Where to buy Newcastle, Central coast or southern highlands

Hi all, I’ve been lurking for a long time on this forum and learning a lot. I decided to take the leap and make a post as i would love some input from you guys.


My partner and I are young (23years) but we want to get our foot in the property market door so that we will eventually (5-7 years) have a house that we can raise kids and have a dog.

I make over 100k as a self employed tradie, and my partner makes 30-40k as a part time dental assistant. We have about 60k saved but also have the option of having a guarantor to avoid LMI.


Sydney seems unaffordable for us, so ideally somewhere we could commute 3 days to Sydney if needed. (As I have good work there).

We feel that getting in early and perhaps rent vesting is a good idea as the areas 1-1.5 hours out of Sydney will in the long term go up in value and we may be priced out by the time we are fully ready to settle down. Newcastle is also big enough to eventually start a business but close enough that I could commute a few days whilst setting it up.


Here are my potential options,noting we likely have around 500-600k to spend.

Option 1

Purchase a house in Waratah west, mayfield west (May be out of reach), Wallsend or further out to fletcher.

Live there for 12 months and commute 3 days (mother in law has a spare room in sydney so we don’t have to travel every day for that 12 months) and prepare for renting. Do a cheapish refresh reno. I can sand timber floors and paints. Maybe 30k doing a lot myself.

Rent out and move back to Sydney. Cover excess mortgage payments, maintenance and fees by putting aside 150 plus whatever the rent doesn’t cover of the mortgage per week.

Rely on capital growth, perhaps down the track move up there or purchase another IP using built up equity.



Option 2

Central coast - same as option one but affordable suburbs seem a bit lower chance of getting decent capital gains. Eg wyong, lake haven, gorokan seems to be all we could afford.


Option 3

Southern highlands - likely moss vale is the most affordable. Might not have the same capital gains as Newcastle but perhaps could live there longer term as it’s only 90 mins to Sydney rather than just for 12 months then renting the out.


I appreciate any thoughts or suggestions on our plans, my main concern is just getting a foot in the door early so that we don’t have to take on a huge mortgage at 30.


Thank you all for your time!!

 

Move to Newcastle. Get on the ladder. You won't regret it.

Also I have a family member screaming out for a reliable dental assistant at the moment in the Newcastle area if you are interested.

 

If I was in my 20s with many working years ahead of me, I would choose the option with most potential capital growth. That seems like option 1. As you are young, you will have lots of energy for the commuting and renovating!

 

Option 1. Don't just buy the cheapest thing you can find - make sure there are other working professionals/trades in the area who can afford half decent cars etc. Dole bludgers aren't going to be buying your house off you one day, and people tend to cluster. Waratah or Mayfield could work.

 

Option 1. Waratah West and Mayfield West aren’t the best capital growth suburbs in Newcastle but you could do lots worse. They’ll do ok over the long term.

Those central coast suburbs you mentioned are ok but I don’t think they’d do as well as option 1

 

Thanks for your replies everyone! I really appreciate it.
Option 1 does seem the best, we’re going to start the process asap so we can hopefully start looking seriously in the next few months.
Will keep the forum posted with how we proceed, thanks again for your input

 

Southern Highlands (Moss Vale, Mittagong and Bowral) is beautiful place. Even I am considering that. I visited there once and really beautiful town. In my view, once you start living there, you won't think of going out.

 

you looking at 30 maybe 40 times year horizon.... why not get the best asset possible interstate?