Are < $300k Houses Too Good to Be True?

CodeExplode on 20/09/2023 - 15:01

I'm still years away from being able to buy property, but have found myself looking longingly at the <$300k houses on realestate.com.au and thinking about how much it would cost to slap some solar panels and batteries on, put in a water tank, and grow the more expensive foods such as lettuces etc (which I already do, and isn't especially hard) while buying cheap flour, corn, etc.

However with the housing crises in Australia I'm guessing these are traps somehow, cases of too good to be true, but thought maybe it just comes down to less desirable locations in smaller towns?

Home & Garden

Comments

  • Jimothy Wongingtons on 20/09/2023 - 15:06
    +5

    Do you literally mean $300k for a house , or you meant 300 for house and land?

    Housing prices got me thinking I should move out to the wilds and build an elaborate underground home with pool like those two Indian YouTubers…

    • netjock on 20/09/2023 - 15:16
      +2

      You could get a $300k house with land in country Victoria but expect a lot of work doing it up and not having many hipsters around at the local cafe.

    • CodeExplode on 20/09/2023 - 16:35

      On realestate.com.au there are a few listed for $300k with a house on land, and one even looks pretty nice of those I looked at, with aircon in every room and a refurbished bathroom. It does seem odd though, like surely there's a massive catch, and a newbie like me would blunder right into them without asking others.

      • EightImmortals on 20/09/2023 - 16:52
        +4

        Wont know till you inspect and get a building report done. Also, most houses I've looked at are way smaller IRL than they are in the photos. :)

      • AustriaBargain on 20/09/2023 - 17:09
        +3

        Is it in the middle of nowhere?

        • CodeExplode on 20/09/2023 - 17:22

          They were generally pretty remote but usually in a town, not say in the middle of farming land. There was one a few days ago in the suburbs of Rockhampton for like $230k I think.

          • AustriaBargain on 20/09/2023 - 17:23
            +4

            @CodeExplode: Think how many thousands people would pay to not have to have a three hour commute to a big city.

            • CodeExplode on 20/09/2023 - 17:28
              +6

              @AustriaBargain: I've worked from home since 2010. It doesn't pay great, but it means I can live anywhere, and have the time to do other things like gardening.

          • Sensiekatie on 21/09/2023 - 11:57

            @CodeExplode: Rockhampton did have a big price drop and there have been some good deals. It isn't because of anything bad, just a downturn in a sector which was dueling prices up there. It's quite liveable too. Not a tiny town and has a lot of services you wouldn't get in remote areas. The coast nearby is good.

            • Sensiekatie on 22/09/2023 - 12:50

              @Sensiekatie: Forgot to say, have to watch flooding. My son and his wife are looking for sub $750 in Brisbane. There are few, but what is there is often in a flood area. Someone obviously unaware just paid $1.1 million for a house in a street in our suburb that floods every time. There were 2 in that Street sold a few months prior and they also sold at ridiculous prices. Many towns with a river near Qld coast have flood areas. People are so unaware and are paying ridiculous prices for some of these properties. BCC have flood awareness maps but others are more difficult to determine.

  • netjock on 20/09/2023 - 15:18
    +1

    It is like that instagram account for cheap old houses for like next to nothing in USA.

    I would check the exact cost first. You'll find getting off the grid solar is not as cheap / easy as you think. You're talking about big delivery fees for your water tank (and other building supplies) and you'll probably need a reliable car because you'll be far away from a lot of facilities.

    Not going to pop your bubble but definitely have a look at the time and cost involved. Check the neighbors whether they are nice people because you might need to ask them for help time to time.

    • CodeExplode on 20/09/2023 - 16:36

      The vague dream at this point isn't to go completely off-grid, but from looking into solar it looks like it may be ~$10-16k atm for the system and installation (rebates will reduce each year, though hopefully costs will as well), and then another huge chunk for a battery which might double that, so perhaps not worth it.

  • AngoraFish on 20/09/2023 - 15:19
    +1

    You can build a comfortable house for <$300k. Most of the cost of real estate is in the land.

    If you are looking for an actual house on actual land for less than $300k, however, you're literally limited to a few knock downs in remote rural areas two hours drive from the nearest job or shopping centre.

  • coffeeinmyveins on 20/09/2023 - 15:26
    +2

    and grow the more expensive foods such as lettuces etc (which I already do, and isn't especially hard) while buying cheap flour, corn, etc.

    Why would you grow a food resource that not only takes an insane amount of water but has no nutritional value?

    "living off the land" is overrated and much more intensive than people think. You can't grow everything you need to survive, so you need to barter. People don't do that anymore, so how will you get the other food you need? what about when you get sick? break a leg?

    • Jimothy Wongingtons on 20/09/2023 - 15:39
      +5

      what about when you get sick?

      guess i'll die

    • Aureus on 20/09/2023 - 15:59
      +4

      OP never said that was their intention.

      Lettuce is dead simple to grow, tastes good and is nutritious. Just don't grow iceberg.

    • CodeExplode on 20/09/2023 - 16:33
      +2

      Yeah as Aureus said I have no intention of ever trying to live off the land. But the hardest things to grow and process like wheat are also the cheapest to buy a long supply of, whereas the easiest things to grow are the most expensive and difficult to buy long term amounts of such as lettuce.

      • Protractor on 21/09/2023 - 10:40

        Leafy veges?
        Grow it via a home made diy pvc hydroponic system. You can have a steady supply with less work once up and running

        • CodeExplode on 21/09/2023 - 11:01

          Those initially looked interesting, but stuff like lettuce, capsicums, beans, etc, you pretty much just throw in a few dollars of potting mix (which you can reuse with some fertilizer) and occasionally water while brushing teeth, and pick off dead leaves / look for bugs.

          • Protractor on 21/09/2023 - 11:55
            +1

            @CodeExplode: Less secondary probs, higher turnover, no need to worry about terrestrial pests. Talking short lived 'leafy 'stuff.
            Can still use liquid organic nutrients.Longer growing season if set up right.

            • CodeExplode on 21/09/2023 - 12:11

              @Protractor: Yeah that might be a nice upgrade in the longer term. For now I'm trying to grow quite a large mix in a lot of locations, including things like potatoes, so the lettuce component is relatively small and easy.

  • mskeggs on 20/09/2023 - 15:43
    +4

    I mean you can own a 2br apartment under 30mins train ride to Town Hall for under $400k if you want to live in Sydney.
    But you probably have opinions on the neighbourhood.
    A country town house looks appealing because you are looking in a bit of an information vacuum - is there any employment, is there a bad ice problem, did the nearest GP close down last year, do you need to drive 90mins to shop anywhere besides an IGA with 7/11 pricies.

    • CodeExplode on 20/09/2023 - 16:34

      Yeah one I looked at only had an IGA in town, which was definitely a red flag. That being said, I was more perplexed about whether these were outright scams.

      • mskeggs on 20/09/2023 - 16:41
        +3

        As an example, there are a couple of houses in Orange
        NSW for sale in the $300s.
        These are ex-houso places that were sold off cheap about 10 years ago. Looks like the landlords haven’t done much with them.
        Whether it is accurate or not, some locals will think poorly of that part of town, lumping in all the residents in that area with a few bad eggs.
        It also means the property growth will be depressed (though these properties appear to have more than doubled) and you will get occasional other bits of discrimination (someone might be more reluctant to buy a car you are selling, or might assume your kids can’t afford optional school expenses etc.)

        And there might still be a few bad eggs around,I don’t know.

        But when you see a bargain property in Australia, there is usually a pretty good reason - so you need to be smart/lucky to pick the gentrifying towns/suburbs and avoid problem areas.

        Assuming you are interested in investment returns etc. There are plenty of reasons to live in and love a little town in rural Australia that have nothing to do with property investment returns!

        • Protractor on 21/09/2023 - 10:40

          Isn't Orange Barnaby Joyce country?

          • mskeggs on 21/09/2023 - 10:54

            @Protractor: He's up around Armidale. I think Orange is still National federally, but went shooters/fishers/farmers a while ago at state level, tho now that guy sits as an independent.

    • AustriaBargain on 20/09/2023 - 17:11
      +3

      And do they have reliable and fast internet? Maybe you can work from home, but probably not if you just have spotty Skylink or whatever.

  • AustriaBargain on 20/09/2023 - 15:54
    +1

    In Japan they are pretty sweet. Not ultra modern or anything, kinda like the typical houses you'd see in Japanese movies. Of course you probably should know how to speak Japanese.

  • Puglife on 20/09/2023 - 15:58
    +3

    You can buy a house for under 300k in some parts of Tasmania.
    The only downside is…..its Tasmania.

  • rumblytangara on 20/09/2023 - 16:11
    +2

    Are < $300k Houses Too Good to Be True?

    Uh… where?

    • CodeExplode on 20/09/2023 - 16:34

      There's a few if you search on realestate.com.au, but whether they're legit / without massive problems is unclear to me, as a newbie.

      • localhost on 20/09/2023 - 16:38

        Never heard of this state/city/suburb realestate.com.au :)

      • rumblytangara on 20/09/2023 - 16:43
        +3

        I meant, 300K house in Inner West Sydney and it's probably a collapsing meth house. 300K house in the middle of nowhere countryside, and it's probably totally reasonable.

        The "where" is kind of key, given that realestate.com.au is… for all of Australia.

        • Thrawn on 20/09/2023 - 16:46
          +11

          even a collapsing meth house in Inner West Sydney would be worth 1+ mil on land value alone

          • rumblytangara on 20/09/2023 - 16:54
            -1

            @Thrawn: Yeah, I kinda new that when I posted , and was exaggerating for effect.

            I've looked at a teardown, with collapsed floors and heath and safety notices plastered all over it, in Newtown and off memory it was about a million.

          • star-ggg on 20/09/2023 - 21:36
            +1

            @Thrawn: 300K would buy a parking spot

  • ForkSnorter on 20/09/2023 - 16:35
    +3

    Keep in mind, those <$300k houses were probably <$130k five years ago. I remember 15 or 16 years ago there were houses (with land) in QLD country towns selling for $12-$30k. But these were outback towns or ex-mining towns and would not be practical for most people.

    Also, a lot of the old cheap houses have decaying asbestos, which makes them impossible to fix up/renovate without paying a lot of money for a good builder.

    • CodeExplode on 20/09/2023 - 16:37

      Ah that could be the kind of red flag issue that would explain the prices.

    • AustriaBargain on 20/09/2023 - 17:14

      My mom bought a house for like 50k a few decades ago. The value of it now is eye watering. I wish she had the greedy sense to keep the old houses as an investment instead of always selling the house when moving to buy another one. But then again I'd just be another (profanity) waiting to inherit investment properties if she did.

  • rambutann on 20/09/2023 - 16:43
    +3

    No they are not scams..

    They are generally in locations with poor job prospects in undesirable locations due to both lack of culture and job prospects.

    https://www.realestate.com.au/property-house-vic-dimboola-14…

    Here's an example of a $219k property in Dimboola, VIC. Dimboola is about 30 mins from Horsham, has a pub, an IGA and a couple of other stores.
    Its about half way between Melbourne and Adelaide.

    Properties in Dimboola have actually significantly increased in recent times.. not long ago a house and land was under $100k..
    The ability to work remotely has probably been a factor in driving the prices up.

    • CodeExplode on 20/09/2023 - 17:26
      +1

      Yeah that house looks incredible to me, even more than I need, as somebody who isn't intending in starting a family etc, and mostly just wants a studio apartment where I can also grow some food (which I enjoy, and which can bring my costs down even more) and slap some solar on a roof to give myself some buffer for my heavy PC work.

      The only thing I'd probably really need to change is security windows, due to having pretty high end hardware.

      • ForkSnorter on 21/09/2023 - 07:52

        as somebody who isn't intending in starting a family etc, and mostly just wants a studio apartment

        You mentioned you are looking in QLD. Unfortunately, you just missed out on this one. $255k for a 1-bedroom apartment in a well-established building with a lap pool, overlooking the magnificent Roma St Parklands, and 5 mins walk to the most connected train/bus station in Brisbane City. Unfortunately on a busy road, but if you can extend your budget slightly, there are better ones like this in the area. With the Olympics coming to Brisbane, it’s probably a better investment than an outback town somewhere.

    • BuyoTheCat on 20/09/2023 - 21:48

      I KNOW DIMBOOLA!!! it is the entrance to little desert national park.
      At least there is a reasonably sized woolies there.

      • rambutann on 20/09/2023 - 22:24

        Uhhh.. certainly isnt a woolies in Dimboola…

        • Thrift on 21/09/2023 - 00:53
          +1

          Are you sure?

          [bigwoolie.jpg]
          Glenlee Park stud principal Will Schilling, Dimboola, with his supreme champion Border Leicester.

        • BuyoTheCat on 21/09/2023 - 11:08

          opps. its is an IGA.

    • blitz on 20/09/2023 - 23:38

      Dimboola is famous! And it has a pink lake!

  • Dollar General on 20/09/2023 - 16:51
    +3

    Just get a job as a politician, sit on the backbench & collect $250K a year plus travel allowances on top & tell those plebs to get a better paying job if they want to buy a house

    • Sal in SA on 20/09/2023 - 17:22
      -2

      Or any of the multitude of other jobs that pay the same or better.

  • Euphemistic on 20/09/2023 - 17:30
    +1

    The biggest proportion of a house price is the location. A $300k house in this day and age is likely to be on a block of land they couldn’t sell. A decent, basic, existing house shouldn’t be worth more than $300k to purchase - plus the land value.

    I couldn’t live in a remote location at this point in life, but maybe after retirement. Then again, after retirement you want to be in a place where you don’t have to drive everywhere and there is decent medical support fairly close by.

    • Sal in SA on 20/09/2023 - 18:52
      +1

      For some, being far enough away you do need to drive everywhere is definitely not a concern - generally it is part of the appeal - bugga all around you.

  • Drakesy on 20/09/2023 - 17:48
    +1

    NGL a $300k house would probably be in a neighbourhood where your solar panels and batteries would get stolen. Also the loss in amenity isn't worth it.

    • Euphemistic on 20/09/2023 - 19:06
      +1

      In a city, yes. In a quiet rural town, unlikely

      • donga100 on 20/09/2023 - 20:17

        Don't recommend trying to steal from houses in rural areas. Lots of gun owners and not a lot of witnesses.

      • Protractor on 20/09/2023 - 20:20

        Once everyone twigs, the quiet country towns will be isolated bogan shit heaps

        • donga100 on 20/09/2023 - 21:27

          They very much already are and have been for a very long time.

  • Protractor on 20/09/2023 - 18:00

    Stop looking, start saving.
    Cost is not a reflection of quality.

  • monky on 20/09/2023 - 18:58
    +4

    Greeeen Acres is the place to beee! FaaaAAAm livin' is the life for me!

  • offthetap on 21/09/2023 - 09:13

    those houses most likely are full of termites, were the scene of a mass murder or is next door to a crack den, most likely

  • lilbudgie on 21/09/2023 - 09:37
    +1

    If you can work from anywhere houses in Ingham are pretty reasonable and around the $300k or even cheaper. Might need a bit of a tidy up but that could be said for most houses. Good rainfall and good soil however you have to compete with the wildlife that likes a feed too. Often with the effort involved to keep the animals out it is cheaper and easier to just buy. Has decent supermarkets and shops etc. It is north qld though and it does come with challenges like the heat and humidity and insurance is high because of cyclones which makes me laugh a bit because there are less major disasters than the southern states just the odd cyclone which doesn't happen very often. Of course you don't get the opera or get to visit a major art gallery but not every one is into that and anyway you can go on holiday to a city if you want that sort of stuff. It is pretty good living really. Got every thing you need but of course not the fancy dancy big city sooky stuff. (those last six words are a tease and a bit of fun if you don't realise)

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