Dougey,
Work out what you can afford - both in servicing the loan and also having enough money to get a deposit.
Based on that, look at all suburbs which have a median that is just below what you can afford.
Check out the key things that make a suburb liveable ie. retail, public transport, parks, schools, health care, roads etc
Agree trade offs with your missus up front. The reality there will be trade offs - for instance, we agreed that we would live in a house which would need work but not a full reno job so went extra bedrooms but didn't worry about the paint job, blinds, crappy kitchen
Look at those suburbs you can afford and compare their growth against the overall growth across Melbourne. For example, suburb x might have a 3 year growth 10% compare to melb metro avg of 5. It helps to understand how strong the market is where you are looking.
Some suburbs are growing faster than others and might be out of your price bracket - see if you can get those suburbs flanking the really fast growing suburbs as they will hopefully be affordable and also will probably grow next.
Then decide if these are areas you want to live in.
Don't be put off if some of these areas aren't suburbs you want to live in - if there is growth it is a way of building equity. If you're not familiar with them, don't rule them out - have a coffee in the local cafe or walk the main drag and see what you think.
Might sound odd but you may want to rent out the first house for a few years before moving in, some people aren't even living in their first property but using it to build equity and then moving into their second house.
Go to auctions to understand that dynamic. There is a technique that can really help you which you will pick up when observing auctions.
Good luck, I'm sure glad I'm not looking right now - money is cheap and while growth is slowing of property where I'm living - it won't be dropping anytime soon!!!
Cheers
