of horror - little children playing in the street. The hooligans are here, the dirt and the sabbiness my mother previously described is here in parts. The best thing is its 10 mnitues to Rhodes, Menai and the Olympic Stadium. Talk about infrastructure. I've got my eye on a house (an old shabby dirty smelly one) on a 550sq m block in a quiet tree lined street. It passed in last Saturday for $480,000 (vendor's bid) the people actually only bid $400,000. I'm in negotiation. Tonight my wife and I are deciding to go Vietnamese, Thai, Lebanese, Greek or Ethiopian. I recommend the Ethiopian in Bankstown - different but to die for. The inner city was discovered because it had cheap accomodation, was eclectic, quirky, dirty, and full of hooligans. It has good transport was very multicultural and had access. You can't buy a postage stamp there now for under a million. Enter Bankstown. This area is so similar. I can see the students from Western Sydney Uni building up. The access to empoyment and the next 'trendy' area developing. I'm buying up. Where else in Sydney can you get a near new 2 beddr unit for $320,000 and rent it out for $350 a week???????? They say the place will never change - it will show no capital gain. Well - my answer is - tell that to the other kids who grew up in Erskinville and Redfern! Bankstown has the lot. In years to come you will see. Think of any other area in Sydney with the opportunities Bankstown has - and - its areally nice place to live. You learn so much about yourself - especially how not to be a myopic racist. March 2012 update from my above june 2010 submission above - I did buy!!!!! A three bed unit, ensuite, double garage in a leafy street- $319,000 and the rent - current $430 going up to $450 in a few months. That's a 7.3% return this year - not taking into account any capital gain after I installed new carpet, blinds, cooktop, oven and a paint. extra outlay $4300. Do the maths.............. and there are many more....

Small boutique shops including the butcher and baker. A real community with concerts in the park, seasonal street fairs and mums with prams. This place really is Double Bay in the south. Great transport to the City, Eastern Suburbs, airport or beach. Great schools. Access to everything and its QUIET!. A peninsula suburb surrounded by waterways and the most beautiful parklands. To top it off it even has its own National Park. A wonderful place to live and - the pub is fantastic. Try the free Sunday Jazz or Friday night scene. Something for everyone. The restaurants are the locals secrets. Drive through on a Saturday morning to see Oatley in all its glory.