NSW Carlingford buy now or wait

Guys,

Need some advice, we're looking to relocate to Carlingford... This is PPOR... Not sure how Carlingford will be in a couple of years... So far everytime we go to open house there is so many chinese buyers...

With news saying property prices will decrease over the coming year, not sure if I should wait... Anyone share their opinion as to whether it will go up, stagnate or drop anytime soon>

 

If I were you and looking for a PPOR, I would start looking now and putting in some lowball offers.

 

My view....? You should look now and, assuming you've done your maths and considered your personal circumstances (i.e. your finances, employment stability, other commitments etc), get ready to buy when you find the right property for you.

Let me tell you why. Yes, media and a lot of panicked investors, are painting a very negative picture at the moment. But the reality is that the world is not ending, we have one of the strongest economies in the world, amazing culture, we are highly regulated which brings stability, we are lucky to live on a whole continent rich of resources, on the door step of Asia and a population that is growing rapidly (according to the ABS, we had a population of 21M in 2017, reached 25M last Thursday, and is predicted to get to around 35M in 15-20 years). Which other country in the world can claim these stats???

But let's think about it from a worst case scenario... Let's say you waited a few months and prices dropped. You saved yourself some money (and let's not forget the 10-20K it will cost you on rent at that time). The reality is that you are buying a property to live in for the next 10 or 20 years at least (I assume that's the case being PPOR), at which time your property (if you buy right) will double in value. It is hard to imagine now, but it will. Do the maths and you'll see what I mean.

My only word of warning is to get some help finding the right property and to not just look at Carlingford (as there are plenty of other suburbs to look at and some of them may have better opportunities). There are some fantastic buyers agents on this forum operating in Sydney so you should at least have a chat to them.

Best of luck @striple!

 

Agreed and at the end of the day you need to live somewhere. Stability, security for the family, not moving at the whim of the landlord, etc all make a ppor a total different decision.

 

all good points!

 

I cant say if this the right time to buy or wait for another 2 years for prices to drop but from what I see Carlo market is doing pretty well atm, ther eis lot of Asian interest and overflow from adjoining Epping and Ryde areas.
Anything close to M2 and in Murray Farm catchment has very high demand.This area has seen some very strong sales recently like this and this and this. The ones not selling are under high voltage power lines.
Parts close to North Rocks have softened a bit but still you would be looking somewhere around 1.2mil for a okayish house. Houses close to Beecroft and Epping are doing well too and fetching upwards of 1.3-1.4mil
paging @L3ha7 as is he seems to be boots on ground.

 

Hi @striple, My parents live in the northern side of Carlingford and they have easy access to the M2 buses.

It's a really big suburb, I know it has a very good reputation with Chinese people for the schools. Personally however, I prefer living in my part of Epping because it's the east side of the train line - I never have to worry about the Epping Bridge traffic. When I used to live in Carlingford and work at Macquarie sometimes the traffic at the end of North Rocks Rd and at the end of Carlingford Rd would be stupidly bad and I'd put it down to just bad traffic light phasing.

The Epping bridge is meant to widen but I'm not sure how well it will go.

A thought, if you are considering Carlingford then also consider living in North Epping. It's really family friendly and a great community, a very peaceful suburb and for high school it's in the Epping Boys and Cheltenham Girls catchments. Note that right now there's about 11 homes on the market in the suburb - over the past few years the normal number for sale in the suburb tended to hover at about 5, so now is a good time as a buyer as you have plenty of choice, the buyers are spread thin so you may get a good purchase at a reasonable price.

Note too, if you buy in Carlingford, it does not give your kids any advantages in securing a spot in James Ruse High School. But it would make going to and from to that school easier.

 

Thank you all for the reply... it's been very helpful

Yes I agree, if I can find the right place I would buy... We have looked at Epping but it's so expensive compared to Carlingford... So many Chinese buyers at open house. Some properties don't even make it to auction... Yeah I have also looked at North Epping but will have another look...

Great info on traffic... I work in Mac Park too so that info is helpful... I'm not too worried about my commute time as it would be much better than it is now... However my wife might be impacted.. She has to drop off kids to inlaws at Guildford and then head to Fairfield for work... If I can find a house in and around that area that has better commute time for her to would be better. I know Pennant Hills road can be a nightmare

 

Her trip would be pretty much against the flow of traffic (except for PH road).

 

Yep, Pennant Hills Rd going west in the morning is a dream! The only thing is if someone is driving down there in school zone times, the whole Carlingford to Parramatta run on that road is 40km/h because of the school zones, and for no other reason. The traffic isn't heavy.

Now I know you work in Mac Park and she in Fairfield, if you live east of the rail line or west, one of you will be affected either way.

 

@striple - above all comments are priceless, with my little experience you need to find out your triangle of constraints and decide which one you can accept based on your risk appetite.

We have been dipping our toes here and there but we are not in rush however we managed to shortlist our interest to NR and WPH due to our current working arrangements but now and then when I read @Gockie 's rap about NE-It gets me excited but I think for us grapes are sour (re NE).

Good luck, do some in depth search and run some scenarios-nothing is perfect but you will be sure what you getting into after all we are talking about $1m+

 

In a few weeks time when Epping-Chatswood line close down for enlargement, it wont be pretty for many months on Carlingford Epping and around there areas to Macq Park

 

Re: Train line closure, I don't think it will be too bad except for going to Macquarie and Chatswood. Before 2009 there was no Epping - Chatswood train line, and city workers can catch a train via Strathfield. I suppose the buses between Epping and Macquarie will be in more demand, but that's just going back to how it was pre 2009. I think Chatswood and St Leonards are much smaller employment hubs than Macquarie and the city for locals from Epping and Carlingford (we've all known about this impending shutdown for many years) so I don't think the shutdown will be overly painful for the majority.

@L3ha7 - North Epping is a beautiful suburb, amazing community. We only moved out of there because we saw an amazing home in Epping. Otherwise we would have happily stayed in North Epping. Amazing neighbours, access to the National Park from the bottom of our street, good little local village with 2 restaurants and catering to the majority of everything else you might need, easy bike lanes to the station, lots of parks, very leafy suburb, no road rage, no/minimal violence* or theft, lots of visits from the rainbow lorikeets, King parrots, kookaburras etc.... a very tight knit community.

*apart from one very well known (targeted) mass murder, but the perpetrator was living in Epping, not North Epping. Jealous of the success of his North Epping Brother in Law. Crazy thing to do. This sort of thing is absolutely unusual in this part of Sydney.

 

The corner of Carlingford and Beecroft Roads next to Epping station (where that 7-11 is) is IMO one of the worst intersections in Sydney - avoid it (especially at peak hour) if you can.
I've got my high school reunion (it is in the suburb) coming up - everyone was from the area or fairly close by (most people either lived in Carlingford/Epping/Eastwood or the Hills) and it will be interesting to see what everyone thinks of the area compared to our school days.
The mega apartment complex next to Carlingford train station has been particularly jarring in what had been a traditionally low rise suburb.

 

@striple

How did you go with your purchase?

 

What did you mean “So far everytime we go to open house there is so many chinese buyers...”?

 

Hopefully you held off and got the 10% discount since August!

 

26 Haines Avenue, Carlingford, NSW 2118

This property got sold on 1st auction and had approx 20 register buyers. Moreover it was shown on channel 7 news (6pm on friday) as most viewed property.

Anyone attended the auction?