My partner bought a PPOR unit in Albion (ridley street) recently for $222k. Even though prices have not gone up for apartments in Albion or really in the last 5 years (we only settled a bit over a month ago) we are really happy with the purchase because of lifestyle factors and the fact holding costs generally (except maybe body corp special levies) are so low. Anyway if the apartment goes up to $300k in the next five years and we are ready to move on, should we sell it. From an investment point of view I say yes, however my partner is Russian and I can see it being used as a place that her parents live in who at the moment live in Russia. Whether her parents ever move to Australia is unknown, but because of this there is an argument to keep the unit. However my concerns are special levy body corporate fees. The apartment block is sort of old and seeing some other apartments on the block there could be some issues (IE. restumping of the property, fencing issues, etc.) If the property doesn't move much I'll say keep it and wait for the growth (if it ever happens). However if it goes up to $300k quickly (which can happen with apartments as it seems apartments go up in value in spurts for a couple of years) then I have a dilema considering the above. Thoughts appreciated.
id say wait till the ifs halfway eventuate.................. ifs and should haves and wish i hads ruin most peoples capacity to invest, and indeed to live life NOW ta rolf
If you purchased for $220K and it grows to be worth $300K, should you sell? Why not wait till it grows to $400K? Should you sell then? What about when it is worth $800K? I'll confess that I'm from the buy & hold forever camp. I hate paying CGT and I hate paying Stamp Duty - all of which eat into your wealth when you sell & re-buy. If you need $'s you could always refinance some cash out. If it is a dog property with a continual history of special levies - then any prospective purchaser doing a Strata Report will see that too - and it will affect the sale price and the time on the market. Maybe the strata levies are too low and need building up to pay for upcoming maintenance, which every building has.
I agree with this, what difference does it make how much, I am also in the buy and hold forever. 15k just to sell means you really need to make sure the next place is going to be much better stock.
When you purchased, as part of your due diligence, you would have purchased a strata report, which would have had histories of previous meetings and minutes, OC decisions, bank statements, correspondence etc. What did you glean from this specifically in regards to future repairs? Are there sufficient monies in the sinking fund to deal with potential issues?
