Hi
A property purchase in this area a goer in waterford region?
I need your assistance in regards to a proposal which was sent from a friend who used to live Canberra and now works for Colonial Building company and the developer is Delfin lend lease.

The estate is called Woodlands next door to elite Canterbury College. 5 minutes drive to Beenleigh town centre. The proposal mention major projects in the region such as aldi distribution centre at Yatala, Qld transport Beenleigh-gold coast rail corrridor upgrade $184million and carlton and United breweries' Brewery expansion at Yatala (170million). There are more examples but I think you get the idea! This estate will be home for 4,200 residence in 1260 homes when completed in 2011. http://www.woodlands.com.au

A new 3 bedroom home, two bathrooms and single lock up garage will be purchased at $272,000 (land $112,000 and house $160,000) plus $8,000 stamp duty and conveyancing costs. They have estimated a rental income between the range of $290.00 to $330.00 per week which they calculate a yield of 6.3% They claim the owner will need to make a short fall of an average of 1.1% per annum on an interest free loan. The total value depreciable value of fixture and fittings is $40,000 for this new home. One key benefit that there will be very little maintenance required by the owners becuase the building is new!

Is this one a goer? do the figures add up? The expected rent levels is that a realistic figure for that region? I will appreciate your thoughts on this one!




cheers ross

Hi Ross,

At the moment we are living across the main road to Woodlands in a suburb called Edens Landing. I'd like to tell you a little bit about the Beenleigh area so you get the whole picture before you start doing the sums!

It's approx 30km and 45-60 mins driving to the city coming from the Southside. It will be a nice area when it is completed but it's in the middle of the not so nice surrounding areas. I think it will grow and develop in the future just as you predict but I believe you would need to be in it for the long term, 10+ years.

The type of people that live there are families with children and older people, mainly lower income. The rent that you can expect will be close to $300 for a new house but I don't know about over to be perfectly honest. You know these sales people are always a touch optimistic. Just have a browse at the rentals on RealEstate.com.au for comparison.

Now my suggestion is this. Research how much similar houses in the area are selling for, that are not brand new. If you find that the brand new homes come close in price than there's your answer, plus you get the benifits of depreciation. But I personally wouldn't pay an extra $15 - $20k for a property just because it's brand new. Our property is valued at $270k, it's 9 years old, 4 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms and 1 garage...

Just some food for thought.

Thanks Lena for your view.

Your thoughts have helped me to confirm some of the details of potiental IPs. I will consider the older homes and search in Edens Landing on the internet. Yeah it can be 10 year plan to achieve some Capital Gain (CG) in Woodlands. I have bought a new town house (first IP) as a investment property in Jerrabomberra near Queanbeyan and Canberra. It too I had to wait 10 years to break even. It was next to industrial area and under a flight path. We had to discount the rent in the first year by $10pw to get tennant in our IP over other PI's (Property Investor) The location is very good and now become a better than average than Queanbeyan and commanded more rents. Yep this property has more than doubled from its orginal price! The fight path has moved a bit to keep residents happy so its becoming more attractive and popular. Never been empty more than 4 weeks in 14 years.
Karen has provided me an email on this topic which was very helpful and description.

I feel more comfortable now by having your input and still canvas IPs outside my town and still consider older properties In the next purchase in my portofolio would be a house which will provide better CG If I can have both CG and positive cash flow the better!

Do we have any more thoughts from any one?

Has any purchased a brand new property in a new estate and considered a good investment in shorter period than a ten year period? I would like to see a property value double less than 5 years instead of break even after ten years.

cheers Ross

Hi Ross,

Not a prob, happy to help! In answer to your question about new estates, doubling in 5 years can happen but I don't know how common it is! My husband purchased our first home in a new estate in the then outskirts of Brisbane. He was nervous as he was venturing outside the inner Brisbane suburbs. Anyway, this was in 2001 and 4 years later, the whole of Brisbane moved out a little and suddleny this suburb was back on the good list. This caused a doubling in value, but keep in mind Brisbane was going through an unprecedenting boom. So in answer to you question, this can and does happen, but I thought it was less about careful planning and research and more about timing & luck!

When purchasing property owned by a Realtor, what are some benefits the buyer can negotiate?
We are looking at purchasing a parcel of land, we called a realtor who informed us there is a "friend" of his that is selling a parcel in the same area that is not on the market yet. With my knowledge of the web, I did property research and found this "friend" to me another realtor in the same office. I have tried to find information about what to watch for in this situation or how we (the buyer) get the best deal. So any serious help will be appreciated.

I will give you points for doing some research. Again you need to do your research more and speak to more than real estate office. You are then better placed to purchase IPs after gathering key information. We are still in a buyers market to enable good deals but for how long?

Can you tell us a bit more about yourself e.g How long have you been a property investor?

There are combo of stimulus actions provided by the government and interest reductions as Australia is good position to buffer global recession effects.

cheers Ross