What Options Do I Have if The Landlord Wants The Place Back before The Fixed Term Contract Is over

Some great reasons to buy it and others not to invest.

Land appreciates but as @Marg4000 notes, so does location.

You hit the nail on the head with externalities - close to services, jobs, education, opportunities etc but it is an older building (all buildings age). Do the pros outweigh the cons?

What else is available to purchase which ticks the same boxes or more (& what are they worth)? Look at properties of similar age - so what if if it needs work to get it up to similar to yours (negotiate early access while you make use of that free month's rent etc).

 

We looked at newer apartments as well. The really good apartment units with a backyard go for 450k or more. Even then, they are only 2BR units which will no be big enough in a few years. We can find much newer ones with the similar layout to the one we were renting in at the moment, for about 400k.

But we can buy or build a 3 or 4BR house from Clyde VIC for the same price. And we will at least have the land.

We did some calculation for the worse case if we bought an apartment near where I rent in at the moment. (I'm not 100% sure how equity works so I will need some help.)

Assume we buy a 400k apartment, taking a 320k mortgage. In 5 years, it appreciates to 450k, and we might have about 280k left on the mortgage to pay. The equity is 80% * 450000 - 280000? So it's only 80k? How on earth are we going to afford a townhouse in this area which sells for 700k-800k now? In 5 years???? If my wife never goes back to work, which is a possibility, I might need to triple my current salary to service that loan. In other words, if it is difficult to go for a 400k property now, I doubt it will be any easier to go for a 700-800k house in 5 years, even with the equity.

So we will be stuck with a 2BR apartment. If we move to Clyde area, which will be a painful daily commute, but we will still have a house.