Hi Keith,

I have 2 properties in low socio economic areas and im a fan because home/land/unit value vs Rent return is great, i guess the trick is finding areas that are transitioning from low socio to the next stage so you can get a capital boost (of course things need to be happening for the town also). Discussing with agents helped me gauge percentage of govt housing to owner and how owned was starting to dominate over the years as govt kept selling (was at 20% govt when i bought). You can see when you visit the suburb and see a mixture of original homes, rennovated and new builds. (as opposed to whole suburb being original) I find suburb aesthetic ie the cars people drive and gardens/ property maintanence /duty of care levels combined with the above give me an idea. (also these forums have professional investors talking about the best streets of the worst areas)

Some suburbs just have a bad rep for something that happened in past or ethnicity. I bought a unit in Roselands Sydney back in 2006 and my friends/family said i was mad because it was next to Punchbowl (middle eastern community), not sure if you know sydney but its been the jewel of the everything i ever bought?

I bought an ex government home for 190K last year and has returned 260pw since, a new build was sold a few houses down the street for $325K 6 months ago and have 4 other new builds on street? I have a portfolio loan so I hope when i reevaluate value to borrow on equity that some of those other sales rub off on the e-val. RPdata search with my broker yesterday and a chat with agents has it about $210-$215K atm. (ill be holding this for quite some time)

Ok so heres the bad part, had a gang of “youths” throw a large rock through window and smashed front fence, so yeah insurance protecting you for home and as landlord a standard (more exp). Also be patient with agent its not their fault the home and the market the home attracts might bring difficulty. Also found agents less reluctant to negotiate on management (makes sense but thought i would mention).

People around you find it hard to understand what your doing (Have a mate who calls me the slum lord haha) so if your stout, treat professionally without prejudice or like a challenge then i recommend it, im sure other people would suggest easier alternatives but i like the idea of dusting the dirt off and finding a gem instead of a an old horse apple. :)

With house im looking at this as a strategy at the moment and finding the relocating home industry to be quite evolved, i.e. hard to find land stock, waiting lists of investors at established house moving/seller companies, so i driving out next week to visit a couple of lots where they have houses already moved (they also have listings of houses still at original address awaiting purchase before removal) and pick the brain of sales reps for more info. Purely an information exercise, ive worked out costings but want them to confirm for me. I thinking i should just learn now in case opportunity comes up.

Id be interested to hear from someone with personal experience on this, my research has been to buy private $8-$15K or through dealer $20-$35k for basic standard house (with much more additonal costs). People even give away free to avoid cost of demolition.

Have you researched online? pull together a cost table, contact council, moving company, gumtree, investor forums etc recommended.

Brad