NSW Newcastle for $500k - the good & the bad?!

Discussion in 'Where to Buy' started by J.L., 7th Aug, 2016.

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  1. krispy

    krispy Well-Known Member

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    One wage, no degrees, 3 kids, no parents with assets, One of us is a migrant and the other grew up in housing commision , live in Sydney and investing in real estate. All I hear is its everyone elses fault blah blah blah.
    Sometimes it is who you know not what you know but you dont make friends with salad or with a grumpy face.
     
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  2. balwoges

    balwoges Well-Known Member

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    Stockton and Fern Bay are problematic IMO as there is no decent shopping centre there, you have the option of using the Stockton ferry to get to CBD in Newcastle but the service finishes about midnight. You face a 30 min drive to get to the nearest centre on a road which is the main road from Port Stephens and Medowie and very busy 7-8.30am and after 4.30pm.
     
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  3. Propertunity

    Propertunity Well-Known Member

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    No, apparently not. According to: Customers use rate cut to get ahead on mortgages
    NAB said that on average, its customers were nearly 15 months ahead of their minimum repayments, up from 14 months a year ago and 12 months in 2012.
     
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  4. serendip

    serendip Well-Known Member

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    This ended up a bit rambly, apologies in advance but I investigated quite a lot of these suburbs 12-18 months ago so hopefully some of it will be helpful. I think the answer partly depends on whether or not you have or will have school aged kids who will go to public school when you relocate. School run down: the mostly highly sought after schools in Newcastle are New Lambton & Belair. New Lambton has a strong focus on the academic side of things which is fine as long as junior is academic. I've heard kids who are not can get a little lost. There is also no grass. Belair is a lovely school big, grassy grounds, a strong academic record but is probably more well rounded than New Lambton. Georgetown & Waratah both feed to Waratah which does not have a great reputation. Tighes Hill is supposed to be a nice school. Islington is very multi-cultural and has some interesting programs to support the community. Hamilton Public is also a great school. Don't know too much about Mayfield / Mayfield East / Lambton / Stockton / Fern Bay from a school perspective. I wouldn't go Stockton / Fern Bay personally. If you work in the city the ferry works otherwise it's a long drive around & gets pretty slow. Surely one of the reasons for moving to Newcastle is cut down the commutes. There's also alot of new stock in Fern Bay & I'd be surprised if there capital growth was not impacted over the next few years. I lived in Georgetown for a few years & really liked it. It's easy to get around. It is a little jammed between a bunch of busy roads so going for walks can be a bit annoying. I also did not like the coal dust which affects all the suburbs over that side of town. Lambton is nice & leafy & tends to have bigger blocks. Traffic can be pretty hideous (relative to other parts of Newcastle :) ) depending on which way you're going. Adamstown Heights has 3 sections - east of Northcott, which is not zoned for Belair, but Adamstown Public is also pretty good & I've heard the principal is great, the southern side of the highway & the western side of Northcott are both zoned for Belair. Despite the fact I've decided just to scroll past Ald's posts in future he does have a point about some of the drainage in Adamstown Heights. Lots of blocks are steep & were often built with inadequate drainage. There have also been some questionable renos & often rumpus type rooms are not legally habitable. Redhead is another suburb of 2 1/2s, the new section, probably out of your budget & the old. The old section in particular is very tightly held & if you're interested I'd try to get to know some locals, many houses are sold before they hit the open market. The school is OK, services in Redhead are a bit limited. Dudley IMO is exy for what it is, again lacking in services. There are some lovely houses with fab views, but again, probably out the price range you're looking at. Whitebridge has quite a few deceptively busy roads as you pass through to get to Redhead / Dudley. There's also talk of some big developments which the locals are fighting fiercely but will probably change the feel of the suburb. You could also look at Kahibah. School has a great reputation & it's pretty convenient to beaches / Charlestown / the city. Property tends to get snapped up pretty quickly.
     
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  5. tomlemke

    tomlemke Well-Known Member Business Member

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    @Ald I became a real estate agent in January after being a plumber for 8 years, i chose this job because I'm passionate about real estate and loved the buying / process.

    Maybe if you spent more time reading on here learning ways to make money, instead of writing rants on here blaming everyone else you might have some success in life.
     
  6. Ald

    Ald Well-Known Member

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    How old where you when you started plumbing and then again when you changed to real estate?

    I know how to make money Tom, I made 55% on the stock exchange last week in three days and write my own computer programs that help. I would hardly call myself unsuccessful in life. Quite the opposite actually. In fact all round, not just money, I am probably the most successful person you would ever meet.
     
  7. D.T.

    D.T. Specialist Property Manager Business Member

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    Can I nominate you for Australian of the year?
     
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  8. larrylarry

    larrylarry Well-Known Member

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  9. hobo

    hobo Well-Known Member

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    Um, wow indeed. Tickets, much??
     
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  10. DaveM

    DaveM Well-Known Member

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    Well I made 200% on my $10 on the pokies CHERRIES CHERRIES CHERRIS COME TO PAPPA, and I once optimised my config.sys to give me 1 megabyte more XMS so I could play Wolfenstein 3D.
     
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  11. Ald

    Ald Well-Known Member

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    Tom I am sorry I assumed too much and made a mistake. I assumed you had always been a real estate agent.
     
  12. larrylarry

    larrylarry Well-Known Member

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    Good observations @serendip and thank you kindly. You've added something of value here.
     
  13. Ald

    Ald Well-Known Member

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    Newcastle has the following realities for renters.

    If you are advertising a 3 bed at $300 you will have crowds coming

    If you are advertising it at $400 you will have a massive turnout

    If you are advertising at $500 you will have 2 - 3 people turn up and if it's a great property it will be rented out.

    If you are advertising at $600 you will have 2 - 3 people turn up only if you are in Merewether , bar beach or cooks hill or junction or Newcastle but always closer to the beach.

    Interests rates this low means novocastrians prefer to buy not rent.

    If you want to increase your rent income you need to do a few simple things but I am writing a book about that. It's about how to buy cheap and rent high and prepare a property to be maintenance free and get rid of your property manager because they cost more than getting the tenant and property to look after itself.
     
  14. Ald

    Ald Well-Known Member

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    You see if you save $200 on a property manager every month and have a tenant that never leaves and accepts all rent increases while looking after your house and even fixing minor things for you then you will make money.
    With my method you save over 10 years $30000
     
  15. krispy

    krispy Well-Known Member

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    Cant wait for the book !!
     
  16. c_west

    c_west Well-Known Member

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    haha, the very definition of a flog right there!


    Also good luck with the day trading on the stock exchange, I've heard long term it is the best method...
     
  17. Ald

    Ald Well-Known Member

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    Not that fussed about the stock exchange it just intrigued me technically for a while. There are a few ways to make a lot of money from it but it's actually a completely unproductive past time.

    Think about it, you create nothing, if anything the companies use the stock exchange price results to lower workers salaries, and really it's a whole lot of people that have nothing to do with the company trying to buy and sell to each other to see who can come out on tops.
     
  18. Stimpy2017

    Stimpy2017 New Member

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    First time on here guys, so hello!

    Just read this thead as I myself am looking for an investment in Newcastle after investing in Blacktown here in Sydney.
    Just wanted to say thank you to @serendip for the useful info.! :)
     
  19. Jaggannath

    Jaggannath Well-Known Member

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    Fern Bay/Stockton may be finally getting that Woolworths, they're looking into a land swap with the golf course.

    If you aren't writing in COBOL or Assembly you're not a contributor, just a leech ;)
     
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