Dean Fields

Checked out new houses with friends looking for first home in this area.

Cons:
- Houses feel like "bigger units" and built in cheap materials. You can pretty much touch your neighbours house from yours :D.
- No privacy for houses as distance between houses are literally the same as you lived in units!
- Roads feel like paths, they are so narrow.
- So congested and artificial.

Pros:
- Houses are cheap for a reason

I and my partner have lived in St Leonards, Alexandria, Ashfield, Hurstville, Penrith ( :D ) and then for the past 8 years in Figtree, while working in Sydney CBD - we moved around for various reasons. We first moved to Penrith when we had our first child... but this was perhaps the worst suburb because of demographics and low quality of life from our experience even though we thought we lived in a "posh" area of Penrith.

We decided to move down south after looking around for 3 long years of search as we realised our big mistake living in Penrith (well because we didn't want to spend much!!). We have a number of friends in various suburbs around Wollongong (Bulli, Woonona, Balgownie, Wollongong, Mangerton and Figtree) so we looked at almost all suburbs within 10 minutes driving distance from Bulli so its easier to see friends.

Balgownie was definitely very nice but very pricey (relative to others). Bulli and Woonona are so overrated beach side suburbs - a lot of unemployed and junkies...and fairly flat! Wollongong is of course convenient but unless you live in North Wollongong, you'll be living with people who rely on centrelink payments! :) Mangerton is quite nice with hilly quiet areas (except around Tony's chicken where housing is :) !) But all these years we still don't quite understand why Mangerton is relatively pricey compared to Figtree because they are practically just next suburb and the property prices in Figtree are more affordable!

Now here's why we think Figtree is a great suburb for families and particularly for those who work/commute to Sydney :):

1. You pay less (at least for now until people start to realise this, particularly with more WFH arrangements post covid) for the space, security and privacy you get - compared to suburbs like Mangerton, Wollongong, Bulli, Wonoona, Balgownie and other suburbs north of Wollongong.

2. The drive to Wollongong station is just 10 minutes from my 1000sq 5 bed, 3 bath, 4 car park property to when i step out of the car at Wollongong train station! Trains from Wollongong are mostly express (that means less stops - and literally just 8 stops to Sydney Central station). Yes it takes 1.5 hours train trip from Wollongong to Central. However, you won't have to change trains (compared to say if you lived in Wonoona or Bulli) and waste time! We pretty much get comfy seats from Wollongong station and that means we can sleep/rest well compared to when you catch a train from Thiroul where you oftentimes have to stand (because the good seats are now taken!! :D). So for me the travel is so much better compared to the other suburbs I lived in before and compared to other suburbs north of Gong.

3. Figtree is a hilly suburb with fantastic mountain or ocean views (depending on your property location of course).

4. Lots of families and friendly/helpful people which is relatively safer compared to the other suburbs.

5. Yes Figtree is not a beachside suburb. But hey, the beach is just 12 minutes drive! We only go to the beach on most weekends as we work on weekdays so its not like we are missing out on the beach side life style. If anything, we appreciate it more and still convenient (not like when we were at Penrith or even Hurstville where it feels going to the beach was a struggle :)!

6. Abundant of high quality/very well ranked schools!

I hope this helps!