Hey Guys,
So the Situation is I'm a 21 ears old who works full time earning $75,000 with approx $50,000 in savings and still living at home. I was wondering if anyone had advice on buying for investment in Brisbane as the Sydney market where I live is pretty unaffordable for the time being anyway. Or if I should just keep saving until I can buy in Sydney.
All help would be much appreciated. Thanks
Civil Designer for an engineering firm.
I was going to buy in Western Sydney and after 3 months of looking, I gave up as everything would have been very negatively geared. I wanted something closer to neutral (or ideally positive) and that wasn't going to happen.
I've recently purchased in Brisbane and used a Buyers Agent to arrange as I was concerned that I would get sick of flying up to BNE every weekend to inspect properties and would make an impulsive decision. In the end, he walked me through 7 different options including likely financials based on the assumptions I was comfortable with (forecast rent, growth etc I set to be quite conservative). I'm glad I did it this way. I'm now planning my second purchase and will probably take a similar path in a few months.
PM me if you would like his details - as always, YMMV. Do your own due diligence, don't rush it and keep doing whatever you're doing. You're on a good salary and have saved well for a 21yo and should be proud of what you've achieved. Watch out for those people who are negative and just want to knock you down.
Reading below post, "keep away from units, especilly in the city / south brisbane / west end and fortitude valley areas."
Which areas are your buyer agent recommended/ you end up bought at the end?
There was a spread mostly northside. The only unit was Kangaroo Point but it was positioned at the luxury end and I wasnt confident of being able to find a tenant. I opted fpr a 3br townhouse about 9km from the city. On settlement similar places were about 12% more so I was comfortable with thr early gain.
Good pick. Units aren't good, high maintenance etc
@toristo: agree. and those cost will only increase will never go down. i heard a case where owners need to pay $6,000 a quarter for an unit in sydney city because the body corporate stuffs up badly. of course at the end the owners took body corp to the court.
keep away from units, especilly in the city / south brisbane / west end and fortitude valley areas.
there is a massive glut going up at the moment and it's speculated prices will crash
Which suburbs do you recommend to invest in house (not units)?
how hands on do you plan to be? if your planning on engaging a property manager i'd recommend the logan area. especially kingston, woodridge and logan central. it's a lower socio ecconomic area which has advantages and disadvantages.
the advantage is that property down there is cheap - people get in over there head and need to sell. the disadvantage is that you can get bad tennats - but thats why you need good land lord insurance.
With no property experience you are buying in a city you also have no experience in, and you live 1000kms away from.
Guess what, the property guru's love inexperienced buyers/owners and those who arent close enough to check what is going on themselves.
Hey, the door locks need replacing, then its a cleaning fee, rats, cockroaches, leaky tap all will require a visit from a trades person and which agent is going to ring around for the best ozbargain price.
The real money made in property, from those who have no idea of what they are doing, or cant check things out themselves.
Like sure you can tell if the lock needed replacing, or it was just a screw that worked loose.
Good luck, if you can outsmart the S QLD millionaires you will be dealing with.
Plus lenders like AMP are being very cautious in that market, like Tejas57 above says
IF you plan to eventually live in Sydney and not elsewhere, then my personal opinion is to 'keep your powder dry' and keep on saving. Like others have said there will definitely be a glut of units, and also I think that the market has topped out. In a recession, cash is king. (Sorry about the cliches)
I have a few properties around brisbane and sydney which I've owned for a while now. Brisbane has done really well for me and I would recommend it to new investors as properties are not extremely expensive in nice areas within the city circle. The areas between universities and shopping centres have given me the most growth. So St lucia and indro in Brisbane have almost tripled their value and were very cheap to buy at the time. There have been a few downs, i prefer families renting the homes, less wear and tear but for a period of time I had a house which was student housing, it was certainly good income but the upkeep was high. Students dont tend to clean well and the electricity costs are high, computers, heaters, breaks etc but its good to have a backup plan if the market slumps. I also ran one house as a charity case for a couple friends who lost their homes in the floods and insurance dragged their heals.
Growing up in east Sydney and living at home when I was younger I wished I got into the market earlier as the area i grew up is almost unaffordable. I own a house here later on in life but I can see how it would be a struggle to buy anywhere decent unless you are in the high income bracket with a decent disposable income for a mortgage and family + life. In sydney I would have to say the beachside suburbs are where you want to be and I am keeping an eye on North sydney. This market has been influenced by chinese investors and interesting to see how its going now with a slow down.
My recommendation is eventually have a variety as nana said never put all your eggs in 1 basket. Other successful portfolios would have to be Darwin and Perth, however both markets are slowing down these markets are highly influenced by the resources sector and depending what the government is up to.
Quick question, what is your current occupation?