VIC Ballarat picking up ??

It was always going to. It had fundamentals coming out of its ears.

 

417 Richards Street Canadian Vic 3350 - House for Sale #128385834 - realestate.com.au Saw this one today, would take a good look at it if I was ready, but I’m still 6 months out. Rentals seem to be around the $270pw mark so not a bad buy if you can get in between the quoted range and it has nothing overly wrong with it.

 

Does look mighty fine house for the price

Two years ago I would have gauked at the price and location as its.a little far out

 

Looks really livable on the inside. A little ordinary/ lacking street appeal on the outside. It's been beautifully styled that is for sure! With rent at $270, you are only looking at a 5.7% rental yield pa. It's certainly not high. Probably not high enough to be cost neutral in the near future at that point even getting it for the lower $245K figure.
Mortgage repayments for this property would be $286.28 a week. So yep... cash flow negative. Plus, the addition of costings such as rates, water, insurances, real estate fees ect.

Anyway, just a thought... how is commercial property doing in the Ballarat area? At least the rates and costs are paid via the tenant and you might be able to pick up something that is a better source of cash flow?

 

Ballarat is an interesting one. I’m considering another IP at the moment.

I’ve lived in Bendigo for a while and it was a nice place. Doesn’t seem to have the growth prospects or yield the rat has

What other regionals should I be researching? Geelongs has too much growth already

 

I'm researching myself into an area at the moment. If you are looking at regional, have you looked at all the data (house prices, census information, income levels, demographics, rental yield) that is where I am starting and to be honest, I think I am going to look at a high yielding area with room for potential growth in terms of low cost housing. I'm looking at the under $200K mark. Simply because if house prices fall, I figure they can't drop too much further than this. LOL, especially if homes are renting well. Which takes me to rental demand, I'm looking at average - high rental demand. So far, I'm only coming across average rental demand buy all my other ducks are coming together in order to pin point an area.

 

Don’t count on house prices falling in cities like Ballarat!

 

I'm not counting on it. I believe Ballarat will probably pick up a bit more But the rents are not covering the mortgage at current prices, and they do not meet my criteria of under 200K.

Ballarat is probably an excellent investment area for someone who doesn't mind putting some money into it every week until rental prices rise. For me, I'd much prefer something that is able to well & truly cover the base essentials.

Ballarat is quite a regional 'city'

 

Ballarat has very high water rates circa $330 a quarter - significantly higher than any other IP I own. Ballarat Yields are high compared to Melbourne. While vacancy rate is low - there is still a lot of properties for tenants to choose from which means rents stay low.

 

Well Owlet... I'd love to know where the $ of water per quarter is significantly cheaper. You got me thinking so I've just checked my water rates on some IP's...
Gippsland Water $327.97 per quarter.
GV Water is around $210 a quarter (going off a 2016 bill) (Greater Shepparton Area).

So while $330 a quarter is a bit over what some water boards are charging, it is not out of the ordinary compared to Latrobe City/ Gippsland.

Shepparton isn't doing badly to be honest. Rental yields are higher and the base costs for the property are lower.

 

Not bad, but asbestos cladding will be a turn off for many

 

Western Water, Barwon Water and South East Water $200 a quarter.

 

My properties in the Rat are costing around $330/qtr as well. I see it as just a business expense. As long as the numbers still work and the prospect growth is there, I personally don't see a problem with investing anywhere.

My Logan rates are much much higher than Ballarat ones. But the numbers work, so I am still happy with them as well.

 

Don't be fooled by the high yields on sub $200k properties. They're often not as cashflow positive as you might expect. Your rates, insurance, water, body corp fees, maintenance etc is the same or even more on a $500k house as they are on a $200k unit but represent a much larger percentage when compared to the capital invested and can quickly turn your cashflow positive cheapie into a cashflow negative cheapie... and probably one with low prospects of growth.

 

Agree - that is what I have found. I'd be one of those people who probably don't qualify for the loans I have - if I could sell my rat IPs and invest elsewhere I would.

 

The Rat is a good investment, particularly at the moment. But I'd be looking at the 300-500k range. Not sub $200k To my mind the Rat at that price point provides a good balance between cashflow and growth.

 

Seriously The City of Ballarat has some awesome data to look at to do some research!
Social atlas | City of Ballarat | atlas.id
I'm a bit impressed!

 

I’m the only Greek in my collection of suburbs. Funny that.

 

LOL! That is a bit funny G-Town. Does this mean that data is unreliable or were you searching for other Greeks? I believe the data is from census data back in 2016. So those annoying forms that were a pain in the butt and to be honest, looking back there were a lot of issues with the census when they decided we could all 'go digital' and the server broke down.
Still, in terms of overall knowledge of the areas it seems like a good place to start, or at least identify pockets of Ballarat to avoid.

My researching has gone into OVERDRIVE! While I think Ballarat unfortunately is out of my ideal price range for what we need to do as a family, other regional are also on my list and the amount of information out there now is astounding! But... I kind of feel silly as my investment strategy of buying cheap property and I feel like a little fish in a pool of bigger fish in this forum. So many people have been able to buy a lot more expensive property and gather a whole lot more capital growth than myself. But I'm thinking, well... Ballarat was a cheapie property area 10 years ago and the growth now is being realized. I'm trying for areas that are in a bit of a slump now, but may very well pick up in the next 10 years. Oh, and low outgoing costs such as stamp duty/land tax/ ect, ect.

I had a chat to a few real estate agents yesterday. It's really interesting. While some can be really pleasant and want to help you others just are well... a bit dry. Spoke to a wonderful REA yesterday who was prepared to listen to what I was after and look at solutions He explained where the market remand for rentals is, so that I could search that demographic. Seems like a nice guy to help me like that!

 

If Ballarat is out of your price range, I think your real estate investment options are very limited