Monarch or Realm?

Not entirely sure why they’re looking at these apartments, but evidently that’s what they want. they’re from interstate and are working in the ACT region. I guess these developments appeal to them. I think they’re looking at the investment aspects as well as the living aspects. No way I’d do it (can’t afford it anyway), we had a look at a Realm show apartment a while back, just for fun, and it was rather rinky-dink I thought, chip board hiding under granite, so to speak.

Useful info people, it will all be fed back to the friend! Much appreciated.

Sorry, can’t comment on those developments specifically – except to say that Realm was developed and built by Doma, who developed (but did not build) Viridian in Kingston, which is a mess.

However, as a more general question – is your friend really wedded to apartment living? You can get a pretty decent house in many suburbs for the entry-level price of apartments in that Realm development. Having lived in apartments for six years and now being back in a stand-alone house with a lock-up garage, garden for BBQs, ducted heating system, and space between us and the neighbours – not to mention not having to pay $2000 per year for strata management costs – I think that “house” living beats “apartment” living hands down.

I know someone who lives at the Monarch. Has had more car break ins than the insurance company is willing to count. Also there’s are a number of homes which have been raided nearby.

rescuedg said :

Fan in the bathroom is pathetic and no heat lights so it gets very moist, also the bathroom is on the otherside of the walk-in wardrobe and neither have a window so ventilation is really bad.

Been there done that in a rental townhouse, had to replace most of my clothes, so that alone would be a dealbreaker for me! Silly me, I thought ventilation in internal bathrooms would be something a builder would pay close attention to, some of the highrise hotels I’ve stayed in have had good ventilation so it must be technically achievable….

The only apartments worth buying in the inner south are closer to the lake. Realm isn’t really suitable for locals. The main Realm is a public service watering hole , a conference venue and originally marketed to out-of-towners. It’s also forlorn and lifeless on weekends during the day. There’s no urban ambience in a location that’s more than half public service medium-rise. Nearby cafes such as in the Minter Ellison building are closed. Regardless of the quality of the fittings etc I think it would be depressing as a main residence. Fine for e.g. visiting lawyers who go home to the North Shore on weekends. If you have the budget for Realm, you should buy a small house in Dickson/Ainslie (8-10 minutes commute to APH early in the morning, 15-18 minutes in the worst of rush hour) and avoid body corporate fees and arguments.

I am currently tenanting at the Monarch. Overall it is pretty good, only issues with the build quality that I have found are:

light fittings (those in ceiling halogen lights) were poorly done, loose/frayed wires needed replacing.

Fan in the bathroom is pathetic and no heat lights so it gets very moist, also the bathroom is on the otherside of the walk-in wardrobe and neither have a window so ventilation is really bad.

Fan in the kitchen is also useless, has three settings and even on the highest barely even makes the steam/smoke from cooking drift towards it -and is very loud.

We are ground floor so that comes with its own problems, next to no sun so there is a bit of a mould problem on the windows on the back as they get really bad condensation on the inside… it was already there when we moved in and we’ve had to police it pretty heavily.

The courtyard area between the two monarch tower blocks gets next to no sun so is not that usable unless it is really warm and you don’t mind having pretty huge buildings on three sides.

Pool and gym are both fine. Must wear goggles in the pool though, huge amount of chlorine.

We were told before moving in there were 2 car park spaces. There are but they are one in front of the other for our apartment and quite a few others.

Good stuff:

next to no noise at all from the side or above -thick walls I guess

The apartment is good looking, great kitchen with huge oven. All of the rooms in our apartment are a great size and use the space really well.

Great location.

The “building manager” on-site has always been good and easy to get a hold of if needed (keeps a pretty firm grip on parking in visitor spots)

Weird stuff:

Quite a while back a big group of police showed up, about 6 or 7 and wanted to get upstairs, wouldnt say why. Dont know if they managed to get upstairs and have no idea what is was about but it seemed to be a total one off.

Would be happy to live here if I could afford it, would probably want something higher up though. I imagine they get a pretty good view towards black mountain.