QLD Wynnum

Hi All,

As some of you might know, I am going to be relocating to Queensland next month. I have been trying to familiarize myself with suburbs which tick most boxes and think I might have narrowed things down to Wynnum.

Some of the factors which have led us to Wynnum are:

• Train access to city
• Wynnum State School which we have heard good things about and we have 3 young kids (so good public school is important)
• Quiet family orientated lifestyle
• Affordable rental property (and reasonably affordable property to buy).
• Sea breezes

Are there any other factors or things (good or bad) which I have overlooked in Wynnum?

Interested to hear your thoughts?

The other two suburbs which could be options for us too would be Ormiston and Cleveland.

Cheers,
Robbie

 

I grew up there but I haven't lived there for over ten years...some people love Wynnum because it has the seafront (and yes the seabreeze), it's a short drive to the 'beach' (not that there are waves but it's nice for fish and chips and the playground) but it used to be rough as it was a low socioeconomic area. It also had a large population of elderly people but I'm sure there are also a lot of families these days. I hear it's a lot better these days (and of course some streets are nicer than others) but if you do decide to move there just take some time to get a feel for the area you plan on living in (check out ABS crime stats). For me the other thing I dislike about Wynnum is that it's too far from Westfield for my liking and still takes ages to get to the Gold Coast. Commuting by train is fine but find out what time you will need to get there to get a park. I wouldn't want to live close to Wynnum Central Train Station, it's not the nicest place to live.... What part of Wynnum were you thinking of, because there's Wynnum, Wynnum West, Wynnum Central, Wynnum North, Manly West, Manly...parts of Manly are vastly different to Wynnum!

 

Hi Robbie,

As Meow said there are a number of areas that you could be referring to. Meow it has come a long way since you have been there mate!

Full disclosure we lived and developed in the area for about 4-5 years since about 2012, and have recently moved over to Sherwood purely for proximity to friends and family as we have a growing family. We love the place, and it has done very well for us.

There are some fantastic areas, and some not so fantastic areas. Most people suggest east of the rail line (the water side) is the way to go, however there are a stack of great streets on the other side.

The area in general has seen a huge amount of investment from developers with anywhere from 3-8 level unit blocks to splitters replacing old crapholes with nice new homes. Like most suburbs now you can't drive down a street without seeing new constructions or renovations etc going on, which has in many ways rejuvenated a significant portion of the area in general. If you look at the 3 and 5 years growth on the 4-5 suburbs around, you will see that they have grown significantly in value. There is another post about sales achieved in Brisbane recently, and we have recently achieved a sale very close to seven figures in the Avenues on a 405m2 block, no bay views etc. This is an indication in my mind of the kind of money coming into the area.

I think the stigma of crime and retirement is slowly fading, and there are more little funky wine bars and coffee shops popping up. There has for quite some time been talk of a cinema complex being constructed somewhere in the area, however to this date not a huge amount of success. There is however currently a DA out for a multi cinema complex on Bay Terrace I believe accompanied by a large apartment development.

From a public transport perspective, its fantastic. Yes its about 40m from the city, however there are a lot of other employment areas around with the Airport, Port of Brisbane, Carindale shopping etc. With the Airport expansion and extra runway I expect this to have a (unknown) effect on the area.

I tend to disagree with Meow on comments about proximity to Goldy and Westfield. It is pretty much as good as any other area in Brisbane as far as convenience to get to North or South Coast, as you can get straight on the Gateway within 5-10 minutes of pretty much anywhere in the area. I used to be able to get from home to Goldy in 40 or so minutes, and around the same up to Caloundra. Also, its a 15 minute drive to Westfield Carindale and Garden city, which in my mind are the two better shopping centres in Brisbane.

If I were looking for a home, I'd be looking in the Terraces or Avenues. There are still some great buying opportunities around.

If you wanted to have a chat I'm more than happy to give you some areas to look at. Flick us a PM if you want.

Cheers

 

Just stumbled across this: http://www.yourneighbourhood.com.au/berrimastreet-bridestreet-wynnum/

2 high density towers with 67 units proposed along with cinemas, cafes & retail with basement carpark.

Thoughts on how this affects existing similar stock in the area in regards to CG, rents?

Good or bad for short/med/long term?

 

Agreed wth some of the above comments. Definitely money coming into the area.
Can see gentrification happening, especially in areas near the waterfront where the big 900m2 blocks are, Aston, Wilde, Alkoomie, Adam st etc. as people are growing tired of 405m2 with no where to park boats, caravans etc.
As for schools, definitely Gumdale and Manly recommended. As for the others they are only average.
In my opinion if schooling is a priority and you consider best public and primary high schools for average house price you can't go past THE GAP.
As for Wynnum agreed the part near Wynnum Central station not ideal

 

+1 for the area.

I have 2 properties in Wynnum. One is East of the rail, slightly south of Wynnum central (ie on the cusp of Manly), and another slightly east of Wynnum North train station. With both properties, I've had very good experience with tenants, with them either being young proffesionnals who commute to the city, or the family type.

 

We ended up finding a town house in Manly West and my daughter is at Wynnum State School, which seems pretty decent.. the grounds are pretty impressive.

How does Wynnum and Manly West state schools compare?

By the way.. the Manly, Lota, Wynnum bay fronts are stunning!

 

Out if interest what rent bracket/price point are your rentals in. It's seems at present anything above $600 per week sits for a long time

 

Two schools in the area are catchment limited, Manly SS, Gumdale SS and then a bit further Belmont SS. Let the fact they don't take out of catchment kids and score well in naplan be a guide to how good they are. I hear Lota SS is ok to and people are driving from other local school catchments to put their kids in there.

Wynnum SS scores right on the national average on the myschools website. It's facilities are new which is a plus and Wynnum in gentrifying, but the a lot of people in the Wynnum catchment go to the local catholic school, partly cause they feed into decent high schools. The local public high schools are good if your kids like acting like they are in a gang and high five and fist pump Maori kids all day

 

I got a few above 600pw, one of which is over 700pw, and they haven't had much trouble renting, although none of them have had to find new tenants for about 9 months.

Longest we had I think was about 3 weeks. Very good tenants at that price point too. Oddly enough, all professional couples with one of the two working from a home office.

A few others I have had around the 400pw mark were snapped up with pretty much and insane frenzy my PM tells me.

Maybe I've been lucky, because I have seen what you mean Ricflair.

 

The single story 4/2/2 (built 2013) just east of Wynnum North Train station rents for $560/wk.

The other one, East of the rail (on Wynnum/Manly cusp) is a post war 3 bed home and rents for $400/wk.

@William I'm curious as to which parts of Wynnum these properties you have are in, and what configuration for that amount of rental please?

Thanks,

JK

 

Could you tell me who you use for your property management if you're happy with them. You can PM if you like.
I've got one east of Tingal that was my PPOR I'm considering renting out for a while, I reckon some good CG is coming soon
I want a good local property manger

 

I like the whole area, Wynnum, Manly, Lota and across the creek into Redlands, Thorneside and Birkdale are nice, and down to the point, frankly, I like parts of Manly best and the Redlands area is much cleaner and more family area to me.

But I think they do not yet realise what they are sitting on up there.

The bad ?

Wynnum is dead at night, nothing ! there is one business trying to make a bit of a social scene, but jeez I know many country towns much more alive at night and on weekends, they all seem to head to town or be inside.

The other thing is, but not exclusive to there, make sure you do your shopping early, they all must be asleep by 8pm in Bris, everythings closed real early esp. the weekend.

In my eyes, it would be a great place to start various businesses & stay open, I reckon you would win in the end.

I would try and be not far West.

 

Hey mate PM'ed

 

The other one, East of the rail (on Wynnum/Manly cusp) is a post war 3 bed home and rents for $400/wk.

Hi mate a couple of small crapshacks one I wynnum one in lota on 809 both rent for 380 or more from memory virtually overnight. One was not far from wynnum north station, and lota just off whites road.

Couple of examples are new/near new 4/2.5/2 250-300m2 homes of differing finish, one in Manly on the west side of rail, 670pw and one in Wynnum near the avenues with distant bay views that's 700+Pw.

Your single story renting for 560 is pretty good! I had a couple of single stories in the avenues for 550 and 560 a few years ago. They were built around the same time.

If you want more info pm me.

Cheers!

 

I've got 6 yo 300sqm house 4/2/6 on 923m near the water I was debating selling or renting. Organised one of the recommended PM for an appraisal, she was very positive on that end of market with new finishes. She said tenants are picky about their finishes at the moment.
I organise to get the other later in the week.

On another note thanks for the two PM recommendations does anybody think any local agents are better than others and why. Happy to have the suggestions PM'd if preferred

 

Yes. We have used a large number of agents in the area, with differing success levels.

I'll PM you.

 

Often wary about recommending pm's as what works for one person doesn't always suit other people , but , can recommend RED property management . They're a stand alone property management company and are one of the best three PM's we've had in the our property investment journey . The other two were also stand alone PM , one in Townsville and the other is DT in Adelaide .

It's their only job so they have to be good at it as they don't have sales to fall back on.

Cliff

 

You make a great point... it's not easy to make money in Property Management! You just have to be careful they're not cutting costs- many of the larger PM only businesses go a bit far in their 'streamlining', and the smaller ones can be missing important infrastructure.

Also agree- take the recommendation and use that as a head start to making your own decision. A lot of clients will come straight to a recommended Agency and just ask to sign the Form 6 without discussing anything. In my case it's great for me and very flattering, but I can't help but wonder if that lack of due diligence gets people into trouble elsewhere?