Hello all,I am a previous member of the Somersoft forum and followed Property Chat across,never commenting, but always just enjoying reading the various posts etc,when having the time to do so. I've spent all my working life as a bricklayer.I started sub contracting for myself in 1974 and have continued to do so until now.I am also a Licenced Builder and have built a few spec homes here and there to supplement my income over the years. I am not wealthy at all but comfortable enough I suppose.I don't have much knowledge of the financial side of the industry and I enjoy studying comments relating to developing land etc.If anyone has any questions about this district I can probably answer most of them.I might not have time after the break though to reply, as my son and I are off to Coffs Harbour to build two townhouses on a block he has held onto for quite a while.Regards Terry.
Welcome terry. What's the Wagga property like in terms of yield and what sort of property in your opinion would be in demand in the near future? Did you buy and hold or did you build and sell?
Thanks Dave,I don't know much about anywhere else but have been involved in the local building industry here for a long time,and have seen quite a few boom times and also some very quite times,so can give a general opinion of things here.One thing we have in common with Adelaide is the weather (for better or worse)We usually get whatever you are experiencing a couple of days later.Regards Terry
Thank you for the welcome ellejay. I've been prompted to make a few comments by the Christmas break.I don't often have much spare time normally as we are usually very busy at work,and I also have quite a few interests outside work including coaching boxing at the local PCYC gym,drawing,woodwork,mosaic art,etc,etc.Used to also be horses and dogs but something had to go as I got older.ha,ha.Regards Terry.
Thanks Wattleldo,I don't think anyone is going to learn anything exciting from me but I will at least contribute here and there if I am interested in the subject and know something about it.Regards Terry.
Morning larrylarry,(interesting name)Thanks for the welcome.I suppose in general the rental market away from the previously mentioned commission areas is around the 5% mark.I have a 3 bedroom 2 bathroom home at Glenfield (a large southern suburb with a youngish pop) which I built and have held since 1995 and it returns $350 rent at the moment.The value of that house would be around $320 to $330,000 so probably no great return there but I think from memory I built it for around $120,000 (including land price of $40,000) so it's been ok in that regard I suppose.I have also used that place to provide discounted rent now and then to my kids when it worked out.It has never been vacant at all,so the rental market in Glenfield seems to be ok. We (son and I) did have two double story townhouses in Tatton until recently which we rented out for a few years.We sold them off for around $380,000 and they were both returning $420 rent.So much the same as in Glenfield. We made very little capitol gain from the Tatton project and were glad to bail out in the end.We also built three single story units in Tatton for my daughter and another childhood friend of hers and the surplus unit was sold off for $345,000 from memory to an investor and is returning $380 (I think) So the rental market seems to sit around the 5% to 6% mark.I suppose if you are game to go into the housing commission areas that rate would go up considerably but we are not interested in doing that.We don't make alot of money from our building projects as we are often doing jobs for friends,relatives etc.We have always had our sub-contract bricklaying work as well and that has kept us very busy over the years.We have just finished a contract home for a real estate agent who we know well and she was a real handful (maybe watched a bit too much of the block) A couple of the very good tradesmen who have worked with us for years were not too happy and that can be a problem in a fairly small town.We try to advoid contract homes for that reason.Anyway larrylarry,I look forward to reading your posts here and there and all the best for 2017.Regards Terry.
Thanks Terry for your posts. In recent times many on this forum have changed tactics from capital gains to yield focused. That's why I asked about Wagga.
Hi @TerryN We have an ip in Turney park that we bought and Renod in 2014. Wagged a lovely town, despite the weather!!
Yes Allgood,the weather can be a bit extreme at times (very hot today for instance) but I suppose you get used to it. I've had to as I've worked outdoors on building sites for all my working life.Which street in Turvey Park did you renovate the house?I'm pretty familiar with that area and would most likely know the street.There are some very expensive houses in that area now but because of the suburb's size there is quite a range.Regards Terry.
@TerryN, Our house is on mitchelmore, which Im sure you'll know because its one of the main ones. There are some beautiful federation homes in Turvey Park, unfortunately ours isn't one of them!
Was driving up and down Mitchelmore today. A very nice area. Not much available for rent really, considering it's regional. Also looked in Junee on the way down. Much nicer than I expected. I saw 7% vacancy rate on sqm but rea said rental stock is fast diminishing due to expansion of the gaol. Rents in both Junee and Wagga are much higher than I thought they would be.
The official vacancy rate for Wagga was quite high (4% plus) which worried me no end, but that includes parts such as Trashmont and other less desirable areas where there's exceptionally high vacancies IMO. Places like Turvey and Central Wagga are quite highly regarded by tenants and Ive had no trouble getting tenants, both times it was from the first inspection. However our first tenant (paying $365p/w) broke her lease and I wanted her to see the lease out or keep her paying until her lease expired (Jan 17) but instead we settled out of tribunal which meant we were looking for a tenant in August when it's very quiet, so we're only getting $340 atm. Hopefully we can get it back up there at the end of Feb when the 6 month lease is up.
That is very high rent! I know the houses are nice and have everything you need and a lot are pet friendly but that's not far off Sydney rents. From a property owner's pov, yes, I can see that the vacancy rate would actually be quite low in Central WW and Turvey Park.
Yes Allgood,I do know Mitchelmore St of course,and I know quite a few people who live in or around that area.I haven't read your reno story yet as I just noticed the link to it in one of the posts,so will read that with interest later in the day.Yes,the rental market in this area seems to be pretty healthy and has always been so for decent houses and units I think. I've already spoke about a few different areas that we have personal experience in and have had no trouble in getting long term tenants over the years.Regards Terry.
There are some very nice homes in Junee Wattleldo,and I think it has benefited from been in close proximity to Wagga,as when housing started to get very expensive in Wagga quite a few people moved over there and commuted each day which is only around 20 minutes.It did have a bit of a feral reputation years ago (with us anyway.ha,ha.) but a good friend of my wife, who was a teacher at the high school there for years, said it was (retired at the end of 2016) a great place to work,and she had worked at various Wagga schools over the years.We know some people who are renovating a small cottage over there at the moment, but they only mentioned it over Christmas drinks, and I can't remember the street name.ha,ha.Regards Terry.
