PeterG1

After looking all over Sydney for place to buy we found Liberty Grove in 2009. The size of apartments compared to the price (while in a good location) was the best we had seen from our research (without looking any further west). Its a nice green suburb with mature tree's and well maintained gardens with 2 large parks, 2 pools (1 normal size and the other just under half Olympic size for lap swimming), 2 tennis courts, full size basketball courts and a community building (with gym, sauna and other rooms). There are great walks along Rhodes waterfront with great sunsets, the Wetlands in and around Olympic Park surrounding area - and also there is great walk on the concord side on the waterfront if you like to walk a bit further.

I would say Liberty Grove is best suited to families, young couples, retiree's. Parents love it as kids can run themselves silly in the large parks while being close to home and closed of from the rest of the world.

Both Rhodes and Concord West train stations are approx 12 minutes walk and then it is 25 mins to Town Hall. I generally take Rhodes station as it is convenient to walk through Rhodes shopping centre to get your groceries on your walk home. There is no need to drive to the Rhodes shopping centre as it is less than 500 metres away. Rhodes is great with variety of restaurants, cafes, food court, cinema, long riverside walk - but it is also nice to come back to quietness of Liberty Grove, as Rhodes is quite developed these days with a lot of people. But in saying that there is quite a relaxed feel to Rhodes. Weekends can be hectic especially at IKEA !!! Note: save your sanity and go to ikea on week nights.

Being a proud Bulldogs supporter and keen on most sports I love that I can walk over to ANZ Stadium (Olympic Park) and watch a game without having to drive (about 25 mins walk).

For those that shop there is DFO (30 minute walk, couple minutes drive) and Rhodes Shopping Centres (Ikea, Coles + all the usual suspects) (5 mins walk) + top ryde shopping centre (5 mins drive).

Driving wise you have 2 main roads to get to the city (Victoria Rd and Parra Rd) which are similar drive times. Victoria rd is probably quickest. These roads are good for me but in saying that if you drive to work I hear there not much fun !!

Liberty Grove does have a boundary on one side to a train line and the other side to a main rd (Homebush Bay Drive). Ideally you will be wanting a place that faces the park (inwards) so you don't hear that noise. Places that face outwards can be OK but you will have to see for yourself. Places facing outwards have great view but rd is directly below them. I don't know if its noisy or not if you live on a high level. It might be OK.

The drawbacks of Liberty Grove are as follows:

Parking is not great. Most apartments come with 1 or 2 spaces (1 park for 2 bed place, 2 park for 3 bed place) as standard. There are many families these days with 2, 3 or 4 cars so the spaces quickly fill up. It can be a pain if you invite friends over and they have to drive around in circles looking for a space. Hopefully this issue gets resolved soon.

Some people say internet is not great but I have never had any issues but I am not a crazy downloader or work from home person. I think for average person it is OK. I use voda dongle which is not super quick but does the job.