Unit in Perth or Apartment in Docklands

Hi All

I have been reading up on and researching on investment properties for about two months and believe I am ready to buy.

On the finance side of things I am pretty happy. Basically:

PPOR Worth: $400,000
Current Loan: $180,00

We are looking to spend ~$400,000 on an investment property and therefore setup something like:

PPOR Loan: $180,000
LOC: $100,000
IP Loan: $320,000 (80%)

However, I'm kinda stuck on the property selection and hoping someone could offer some advice :-)

We had a guy over tonight from MoneyChoice and he recommended to purchase a 1 bed 1 bath apartment in Docklands. 757 Bourke Street. The cost was $400,000 not negotiable. He also said that we could expect rental of $500 pw positively geared. Now i did some research online and rent in the same building/rooms is advertised as $320 and $380 pw. He highly recommended this over basically anything else......

Now, I was thinking:
There is currently 68 1 bed 1 bath apartments for sale in Docklands (too many?)
There is currently 38 1 bed 1 bath apartments for rent in Docklands (too many?)
More apartments expected to complete ~2012 (decrease value?)
Capital gains on apartments lower than units

My other option is to do it myself (scary!). My other option is too look at units close to Perth CBD either in Mount Lawley, Osborne Park, Victoria Park and the like. 2 bed, 1 bath for between $300,000 - $400,000 and rent for around $280-$380.

Another thing that makes this hard is i'm hearing/reading that the Melbourne property market is expected to increase more than Perth (Perth seems to be currently decreasing). And I read that a lot of new offices such as ANZ are opening up in Docklands......... argh!

I guess what I am after is some advice from past experience or future opinions or pros/cons, etc. I would ask some family friends, however, the only ones that seriously invest through property use Moneychoice!

Many Thanks!
Kyle

Something interesting: http://www.theage.com.au/national/melbournes-population-surge-20090701-d4vx.html

"Melbourne will add 70,000 residents each year for the next five years making it the highest urban growth area in Australia.

The population rise means Melbourne will need 29,000 new homes a year for the next five years - especially alternative housing such as houses on smaller lots, townhouses, villas and apartments."

Welcome to the forum KyleT....but Docklands? Prcie Not negotiable? Strongly recommended? Do yourself a big favour and do not let this guy back into your home again.  How much commission is he getting to flog slow moving property I wonder?
Now......
Keep up the research. 1 bedders are not in short supply in Docklands, so no rush there that's for sure!
Bear in mind, if you are a bit nervous, there are plenty of quite good opportunities at the moment that you could get into for a lot less money - although not if you have your mind set on the big city/ies.

All the best

Kyle, you need to choose your family more carefully

I would not be buying in Perth right now - IMO it still has a way to come off
Neither would I be buying in the Docklands:
- with rentals so freely available
- with so many units for sale now and still to come online
- with no ability to make yours stand out from the crowd
- as you've already identified.

But I would be buying in Melbourne or Sydney. Adelaide is OK but a lot of growth has occured, same with Brisbane. Sydney is starting to make some gains after a long flat period. Do some more research.

www.propertunity.com.au
Buyer's Agents
Investigating Opportunity in Property

Hmmm I guess you guys are right!

Does anyone know the best way for us to start looking at Sydney/Melbourne properties? Like is domain.com.au and realestate.com.au good places to look, or is there other places to look at?

I am also curious to how all the offers/paperwork/conveyancing is done due to the distance.

Cheers
Kyle

  Those two websites are the biggest in the country. In reality nothing much else amounts to anything much by comparison. Kyle, most people find the distance both in travel time, cost of flights, accom, different time zones to WA difficult to deal with when buying out of state. Then when you get to the Eastern States you don't know what the good or bad areas are anyway.
Some with the time & $s available do several trips and lots of internet research. Some develop relationships with real estate selling agents and then get trusted friends to do inspections for them. Others hire Buyers Agents like ouselves to do all that for them. It comes down to personal choice.

Until we get national conveyancing standards in this country (like road rules) each and every state & territory has their own quirky things. You don't want to be paying your Perth-based conveyancer for their education in Victorian or NSW conveyancing in my opinion. Hire a local mortgage broker by all means and you can do the conveyance remotely by e-mail / fax & post.
Cheers,

www.propertunity.com.au
Buyer's Agents
Investigating Opportunity in Property