I have found the info – But what does it mean?

Hi Mario

Here are some things to start with:

Get your hands on a copy of Australian Property Investor magazine and become familiar with the tables on the back pages that show capital growth, rental yield, and vacancy rates.  These are important statistics and will help you choose a suburb to focus on.  It is also said that if you find a suburb that has already boomed in terms of capital growth, its neighbouring suburbs are probably next.

There are plenty of websites that would come in handy for things like viewing historical sales and rental figures (http://www.rpdata.com).  You'd also want to find demographic information to understand "who lives in the suburb".  eg is it predominantly young professionals, and if so, what kind of property are they insisting on?  You'll also want to try and identify if there are certain property types that are in demand but short supply.  For instance, if there are lots of families renting in the area, and they want 4 bedders, and there are hardly any available for rent, that might be the direction you take.

Another place to do your research is on the council website, and talking to the town planners, to understand what is "in the pipeline" for a suburb.  For instance, is there a new train station or train line on the cards?  Or perhaps a major shopping centre or new major road?  Follow the infrastructure, they say.

I would love to be able to read all about the Coles or Woolworth plans… ie where are they opening new stores?  Because they will have already spent a big wad of money researching to ensure they have a customer base in the area.  So why not piggyback all their hard work and just copy what they are doing   I've yet to hunt down a source of such information.

Obsessively monitor http://www.realestate.com.au – the sales and rentals pages, for your suburb.  Go to a bunch of open for inspections – both for sale and rent.  Then you will come to know what costs what, and how long the stock takes to get snapped up.  If rentals are staying vacant for ages, that isn't a great sign.

Hope this gives you a start!

Hey Mario,

I feel the same way as you!!! All you hear is about how you have to do your research but where do you find all the info

Great post JacM

Infrastructure is good.  If the government is going to make it easier for residents of a township to get to work and so on more efficiently with major roads and train lines, that is good.  Of course, you don't want your property bang next to the freeway listening to loud trucks all the time.

The only time people get upset about new roads is when they are a small cutesy holiday township and they worry the quaintness will be ruined when trucks start travelling on a nearby route.

Think about what YOU would require nearby to a house if you were going to live in it for a while.  Would life be convenient without nearby roads, rail lines, schools and shops?  I doubt it.

’20 Must Ask Questions’ by Margaret Lomas is a good starting point.

Yeah, that's what it always say but all I do  is just pause for a while and know what my subject is about and just find a good keyword to search the web and there it is. But sometimes it takes so much more reading for me to really understand about the topic.