Hi Munmum5

Not all listings get advertised – some are sold "off the agency database".  In other words, agents will contact people they know that have a criteria that matches the property being listed.  Be aware that multiple people will be given the heads up on such properties – not just yourself.

Some listing agents don't care if other agents sell their listing, since they get paid some $ either way.  Others may want the sale as well as the listing.

Despite having given the agent your search criteria, you will likely still get calls about properties that in no way match the criteria – you just have to politely say "thanks for letting me know, however not keen because what I am looking for is ….."

You won't be able to use borrowed money to do improvements on a property in a SMSF… so your SMSF would need to have additional funds sitting in a bank account to cover this.

Hi bobaaaaa, Richard was talking about public liability that was not as forgiving.  Public Liability otherwise known as getting sued for anything and everything.

Hi Newcastle Knight,

Tread with some degree of caution buying into suburbs openly publicised as being boom suburbs.  You would not want to find yourself owning a rental property that is hard to rent out because too many investors have flooded into the area and there are more rental properties than the area requires.

Hi Corie,

Nice to meet you.

My comment is not wishy washy at all.  The idea of investing is to take yourself forward.  If indeed a shift changed in your investment suburb, the hit to your hip pocket would be greater, the more properties you have there.  It is necessary to ask yourself the question "what would the impact be if they were both empty at once."  It can be a pretty crippling scenario for a lot of people.  It is important to know an area regardless.  It is not the case that due diligence stops after IP1.

With regards to the enter button – in some browsers it won't work when posting in the forums.  In particular I have trouble with using these forums via Internet Explorer.  I find that the problem doesn't exist in Firefox – so that might solve your pain.

Kind Regards

Hi cbarry

It might help to alter your method of setting the target.

For instance, rather than naming a few suburbs and hoping the numbers on acquiring property in such suburbs will work for you, perhaps instead define what financial position the property you purchase needs to present to you, and then buy in locations that match this criteria.  It will do your head in trying to make a square peg fit a round hole.

The job of an investment property is to earn income and/or wealth (not to be located in a particular suburb).

Hope this helps.  Take a step back and be a bit more clinical about it, and go after numbers rather than particular suburbs.

Hope this helps!

Depending on the area the units are located in, council rates and water rates may be charged "as though they are strata titled" even if they are not.  

You'll probably have to hire a gardener to mow the grass on the nature-strip and also any grass within the common-parts, trim plants etc.  It is unlikely any one tenant will feel like doing this for you on a reliably regular basis (and probably none of them own a mower anyway).  Another thing to remember is that tenants may see the common-parts as a convenient dumping ground for any rubbish that doesn't fit in their council bin.  This can mean you might have the occasional trip to the tip.

With regards to insurance, it is important to let the insurer know whether all the units are under the one roof-line or not.  It gets more expensive if they are not.

As has been mentioned, there are some hurdles with the lending so be sure to have a subject to finance clause if you decide to proceed to a contract of sale.

Be wary of investing in any dwelling that earns less than $150 per week in rent.  Whether you have a one bedroom unit or a 5 bedroom house, you still have to maintain an  oven, a hot water service, plumbing, taps, etc etc.  It would really bite if you had to replace an oven in a dwelling that earned only a tiny amount of rent, because it would be many weeks worth of rent eaten up just paying for the oven.

Hi Ynchai – a few questions:  Do you have a depreciation schedule ?  What is the location of the property ?  How big is the backyard ?  What type of dwelling is it ? (eg House with 3 bedrooms).  Is it near a uni or hospital ?

I agree with Joe, however the same is true on all of Melbourne's arterials.  The concern in the Werribee and Wyndham areas from an investing perspective is the high vacancy rate.  Capital growth or otherwise, if you cannot afford to hang onto a property due to a long vacancy, then you cannot hold it long enough to see if capital growth will occur anyway.  You need that rental demand.  It's critical.

Hi Will

Any of the brokers that have posted would serve you well – you could send them a PM with additional info, but pick one, and stick with him with the intent to do something.  It wouldn't be polite to have someone do a bunch of analysis and research for you "just out of interest".  You would be surprised how many people think it is OK to do that to brokers.  I love it that you said you are aware everyone's time is valuable.  Kudos to you – your manners are lovely!

Kind Regards,