Time to invest in Australia?

[Lala81]

Perth bah, but my experience also limited. The house was passed on to me in okay shape but needed some work, initially I rented out to a friend at low rent but I went back and cleared it up made it more habitable for renting out. Off the top of my head some things I noted were

 

- Garden is a pain if got trees need to constantly trim, big trees cost a bomb to take down. If possible try to have a minimalism garden, unfortunately mine had a fair sized garden and I didn't get a chance to concrete it up lol

- Good neighbors are important, over there cars cheap and my neighbors son had like 4 cars but they always parked in decently as not obstruct me, in fact my current tenant took my property cause her neighbor had 4/5 cars and a boat which made it hard for her to get in and out.

- Security is important, alarm or grilled windows are good. Keeps the insurance premium low.

- These average houses tend to attract stable tenants (mostly local Aussies), condo's usually more single professionals but can also be problematic if they lose their jobs.

- Also average type houses tenants are less fussy about wear and tear

- Rent terms are usually short i.e 6 months to year

- Good management agent is important (<-this is the most important), usually the house has a fair bit of maintenance (i.e roof get leaves chocking the pipes, garden trimming, roofing tiles crack, garage door motor maintenance etc which need regular inspection and upkeep). Even the fire alarm requires yearly inspections and sign off to confirm working

- Also my management agent gets landlord insurance for me on top of regular insurance, it covers me if the tenant damages things in the house and loss of rental etc.

- Area you buy, some areas are real sh*tholes and it pays to know this well. One street could be a decent family neighborhood and two streets away could resemble some redneck heaven. Of course if you buy a luxury house this will unlikely to be an issue since the whole neighborhood will be quite pricey anyway.

 

But rental returns are not great, if you are borrowing money locally to rent the income will likely not offset the interest cost, again which is why many Aussies prefer renting to buying.

 

Also I know an indo lady who bought a simple house and turned it into a mini student hostel, it was near the uni and she was making a mint. Just the rooms/house no food, washing or anything. Downside is have to deal with students (worse Singaporean students lol)

Thanks. really informative. Learnt a lot.

 

Wah even fire alarm must be maintained yearly

[Mercury1]

If ur really keen drop me a message, will help where I can Perth only though.

 

Yeah and the fire alarm must be hardwired type and installed by a qualified electrician (got cert leh cannot play not some ah seng), cannot just put a battery operated one haha. 

 

But I have to say the management agents there are super pro, if you got a good one literally can just leave it to them. They send me a semi annual with pictures and comments on what the tenant did not clean (i.e did not cut grass, did not clean the over) knn they even take pic of the toilet, heng it was flushed  

 

And when taking on a tenant other management companies will also give you a detailed report with pictures and how they maintained the property etc. But as said if you get a regular house easy to find regular stable tenants with such reports, only problem is finding a simple decent suburb house near to the city which is foreigner eligible will be the challenging part cause all the areas around cities are matured estates (foreigner can only buy new)

 

Thanks. really informative. Learnt a lot.

Wah even fire alarm must be maintained yearly

 

[Charizard55]

Do share with us your experience! You own property in Perth or melbourne?

If you are interested with owning a property in Melbourne just drop me a pm, will help answer whatever I know as my friend did own a property there

[Mercury1]

Got some kind comments on my post and I came across the report send to me so thought I elaborate bit further on home types and issues.

 

These days quite popular to buy houses with shared driveway, this was the one my tenant got. In all it looks decent on google map

 

This was the issue she faced after, apparently there is more but maybe the owner went to work, so all the stuff on the right belongs to one family. Who apparently has 3 boats and several cars.

 

This house resembles mine, solo driveway so less issues with the neighbors and in all its actually a decent retirement home, circa about 500k AUD. Its not an expensive neighborhood. 

 

This house is what I consider upscale (better neighborhood) prices are about 1 M plus (or more), land size is roughly the same. Self stay mainly not worth to rent out.

 

Of course as all things prices will be driven by location but you will find a variety of home styles in any neighborhood but the more upscale the fancier the houses as all things.

 

 

[Lala81]

Got some kind comments on my post and I came across the report send to me so thought I elaborate bit further on home types and issues.

 

These days quite popular to buy houses with shared driveway, this was the one my tenant got. In all it looks decent on google map

Before.jpg

 

This was the issue she faced after, apparently there is more but maybe the owner went to work, so all the stuff on the right belongs to one family. Who apparently has 3 boats and several cars.

After.jpg

 

This house resembles mine, solo driveway so less issues with the neighbors and in all its actually a decent retirement home, circa about 500k AUD. Its not an expensive neighborhood.

Single drive.jpg

 

This house is what I consider upscale (better neighborhood) prices are about 1 M plus (or more), land size is roughly the same. Self stay mainly not worth to rent out.

upscale.jpg

 

Of course as all things prices will be driven by location but you will find a variety of home styles in any neighborhood but the more upscale the fancier the houses as all things.

Great info once again! Lol the shared drive way issue make it sound like hdb common corridor haha

[Wt_know]

Perth ... can flyscoot there cheap cheap

the nearest OZ state to singapore and same timing

Edited October 11, 2016 by Wt_know

[inlinesix]

Great info once again! Lol the shared drive way issue make it sound like hdb common corridor haha

 

Unlike HDB common corridor, you can park car on your own lawn.

 

It is fire hazard if you try to park anything huge in HDB common corridor.

 

[TeezerK]

I feel like now is the time to invest just in Australia just because of that there are a lot of places to invest into after the fires.

[seb345]

I agree. I feel like a lot of people are thinking about investing in Australia and their market now that the country is trying to recover after all those crazy bush fires. I have been looking for different things to invest into these days after I was able to save some money. I have been able to save some cash since I was using some of the money saving tips I found online a few months back when I had a lot of expanses I wanted to cut down on. (I'll leave the article I used as reference below). I feel like when it comes to Australia you should try investing into real estate, and some animal support. I feel like it can give you some grands from the government.

[TeezerK]

On 3/2/2020 at 4:59 AM, seb345 said:

I agree. I feel like a lot of people are thinking about investing in Australia and their market now that the country is trying to recover after all those crazy bush fires. I have been looking for different things to invest into these days after I was able to save some money. I have been able to save some cash since I was using some of the money saving tips I found online a few months back when I had a lot of expanses I wanted to cut down on. (I'll leave the article I used as reference below). I feel like when it comes to Australia you should try investing into real estate, and some animal support. I feel like it can give you some grands from the government. 

thx for the info. I'll give it a go