Would anyone consider buying a little terrace house IP in Flemington? I have not done any due diligence or really thought in depth, but we currently live in the suburbs, when the kids finish school we would like to move into the city (couldn't do an apartment as we are too used to having a house and own space etc). Ideally would love somewhere like Prahan, but that is not realistic as its way out of our budget! I was in Flemington today and got thinking, then jumped on RE.com.au, and had a look. Suprisingly you can still pick up something up for 730-800k and the ones I saw were not even derelict, they were renovated! Would I be crazy if we picked something up for 750k wish (if lucky) and rented it out for the next 5 or so years with plans to live in it then? Rents seem to really vary from as little as $460 a week for a completely unrenovated property, to $750 for a nice renovated one. I was surprised that the yields were so high for some. Reason I ask for your opinions is this is the opposite of my strategy, as my plan was to buy properties at around or under the 400k mark, and be close to positive CF. This would not be CF+ (around $600-800 mth neg at todays IR) but I would imagine would get some nice gains in the years to come, and I would have a cool place to live one day! We currently have a PPOR and 1 IP that we just recently purchased
Growing up as a westie Flemington always had a reputation of being rough/houso (along with neighbouring Ascot Vale). The kind of place our parents wouldn't let us travel through alone, where they would lock the car doors when driving through. I don't know much about the area, but that could be a factor as to why prices seem relatively low for the proximity to the CBD. However if I were wanting to live a stone's throw away from the CBD I would probably look at Footscray or Yarraville first.
When were you last there? It's pretty trendy now, the houso towers are still there but the backstreets are pretty cool. Houso towers seem to be full of African migrants from what I had seen walking around the vicinity of them. Lots of cafes and trendy little spots. For some reason I am not really into Footscray/Yarraville, I know its trendy but I just don't like it much. I would happily live in the area, my question was more is it crazy to spend that much money on a house with no land/no dev potential (talking like 140-180sqm blocks here)! The houses are really cute but they are all little 2 bedders crammed against each other.
The thing to be wary of in Flemington and Kensington (which is just across the road) is the large number of apartments, and accordingly how many rentals are available at all times. With a vacancy you could be empty for a while, waiting for a tenant. The same applies to some pockets of Footscray.
We rented in Kensington on the border of Flemington for a few years and loved it. We were less than 1km from the housing towers but never saw any issues. Racecourse Rd is great for food. We wanted to purchase in the area but couldn't afford it. I'm surprised prices are still that low, when looking 3 years ago totally unrenoed places were going for 600-650k. Id still buy there now if I could, but would want to be at least a few streets from the towers as the close ones are full of dumps.
I love Kensington too! Don't love the triple story townhouse complexes but love the old tiny houses. And yes heaps of cafes around with tram right on your door step. Seems to be a funny market. Some good cheap buys I think if your lucky but then there's some stunning ones ranging from 900-1m+
