Good job on that in Campbellfield. At $490K total value it's actually quite surprising and quite a high figure for the area, I would have thought. I recently changed jobs and now work in the Meadow Heights area. For sure, property prices in that area seem very reasonable although I'm not sure how the rent figures stack up. There's a couple of houses I have driven past that have signboards up, boasting something along these lines:

'Leased in 24 hours. Another wanted.'

Very impressive to get something leased in that amount of time, and if this is true then the underlying demand should be quite sound. This is considering this particular house was on a noisy main road too.

In my opinion it wouldn't be fair to say 'the horse has bolted' in these areas. Granted, they may not be as cheap as they used to be, however that doesn't mean the potential for growth is not there. Everything is expensive these days and the days of getting a decent suburban house within reasonable commuting distance of the CBD for $180K are long over. Nevertheless the things that look expensive today have the potential to become even more expensive in the future.

This is an interesting point to note, because very often we find people lamenting they should never have sold X house for Y amount of dollars in year Z, with that house now being worth much more. As with anything however, there's always opportunity cost. There is little point keeping your money tied up in an area that appears to have stagnated when you've spotted an area that has the potential to boom. Hence, the 'buy and hold' or 'never sell' strategy isn't necessarily correct. That is, unless you're so sure that your current house is in a spectacular location…

That's alright. Thanks for offering to help.

When it comes to the quality of a building or pest inspection, a lot of it depends on who is doing the inspection. After the most recent purchase I've lost a lot of faith in these inspections. They are getting more expensive and the ones who do a proper job seem to be a dying breed. My Dad used to know one architect that would go check the subfloor, crawl into the roof, even crawl ON TOP of the roof to look for defects. Unfortunately he's now retired.

For this particular house I had expected the architect to go under the house and inspect the subfloor for any serious flaws. The dude didn't even go inside even though there was no issue with access whatsoever (the pest inspector went in, no problems).

This architect shone a torch through some of the weep holes and noted some of the stumps were concrete and some were wood. That was all. BUT, in his report, as if to cover his arse and avoid professional liability, he wrote something along the lines of: There are some cracks developing in the house which may be due to settlement or could be due to failure of the stumps.

Geez. Even I could tell you that if I were walking through the house half sober.

Well, if the dude actually inspected the stumps for himself, he would be able to tell me which was the cause with some degree of certainty. The pest inspector who physically checked some of the stumps told me that rot was developing in some areas and there was 'penciling', which of course would hasten stump failure. So it took me a full thousand dollars to find this out, instead of knowing after the $600 building inspection (in which case I could have called off the pest inspection if I wanted to).

Long story short, the inspections cost me over a thousand bucks, but I wouldn't rely on any of the information within other than there are no major structural defects (ie. the house is not likely to crumble to the ground tomorrow, but may well do so in the next 3 years because of stump failure) and there were no termites. And this is from Archicentre, supposedly one of the more reputable organisations. If anyone can clue me in on a good company to call for inspections in the future, I'll be VERY interested.

Unbelievable. In my line of work as a veterinarian, it wouldn't cost you $1000 for me just to say your dog or cat wasn't going to die in the next week (ie. no major illness)

Haha, I was reading through the first page of this thread and thinking to myself, 'What if the tenant saw all of this and decided to respond?' Lo and behold it's exactly what we got.

Goes to show that sometimes, when you ask for advice, you'll get more than what you bargained for, including advice from your own tenant. Be careful with what you put online because it can easily be found, and what is put online can also persist for years. So be careful! Nevertheless I hope that a happy medium can now be found now that all the dirty laundry and mould is out in public.

People are like dogs. They will work very hard to get what they want. It's good to set goals in life and to reach for them.

Today's people need to be workaholics regardless, not necessarily just to pay off a mortgage. The day and age of people retiring in their early 40's is officially over for the younger generations, considering the cost of living, competition amongst each other (and even with those from other countries who will work harder and for less) and their spending habits.

Some people would rather party till their 80 than buckle down and save for the bigger things in life. And that's a personal choice. There isn't a right or a wrong. So long as people get what they want by setting goals and working towards them, it's a good thing.

It sure sucks not to be able to shop or go out if you're paying off a mortgage. Which kinda makes me glad that I neither shop nor go out anyway, not even on my own free will.

Just a few words about beachside property…personally I think any property within short walking distance to the waterfront (let's say 100-300m) is a good thing. If you're anything like me and obsessed about living by the sea, then there is almost no substitute for proximity to the water's edge. However, it would be too simplistic to just stop there.

For sure, the water draws hundreds of sea-changers in every year. But amenities are still important, particularly so to older retirees. This is in contrast to a 30-year-old who still doesn't mind driving for miles for shopping and wants to live near the sea just for the fishing. I read this recently in the papers: sea-changing retirees are being forced to move closer to Melbourne and give up their dream because there is a lack of amenities in their area. For example, if the nearest convenience store or hospital is too far away, then it'd be grossly inconvenient to get their grocery shopping done, or being able to get to the hospital in time in case of an emergency.

If we look at Melbourne's most prime bayside suburbs, it's not just the beaches that feature prominently. It's also the amenities such as proximity to shopping, transport, parks and even schools. It's these things that turn a regular seaside property into a 'hip' seaside property. Hence, if you wish to buy something near the sea, bear in mind the presence (or absence) of amenities.

If you do buy a beachside property, then it should ideally also be easy to rent out. If it's difficult to rent, it will attract much less interest from investors and that can put a ceiling of the future price potential of that property. Stuff that is easy to rent out is of course desirable amongst tenants. And if this is the case then usually the location is an excellent package of lifestyle and amenity. This is the kind of property that you would want to buy.

Also, if you buy land, do consider that at that price, it'd probably be very far away from where you currently live. The grass will need to be mowed from time to time and you'll need to somehow keep an eye on your vacant lot to ensure someone isn't using it as a dumping ground (which will naturally attract nasty fines from the council). Take care also that your neighbours aren't quietly moving their fencelines when you're not looking. I'm not sure how adverse possession works. But if they sit their fences on your land long enough, that land may become theirs. Their lot becomes greater, yours becomes smaller.

Just a few thoughts. I'm not experienced with property, but this is what I can see as being some of the possible issues. However if you've done your due diligence and truly believe the place is undiscovered and about to boom, then by all means park your money there and reap the rewards!

Thanks for the info, simple and xdrew, that was enlightening. Just imagine what would happen to the market here if rental controls were implemented again. There would probably be two wars and three riots!

Good day.

Is the shopping complex in Craigieburn definitely going ahead? They might already have a shopping complex there but I just don't know the area well enough. A few months back I remember reading an article in the Herald Sun. There were residents in the area that were unhappy about the big plans made to build amenities that never truly materialised. Hopefully somebody who lives in the area can comment.

Do consider that if Craigieburn is hot with first home buyers, it'd also be the first to cool when interest rates go up. The interest rates have started to bite a lot of home owners, and as you can imagine, first home buyers are the most likely to feel the pinch first and be forced to sell up. The other thing to consider is vacancy rates. These can be found at the SQMResearch website. In this case Bundoora is high at 8.7% whereas Craigieburn average at 4%. Lower is better in this case.

Regardless of which area you choose, take a drive around to see what the place is like. I've said this before elsewhere, but if you see one overgrown lawn/ nature strip after another, and with an old bomb or wannabe sports car parked on the said lawns, then I'd be more careful about buying into that area. It may demonstrate that the place is either full of renters or otherwise owner occupiers who really couldn't give two hoots about maintaining a sense of house pride.

House pride is an important thing in my opinion. If the area is generally well kept and charming, it will attract people who enjoy the peace and likewise will probably fit in and keep it neat and peaceful. If the area looks like a rat's nest, it'd only attract more rats. Of course, given the time most areas polish up and become expensive, but when you're buying in the outer ring suburbs the supply is that much greater and it'd take way longer for places to 'polish up' than places in the areas closer to the city.

Why not consider buying in Watsonia itself? Why Bundoora and why Craigieburn? Just curious, that's all.

Any forecasts on the share or property market appears to rely on the information currently available from each. For the most part it appears that sentiment in these markets changes literally overnight and for an unknown reason. It's as if people suddenly decide in unison that the market is overbought/ oversold, overpriced/ underpriced, overheated/ cool and then react accordingly.

Maybe I'm wrong, but I get the feeling that, for example, the share market went from all doom and gloom to the reverse over a period of days and we saw what appears to be one of the sharpest rebounds in recent history from the recent GFC, which was anticipated to be widely crippling, and one of those things to 'worsen before it gets better'. The property market has done the same. Hot as all hell one week and then starting to cool the next, like Melbourne's weather.

Anyway, on the subject of house price increases of 30% over the next three years is hardly considered a 'boom'. In my opinion that is the expected rate for a constantly rising market. That said, there are many who think it will flatline or even fall in the next few years. At least in the suburb where I bought my first home, median prices have come off 2.7% in the last quarter, although still registering an overall 23% increase in the last year. The price drop is not unexpected, particularly in an area that would be more popular with first home buyers, considering the rate rises.

This is a great thread. Glad it got bumped. It's been enlightening reading through the mistakes of others. We always read of successes…the success of a single, very capable (or lucky) person. Nice to see the failures or mistakes for once.

Personally, my biggest mistake (in the two short years of knowing and learning about property) was not listening to my Dad's recommendation to buy when it was Jan/ Feb 2009. At that time I thought only a fool would be investing in property, as the world seemed all doom and gloom and people were talking about property prices crashing 40% (they're still talking about that now).

If I had listened to my Dad and bought, I might have a heap of equity right now. I don't know about you guys, but I realised that my parents are almost always right in the end. It's a funny thing, because sometimes I like to think I'm smarter than them. I've got to learn that this is not the case. The amount of wisdom they have accumulated over the years is much more than I have achieved in my short life so far.