Hi guys, How would you short-list the potential suburbs for investment (for capital growth as cash flows I suppose would be easy to find out)? Where do you start? what sort of info and from which sources I should collect? Sorry I know some of these questions may be easy for most of you but appreciate if you can share with me any useful website/book/resources that would help to start looking at potential investments in Australia or at least in specific states? Thanks
Give it some thought at least. City you will and will not buy in? Budget? Property type? New / old? Needs work or not? Areas you will not buy in? You cant say anything that gets you a return, because too many choices is useless.
Hi @Prop_invest there’s a great search function on this site which will lead you to many great existing threads on this exact topic. it might help other respond if you list what your approximate budget and property goals are. it’s much easier to make suggestions with an idea of your budget or borrowing capacity so we don’t suggest areas that are not in line with your budget. happy hunting!
If you can predict where people want to go (i.e. the billions in asia looking to get in) and get there before they do then youll do alright Also more often than not, a property and location that you find appealing to reside in is a great starting point. Then you can get into the fun numbers and mumbo jumbo after that
This is actually quite a profound truth. It's how we started - what turned into our first IP was a place we bought to move in ourselves. It just so happened the rent it could get was more than what we were paying so we just became rentvestors for a long time. One of the questions we consistently ask ourselves is: "would I live here?" Therefore, it also means we buy in an area that we are familiar with (much to the shock horror of other investors here) - essentially a 20km radius from home..... The Y-man
Hi guys, Thanks for the responses. I think I am not after knowing a specific suburb or house type for investment. So, my budget, borrowing capacity etc would be irrelevant here. I am after the strategy I may follow to find the proper property. How to search, where to get info, what kind of info? If I can learn and understand the process then I can apply it in future for different cases (high/low borrowing capacity etc.) Does this make sense? Thanks
For me (in Melb): look at the properties passed in on auhouseprices.com on a saturday night/sunday go through to see if any property was passed in near a station, major orbital bus line, or city express bus line (using street-directoy.com.au or google maps, in conjunction with ptv.vic.gov.au). check the demographics and other stats for suburb on abs.gov.au check recent sales in the area using realestate.com.au (price comparison, get feel for price in area) check for powerlines on street-directory.com.au check the land area, overlays etc on MapShareVic check the area/neighbourhood on google maps and street view, as well as walk time to transport inspect obtain section 32 from agent I think that's about all the data sources I use when I buy. The Y-man
Best advice you will get for this question is go purchase a book named 20 musk ask questions by Margaret Lomas.
Yes I agree. It's a great book and a handy resource to have around. Sometimes when I'm a bit nerve wracked when getting ready to commit to a deal I go through the questions again. I tend to be impatient and I know it so slowing down and paying attention to detail is important.
Nice read. Also if you can forecast what the rental return looks like it will give you a good basis for valuation. Anything that gives atleast net 3% after all costs based on a conservative estimate (with potential for upside through rising demand/income levels in the area or value add/subdivision/grannyflat) would be pretty decent and allow me to sleep easy at night with interest rates so low. A search on Realestate.com.au or sqm research will show you what the supply/demand dynamics are. ABS data can show you what the % of investors vs owner occupiers are (a drive down the street can also give a good indication). The less potential rental competition the better.
Thanks for this suggestion @Spiralkut, I had a read of this book this afternoon, had some good criteria to evaluate properties before purchasing!
