QLD Should I purchase in Brisbane Chermside West based on my agents advice

Hi all,

I'm first time property buyer with no experience in buying properties and therefore engaged services of buyers agent based in Melbourne (I'm living in Melb) . They are a well known company and advertise themselves as someone with decades of experience helping buyers. They recommended me to not invest in Melbourne currently and instead go for Brisbane and provided reasons behind it, to which I agreed.

Now after nearly 10 weeks they have sorted a property which they say is a great investment property in Chermside west and priced about $730K. I checked on realestate.com.au , domain.com.au and few other sites to know the property value range and the comparable prices in suburb to know I'm not over paying. I can see other similar properties sold in the suburb are in range of $560- $660k and asked this question on why the property they are suggesting is $730K to which they said that street profile and few other things matter when purchasing investment property but I'm not convinced, may be due to my minimal exp in this area.

This property is 3 bedroom, 1 bathroom, 2 carpark on a 610 SQM land on Webster road Chermside west. Few comparable properties I used to compare are :

https://www.realestate.com.au/sold/property-house-qld-chermside+west-126342670
https://www.realestate.com.au/property/486-webster-rd-chermside-west-qld-4032
https://www.realestate.com.au/property/43-bramcote-st-chermside-west-qld-4032

I read about the suburb and many fellow members on property chat and looks like Chermside west if a good suburb but I'm confused about the correct price point as this is my first property I do not want to end up paying high which takes years to recover as services from buyers agent is also costing me in 20-22K range.Looking for some guidance from senior members here that will help me to take some decision. thanks.

 

Why Chermside west? Have you made your mind up about the suburb?
Normally Webster Road is busy during working hours between 7-8am, 4-6pm.That is the main thoroughfare towards and back to city.
It is orange marked on Google map for a reason.
Without knowing the condition of the property - Is it renovated or renovator delight?
That area is usually price lower than Chermside.

 

@Gen-Y ,thanks for the reply... I wanted something that can provide good capital growth with decent rental yield in long term (7-10 years). so buyers agent company prepared an investment strategy that suggests to purchase in a suburb - near to CBD, has good schools,shopping centre ,is gentrifying etc. Now my agent recommends that Chermside west is one such suburb ticking all the boxes and says that there is a good future growth. I'm totally reliant on my agent so have taken his suggestion. as a note I do not know Brisbane (have never been there) and was adamant initially to invest in Melb but buyers agent convinced me to look at Brisbane in current market conditions and also based on my budget of up to $750K he said you can get investment grade property with good growth in Brisbane in that budget. In Melbourne it will be very difficult.

 

$730K will get you into a number of better oo centric suburbs including the hills area which is still in the mid 600s.

 

I think Chermside West is a good suburb. You should do your own research for craigslea high school is top rated, good shopping and good hospitals in the area. Webster road is a main road though and I would be looking at 750k to 800k in quieter streets. The Hills area while great I wouldn't say is better than Chermside West.

 

Go to real-estate.com.au click on the sold tab to see what comparable houses are selling in Chermside West

 

Better value in suburbs south of the river. (Personal opinion only ).

But i wouldn't discount the agents suggestion either.

If you are buying sight unseen from Melbourne I would say that a quick trip (COVID allowing) or a friendly Brisbane local to view on your behalf.

Sight unseen not so great an idea.

I spoke to another person just the other day that had an agent sell something that the agent must have known wasn't great for investment.

 

Hmmm 730k for a main rd seems high at the moment. Unless of course, if the house is nice and worth it.

Chermside West is undervalued I reckon, especially comparing to the other side of Gympie Rd, suburbs like Wavell Heights which is easily 10-20% higher. So suburb recommendation is ok.

But for 730k, I’d rather get something quiet in a nice street like these;

With a bit of reno.
12 Mayled Street, Chermside West, Qld 4032
https://www.realestate.com.au/sold/property-house-qld-chermside+west-135470142

Nice and ready.
36 Kanofski Street, Chermside West, Qld 4032
https://www.realestate.com.au/sold/property-house-qld-chermside+west-135410694

Or this one currently for sale;

25 Gilmour Street, Chermside West, Qld 4032
https://www.realestate.com.au/property-house-qld-chermside+west-136441478
Seems like legal height downstairs but swimming pool is a minus as an IP.

Should rent easily in this suburb, quite in demand.

Good luck.

 

10 year charts comparing Chermside West and Wavell Heights which is too hot at the moment lol...

 

What Mulianto said is correct... For $730k you want to look for a quiet and nicer street with some sort of city view or park view.
I know the north side well as I do live around Clayfield and do have 2 IPs at Stafford and Woolowin,
This north side within 10km from the city is growing fast. The traffic jam is getting worst each year - if that is any indication of how quickly it is filling up.
Oh I am digressing - I also looked at investing Chermside West back in 2013 / 2014 - could of picked up a fix me up house on a 600m2 block for $350k - but it was on the main Hamilton Road.

Chermside West is definitely gentrifying - but it isn't as quickly as the agent tells you and must BUY BUY BUY - take it with a healthy skepticism.

 

Thanks guys for the very insightful suggestions.
Another question I had was - how reliable are the estimated price range shown on websites like realestate.com.au, domain.com.au etc?
For the BA recommended property, both these sites show price range as between $560,000 - $670,000 with High confidence. However the selling price mentioned to us by the BA is 730k.
I know the market is crazy at the moment but such a wide margin between the estimated price and selling price is concerning.

 

Ranges are next to useless .. if you have RP data, I will add 10% to the current valuation.

 

730 k on Webster Rd, this must be it?

637 Rode Road, Chermside West, Qld 4032
https://www.realestate.com.au/property-house-qld-chermside+west-136175578

At first glance, I thought the block is huge and could have future subdivision potential. But it’s no access from Webster Rd, so it guess it’s not.

While the house looks decent, I’d rather pick nicer st like the one on Gilmour St.

Market is moving fast honestly... all these datas are lagging.

Just my opinion.

 

I’d stay clear away from a main road like Webster unless it’s within a short distance of the shopping centre and ripe for development.

The majority of OO buyers will stay away from a main road so it cuts your market well down, and IMO the difference in price between the quieter streets will only get larger and larger. Long term not a great decision.

Nothing wrong with chirmside west though. As others have said, look at the hills suburbs and out towards Keperra

 

637 Rode Rd:
Suitable to rent to hospital staff, but I cant imagine too many folks otherwise wanting to live so close to an intersection that may be difficult to enter and exit in the traffic. Just sayin'.
Is the land zoned for MD or HD?

Why did the BA tell you that this is a good deal or a good property to purchase?

 

$22k for a BA %#*k that!

 

Brisbane has more intrinsic value especially land value per square metre as opposed to Melbourne.

I see a lot of property groups and agents trying to entice or sell slices of suburban Brisbane to those from the Southern States. Pure kickbacks. You will not lose out but it can limit you moving forward if you buy at a high price point, depending on your strategy.

The problem with Melbourne, like most of the selling market in the country, everything goes to auction and is undervalued for the agent to big note themselves. Standard. Melbourne will only rise when the borders reopen again and consumer confidence from overseas students kicks in .
I think we can all agree that Australian property is way over valued because everyone thinks they own a castle on lots of land when they have a hut on a parking lot.

There has been a lot of interest for investors because they have all pushed the button at the same time because they are cashed up and FOMO kicks in. We must be careful of our strained relationship with China and the rise of interest rates by November.

I digress...

Melbourne still has value for capital investment in places close to any developed train station....(Bunnings & Coles translates to a mini city)... think Epping, Werribee, outside of Taylors Lakes or think of walk-up apartments near the desirable windsor/st kilda area.
Geelong and Ballarat are probably 11 on the property clock.
Give it 24 months and it will be much harder to find an affordable price point in Melbourne.

Melbourne will be more populated in ten years, estimated bigger than Sydney. Hold some new H&L or a renovated house further out near owner occupied estates (Diggers Rest or Cranbourne) and it will generate more capital than the bi-polar Brisbane market.

700 - 750K can be better utilised IMO.

 

I know Brisbane better than most and really like Chermside west as am investment option but that is way too much money for that property. It’s a main road possibly the busiest in the suburb and a particularly busy part of the main road. No price would make me invest but that price is way too much.

 

I’d agree re brisbane. Cant really comment on specific property.

I’m always wary about people who say something is ‘ investment grade ‘ and then start saying only a small percentage of properties are investment grade . Obviously the implication is that they know which those are .

If it’s who I think it is , I follow their market commentary which I think is usually pretty close to the market , but I tune out when they talk about which properties to buy .

Having said that we’ve never used a BA and probably never will . Some are good ( a couple in the forum have good reps ) but some are quite dodgy and for a newbie it’s just confusing. Someone who comes along telling you what to buy , presents professionally is an attractive option for a newbie .

Our first IP , some 20 years ago was in brisbane ( we’re in Sydney ) . We did research on the forum / RE.com for a while , narrowed our search down to a handful of areas and flew up for around three days and looked around to get a better feel for where we wanted to buy .

We arranged a couple of get together’s with forum members who showed us around their areas of interest. We were buying cheapies in Logan and made an offer on one after our first trip. We made around 3 more trips over the next couple of months .

I’d spend a week or two reading everything you can on forum . Send a pm ( conversation ) to some members and ask their advice . If you go up some might be happy to spend sometime with you , but they’re much more likely to do that if you’ve shown some effort / insight and willingness to listen.

personally I wouldn’t be using a BA with out having a good idea of what and where I want to buy .

Eg there are lots of experts who totally put down cheapies , but LOTS of forumites have made lots of money buying ex houso’s in lower socio economic areas . They dismiss them as not being’ investment grade ‘ or not fitting ‘ rental reality ‘

BTW When ever I’m searching about someone in the web re their background , outside the obvious , scam , etc I find it can be revealing using terms that might indicate past professional misdemeanours such as deregistered , disbarred and struck off etc

Cliff

 

Great advice by Cliff. Some of the forumites here are amazing. Some of them have got so many skills and knowledge.

I’m not against BAs but with all professions you have the entire range - the fantastic to the hopeless. I agree with your BA about Brisbane and Chermside West but there’s no way I’d buy on Webster Road or any main road. With the buying frenzy that’s going on at the moment, there may not be any stock available. In that case, it’d be better to look elsewhere or wait.