Tamworth – Property Visit Report

Hi all,

I am at Tamworth right now after flying in to visit yesterday.
It's a fantastic place.  Airport is very near to everything and I was able to get to my hotel quickly.

The taxi driver who drove me from the airport was very knowledgable in the area, being a longterm investor himself.  Luckily he was to be my "driver" for all of my open home visits today.

I was impressed with how neat all and tidy Tamworth is – even in some of the 'not so good' areas, the houses were quite well kept.  All facilities are very accessible and I found that shops and transport facilities etc were well spread out.  The locals seem to be very informed and know alot about the place, which streets are good, which aren't etc.

Today I inspected 4 properties – 1 of them was in a bad street so I disregarded it (though returns were good).  Another one was in a pretty good part of town, but close to housing area – it was tenanted but a bit old – built in 1950's.
The final one was in a good part of the housing area – ia quiet block, with good neighbours.  Not tenanted yet as it was recently built, and using corrugated iron.  I've made an offer on this property – returns are around the 7% mark.  Hoping it will get accepted.  I will be trying to get a tenant in there ASAP (prior to settlement) so I can try to get income from day one.

In my view Tamworth beats Wagga Wagga hands down from an investment perspective – I think people would prefer to live here – it's peaceful, it has enough businesses, and it seems to be growing.  I checked out both in the space of a few days.  That doesn't mean I won't invest in Wagga, I just think Tamworth is better.  Like Wagga too, Tamworth has a good, diversified industry, which keeps the economy stable and steady.

I'm flying back to Syd tomorrow.  If this investment goes well (provided offer is accepted),  I would be open to investing in Tamworth again.

Cheers,
Ajay