Hi,
I was in Rockhampton a few months ago, saw an absolute dump for $52k, rent was $100pw… nearly met the 11 sec rule on asking price, but was just a hole of a place.
Could have got it for 50k.
Looked on the internet a week ago, and there it was bumped up to 65k, and now this arvo I notice it’s under contract. I was up there about 6 weeks ago. Would love to know how much the person paid, and whether they just bought it off the internet, cos it was a shocker. In Rocky, like a lot of places, the agents are incredulous at the amount of people just ringing them from in front of their computers and making breathless, often unconditional, offers at asking price… DON’T BE SUCKED IN by thinking you have to build Rome in a day.
You can either be part of the herd, or sit on the edges and watch where it’s going… there are still good buys everywhere… but do your homework… It is pretty clear to me that agents with a strong web presence are pumping up their prices, whereas agents who just advertise locally have not.
Cheers and have a great weekend
rhi Richmond,
Dumps can be great (as long as they are structurally sound, which a builder’s report can tell you) as they are often half the price of the not-dumps, and won’t cost that much to fix up looks-wise- around 2K for example, for a handyman for say two days, materials, and $600 worth of paint. Can be big bucks to do plumbing, roofing, wiring, flooring, fireplaces, but fixing holes in walls, broken windows etc and redecorating is not very expensive at all really.
cheers-
Minig’day mini,
I know the potential of dumps. i bought one amongst several purchases when i was there, and I’ve renovated before.
I’m not an expert, but I did a hell of a lot of research into Rocky before I went there, and trust me, I looked at around 60-70 places over a week, this one was not good. I don’t profess to be a building guru, but this had trouble written all over it.
The point of my post was to do homework before buying, cos a lot of people are not. It was just an example of one regional city, which I’m sure can be replicated elsewhere. More of a friendly warning to the newbies more than anything else, and a pointer to the value of looking into the market thoroughly.
In my judgement it was trouble at 52k, 65k? no way. There’s good houses in rocky at 65k, but over the internet it’s hard to know the difference for some people.
so many people come here saying “where do i buy where do i buy”, but instead of just pointing them in a direction (which I think is a waste of everyone’s time), it’s worth warning of the pitfalls too I reckon, even the ones that i’ve noticed (not experienced yet, touch wood) in my limited experience.
have a good one
rHi Richmond,
I agree – as a new property investor it is too easy to fall under the spell of ‘too good to be true’ deals on the internet, and I saw those Rocky ones and tried to drag my partner up there from Brisbane yesterday …. !!
I think it was Michael & Kaye who said the internet was like a colt .45 – it makes everyone equal, and provides a great opportunity for selling truly shonky abodes to unsuspecting investors.
Happy Investing,
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MelHave just returned from Rocky on Fri. Spent a week there, and found a huge difference in quality. Some agents were obviously trying to rip me off – showing places for $79k that were worth $40k as a throw away offer. But, amongst them I found great homes, with good returns, with ABSOLUTELY nothing wrong with them, beautifully cared for, some with new kitchens/bathrooms.
All appointments were made on the previous Friday, with at least half of the properties being sold before I could get a look. A couple of agents told me straight away that they had nothing left – one had sold 13 under $100k last week. So, maybe that house really did sell for that price? I think that you will find that the market has really moved there since 3 months ago, and if it is anything like the Lismore market, the prices here (similar to Rocky 12 months ago) have this year added $60-100k. There is nothing under $100k here – even land here has jumped from
tops $60k, to $100-170k.
My feeling about Rocky is that it is following the rest of Oz, and still has a long way to go before slowing.
I also had an agent ring me after not making a sale, asking if I could make a decision in 2 hours, if so I could have a duplex for $145k. I said I didn’t like to be rushed, and would do due diligence on anything I bought, also that I knew of another duplex for $142 with a bigger return. He rang back within 2 mins to offer $140k then in the same breath $135k, and said he wasn’t trying to be pushy!!!!! Passed on this one- wonder why?was it frank brady by any chance?
cheers
r(by the way, that’s my century *raises his bat to the pavilion*)
Hi there,
I think I made a post about Rockhampton about 3 months ago, where the agent put the price up 10K on a whim, without consulting the vendor, because the market was so ‘hot’ and he didn’t have time to update his stock on the net as people where buying site unseen over the phone. Actually, it was about 1 week after Steve’s last seminar, prices went nuts there.
Caveat Emptor
Cheers
Sooshie []“small steps make the journey” (SAS)
hi sooshie,
going on what the agents were telling me in june, it was well and truly booming from around april.
cheers
r“I think it was Michael & Kaye who said the internet was like a colt .45 – it makes everyone equal, “
huh??? since when *weren’t* we all equal?
Can you explain that statement?PS Richmond, next time you find a property around the 50K mark that you don’t want, which is both +ve cashflow and in a really hot area poised for mucho capital gain, can you please let me know???
Most especially if this is true“There is nothing under $100k here – even land here has jumped from tops $60k, to $100-170k.”
I smell a free house…
cheers-
MiniHowdy Mini,
Of course it’s true. As I said I would have bought it myself had it not been outside my criteria… one of my purchases needed nothing doing to it, cost me 56k, will rent for at least 130pw. That’s more up my alley… one was 66k, probably needs a paint, rented already for 120 pw, there’s more but I won’t bore you [
]Anyway, I’m not so sure there’s not anything left under 100k in Rocky… I was talking to an agent today that had some good deals that he approached me with cos he knows I’m not a tyre kicker.
by the way I interpreted melanie’s statement of: “I think it was Michael & Kaye who said the internet was like a colt .45 – it makes everyone equal, “ was that it’s now much easier for everyone for sit at their desk and try and locate deals, whereas in the past (and I’m not sure cos I’m only new) people had more deals to themselves (to a degree) cos they had to put in more hard yards in terms of hitting the phones and developing relationships.
cheers
rHi Richmond,
“I was talking to an agent today that had some good deals that he approached me with cos he knows I’m not a tyre kicker.”
!!!!!!!! we need to talk!!
hey I’m coming down to melbourne for a couple of days, you wanna have coffee???
cheers-
MiniHi Mini & Richmond,
In response yes Richmond is right about what I meant re over-exposure and as a beginner it’s heartening to see that he is being offered solid deals direct from real estate agents he’s met & developed a relationship with, further showing the huge advantages of making the effort to get face-to-face AND follow through as a genuine buyer of good investment properties.
Thanks for all your posts guys, learning a lot.
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MelCan I ask a question. I did a lot of research on Rocky about three months ago and decided not to buy there. The population of Rocky has been in decline for eight years and the economy is not looking good, unemployment highest in the major regional towns and the town has poor infastructure etc.
Will this not affect the rents and capital growth in the long term? The houses look ok in a few areas but most are in poor condition becuase of the tenants rather than poor maintenance by landlords.
I decided not to buy in Rocky for these reasons. Have I missed something or is everyone simply after cheap property regardless of the long term prospects of the town they buy in.
I noted the Qld government has no projects in place for Rocky in the next five to ten years, whereas Gladstone, Mackay, Townsville, Cairns and Bundaberg all have projects and infrastructure projects to be build and approved for funding.
Thanks
Davo70Davo70 I tend to agree – our new little property investing group is giving Rocky a bit of a swerve now too because compared to a lot of other areas in the Qld coastal regions, it just doesn’t seem to be going anywhere, yet …
Glad we’re not the only ones to find this.
MelHowdy,
Areas like Bundaberg, Mackay, Townsville, Cairns and Gladstone are good, but it’s a lot harder to find cashflow props up there. At least, that’s what I’ve found.
I was engaged to a girl from Bundaberg once (won’t bore you, but it didn’t turn out too well) and when I went there about 8 or so years ago, it was in a similar situation to what Rockhampton is now, at least, that’s the impression I got. Pretty depressing with not much going on. Wish I had thought of buying in Bargara back then, but c’est la vie.
I’m happy to have bought in Rocky, because the rental demand is good, and the houses I’ve selected are all neat and tidy rentable homes. My properties are all tenanted and returning close enough to 10% to keep me happy. My 56k one has a tenant paying 130pw. Capital growth’s a bonus if it happens. It depends what you’re looking for I suppose.
Also, I was a journo for a while in regional Vic, and covered stories in quite a few of our regional cities… I found that it is in government’s best interests to not let a city the size of Rockhampton just die in the a$se. Rocky might not have a whole heap of projects lined up, but its time will come. Besides, they’ve got a relatively new Bunnings and Officeworks that have opened… and as Steve says, those big guys do a hell of a lot of market research that is more in depth and thorough than anything I could hope to do before committing their millions of dollars… if they didn’t think it was a worthwhile investment they wouldn’t be there. That’s good enough for me.
Also, I’m not too bothered if an unemployed person rents my house… as long as they pay on time and look after it that’s all that matters.
I’ll be heading up to Qld again before the end of the year hopefully, and I’ll be checking out Mackay and Townsville in particular… but I already know that a whole heap of investors will have been there before me. It will be interesting to see what is left, but the market’s ever evolving everywhere… always new stock coming on…
Davo/Mel, just curious what type of combination of return you’re looking for… 10% yield/10% c.g, 8% yield/7% cg?
Cheers
rReply to Richmond
No it wasn’t Frank Brady – he was one agent that said ‘ring when u get here’ and ‘we haven’t really got anything left’, and since I was driving 8 hours, I wasn’t about to give time to someone who couldn’t even set an appointment!!
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