VIC Geelong

I don't know too much about Breakwater and Whittington fwiw, so they may very well be good too! (Avoid Solar Drive for now though)

 

Yep - it'll be a good steal if can get at the type of price as per statement of information, especially if can fetch for below 300K.

Note everything is dated so the house will also need some cosmetic reno to make it attractive again and get a tenant. That part of Newcomb may not attract the top tenant so need to find a good balance between spending too much vs getting a tenant in. And given it's a weatherboard house, I would also suggest to prepare a good buffer for anything that comes out from B&P that requires fixing.

6 months ago this type of house in "original" condition won't be going anywhere near auction and now they are...a true indicator that the market is indeed hot hot hot!

 

Weird .. this one is advertised a couple grand lower than it sold for 2 years ago...
48 Townsend Road, St Albans Park, Vic 3219 - View Sold History & Research Property Values - realestate.com.au
Any insight why that is?

 

proximity to whittington, solar drive? it's a main road too.

 

I’ll take a look at it this weekend and let you know

 

I believe 6 Bailey St Belmont has been taken off from the Market as of October 13.

 

Yes that's correct, it was pulled 1-2 weeks before auction date, was quite keen on the property.

Was looking to Grovedale but they're hitting crazy prices too.

6 Portsmouth Cres Grovedale went for 20k above indicative selling price, this went to private sale, had a lot of cracking going on, clearly a lot of ground movement, would love to check the levels. This sold on the Monday after the first Saturday viewing.
6 Portsmouth Crescent, Grovedale, Vic 3216 - Property Details

13 Niblett Court Grovedale sold at auction on the weekend, 3 to 4 bidders saw it go 34k above the indicative selling price.
13 Niblett Court Grovedale Vic 3216 - House for Sale #126470846 - realestate.com.au

9 Loris Close Grovedale, was keen on this one but didn't even get a bid in, think there was about 6 bidders and more such as myself who looked keen to bid. Large turnout and went for 80k above the indicative selling price.
9 Loris Close Grovedale Vic 3216 - House for Sale #126411274 - realestate.com.au

Think this market is a bit too hot for me.

 

Great point @Kelso. Grovedale has also been reported as one of the suburb that has had significant growth and competition is fierce. Shows people are paying big bucks to try get into the market.

Gross yield across Geelong has been consistently on the drop due to price growth and what I'm seeing is based on the good performance in the last 12 months or so people are desperate to get into the market! They speculate the growth will continue and are now willing to pay big bucks to get in and ride the wave. This FOMO can cloud judgement and makes investors throw away the golden principles such as "make money on the way in".

I'm not saying don't buy in Geelong. But I think investors really need to start buying with caution...examples like Corio median this time last year was around 250K, and now stocks are edging towards 350K. That's close to 40% growth already and you wonder how much more it will go as a regional city. At the end of the day, just like those fund management clauses - "past performance does not guarantee future results"

So one suggestion to all those who are still trying to fight your way into the Geelong market - do extensive due diligence and make sure you know what you're buying into before pulling the trigger. If Geelong stops growing tomorrow and if interest rate continues to go up (as a worst case), what'll be the contingency plan?

 

Wise words @David Shih . It's a shame we must remind individuals to do extensive due diligence prior to purchasing a property. I have friends who 'try' to purchase property like it was a decision to buy their next TV.

After losing at auction by $1000 in Belmont 2 weeks ago, and noticed there hasn't been many properties on the market that tick my boxes, I have shifted towards Highton once again, especially regions along Mt Pleasant Road. I wanted to know any of your thoughts about houses along (or near) Mt Pleasant Road (local insight welcome)

 

Christ I had a look again at some of the properties sold in Norlane and Corio...

53 Sharland Road, Corio, Vic 3214 - Property Details

I believe the ESR was 200,000-220,000? Perhaps underquoted but the fact it sold for over $270,000 in arguably one of the worst parts of Corio...Not bad huh?

22 Buffalo Avenue, Corio, Vic 3214 - Property Details

Don't have the best memory but I believe this sold much higher than the ESR?

The market is indeed hot hot hot!

 

@David Shih If a suburb grows by 40% does that mean it will stop growing ? How can you tell how high a suburb will go?

Right back at you. What is your contingency plan?

 

Haha... love your avatar

 

Thanks @MTR

Proud Floridian here hehe

 

I sometimes go this avatar, its just body paint would you believe

 

I don't know how much more it will continue to grow. It's a bit like Sydney in late 2015, everyone thought it has stopped but then it continued to go strong again in 2016! I would love to know if anyone does have the crystal ball..

I would say these are good contingencies:
- Have decent amount of cash buffer available
- Look at fixing IPs loans with current record low interest rates
- Continue to work on saving and paying down the debt

The point is, investing is a long term game and to be honest I don't really care about the short term fluctuations in price. When I bought my Newcomb property I wasn't expecting Geelong to go crazy like this. I just knew there are indicators that shows it will go up but at what point in time no one knows.

Some people are good at timing the market which is a special gift. I don't think I have such ability so I just play dumb and maximize my time in the market as I know based on the improving fundamentals and proximity to Melbourne, Geelong will surely do well long term as a regional city. And as long as I can manage to hold it for long term I don't think I'll be making a loss in 10 or 15 years time

 

It was subdivided so original land was like 900sqm beautiful corner block. There are townhomes coming across the street and ask price close to 329 has already been offered. Considering if I should make an offer or not with goal being slight negative gearing and CG. Future dev site ?

 

It depends on your strategy
If its all Capital Gains and sell, great
If its long term hold then YEILD is important

Property can continue to go up like a rocket, but without yield you have to carry the loan for a long time
Buying in now could mean kicking the tin for A VERY LONG TIME

 

oh wow chopped off almost half the land and now selling for the price of the original block.
where did you see the original land size?

 

Has anybody checked this one out? Looks like plenty of work for someone...

43 Oxford Street Whittington Vic 3219 - House for Sale #126634974 - realestate.com.au

 

On the sec 32 that was provided on site. It sold btw for ask. We tried low balling but the agent laughed at me. Good times...