Looking at a house in Darrenwood - advice?

Muhammad

Hey guys,

Is there anyone from Darrenwood/cresta on the forums?
I'm looking at a nice house there but I wanted to know from the locals about things like the crime, traffic to parktown areas (I work there) and the rates etc.
Really like the place though, very peaceful and tranquil looking

Bob-Dubery

Muhammad wrote: Hey guys,

Is there anyone from Darrenwood/cresta on the forums?
I'm looking at a nice house there but I wanted to know from the locals about things like the crime, traffic to parktown areas (I work there) and the rates etc.
Really like the place though, very peaceful and tranquil looking

Traffic may be a bit of a mission. Beyers Naude Drive gets pretty busy, and to get to Parktown you will have to cross the Braamfontein Spruit, and all the roads over that spruit become bottlenecks during peak hours. But it depends on what you think bad traffic is.

Rates are dependant on property value (IE the value of the property as per the City's valuation roll, not what you pay for it).

Tokai-SA

I've owned two houses, one for 8 years and one for 14 years.
Both had big gardens, swimming pools, tennis court.
I redid the gardens myself, added Koi ponds, rare plants, tree ferns, cycads, etc, etc....great fun...the gardens were the biggest selling point when I sold them.

BUT, if I had to do it all over again I'd buy a 3 bedroom town/cluster house with a small pool and small garden, and 24 hour security.
The maintenance of a big garden is a major hassle.
The security of a house with a big garden is also a major hassle.

Traffic?
Everywhere in Johannesburg is a traffic nightmare during peak hours.

Darrenwood.
I maintained a clients garden in Darrenwood for 12 years.
His house was only broken into once during that time. ?
Darrenwood is a nice area, but, on the other side (left) of Judges Ave (if Cresta is on your right), it's kind of a nasty un kosher area that's slightly 'raw'.

deefstes

Tokai SA wrote: Darrenwood is a nice area, but, on the other side (left) of Judges Ave (if Cresta is on your right), it's kind of a nasty un kosher area that's slightly 'raw'.

Yeah, that "un kosher" area is called Windsor and it is pretty dodgy. The problem there is that there are lots of high density housing which is relatively cheap and so attracts the lower echelons of buyers. It has become rather a drug hotspot.

But Darrenwood is quite nice. We have had a look at some houses there when we were house hunting and you don't even realise that it's only like a 6 iron or so from Windsor.

I can't give you any indication of rates but we lived in the upper section of Cresta (which is immediately opposite Judges from Darrenwood) and the rates were not bad at all. We lived in a townhouse complex so obviously the rates would be a bit different but it was only a couple of hundred Rands if I remember correctly.

I wouldn't think that crime in Darrenwood is is significantly worse than any other suburb of Randburg. What you could do perhaps is to get in touch with one of the security companies (I think ADT is fairly prominent in that region) and find out what their stats are for Darrenwood as compared to some other nearby suburbs like Robindale, Linden or Blairgowrie.

As regards traffic I think you'd be golden. Darrenwood to Parktown North shouldn't take you more than 20 minutes on the worst of days. Obviously Parktown proper is a bit further still. True, you'll have to cross the Braamfontein spruit which will be the bottleneck on your route but the options on the Parktown side of the Braamfontein spruit will be orders of magnitude more expensive than Darrenwood.

I drive from Blairgowrie to Sandton every morning and it rarely ever takes me longer than 20 minutes. I'm very happy with the area we live in. If I had to drive to Parktown every morning, I'd probably have considered Linden or Emmarentia but I'm sure you've done your homework already.

Good luck and happy hunting.