North, East, South, West??

We made the decision to build vs buy early in 2011. We'd heard about the state government's first home buyers grant and thought this was a good initiative, but for a decision as big as this, we didn't think it was the main reason to jump in and decide to build. No doubt everyone has their own circumstances that need to be considered, and we were no different.

Being new to Melbourne, we weren't too sure which areas were being developed, so we really had to do our research. And depending on how much you want to get into this, there is a lot of research you can do. We tackled everything from forums to blogs to driving all over Melbourne. Word of mouth is always great, and of course, there's nothing that Google won't find for you.

Over the next few months we headed out in the weekends to have a look at different estates, measured distances from the CBD (where we both work), and considered current and planned infrastrucure, such as shopping centres, train stations, and access to freeways.

Our search was mostly concentrated in the south east, as there was a lot of development out that way, but we weren't able to really settle on the decision to purchase a block of land there.

We also went out to the newly developed areas in the north and north west. The greenery and hills were very appealing, but again, we couldn't commit to the decision to purchase a block of land out that way.

On one of our weekend escapades we decided to see what was on the other side of the West Gate Bridge, and were pleasantly surprised with the development of the Point Cook area. Hubby and I almost had that synchronised feeling of 'I think this is it'.