NSW Ashmont (Wagga Wagga)

Ashmont, NSW 2650
Population- around 4,000 , Suburb of the Wagga Wagga area population 45,000
Local Govt Area - City of Wagga Wagga

Distance from Sydney- approx 5 - 6 hours drive.

Development- area was developed by the Dept of Housing during the 1970's.

Shops- The Ashmont Mall is a small residential Shopping mall with an IGA and a Newsagency etc.
There is a Bunnings on the Suburb fringe.
Schools- Ashmont Public School

House Prices - Range anywhere from 110k onwards, with an average price of 140k plus
Most houses seem to be the 1970's style ex Housing Commission type.

Median Rents - Range from about $150 to $220 for 3 bedroom houses.

Pro's & Cons - Situated in a Growing Country City in Wagga .
High volume of houses for Sale & Lower prices and open to offers.
Dept of Housing seem to be selling off some houses.
High Crime area with several newspaper reports
Still has the stigma of a Housing Dept area
Hard to find tenants
Maybe difficult to find Property Managers due to areas reputation.
According to media reports houses unoccupied could be burnt down
High risk area and quality of tenants
Appears to be a large number of Rentals available

Ashmont appears to be overpriced in the market with most houses in the 140-145k bracket , considering crime and high rental vacancy .
Average rent return is $170 a week .

Just reading another post on here under the "property rental " thread where a poster has a IP in Ashmont in Regional NSW.
Apparently she is finding it difficult to rent out despite offering free months rent and other incentives.

Ashmont is in Wagga Wagga a big Country City town 5 hours or so from Sydney.

All other suburbs in Wagga Wagga appear to be selling and renting ok it seems.
So after reading her story I did some research on Ashmont to see many many houses for sale

Do we have anybody in Wagga that can explain to me about Ashmont and other parts ?
There appears to be " bargains" there BUT obviously a high risk to go with it .

If you do not feel comfortable posting your info on here for fear of being abused feel free to send me a PM .

 

Hey mate,

I'm a fireman and got sent down there for a month of country work. Went to a few fires in ashmont. Got spat at and abused numberous times. Don't like to generalise because there were some nice people there but on the whole the suburb is a hole.

That's not to say prices won't increase but id imagine you could have some serious issues with getting a decent tenant there.

 

@dan2101 thank you for serving the community. @Darlinghurst Boy how is your central Coast property? Have you rented out? I'm thinking of CC.

 

The locals call it "Trashmont".

Says a lot.

 

Thankyou for the information.

Yes Larry , i am just arranging remote for the garage and a few other things then i will rent it out.
Only 5 minutes walk to the Lake Haven shopping centre, (NSW Central Coast) i was very lucky to get it at a rock bottom price.

 

CF positive?

 

Getting back on topic , thanks to all about Ashmont, im a little disapointed .

 

Thanks larrylarry, much appreciated.

Just on the central coat I went to an auction for a block my parents were interested in. Basically a knockdown at Shelley beach (within walking distance of the beach) but on 650sqm flat block. Price Guide was low to mid 6's. About 12 registered bidders and sold for 715k. Couldn't believe the interest!

 

Wouldn't touch it with a 10 foot pole.

...and I own IP's in some pretty average places.

 

I've got a set and forget there - tenant is decent and it's cf+

If you do buy there - I'd recommend visiting in person. Some areas aren't too bad at all - others are pretty yuck

 

When most of the local PMs are turning down clients in the area, take that as a hint.

 

When Corey says no to a slum.... it must be a really slummy area

 

I have an ip in ashmont....and as per my other thread its been very tough.

frankly I try my best to look at things with my investment glasses,

as long as the rent comes in and there are no/minimal probles, I dont care what nationality, race or social status at are, its all a numbers game to me.....a numbers game thats not working for me ...but thats another story

redfern in sydney was pretty horrible ages ago, and look at it now,

however the chances of ashmont becoming like that I think are a million to one to 1 billion to one

as for the people there, yeah, some absolutely feral people there, I personally have nothing against bogans or lower social class people, they are still human beings and they may have a good heart,
but when I see them spitting on firemen who have come to help, then frankly if these people were on fire and I had hose, I probably wouldnt waste my water

I spent a few weeks there, and I didnt see that many people , didnt have any major problems, even chatted to a neighbour who seemed normal, I find that spedning a week there you cant get a feel of the place,

 

Speaks volumes!


By the way, I grew up in Wagga.

I was scared to visit Ashmont, Tolland and Mount Austin.

That was 20 years ago.

Not much has changed.

 

I have one there and the last 2 tenants have been fine. The repairs are mostly damage by the local ferals. The closer to the shopping centre, the worse the street. I bought a few streets back so there is less foot traffic.

It's always tough to find a tenant there over winter. Vacancies look to be dropping but there are also some really low rents advertised. Sales looked to have picked up too but the properties were prices to sell.

Every time my agent calls I fear that its advising me of the tenant vacating.

I've had mine since 2007 and honestly, it's a great way to get experience as a property investor at a low buy in price. When tenanted its positively geared and over the years I've had some interesting tenants. I bought 2 in Orange at the same time and one in Orange is causing me much greater headaches than Ashmont right now.

The area does seem to have gone even more downhill in the last year or so. Does anyone know if anything has changed in the area? Like bus loading a bad group from another town to gentrify that other place? Or is ice a massive problem down there, resulting in more violence and damage?

 

Liked Wagga regional area. Looked into Ashmont, my DD resulted in a no. The big put off was struggle to get a PM to manage. Ended up buying place in Mount Austin, have been reasonably happy with the growth. Have a good stable tenant paying nice rent CF+ had a small amount of CG in the couple years I've owned it.

 

I spoke to soon. Got a notice to vacate today. I had a feeling I'd been living on borrowed time for a while...

 

Would be interested to know what's going on and why investors made the decision to buy in?

The slums are a good buy in a metropolis but a country town requires snobbery. You might not want to live there but you could if you had to. Would you take your kids, animals, jewellery and car to Ashmont and leave them there?

 

When I bought, Ashmont and Kooringal were on par. Both rough around the edges and positive cash flow. 8 years on, ashmont has gotten worse and kooringal is cleaning up it's act. Tolland was the worst place back then. If I had my crystal ball back then i would've paid 20k more and bought in Kooringal.

 

I have tenants who have given their notice after a break in. Then the property manager just gave their notice.

I looked into all the projects on the cards for Wagga region and thought it was solid for CG while you have the + cash flow. I even thought the ripple from Sydney may even reach out there.

Now to find another good tenant. I was thinking of attracting more tenants by sprucing up the place.
A couple of old couches on the front porch, and a shed out back for an ice lab.