VIC North-West (Dallas/Coolaroo) or South (Frankston North)

Discussion in 'Where to Buy' started by chinchilla, 5th Dec, 2019.

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  1. chinchilla

    chinchilla Member

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    Hi all,

    This is my first post and I am looking to purchase my first IP. I do not own a house, but I rent with my partner in an area we like so this will be a rentvesting thing.

    I'm looking to buy something around 600m2 land under $500k, an older place that we can renovate and add value while waiting for capital growth. I am not looking for a short-term gain, but am happy to wait for 5-10 years.

    So far, I have a list of 20-ish potential suburbs scattered around North-West and South, also considering Geelong/Ballarat but that is for another conversation. I will go see in person these suburbs and do my own research, but I would like to hear opinions and first hand experiences if possible.

    A good thing of Dallas/Coolaroo/Campbellfield/Thomastown/Jacana areas is that they are fairly close to CBD, with Dallas being only 16km from CBD. Given gentrification of suburbs close to CBD like Footscray and Northcote, I see a potential there.

    On the other hand, Frankston North is close to the shore, and there are many projects going on around Frankston indicating that this rough area might also get desirable in a foreseeable future. On the other hand, commuting time to CBD is quite long relative to North-Western suburbs for under $500k.

    What are your thoughts?
     
  2. tedjamvor

    tedjamvor Well-Known Member

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    Lara. Close to Melbourne, 30-40min by VLine. Much quicker than Coolaroo/Frankston.

    Good mix of established and new estates.
     
  3. Westie

    Westie Well-Known Member

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    I second Lara. Other than that, you should get into Werribee for that budget. Frankston Nth is rough with a lot of housing commission, but it's across from Seaford too, which is significantly higher priced which at some stage in the future should lift it. How long though, who knows. I hear Dallas and Coolaroo is rough too, but happy to be corrected.
     
  4. chinchilla

    chinchilla Member

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    Thanks for replying. Two questions:

    1. What do you mean by saying that commuting from Lara is much quicker than Coolaroo? For example, it takes 1hr 10min to reach Melbourne Central from Lara using V-line and metro, while it takes 36 minutes from Coolaroo using only metro. Am I missing something?

    2. For Lara (and similar outer areas), do you have any info on land supply? What I'm worried is that new land releases might undermine capital growth, while in areas closer to city land supply is finite.

    Thanks again for inputs!
     
  5. chinchilla

    chinchilla Member

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    Thanks for responding, I appreciate! Could you elaborate on Lara a bit? I am interested to hear reasons why it is a good place to invest relative to other mentioned places. Thanks!
     
  6. Westie

    Westie Well-Known Member

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    55 min train trip to Spencer Street, 15 mins to Geelong CBD/waterfront, 30 mins to the Surf Coast, 15 mins to Werribee's employment precincts. From what I see there are a lot of young families there. You can find a sub-$500k with decent land component that's walkable to the trains.
     
  7. Westie

    Westie Well-Known Member

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    That's a good point, finite land supply will definitely drive prices further than areas where there's a lot of land. Having said that, developers slow down land releases and council's delay/knock back subdivision approvals. Look at Melton a few years ago, infinite land around there too, hasn't stopped land value jumping (doesn't mean the same boom will happen again any time soon!). With Lara, the attraction is proximity to the waterfront and to a degree that it's a family-oriented suburb. Oh and you can't forget it's minutes from Melbourne's 2nd international airport. My IP in Lara was finished in January this year for $400k, rents for $450/week. Slightly +ve. It's actually a decent house too.
     
  8. tedjamvor

    tedjamvor Well-Known Member

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    It obviously depends where in the CBD you are commuting to.

    There used to be scheduled Lara services ~35-40 minutes to Spencer St, now that they tend to stop at WV and/or Tarneit these are pushed out to 45min (my apologies). I'm seeing similar times from Coolaroo to Spencer St (although it depends on the loop direction).

    As for land supply, most of it is out west, between Six Ways and Bacchus Marsh Rd. If you're buying close to the Station/Main Shops, most of that is 80s established, so I would expect prices to remain at least steady, as the blocks are larger than the new estates.

    A factor that can't be understated is the difference between a train that stops 4-5 times compared to 13-15 stops. At least for me, the more stops along the commute, the longer it feels, the more it drains me.
     
  9. The Y-man

    The Y-man Moderator Staff Member

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    IMHO Dallas, Coola, C-Field and Jacana are very different areas to T-town, but I am probably biased, as I have not spend much time in the other parts.

    The Y-man
     
  10. chinchilla

    chinchilla Member

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    Yes, you're right in saying that employment access is good from Lara - Werribee and Geelong. This is definitely one of the positives - and proximity to water. With land supply, I believe this won't be a problem long-long term (given projected population growth for next 30 years), just with my horizon of 5 to max 10 it might be. Thanks for inputs again!
     
  11. chinchilla

    chinchilla Member

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    Right, thanks! I should investigate further land releases given my medium term 5-10 year investment horizon. For transportation, my thoughts are that it is relatively easy to implement more services to support growing transport demand, but it's harder to build a completely new train track/connection to metro - so any need for connection transport (for example, V-line+train/tram/bus) will add to travel time.
     
  12. chinchilla

    chinchilla Member

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    Although I haven't made a trip to those areas (yet!), you're right in saying so as the stats that I looked into (and dwelling prices) definitely support it.

    Dallas, Coolaroo, Roxy and others seem to be the most disadvantaged areas in Melbourne socio-economically - do you think this might change? Prices there and proximity to city are very attractive, but average household income is half of Melbourne average..
     
  13. The Y-man

    The Y-man Moderator Staff Member

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    We have a saying in those areas - "You can get tenants, but you may not be able to collect the rent". I am sure it is exaggerated, but I have not been brave enough to buy into that area.


    The Y-man
     
  14. Yinka Dare

    Yinka Dare Well-Known Member

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    Frankston north is a lot different to most of Frankston and nearby suburbs. Lots of commission houses built in that cheap fibro material. My fiancé works for dhs and no way would we buy there knowing the many of the people who live there.
     
  15. chinchilla

    chinchilla Member

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    Ouch! :) yeah, that saying is a bit scary - but then again I remember being physically attacked in the middle of day in Footscray 5-6 years ago, while today the median price there reached $1m...
     
  16. chinchilla

    chinchilla Member

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    Thanks for the input - one question - do you think there are pockets in Frankston North that I should avoid in particular and similarly, are there pockets that are not as bad?
     
  17. Yinka Dare

    Yinka Dare Well-Known Member

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    Honestly I’d just avoid it altogether. Maybe look into Carrum spend near sandhurst.

    Take a drive through Frankston north and the pines and you will see it. Fiancé also aware of a lot of criminals generally living in almost all streets of Frankston north. I looked there a few years ago as it was cheap but just couldn’t do it. Even the schools are bad, although with names such as monterey and aldercourt they sound exclusive lol
     
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