1st time buyer, I need your advice on how to find the right properties

Hi guys, I am now finally ready to get my 1st property. My plan is to get a house with max. purchase price of 400K, 30 mins drive max to CBD and 20 mins drive max to nearest beach. I want to be able to subdivide it in the future, so looking for 700sqm plus houses.

Given it's something new for me and very important decision, I appreciate if you can advice me with:

1- How to search for these kind of properties. I tried realestate website but do not know what sort of keywords to use to get the sub-divisible houses. what words should I use? is there a way I can search using different keywords at the same time?
2- How to determine the right price for each house? sometimes I see the houses are way overpriced compared to historical sales in same area (according to realestate)

Thanks heaps guys

 

On realestate.com,au you can specify a minimum land size in the search parameters (section where you put number of bedrooms etc). So put 700sqm in the field and it will only show properties on blocks over that size.
Marg

 

I have to say my usual advice to beginners is to avoid apparently "subdividable" properties because there's a good likelihood to buy something either overpriced or unsuitable for profitable development - until you know what you're doing.

For investors in Perth, that's probably until you know the provisions governing subdivision in the Rcodes quite well.

 

I would agree with @thatbum. The analogy here is try learn to walk before you can run.

What I usually see is beginner investors with these "goals" ended up going around in circles, because they don't have enough experience to know whether a property fits their goal or not, and then on top of that having to decide whether it has the future potential for subdivision is another layer of complexity on top. So my suggestion is for first one, stick to a property with good fundamentals - close to transport, CBD, shopping centres etc. I've outlined a couple of my own criteria in "what I learnt out of buying 7 properties" within the Investor showcase sub-forum.

Also from my personal experience - I didn't get into these kind of complex stuff until about IP4 or 5. Once you master the basics of what to look in a property you will naturally want to get more - that's where you'll gradually lean towards the more advanced techniques such as subdivision/development.

Cheers,
David

 

If you really want subdivisable then you need to have some knowledge base

Get very familiar with this - especially page 59 Residential design codes

That will help with question 1. You can then put the density code, ie R30 or R40 or R50 in the keyword search and it will show you some adverts. However not all REAs put the zoning in an advert AND you should NEVER believe the zoning a REA puts in. Always check yourself

As to number 2 you will eventually get a feel for what is a good price. Historical price doesn't always give the answer. Street by street values will change and it can be hard to get a good feel for it.

30mins from CBD is rather vague and I hope thats not in peak hour. Could you convert that to kilometres? You're not looking at anything too special, maybe Craigie, Marangaroo

 

Thanks guys, so what would you suggest for someone in my situation? I have 400k, this is the first place to buy and I will be living in it with my gf.

A friend of mine told me that the best thing is to buy an old house with big piece of land, check the R codes and slope to make sure I can get a duplex (or even a triplex) out of it. once I buy it, I will be living in it for few years to save to do the subdivision then sell after that.

 

Nothing beats on the ground experience in my opinion. Set up alerts for your price bracket and targeted suburbs, and get out there and start going to home opens. Get a feel for the market and what properties are selling for what.

Supplement your knowledge by spending your time here, but be sceptical of random friend/family advice.

For example, even while your friend's advice about the subdivisible property is "okay" in a general sense - what happens if you buy something subdivisible but clearly overpriced? Buying a big block of land isn't some one-size fits all strategy by any means.

Start with what you can control, and one of those is buying something good value to begin with.

 

Thanks heaps mate

 

2- How to determine the right price for each house? sometimes I see the houses are way overpriced compared to historical sales in same area (according to realestate)

Get RP Data and check recent sales they have a great map function for this I use it all the time.