My concern as I was thinking of buying around Corio is that Ford is a major employer in that area and with the downturn in the economy Ford may shed staff and thus affect the housing prices in the area.
I do not think the By-Pass will have any effect as the main highway doesn't go through the main shopping area in the town of Geelong now so it will not be much different except for the fast food shops and petrol stations on the main highway losing customers.
Geelong has Deakin University and also has a large population
Have you driven into Melbourne from Geelong in Peak Hour?
You get a good run until you reach the grid lock when you reach the Western Ring Road into Melbourne.

It depends on what you plan to do.
Is your wife planning on leaving the work force in the future?
 if YES then trying to claim negative gearing will be null and void for your partner that is not working if 50% of the mortgage was in her name. 
If you are planning on 100% owning it and if you want to claim 100% of the interest costs against it then you need a the majority of the mortgage in your name.
If negative gearing you will find it hard to claim negative gearing if you use a Discretionary Trust Fund as losses stay in the fund rather than being able to claim the expenses against other income outside of the trust.
They are better for property that is positively geared or a balanced portfolio where a couple of houses make money and another one is not making money as they balance out over the trust fund.

I may have not answered this question as I dmay not have understood what you meant by mortgage structure.

why not ask the poster of the posting link below
https://www.propertyinvesting.com/forums/property-investing/general-property/4327351

if they can help you with vendor finance
you never know unless you ask.

You may be able to get a low doc type loan from a non bank at a higher interest rate and then convert it later to a normal loan when the credit rating is better.
Do a google search on the search term of
non conforming home loan.

If you just print money then you get a situation known as hyper – inflation.
step 1
As goods prices increase
step 2
– workers want more wages because prices go up – wages go up – this leads to prices of goods going up-
go back to step 1
Soon you need a wheel barrow of cash to buy a loaf of bread.

High inflation does not occur. The RBA increases interest rates to slow down the economy and have a 2 to 3% target range.
So if economic growth occurs the RBA starts to rise the interest rate to maintain sustainable economic growth (2 to 3%).

This has the effect of making property investing more expensive.
If you have say as a likely bad scenario that interest rates are 10.5% but the yield from a property is say 4% then it is costing you 6.5% * bank loan balance to invest in a property.
Where as if the loan interest rate was 7% then it is costing you 3%
On a 400,000 loan 6.5% = 26,000 a year and 3% is 12,000 a year

So when property investors leave the market as well as mum and dad first home buyers the demand for property decreases and the supply of houses for sale increases. House Prices fall as well.
Then new home buyers stop buying newly built homes as it is also expensive due to higher interest rates and then builders can't get enough work to feed their family. Carpet manufacturing, roof tile makers, furniture makers, paint makers, painters, plasters, plumbers, electricians, brick layers, concreters, landscapers , ect are affected by this building downturn.
Then people hold onto their car rather than buying a new car so then car manufacturing is affected.

This effect is not instant it takes time for the higher interest rate to take effect in the economy this is known as the lag effect in economic theory.

This has been copied for your convenience.

IP Freely posted this reply to the incorrect "have posted in another area by mistake" that  you did

I would suggest that you seek an independent financial advisor to assist you in your situation. You sound as if you are a conservative investor and may need a specialist to review your entire situation rather than isolated information from a group with vested interests. The advisor will consider such options as the value of your business and selling this (or a succession plan) realising a tax free capital gain, restructuring of your current super/other investments and determine an investment strategy which meets your risk profile, the amount of income you will be able to live off and for how long. Financial advisors are obliged to disclose any commissions that they may recieve from the products that they recommend. Independent advisors may offer a wider range of investment products.

I.P. Freely – 'cause I can!

I once purchased a land valuation of ten years from the victorian land valuers office but that is not sales data.

try investigating also a low doc loan as you say you can afford the loan. You might not have thought of this avenue

Drop the asking price by $20 a week.
When you talk about cost to you- $1000 a year.
Every week the property is vacant is a week of rent lost. Rents are coming down due to the lower demand for rental properties as mentioned in this March issue of API magazine.
I had the same problem 12 months ago and had to drop my asking price on rent. My house did not have central heating and cooling or modern kitchen as compared to what else was on the rental market at the time I was trying to rent it out 12 months ago.

Other things to check and consider

Is it advertised by the agent on their web site?
Is it advertised in the local paper?
Is it advertised in the real estate agents window?

If I was starting out I would buy cheaper so that I had some hope of paying it off. If you are not living in it it doesn't need to be in a $350,000 area. Can you put up with a 6 month commute from Geelong or Cranbourne?