Forum Replies Created
Hi Anita,
my suggestion would be to phone the real estate agent. The homes may be owner-occupied, in which case the owners have “employed” the agents to sell their home. They usually prefer some notice for a viewing of their home.
Or the property may have tennants who may not appreciate you knocking on the door!
Country people are generally hospitable, if you want to know about the area we have done the following: gone for a walk and had a chat to someone who is gardening, bought a coffee in a cafe and chatted to the person serving, bought a local newspaper and chatted to the sales assistant.
We are new also, but have found spending time in a town is invaluable to get the “feel” of the place and find out lots of local info you may not find elsewhere.
Calling the agent shows respect and that you are genuinely interested, and we have found they are usually very helpful. We have learned lots by chatting to locals and agents, and the more we learn the more we realise we have to learn!!All the best with your property investing.
Diane
[biggrin] I like easy questions……….
This site is the best by far !!!!!![inlove]User friendly, great people, always helpful….
[thumbsupanim] Well done everyone
Diane
Westan is spot on with Mildura news, and the Marina is going to be a big one.
We lived there last year and could not fine +CF properties at that time, Merbein and RedCliffs were experiencing huge price increases also.
It’s definitley a go-ahead area and if people have the resources would do well to invest there.
Maybe you can surf in the wake of the houseboats!!
[biggrin][biggrin] Diane
Hi Millsy,
we have 2 IP’s where we have property managers and as we are new to property investment this has given us peace of mind that someone who is educated and experienced in property management ( she has her own rentals as well) is looking after our investments.
Have been looking is country SA lately we have found the same – that many small towns don’t have property managers, or that ones from larger towns are not willing to travel there – time and money considerations – fair enough.
One town did have a local who did property management part-time and the selling agent recommended her. However she was moving…….but phoning her was really valuable as she gave us lots of insight that only a local can……..We have not bought in an area where there is no PM as we are not willing to take that risk.
Perhaps more experienced forumites will have ideas for you.
All the best,
Diane[happy3] Ditto
Thanks for a great post, & lots of helpful info.
Hope it all goes better than your expectations!!
Diane
A little off topic, but we have looked at a few properties lately that looked good on email photos and the agent told us they “just need minor repairs”.
To say we were absolutley shocked at the condition of these places and the fact that they had tennants in them left us speechless.
eg1 This one had cats living in it, plus was full of damp and mould – a dark dingy cave – all sorts of structural problems – and the smell was beyond belief.eg2 A “cute” cottage where we could see the white ants marching in the timbers.
eg3 Another had huge cracks that went through to the outside – the back part of the house had virtually fallen over (stone).
I can imagine a keen renovater living in a room of one of these and slowly doing it up – maybe!!!
But I can’t believe these places are actually allowed to be rented out.
We are certainly glad we went and looked for ourselves.
We had previously looked at lots of homes in a city area that had been rented out for years and had minimal work done in that time, and therefore needed lots of wet area improvements as well as gutters/downpipes etc. Most needed upgrades on their metre boxes and wiring. The cost of these homes was what we considered 30g over market value, plus they then needed lots spent on them.So while we didn’t pay for inspections, we spent time and money travelling around looking and it certainly gave us an education into how deceiving photos can be!!
We now have realestate people who email us photos of cracks in walls and ceilings etc, rather than “pretty pictures” of a nicley set table or a view from a window!We always take our “buyer beware” sheets on these excursions – it’s been a while since I even needed to open that folder!
While we kicked ouselves for the big trip we did one day on our 4 hours off between shifts – we are glad of the things we learned and the contacts we made and will keep looking for suitable properties, that do only need “minor repairs” in our eyes!!
Diane
Thankyou both very much.
I have passed the information on.Diane
Hi Steve,
Always look forward to your newsletter. It has timely topics in an easy to read format.Thanks also for answering my question on vendor financing.[biggrin]
Appreciate all we learn on this forum too.
Diane
Appreciate that Jeff,
wasn’t sure who to approach first.
Thanks, DianeBeing married to a “fridgey” – the word is – it depends on the make and style of your air con. If over 10 years of age the pads need washing out every 12 months and the tanks need to be flushed out regularly when not in use. Newer models have auto systems which “dump” the water and celtic pads which don’t require such regular maintenance.
Regards, Diane[cap]
Hi Marissa,
I agree with everyone’s comments.
A thought may be to check the hot water system is big enough to cope with the no. of people who will be using the bathroom.
Also, here in Sa if we, as landlords, install a neatheat unit in the bathroom, we are responsible to keep up the supply of globes (heatlamps are approx $20 each here). May be worth checking with your PM what the deal is there.
The flyscreens and outdoor area are important, we spoke to a tennant of a house we bought as to why she was leaving when the house came on the market, and that’s the two things she stated.Good luck with it, Diane
Appreciate your thoughts Marc.
We are only very new to investing in property and have tried to follow closely to Steve’s pattern.
What is working for us is buying in towns just outside “boom areas”. We have bought places that have been rented for years and had little/no maintenance in that time – hence we have been able to negotiate good prices, paint and fix them and rent them out +CF. We are not making much money on a weekly basis, but in just a few months we have good increased valuations on them both as well.
We are going slow and steady as we have been bitten by other thngs we tried in the past. And we are growing more confident that this will work for us as a long term investment.
It’s really great to have this forum as well where we can learn so much from each other.Cheers, Diane
I guess we were a little peaved anyway. We had made arrangements to view a property, several days in advance – the house was empty. Spoke to the agent on the morning, all was ok, drove 2 hours – no agent in sight, no phone call, contacted the office (another half hour away) and explained. After several phone calls she said she didn’t know where the keys were and the agent was in a meeting! I felt sorry for the lady “in the middle”, but lost confidence in the agent.
Seeing as we were in town anyway, we wandered over and looked in another agents window, picked a couple of interesting properties & went inside to enquire. He popped us in his car and took us straight around.
We didn’t end up buying a property there, but we do know who we will go back to for service.
Time is precious to everyone these days and a courtesy call from the first agent would have gone a long way.On a brighter note we got a free valuation on our 2 IP’s as a bank valuation went horribly wrong and placed us in a possibly difficult financial circumstance. Our banker apologised and they offered to do the free valuations, which was much appreciated. We had built a good working relationship with them and they were keen to do the right thing by us which was much appreciated.
Yes…. you can ask “Which bank??”……[smiling]Thanks for the quick responses.
We are having the valuations done for free as the lender’s valuer did a “bad” valuation the first time, and they offered to do both properties for us.
Also we wanted an idea of how much we could borrow.We are also tryng to way up whether to sell one property as we haven’t got tennants in there and we could make a few thousand quick profit. It’s a good area just slow to get a good tennant.
Will go and do some sums.
Thanks again, DianeThanks Simon,
We are trying to get all our facts togather before we approach council, but we will do this. A small home is the most suitable option for the space at this stage.Great idea Mel – except the vacant part of the block is on the corner of two roads!!
We have time so I’m sure an exciting & profitable solution will come.
Cheers, Diane
Hi Twosheds and MM,
hope you don’t mind me adding a couple of questions.
In this case are postcodes considered also? ie if the commercial property is in a town next to a large regional centre that is expanding that direction?
We are having our 2 IP’s revalued this week. The property we are interested in is a group of 4 shops, 2 of which are currently tennanted.
We have no PPOR.
Appreciate your help, DianeThanks 1HotValuer,
we have the council guidelines and are seeking advise.
Our IP and shed are on 2/3 of the block. The vacant section is on the corner of 2 roadways and we were wondering what we could do with this land other than planting trees on it. It appears it may be a tad small to build a 2br transportable on, we are still researching this.
cheers, DianeThis is a subject I’ve often wondered about.
We pay a flat 11% management fee with our PM, and a two weeks rental fee for finding a tennant, and one week’s rent for re-letting.We did heaps of research and found “other” agents charge the same, but with a list of extras as mentioned above.
Have learned some interesting things by speaking with people who have used the agents I chose.
Look forward to other replies.
Diane
I agree with some of the various comments.
Having worked in a high school with 5th generation unemployed students, gave me a reality check. Education is important, however many of these students have no intention of working, they see no benefits in it. Unfortunately the only people they know who work are their teachers, for whom they have little respect.
Somehow the education system is not teaching them life skills they need – basic reading and writing, money/change, health/hygeine and social skills. It’s very difficult for teachers who do try to do this at high school level, as by then the students have found people at Centrelink, or other agencies will do it for them.
It is a whole society problem and the children themselves are not to blame, as they have little
understanding that there is a “better” way. Sure some have a burning desire for change and forge their way to a new life, but sadly some cannot see or find their way out of their “webs”.
IMHO people who receive benefits should be accountable for using it wisely and learning to budget and pay their bills. Most of us who work for an income have to go without on occasions to pay an account, dentist bill or whatever.
Many people who I have seen that receive benefits, spend it on purchases they can ill afford and then can go to various agencies to get cash/groceries, so while I do not want to see anyone be cold or hungry, I think part of the remedy may come from making people more accountable for what they receive.
Sounds good on paper anyway.
There’s no easy fix.
I’ll get off my soap-box now!!
DianePS when we buy Maccas aren’t we supporing a great property investing idea??
[happy3] We are buying and holding property.
Trying to keep focussed on our goals and not be wavered by headlines.
We are serious about buying two good investment properties a year, in areas we have researched well.
Appreciate all we have learned from this forum and that we gain confidence to make decisions that affect our future in a positive way.best wishes to you all,
Diane
