Sorry I’ve asked duplex related questions before.. Don’t mean to be repetitive I’m just a bit unsure..
I just put a .25% deposit on a brand new duplex for $900k in Sydney.. I am on a 5 day cooling off and my mind is playing games on me now. (When I say duplex I mean half of the pair. )
So I’m thinking, would I have been better off with an older house in the same area? An older house that’s good enough live in but could use a bit of work? Older house would sell between $850 – $950k .
Its strange in area new duplexes are fetching close to old house prices.My plan is to sell this duplex in about 5 to 10 years lets say. Will my duplex be worth similar to the older house at that time? Similar ratio as of now I mean..
Here is how I’m thinking..
If I buy an old house now and live in it and don’t spend any money on it. In 5 to 10 years when I go to sell, I’m selling an old house. It was an old house when I bought it and is an old house now.
But with a Duplex. I buy a -NEW- duplex now and in 5 to 10 years when I go to sell I’m not selling a NEW duplex I’m selling an OLD duplex in competition with new duplexes on the market..
So it’s old house now, Sell old House later
v
New Duplex now, sell -OLD- Duplex later.
How does this compare? Am I really over thinking all this by calculating it this way? I want to make the best family home investment possible..
-Frank
Hi Frank,.
Sorry, I thought I had replied to this – in short though, I prefer an older house to a duplex. I am also struggling to get my head around a purchase price of $950k – that just seems insane to me, but then I have only ever bought in Brisbane and surrounds.
Steve would say “Buy problems and sell solutions”. In buying a newly built house, you are buying a solution. As you said, in ten years you will be selling an old duplex, but if it is in a good area (I’d hope so, for that amount!) then it will still have lots of value.
But, what if you bought an old house instead for $850k? Will it have bigger land? You will have saved $100k that could go toward a reno, and/or it might even take the sting out of sub-dividing the block and selling or building on the back of the block (??) Again, it depends on you, your skills, your goals, and your serviceability.
A house puts a few more metres between you and your next door neighbour too – unlike a duplex, where they pretty much share your land. Let’s see what others think,
Benny
PS I don’t know who is marketing the duplex sale, but have you used the “cooling-off” time to check for other comparables? i.e. is that purchase price “about right” for that area of Sydney? Or are most other duplexes less costly, and by how much? If the latter, have a careful look at whether you really do want to go ahead after all…. How much would you save by buying through another marketer? ;) Have you done your due diligence on the company selling these?
PPS I thought I had answered it previously – about three weeks ago, here:-
https://www.propertyinvesting.com/topic/5034548-semi-duplex-v-house-cg-rate-same-or-different/Your question was slightly different, but the basic tenet is the same.
Generally speaking, I would prefer an old house rather than a new duplex (or even a new house for that matter) every day of the week.
Why? Because I can renovate an old house. So for an investment of say 10% I can increase its value by 20-30% today instead of waiting how many years for the market to do the same gain?
Ethan Timor | Aligned Finance Pty Ltd
http://www.alignedfinance.com.au/
Email Me | Phone MeActive Investor & Broker; Based in Northern NSW, servicing Australia wide; Author of '34 Proven Ways to Maximise Your Borrowing Power' (download free from our website)
Definitely usually better to go old on a larger land size with some opportunity to add value,
hope you are able to make the decision
all the bestLuke Taylor | Hope Property Investing
http://hopepropertyinvesting.com
Email MeProperty Support,Strategist and Buyers Agent
You must be logged in to reply to this topic. If you don't have an account, you can register here.
