Can anybody giv advice about Wagga, just general stuff i guess, im thinking of driving out that way to look at a few places soon (im Sydney based) 1 place is “Two minutes to Kooringal mall” is this a good area??
Thanx!!
Jason
Hey. I am from Lockhart which is about 40 min drive from Wagga. It is our main provincial centre. To be honest I dont believe Wagga is the way to go. Price growth in Wagga from 2000/2001 to 2001/2002 was 28.1percent which was the highest in regional NSW with Queenbeyan second with 19.4 but over the same period it had negative pop growth which is still getting worse. Now to my untrained and very inexperienced eye that says many city investors have targeted it for positive cashflow investing and that has driven up the prices. If that is the case then when boom ends all of those people living in the cities will bail out of the small towns and the prices will plummet. Then you are just stuck carrying a capital loss in a neg pop growth area.
As far as development goes there was a major announcement maybe 4 years ago about a large company moving into town that was going to employ heaps of people. Am not sure as was a while ago but it may have been telstra but as i said am not sure. I have been living out of the area for the last 3 years so I havent heard anything since but I remember that this was really big news as they hadnt had anything like that in Wagga for quite a while.
Another fact I should mention is the current social situation in Wagga. There are lots of problems with youth violence in Wagga at the moment. eg going down the main street after about 9pm is just not worth the risk. Also groups of boys/men are often seen causing disturbances in even the quiet suburbs. I cant tell you whether kooringal is a good area although I have a friend who lives there and from visiting it once or twice it seems fine. However you really should look at the area closely as there are some definite stay away areas in wagga. I cant stress this enough. Some of the areas have people who you just dont want to deal with. eg I dont know if you heard about it but a few years ago a baby was horribly murdered in one of the notorious areas. Without going into details it was an extremely gruesome and disturbing murder with a pair of pliers used!
As of when I had left the area i think nobody had been charged as even though there would have been lots of screaming NONE of the neighbours talked. It was widely assumed that the father was responsible and he was held but released eventually. I dont think they are the kind of tenants you would like to have.
Sorry if all this wasnt want you wanted to hear and if you have found a really good deal that look into it but I really dont think the area is much of an investment propect at the moment. Best of luck
DavidDear Jason,
Don’t buy the place 2 minutes to kooringal mall. I know wagga like the back of my hand. The place is in edney street and is for sale at 69k right? Any honest real estate will tell you that the place might be able to be rented but that tenants will move out every 6 months from that location, as soon as they know where they’re living.
Funnily, any streets that aren’t edney in that location in kooringal are fine.
Property prices might go up enormously but the demographic stays the same. The suburb of kooringal is quite ok as an investment suburb, but if that partment is the one I am thinking of, you would really need to think twice about buying it. Streets in wagga can vary enormously in reputation.
kay
Kay
Did you read my post before writing yours or after? If after then what do you think of what I said? Was I too harsh and neg or not?
Also TeacherK6, forgot to say that I got those growth figures from the book “Property Investing for Lifestyle” by Tim Hewatdglees- your post beat mine by two minutes, and no, I hadn’t read it yet- have now though!
) Well, I guess there’s murders everywhere. Noone probably worried too much about property prices though, when that young man allegedly killed his mother, wife and sister in some rich place on the north shore of sydney. Or the “society killing” of the millionaires in glen iris, melbourne (which has skyrocketed in values!). So yes, random violence isn’t good in your ‘hood, but it happens.dglees, I think what you said was pretty much the way it is in wagga. Those rural towns can be dogged by rednecks, and who wants them ruining the yard with their toranas?
I was wondering where you got your wagga real estate stats from- i haven’t heard that RE in wagga has risen 28%- gawd! Funny that there’s no news of a RE boom in wagga. I’ve been trying to find that info for a while now, dglees- thank you!
Cath [
]Hey guys,
Thanx for your honest replies! yeah the place was the 69 K place advertised on re’.com… but the agent didnt tell me all the “good stuff” lol… wonder why???
Anyways, the place has been sold, or at least contracts hav exchanged… but not with my autograph on it im glad to say…
Cheers!
Jason
You are welcome jason :o)
Basically, whenever I look at property- the last one I bought over the internet in Wagga- in exactly the street and location i wanted to buy in- I ask the street name from the RE agent, and then I type the street name and town into google.com (australia only sites). Any mention of the street name will come up. It’s a good indicator of what might be happening in that street- murders, drugs, fights etc. If there’s any police reports or media, it should all come up. I do that check in all towns for RE I am looking at. You can also check out a location by looking at a map of the local area. So if i am looking in broken hill, for example, i check out the map and see if the place is sitting next to a mine. Sometimes, there’s no reason to visit a location if you do your google and map checking beforehand.
Local knowledge of an area is a good thing. It’s why forums like this are so important- most of us came from somewhere- we can all help each other out!
)kay henry
Hi David.
Gee’s dave you have given Wagga a fair payout.
Did you say that you have been living out of the area for three years. If so your imformation may be old. Just thought I would bring you up to date.
1/ The big company that was to come to town did.The company is Salmat, they handle all the call centres for Telstra, and yes they did employ about 200 people with more to be employed as the centre expands.
2/ The current social situation in Wagga has improved greatly over the past 2 years or so. I have often walk the main street of Wagga after 9pm & have never had to defend myself or been harrast.
3/ Kooringal is not such a bad area as Kay has said edney st does have it share of problems but you show me a suburb anywhere that doe’s not have good and not so good streets.
4/ They have got someone behind bars for that brutal murder of the todler. & yes it was the stepfarther. To say that the area is notorius is a bit harsh as there are some good streets in that same suburb.
For all those reading this post, no I do not live in Wagga, But I have lived very near there for the past 15 years, and I do spend a fair bit of time in and around Wagga. So please do not wright of Wagga altogether its not such a bad place.
Cheers.
Craigc.Dear Craig,
I agree with you – I like Wagga. It’s just when Teacher asked about thatspecific property, I thought he need to knew what he might be buying into.
In terms of investment, I think Wagga has a lot going for it- populkation of about 58,000. There is *some* talk about population decline, but really, wagga is a good city, with a university, and it’s pretty to look at. Population decline won’t occur to a huge extent in such a city- it’s not like the University is going to close down! It’s a non-industrial city too, so it’s as clean as a whistle.
So don’t get me wrong, Craig- i’ll be investing in Wagga as a preferable regional. The prices there are fantastic compared to cities half its size.
Cheers!
kay henry
There are a number of small rural hamlets close (30 minutes) from Wagga that have experienced the flow on effect of the price boom in Wagga. There are still some choice pickings in these areas.
Hi Kay
I know that your coments where related to that street only. I just thought that Davids comments may have been a bit harsh.Regards [
]Craigc
Wagga is one of the main areas I invest in and have for a number of years now. Mostly wraps but some rentals. I’m in the town quite a bit but live in Sydney.
Its not my preferred place for rentals as the cap growth has only been good over the past couple of years. Much better value in QLD in my opinion.
For wraps it was great but the recent boom has made a lot of property unaffordable for many purchasers. Still, a suitable property comes up from time to time.
You have had good advice for Edney st. Other suspect areas are in the “block” at Ashmont, some bits of Ziegler, Tichbourne, Chifley and other streets in Kooringal that escape me off the top of my head but in the general vicinity. Oh, also Raye and Bruce st in Tolland and around that area.
Watch out if anyone tries to sell you a place in Lonergan st. The whole st is built on fill and the subsidence has to be seen to be believed. Driving down the street may not clue you in though as there are some nice brick houses there.
Having said that there are no bad properties, only bad prices!Termites are rife in Wagga so a good pest man is essential. I like Wagga as a place and have had virtually no trouble with any of my investments there. Like anywhere, you have to do your homework.
With the curent boom lots of “investors” are buying willy nilly and should provide some good distessed sales in the next cycle.
Everyone has given great advice!
I would hav never thought of using google to look up specific streets, and will do so from now on..
Well all i can say is that in future if im looking at buying out of town i will ask just as before about the area on here.. Bob, ur info was great.. spoken like a true local
Avagoodday!
Jason
Hi guys,
I am comptemplating investing in Wagga Wagga too. The previous comments from people with intimate local knowlegde were enlightening. A lot of streets and suburds were mentioned, how about Joyces Av in Tolland? Any comments will be appreciated![8D]Do you mean Joyes Place? I can’t seem to find Joyces Av.
australia,
Joyes Place, Tolland, is the equivalent of Edney St, Kooringal- NO!
Bob, I think it’s mean that you talk about “distressed” sales. What ever happened to aussies believing in a fair go for all? Not just for ourselves.
kay henry
Kay, there will always be distressed sales. It’s a fact of life and I feel sorry for people who find themselves in this situation through no fault of their own.
I don’t feel too sorry for those who make foolish investment decisions because they didn’t bother to do their homework. In my post it’s clear these are the people I was referring to. If you find a property in Wagga or anywhere else on the internet and buy it sight unseen with no due diligence then you are a dill. Many “investors” seem to do this.
If you become “distressed” as a result of your laziness and have to sell then you have learned a valuable lesson and hopefully wont repeat it.
If you think this is mean then I guess we will have to agree to disagree.
Oops! Joyes Pl it is. Look like I will give that one a miss and wait for some distressed sale!
[8D]australia: [
]kay henry
Two things
Firstly, sorry to anybody who took offense to my other post. I was just trying to make a point but it seems to have missed the mark. My apologies if so. However I do believe there is a very unpleasent element in Wagga that would make me baulk at investing there without really looking at the specific suburb.
Either way I do not believe that the economics of investment in Wagga are right at the moment. It is in an area where capital growth should not really be significant (although is definitely possible) but has had very very strong and sustained growth over the last few years. Country towns or cities like this have caught the overflow of the capital city boom and the price rises are primarily from city buyers looking for “cheap” real estate investments i believe. So when the bubble ends these areas will suffer the most as it is investment purchases and not primary residence purchases that have driven the prices up. Bendigo is another area that I have read about that comes to mind.
Secondly, in keeping with the idea of knowing the people you take advice from and what their qualifications are I want to make one point clear about me and my advice. I HAVE NO PROPERTY AND AM ONLY 20 YEARS OLD. I have been out of the area for the last 3 years because I am studying in Japan so I have no hands on experience. Degrees here involve nothing like the work needed in Aus so I have been basically studying real estate non-stop for the past 12 months through books from the net and sites like this. I want to save here and then hit the market in 2 or 3 years when I get home. So please dont read too much into my advice because sadly for me I am not exactly a qualified advisor(just very opinionated![]) So for those who are still interested in Wagga I found this site a few days ago if anybody is interested.
http://www.riverinahomes.com.au
best of luck
David
) Well, I guess there’s murders everywhere. Noone probably worried too much about property prices though, when that young man allegedly killed his mother, wife and sister in some rich place on the north shore of sydney. Or the “society killing” of the millionaires in glen iris, melbourne (which has skyrocketed in values!). So yes, random violence isn’t good in your ‘hood, but it happens.
]
]) So for those who are still interested in Wagga I found this site a few days ago if anybody is interested.You must be logged in to reply to this topic. If you don't have an account, you can register here.
