Yes and on Moura, the Belvedere mine that has just been approved will need to employ 500 staff (so the feasability study says). At the moment there are only 34 homes available to rent!. So there will be a fight over the rentals and that will shoot the rent up.
However it is very quiet there at the moment, you may be able to get some great deals on buying while it is quiet before the storm!

in my opinion, and generally speaking bank valuers UNDERestimate and RE Agents OVER estimate.
BUT, the value of a property has many factors – the main factor being – what will someone be willing to pay for it at the time it is sold?
Also, sometimes an area can become HOT just after a news article or development approvals for shopping centres etc…this can sometimes increase the value of a property by $50k overnight (see newbie2)
Get the third opinion and make a decision – be careful of RE Agents values too.
Tracy

In Vic – the tenant pays the water usage only – the water company will send them a separate bill for it. You pay the service fee and any other annual service fee.

Call the Real estate institute in the state you are buying the property. i think there may be differences in each state?

Hi Lisa,
I changed my agent over to Ray White in DBay about 6 mths ago. I couldnt be happier as the previous agent was terrible. As soon as i changed I got new tenants with a rent increase of $50 per week. The previous agents were not pro active and had seriously undervalued the rent!
Ray White have been very helpful.
Good luck with it
Tracy

As the vendors own the property until settlement date, they can say yes or no to allowing you to show potential tenants through.  They are only obliged to let you through to have your final inspection just before settlement.
Most vendors though are happy to let potential tenants through? There must be a reason why they are not willing to let you do this? Maybe the agent didnt clear it with them first before putting images on the internet for rental? Would this be the case?

We bought in Dbay in Feb 2006. 3 bedder highset, dumpy looking place, 600 metres from beach for $180k.
I looked at the developement in the area, large franchises going up, roadworks and also rental vacancies were 0%.
Just had the place valued last month at $299k! But more importantly, Dbay was known as a dodgy area and we had dodgy tenants that came with the house. We recently got new tenants who are nice and clean and pay an extra $50 per week rent, so i think the demographic is changing for the positive.  I would still buy there as the predictions for increase in prices around Brisbane is supposed to average 22% up to 2011 (BIS schrapnel report)
When you think about it , it is a beach location only 25 minutes drive from Major city!

Thinkruss,
NO, i dont believe so, there is a massive shortage of housing in Australia. The next few years will present some excellent buying opportunities with rents rising due to shortage of rentals available.
Some areas will 'soften" but I dont believe there will be any sort of Crash as per USA.
cheers

Hi Matt, Congratulations to you and your friend for making the purchase! Good luck with it, I believe the gold coast will be a good investment – hang on to it for the long term. I only wish i had made more than just a home purchase at your age!!
As far as plants go – speak to the council for the area. They will be able to provide you with a list of plants that are native to the area and hopefully even have a community nursery where you can pick up seedlings for next to nothing. The best thing about this is that you know that any plant native to an area with thrive well under the local conditions.  I have done this recently in my own garden with great success. Another point is to look down your street and around the area for plants you like that seem to be growing well, take some photos (if the owners dont mind) and then take to your local nursery so they can identify them. If you can get chatting to some local retirees with nice gardens, you will find they are most happy to help you and have a lifetime of knowledge about garden.
You might also find more info under the value adding forum if you do a search.
cheers
Tracy

I dont see the problem, I am a long term investor. My rents are higher than they have ever been and are starting to create some cash flow, why sell? the rents wont be going down.
Only if you have bought in an area that is turning undesirable, population dropping etc..would I be taking the extreme measure of saying the prices will drop dramatically and it would be time to sell.