Hi,

I have been that close to buy in Unilodge. However, I found out that there is a law, now reinforced, to keep the rooms for students, ie you cannot rent it out yourself. As the rent is very high, it is mostly rented to overseas students (Australian know the prices and would not touch it), which means that when the room is not rented in the beginning of uni session, there is very little chance it would be rented later on.

You are told there is just a 6% management fee, however it is 6.6% including GST, and you need to add a let fee (one week rent + GST), an admin fee and an advertising fee! The room I was looking at was rented at $495 pw, so there was $443 fees to add to the initial calculation (for one lease in the year), ie the return was 6.88% and not 7.06% as announced, BUT only if the flat is rented out 52/52. Before putting the deposit, I asked a copy of the current lease, it was a 3 weeks one!!! Meaning that I would have had a good chance to wait near 5 months for a student, unless I would halve the rent.

Do ask a copy of the current lease and the "non-pool deed agreement" before signing anything or you are in for a surprise.

Cheers
Perceneij