Hi Mario

Here are some things to start with:

Get your hands on a copy of Australian Property Investor magazine and become familiar with the tables on the back pages that show capital growth, rental yield, and vacancy rates.  These are important statistics and will help you choose a suburb to focus on.  It is also said that if you find a suburb that has already boomed in terms of capital growth, its neighbouring suburbs are probably next.

There are plenty of websites that would come in handy for things like viewing historical sales and rental figures (http://www.rpdata.com).  You'd also want to find demographic information to understand "who lives in the suburb".  eg is it predominantly young professionals, and if so, what kind of property are they insisting on?  You'll also want to try and identify if there are certain property types that are in demand but short supply.  For instance, if there are lots of families renting in the area, and they want 4 bedders, and there are hardly any available for rent, that might be the direction you take.

Another place to do your research is on the council website, and talking to the town planners, to understand what is "in the pipeline" for a suburb.  For instance, is there a new train station or train line on the cards?  Or perhaps a major shopping centre or new major road?  Follow the infrastructure, they say.

I would love to be able to read all about the Coles or Woolworth plans… ie where are they opening new stores?  Because they will have already spent a big wad of money researching to ensure they have a customer base in the area.  So why not piggyback all their hard work and just copy what they are doing   I've yet to hunt down a source of such information.

Obsessively monitor http://www.realestate.com.au – the sales and rentals pages, for your suburb.  Go to a bunch of open for inspections – both for sale and rent.  Then you will come to know what costs what, and how long the stock takes to get snapped up.  If rentals are staying vacant for ages, that isn't a great sign.

Hope this gives you a start!

If it were me:

I would book an appointment to enter the property myself to investigate where the rustling is coming from – and of course ask the tenant lots of questions about it to help me determine it.  It could be anything – a mouse or two – birds having gotten into your roof to make a home in there (in which case the birds would need removal and the roof would need some patching up) or even a possum.  You need to decide what the issue is before calling in the specialists, or you'll spend a bunch of money getting the wrong type of specialist in.  I doubt the realestate agent will get into the roof wearing their nice suit, so leave it to them and they'll call in chargeable pest control people.  Get your overalls on and go on a hunt for signs… mouse droppings, birds nests, gnaw marks, that sort of thing.  From my limited experience with mice, they seem to enjoy being in the roof, the garage, the pantry, and wardrobes.

I'd then provide the tenant with some mousetraps, even set them myself while I'm there, and find a way to get it into conversation that they can be acquired from the supermarket.  Hopefully that will sort the issue out, and the tenant will take some initiative in the future by utilising the mousetraps you provide if and when required.  It might be necessary to suggest some ways to them of collecting the mice after they have died.  It'd probably freak them out to touch the mouse, and they might not even want to remove it from the trap.  In that case, using a broom to sweep it into the dustpan and then shovelling it straight into the bin might be ok with them.  Have the discussion with them.  They may not have had to deal with mice before.  Be amenable to providing more mousetraps in future if they kick up a fuss about the few measly dollars, but are not being insistent on pest control services.  You could suggest they could purchase up to say, 3 traps per month and you'd deduct it from the rent if they show proof of purchase.  Just all different ideas.  You need to scope out your tenant's line of thought to decide which way to go.

While I have not encountered this specific issue, I can't imagine a tenancy tribunal would force you to fumigate the house for one mouse.  Yes if there was an infestation.  Either way, keep a record of your efforts in case you ever have to justify yourself.

Where are the rustling noises coming from?  Presuming it is mice, why not try some mousetraps and/or ratsack poison?

Be sure to put a sunset clause on your offer.  I'm partial to saying "This offer expires 5pm today" as it doesn't give the agent much time to show others through the property to compete with me.  In your case, be very sure you have a clause like this that expires soon, and that definitely expires prior to auction.  For eg, you don't want to say "hey guys, I offer you 3 million dollars for your property" and they say "oh, we'll go to auction thanks" and they do, and the highest bid is say, 2 million, and then the vendor comes back to you and expects to take you up on your offer of 3 million. 

Naturally, remember all the other subject to clauses you might need (eg subject to 80% finance, satisfactory building and pest inspection, specify how much your deposit is to be, and the settlement duration).

If you consider that your property is leased as a rooming house or boarding house, this thread answers your question:

https://www.propertyinvesting.com/forums/property-investing/help-needed/4333713?highlight=boarding%2Chouse%2Cinsurance

Advertisement or otherwise, this is the solution. I think these accountants are about to become my brand new best friends.  Love it love it love it.

May I ask what size the land is, and if there is any spare space in the backyard?  And how close is the property to one of the major arterials such as Old Windsor Road?  Much of that area is now zoned to allow much denser housing (ie units/flats).  If you are able to purchase a house on a nice chunk of land, it could get mighty interesting a few years down the track.

Linar your first post was hilarious, and 100% what I was thinking also!  Good to hear treborsuj is not actually trying to borrow 3mill

It's not insane

Firstly you would want to call the First Home Owner Grant people and ask how this would work (ie if each couple was claiming the grant). 

You would also need separate solicitors and lock tight agreements.

You would also need to have extensive discussions with the council to understand what the minimum resulting block sizes would have to be, and how much "house" you would be able to build on the resulting blocks.  For instance, a council might say "after subdivision, block sizes must be a minimum of 300m2, and there has to be 40m2 of open space (ie not built on )".

You will want to talk to council and the water company to understand what might be "under the ground" that cannot be built over.  Each block will have to be investigated.  For instance, you will not be allowed to built over a sewer main without applying for special permission which could in turn be rejected.  So it'd be most unfortunate if you bought a block that had a sewer main running through it where you needed to build a dwelling.

Look into trying to get "pre Development Approval" as a "subject to" condition on the sale of the land.  In other words, it'd be good if a condition of sale is that council gives you an in theory approval to construct the two dwellings.