Newby Investor 250k+ to spend

Hi Everyone,

 I’m brand-spanking-new to this site and currently researching my first investment property. I’m a beginner so feel free to let me know if I’ve miscalculated/ misinterpreted anything.

 I grew up with parents that invested in property on the side as a bit of a hobby/extra income so got some great experience with the basic of buying, renovating, renting and selling. They were more focused on buying beachfront, building or renovating  luxury homes and renting them as “holiday houses”. This is not the path I’m looking at going down at this stage.

 I am also a trained Registered RE agent in NSW but only worked in the field for 9 months.  I mainly did comparative sales research and sales support during that time.

 My now Husband and I bought are first Home in an established Sydney Hills when I was 18 with a 20% deposit (lots of saving savings!).  the property needed lots of work so we’ve been slowly renovating that ourselves on the odd w/e. I’m now 22 and this is our position:

• Bank Valuation of our current home: $550,000  (though I believe the market value is above this)

• Existing Loan: $381,000

• Other debts: $0

• Combined annual income: $115k

• (plus commission’s I earn and put aside for renovations and savings for maternity leave when we start a family- so not counting towards investment)

 So we’re ready to buy our first investment and hoping to continue building our portfolio throughout our twenties and thirties.

 Being a little on the safe side I’m looking to borrow approx $259k and purchase a 250k property (plus 9k stamp duty and fees). So between our 2 properties we will have loans totaling 80% of the bank value (to avoid mortgage insurance and give us some breathing space).

 Having said that if we find a property 250k-350k we won’t rule it out if we can justify the stretch.

 This time around I am not looking for a renovators delight as I work long hours and travel OS often on projects. It needs to be rent ready apart from a fresh coat of paint and some repairs. Happy to renovate before reselling down the track though.

 I’m more focused on 3/4B homes in suburbs no more than 90minutes from a capital city. I’m confident costing upfront purchasing expenses,  market rent, ongoing expenses+ repayments and sale costs. The area I’m not so strong in is identifying suburbs that will have the best potential growth.  Based on what I do know I’ve been looking at suburbs like Willmot(Sydney), Tregear (Sydney), Norlane (Melbourne), Kariong (NSW central coast) based purely on the fact they are in my price range and have high rental yields.

 So getting to the point of this long post…….where would you buy with this budget? I’d love to hear your experiences or thoughts.