Hi, I'm Steven. (Richard Feynman, once upon a time)

Nothing compares!

 

Love the intro... But real Pluto enthusiasts download the Puto Safari App and set hourly notifications so we know we're up to date with the exact location of NH 24 times a day.... Just sayin'

Also Zillmere has been on my radar for a while I think it will do well

 

18 months? I feel better now....as I haven't acquired anything and it has been 7 months. Wasn't as disciplined as you though. Couldn't fit in any home opens at times. Kids are very hard work on weekends

How did you carry out your initial research before narrowing it down to Marrickville?

 

Hey Steven!

I've been going to Marrickville probably once/fortnight for pho at PHD (best pho ever btw), definitely have noticed over the past year or two that the crowd's been shifting to a more hipster/trendy population lately. Good times for Marrickville in the future

 

Brilliant start Steven. Keep up the great work because you're destined to create & achieve greatness.

 

I had the advantage of not being in a position financially to buy anything for those 18 months so I was saving and researching simultaneously. 1.5 years is a hell of a long time to research and observe!

My research included 2 parts – finding out WHAT to research, and then actually researching that stuff. It included:

• Asking hundreds of questions on Somersoft forum (Rixter was an incredibly big help in particular, showing what he looks for in areas, as were others – I copy/pastes all of these snippets from quests I'd asked, answered into documents to make sure I was looking for the right stuff.)
• Reading thousands of posts, soaking everything up
• Running ideas past people and soliciting feedback in the Somersoft chat room
• Reading all the property mags, listening to podcasts, watching YouTube videos etc
• Reading a bunch of property websites (Pete Wargent's blog in particular)
• Devouring property books at the rate of 1-2 a week for a while
• Networking with other investors, learning about their purchases, where they were looking, mistakes they'd made, how they research, what they look for etc
• Looking at data and trends (I am a total number nerd so I love this)
• I also received gentle nudges from a couple of my mentors which really helped

When I'd done that I started with a top-down approach and eliminated all the places that were outside of my budget. Then all the places with populations under 6-figures. Then places that had shown poor CG over the past 10 years etc. Then all the places with potentially volatile economies. I kept narrowing things down and eliminating.

During this process I actually scratched WA, NT, SA, TAS, ACT pretty much entirely, fairly quickly, having looked at the data and their prospects for future growth in the short term (my goal was short term CG to expand my asset base so missing the mark on #1 or #2 would have dramatically slowed me). NSW and QLD were shining beacons of light compared to the other states. I kept eliminating and scratched VIC as well. That left me with two states.

When I had shortlisted a few suburbs I did stuff like:

• Reading ABS data and looking at things like population/income/education levels etc
• Calling local councils
• Signing up for Development Application alerts and Google Alerts for each of them
• Examining historical data for each in the property market (CG rates over 1, 3, 5, 10, 20 years; yields, dwelling types, days on market, vacancy rates etc)

Once I was close to done with my research I realised what I was essentially looking for were signs of gentrification in suburbs with excellent transport and amenities and a long record of good performance)

I am sure there was lots of other stuff and this is a bit out of order but hopefully it provides some insight.

 

Bang on.

I've been able to watch Marrickville transform over the last decade. It's becoming so cool that not only are the Newtown folks migrating but people from places like Surry Hills, Randwick, Paddington and Bondi are hanging out here on weekends and buying apartments to live in.

 

So much good food in Marrickville! Op shopping is pretty good too. Only a bike ride away for me... hmm, getting hungry might go for a ride

 

Where are you based?

Tell you what, with a bike in the Inner West, you're set. Love getting out along the Cooks River cycleway and also love beating cars on door-to-door trips under about 4km...grocery runs, visiting friends etc.

I do ride pretty quick, I admit.

 

I'm just over in Summer Hill. Easy ride to Marickville or Newtown. I like riding near the water at Haberfield too.
Probably not as quick as you, catch the train at the moment but I did enjoy riding to work in Burwood for a while.
Just had a look at the map, I think I have ridden on the Cooks River cycleway, over to Campsie.

 

Nice one. Summer Hill is a lovely spot.

The cycleway is great. It runs continuously (save a few quick bits where you have to cross a road) from Botany Bay right out to Homebush. Worth exploring a bit more, especially if you can catch a sunrise or sunset in the process.

 

That's a pretty spot on description, lovely. I wasn't that familiar with the different little suburbs, looked at the map, liked the sound of Summer Hill and Lilyfield Some people still don't know where Summer Hill is.
Wow, that's a long way. I might catch the train out to Homebush one day and see how far I can ride.

 

Thank you Steven! This is brilliant...something for me to paste into my Evernote

 

I rode the Cooks River Cycleway for the first time last weekend. Picked a good day for it too. Will ride again, though next time I'll carry on to Cronulla I think.

 

Glad you found that helpful. I'm sure I left off a lot of stuff.

This is my favourite spot (I took this pic about 2 years ago, excuse the watermark...I added it to my airbnb listing and it was easy to find it there):

 

Nice, did you take that one?
I rode out to the bay near Haberfield - too cold today.

 

Yep. Snapped on an iPhone 3GS would you believe.

Sunrise is beautiful over the river most mornings. Highlight of my day, often.

 

Steven did you end up buying that apartment you were looking at on the 7:30 report?

 

HAHA.

No.

A $200k discount wasn't available unfortunately

Should have heard the discussions I had with the crew and agent off camera..

 

Finally, it's Steven Ryan

Good luck hunting in Brissie this weekend, keen to catchup afterwards!