Broken Hill – has it got any life left

Hi Emma

If the vendors are living in the house, which I presume they are as they want to rent it back, then I would be very concerned about boarded up windows.

To me, it shows a lack of attention to maintenance, which may be evident throughout the rest of the house.

From looking at many properties over the years, the reason for a personal inspection is not to check out what you know, but to find out what is NOT shown in photos or pictures.  Just a fortnight ago we drove past a house advertised on RE.com.au which looked great – it was a lowset and had obviously been photographed from a low angle because what was NOT shown in any of the many pictures was the huge McMansion behind, about 2 metres from the fence, which totally overlooked the backyard.  As it was on the northern side, it would have completely blocked any sun in winter.  We didn't bother to go inside.  Other properties that have been very appealing from pictures have been metres from huge overhead power pylons, backing onto busy roads, opposite factories etc, all of which are not shown in any of the carefully angled pictures.

If you must buy sight unseen, then at least have an independent person inspect the property on your behalf, even if you have to pay.

Good luck!
Marg

Hi Emma,

I've had property in Broken Hill now for almost 4 years.  With any market you have to separate fact from opinion.  I bought a property there originally as a tactic to offset a negatively geared Sydney unit.  My research showed values had moved up slightly, yields were well over 10% (at one stage I was actually on a 48% yield), Centro was redeveloping the shopping centre etc. and the town had not in fact died at all.  I researched and formed relationships with people in the town whom I needed as my team on the ground. I went up there for a week and had a great time, it is actually a unique place.

Last year quite a few pieces of market data were made public. A community forum was held in which 3 mining companies outlined the fact that they were employing at least 1500 new workers over the ensuing 18 months (this was last Oct-Nov). A stock exchange announcement was made by Perilya.  They were opening 2 new seams from the existing known reserves because they are now economically viable with the price of commodities being so good.  They did not want to do fly-in/fly-out.  Think about it.   The housing stock in Broken Hill is 10,000 dwellings.  Alot of which are so delapidated you could not put a dog in them.   1500 new workers means something like 3000+ people coming into a town of 22,000 people (let's say half of the new workers are married and no children) who will need housing. 

I bought another house straight away. If I had more time to devote to that market I would have bought 10.  Since then, the new workers have steadily been coming in, and in actual fact alot of them bought homes to live in rather than rent (confidence in their long term future?).  This was great for 3 reasons, (a) values went up sharply and (b) rents went up sharply as expected but also (c) the quantity of good quality rental stock is reducing.

My properties doubled-tripled, and I am just having them revalued again as the rents and values have both gone up since the last revals. 

Now, South Broken Hill used to be a pretty undesirable place.  In reality there are some quite nice homes there, the Flying Doctor, airport and golf course, but a few lousy ones that brought the place down.  There has been a noticable shift of less desirable tenants out of the south,  but you would still need to be careful in checking out the street etc. before buying.

Email me if you want a recommendation of the agent to speak with about the rent potential, street, etc.

Cheers
skippygirl

I was going to contract on a property in US that had nice "curb appeal" and looked good on the listing on the web but when I got it checked out it actually didn't have any back to it no joke.