I think there might be a danger in over capitalising in an area like that with low demand.

A quick look on domain.com.au shows that houses in Tailem Bend seem to be about $130k mark, and then there’s another level a bit over $250k for ones on the river.

Assuming you’re not on the river you might already be at the upper end of what you can expect to get for two properties like yours.

Getting a tennant into the vaccant unit is probably the most important thing to do, since even if you do want to sell a tennant will be an attractive feature

What’s the market like in Murray Bridge itself? It seems that they’ve got fairly strong growth there (why?).

DLPP: Of those properties in Australia are they commercial? Or in mining areas?

13 Properties is a lot to get through, it makes me think they’re probably not renovating. Are they finding cash+ from the get-go?

It’s really not impossible if you willing to look in areas that other people ignore.

Mining towns are great for cash +… but don’t expect there to be significant capital gains (outside of large towns).

In or around captial areas in Australia it’s possible to find places that can be turned into cash +. It’s nothing more exciting than the worst house in the best street. Tart it up a bit (solve a simple problem like no parking, one bedroom short, bad cladding material) and you can reach the cash + position.

Personally I think the second possibility is better, because if you’re lucky you can _also_ win the capital gains that the negative gearing crowd are after. Why not at least put yourself in a position to get those (your bank will like you more too).

How can you find places that will work? A good place to start is places where rent is cheap. No one in Australia earns below a certain amount thanks to welfare. However, in poor suburbs (or regional towns) house prices vary a lot. Have a look at taking something in Nowra / Bathurst / Newcastle and moving it up a couple of rungs from the standard $200 a week rental. There are certainly opportunities for that.

If you dont want to leave your city you can start to look at areas of disparity. In Sydney there are certainly a few bargains to be had at the moment thanks to over committed investors who are selling down after a couple of interest rate rises. This is particularly true in markets dominated by overseas investment. Have a look in places like Chatswood, Carlingford etc… and there are starting to be some apartments that are close to meeting the cash + criteria. [Your scope to increase value is very limited in an apartment of course].

You’re never going to find a cash+ property by going to realestate.com and just searching suburb name after suburb name, it requires a little more patience than that… which is why most people are still in the cash- game.