elizabethj4

I lived in Doncaster East for 13 years, and watched it change over the years from a quiet, relatively peaceful suburb to an overrated, traffic congested area full of unfriendly neighbours and crime issues. There were 4 robberies in our street in a little less than 15 months - including our home, which was robbed during the day between after school and evening rush hour. Neighbours were home directly opposite but no one "saw or heard" anything despite robbers making off with a literal truckload of our items, computers, jewellery and electrical equipment.

Despite some people's ratings and what real estate agents will tell you, research will reveal that Doncaster East has one of the highest property crime rates in suburban Melbourne. Interestingly, when we first moved there 13 years ago, a young couple who lived next door told us they were moving as they had found the area and the neighbours in the street to be "pretty unfriendly". I can confirm this to be our experience too, as people keep to themselves and dislike any sort of friendly interaction unless your children happen to be on their children's football team, then they will pull out all the stops.
The other issue was the way people drive so aggressively - the lack of transport, especially rail options leads to terrible traffic congestion and the daily commute is full of almost daily accidents and road rage incidents. Not a week went by in the last few years we lived there without experiencing (or seeing) road rage incidents and on one occasion, my young son was almost run over by a speeding Mercedes driver which hurtled around the corner whilst he was crossing a road on his way home from school. Children or young people are rarely seen walking or playing outside as the parents in the area drive them everywhere (and drivers in the area can't be trusted due to their road aggression).

My family has now sold and moved to another area of Melbourne and I was astonished at how friendly and welcoming the neighbours and all the local people were. We are twenty minutes from a large well known shopping complex and have a train station 5 minutes from our home. Best of all, I can see the beautiful Yarra Valley unfolding from my dining room windows and I enjoy leafy parks and green spaces full of people of all ages, unlike in Doncaster East where they were mainly for show apart from the odd person walking their dog of an evening.
Do yourself and your family a favour and avoid buying here.