Forum Replies Created
Hi Mini,
CF+ve properties will start popping up again in Aus all over the place. That’s my prediction, anyway.This is what I’m wishing for, so I really hope you’re right. For me, I see this as a great opportunity to break into the local market. I missed the most recent cycle (boom) as I was relatively young and didn’t have finance in place. However, the current (apparent) downturn will be the perfect entry point to look forward to the next upswing.
Isn’t everyone excited?? There’ll be so many more good deals around and property investing will become that much easier (less competition). I can’t wait!!
[biggrin]
MattI don’t think its a buyers market just yet. Corrections almost always overshoot and then revert back to the mean. I’m not even sure that we are anywhere near the mean yet..If the correction overshoots, wouldn’t the best time to buy be at the trough of the overshoot (i.e. lowest price)? If you waited for the market to stabalise and reach the mean, you’d be paying a slightly higher price than if you bought at the extreme of the correction.
Matt
Do you know a broker in Aus (preferably Melbourne) who deals in NZ?Hi Rob,
Looks to me as though Mark lives in Melbourne.
MattHi Mark,
You might want to try Steve from Mobile Mortgage Market ([email protected]) as a broker. He’s based in Melbourne and I’ve used him to arrange finance for my NZ properties and plan to use him again in the future.
MattHi CD,
Congratulations on a successful trip. It looks like you came away with some great deals! Now that you’ve hooked up with Mini, you should make a great team.
Westan, I hope you and CD had fun battling over properties during the last week or so? [laughing] I can just imagine, the lines were drawn in the North Island as the heavyweight spotters went toe to toe [satan] (Though I guess it was more like a cup of coffee and a chat after the real estate agent’s closed [biggrin])
Matt
Hi George,
So far I’ve just settled on one property in NZ and have two more settling next week. All three properties are in the South Island and all were sourced by Westan.
Two of the properties are around 12% gross yield and the third will hopefully be around 20% once some renovations are finished (Westan slipped me a great one there). There’s a chance there may be some capital growth with them as well. I hope to buy at least a couple more in the next month or so. Then I’ll really need to scrape some more deposit money together.
I’m getting more and more excited about visiting NZ. The scenery should be awesome (I was a fan of the Lord of the Rings movies) and there’ll be great people like Westan to meet along the way.
Matt
I’ve been noticing houses sitting around longer, fewer auctions and less spirited auctions (with many houses being passed in). So there have been several signs for me that the residential market has been slowing in my area. However, what really drove it home was a phone call I received from an agent last week. He mentioned that my name was on their books and was I still interested in buying in their area? I replied that I had put my name on their books A YEAR AGO!! [thumbsdownanim and I’d already bought (my PPOR). I think they might be feeling the pinch already[laughing] I’m enjoying seeing the agents squirm and can’t wait for the service to improve[cigar]
MattI agree with your healthy scepticism Kay, but disagree that everyone would be doing it if they could. Plenty of people lack the drive to achieve even moderate levels of success that are within the reach of most. A lot simply don’t have the knowledge, but many won’t act even when they do.
There really is something to be said for the power of positive thinking, but we have to remember that we’re not really talking about a level playing field when it comes to being millionares in a year. Some people have higher paying jobs, others have more equity, others still have a finance/real estate background. To become a millionare in year from scratch i.e. no savings, no equity, even with a healthy pay packet, would be nearly impossible. However, there’s no harm in setting such lofty goals to keep the motivation going, so long as you don’t become discouraged if you don’t achieve it.
Matt
You’re making me jealous[jealous] I’m looking forward to getting over there myself sooner or later. Of course, apart from visiting my properties, catching up with Westan and his crew will be top of the list.[jerry] Would you like to expand on the details of your trip George? Perhaps share the gist of any deals you made?
MattThanks Jaffasoft, I think your calculator is one of the best around. One of my favourites!
MattMake sure you do some careful checks on the property and surrounding area, but don’t be put off completely by a suburb with a reputation as being “not the best”. I know some people who have done very well by investing in just such areas and, as Kay mentioned, some of us have few other options (and do so happily). Check for potential problems with several agents in the area, property managers and the local police. Even having a casual chat with neighbours and local shop keepers can be very revealing.
MattI have no qualms about buying a property without actually visiting it first, but I think you need an increased level of other types of due diligence. I’d certainly want plenty of pictures and the advice of several people with expert knowledge (particular that of someone I can trust). Assuming you can trust them, building inspectors (for example) would have a much more valuable opinion of the property than I would anyway and, so far, I’ve found them to be quite reliable. Of course, a trustworthy spotter can be very valuable too.
Matt
As a couple have said, if the right deal comes along, its always the right time to buy. If you’re not buying simply due to general market trends, you may be missing out. Of course, any time’s a good time to buy a solid CF+ property [biggrin] If purely looking for capital growth, I’d be looking long and hard before buying anything. However, I went to an auction today in a seaside suburb that suggested good deals can still be had (or can now be had again) in CG areas.
Matt
Hi CD,
Thanks for the tip. Yep, I’d heard something along the lines of the $50k down thing. PM on the way …
Thanks,
MattHi Blondie,
If there are two or three diamonds available right now, start buying (or pass them to on me!)! Every one you buy will bring you that much closer to your goal. If you suddenly came across a town with 100 good properties, could you seriously buy them all at once? If your finding CF+ properties in the second biggest city in the state (isn’t it a bit bigger than 23,000?) then I think you’re doing well. I assume you are looking for CF+, otherwise, I think you’re right, now is not the best time to buy for CG.
MattHi CD,
Ok, you beat me [blush2] My rates recently went up to 6.85%. I also have the option of interest only for 10 years and a LOC. Like you, I’m going IO in order to pay off my PPOR. It looks like you’ve found some of the best rates in NZ [thumbsupanim] I did say my rates were cheaper than “most” NZ lenders, but obviously not all[biggrin] Care to share the name of your lender?
Thanks,
MattApparently NZI offers a “Landlord’s Protection Insurance Extension” to their House Policy. This includes certain types of loss of rent and malicious damage, vandalism or theft by the tenants.
MattHi Holly,
I was recently faced with the same dilemma as you: Where to find CF+ properties in Australia? As some have already mentioned, the internet really isn’t the way.
All the good properties are already gone before they hit the web and often even before they’re advertised. You really do need to be ringing agents, gaining credibility with them and doing a bit of “leg work”. Unfortunately, you’ve come in at the wrong end of the property boom to “easily” find CF+ properties.
Do a search of the forums and you should turn up some areas that others have looked in for good properties (generally rural). This may give you some places to start researching and hopefully lead you to find your own areas (that everyone else hasn’t already been through!).
Another alternative is to look overseas, which is what I did. However, after looking overseas, I began to find some in Australia as well. Finally, you may want to consider using a spotter to find you a property, but make sure you can trust them.
Getting the first one under your belt is the hardest bit. In the process you’ll pick up some valuable knowledge and it should make future purchases easier to find and complete.
Matt
Hi CD,
Going through Steve from Mobile Mortgage Market (blatant plug[biggrin]), I’ve used an Australian based lender to finance my NZ property purchases. This lender has also been used by some of my friends, who went through different brokers, for NZ properties. In my limited experience, the rates provided by this lender are significantly better than most NZ based lenders I’ve seen. NZ seems to have somewhat higher interest rates than Australia at the moment.
MattAwesome![^] That’s definitely a bonus I hadn’t counted on. I imagine it’ll cause my accountant a few headaches, but should be worth it. Thanks for the info.
Matt
