Hi Everyone,
I am thinking of buying my first property which happens to be an investment property in Gladstone, Qld. I've been looking at the types of houses available and for something that's affordable for me, I noticed there are alot of tropical looking high rise houses (double storey) built with weatherboard like material on the outside and insides.
As a long term investment, I was wondering if its a better idea to buy a brand new brick home or if the weatherboard type houses are good enough? I mean I come from Darwin and live in solid cement house I guess to be cyclone proof but these types of high rise houses do exist in Darwin as well and I'd imagine that they're a popular option because of the weather in QLD.
What I think is, just as long as the place is well maintained and kept that the house should live for 10+ years without too many problems? Should I consider how old the place is before buying and if its more than 10 years old I should be weary?
Would like to know what your opinion on this is. Thanks for all that contribute
I don't know about "better" but I had a 1930s timber home in Brisbane for 10 years which did very well and which I regret selling all the time! After I sold it the values went even higher. My parents 1970s brick house did not do so well. A lot depends on the area, whether its a character Queenslander home and not just a hardiplank highset and so on. "Queenslanders" are generally popular.
Thanks rinnia for your post. My main concern was the risk of having constantly maintain these houses and it falling apart on me down the track. I do get that feeling that these 'Queenslander" homes are more popular and therefore preferred by tenants. Hmm….
I dont know about constant maintenance-get a building report to make sure its Ok.
In my experience check that the stumps dont have white ants (although they are not too expensive to replace with concrete) and check if the roof or roof beams need replacing. Also I had to rewire the whole house so check the electricals. One bad thing is they cost a lot to paint -inside and out but that is a once every 10 years expense at most. I have seen my old place which has been rented out for last 8 years and the paint job still looks great (done at least 10 years ago) Looks to me like they have done nothing to it at all in that time.
A good thing about timber houses is that they are much cheaper to make alterations too if you need to move plumbing etc as no concrete slab or brick walls. You can even move the whole house!Maybe you could ring the local agents to see what it popular and what the rents are. I know there is a lot of new housing going up around Gladstone region
cheers
You must be logged in to reply to this topic. If you don't have an account, you can register here.
