Hi those querying Kambalda in WA

I have an investment property there in Kambalda West (which is considered better than Kambalda East). I purchased nearly two years ago a 3brm brick/tile house. Building inspector said it was one of the most sound properties he had inspected there. Paid $85k. Now the same property has increased to between $120-140k. There is potential to increase this figure by some small reno’s. [biggrin]Rent is $170 pw. I spent quite some time researching the area prior to buying there and really thought I had a GREAT deal. The one problem I have had is keeping a tenant in place. It averages out that the place can be vacant for upto 3-4 months at a time. Not good……..

I keep an eye on the area and trends and have recently checked out realestate.com.au and noticed that nearly all the homes for sale at the moment are under contract/offer. There appears to be something going on, don’t know what yet. Wondering if it’s the same investor buying up big? Has anyone heard anything about it? I also noticed that where in the past you would find approximately 10 pages of rentals available, now there are only 2 pages of rentals.

Anyway, the bottom line for me is that I have decided to hang onto this property over the longer term and try to realise some capital growth.

Happy hunting all

Nieceo

Hi

I just purchased a positive geared property in WA. (I live in NSW). It all came down to RESEARCH, RESEARCH and more RESEARCH. What I mean by that is….I subscribed to Australian Property Investor Magazine. This has lots of good info including growth/decline rates for each State. Has good stories from other investors and info from lenders etc etc. I also read lots of books. When I found an area that had a population from about 6,000 up (my own personal investing criteria) I went to that State’s Govt. website to check out anything else I could find about the area. If the town is supported by mining for example, I find out the name of the mine and look at their website to see what they have planned for the next so many years…..also speak to local Councils to see if there is any new infastructure planned for that area etc. I also surf many different property investor forums to read as much as I can from people just like me. On realestate.com I use the free suburb snapshot profile that they have available. I enlist the help of as many real estate agents as I can. I have to say though, that my first property purchase was scary. I think only because I felt right out of my comfort zone but as I passed each stage things became easier. Hey, I even added my own clauses on the contract…things like valuation, pest, building, title encumbrances/easements, flooding, you name it, I put it in there. Only one clause was rejected….didn’t I feel smart. The negotiation stage was exciting. I stuck to my guns and ended up securing the property well below market value AND it’s positive cashflow all the way, with very low vacancy rates for that area. The agent did try and force me to make quick decisions, but I kept telling myself that I was the one in the drivers seat and if I pulled this off, it was meant to be, I didn’t let emotion rule my decisions. So if I can do it…I gotta tell you, anyone can. Now that my first one is out of the way, I can’t wait for the next one. They say it gets easier, and I do believe it does. Happy hunting and good luck!!!!