Viewing 20 posts - 1 through 20 (of 30 total)
  • Profile photo of justbeginningjustbeginning
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    @justbeginning
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    Post Count: 7

    Looking at investing in Grovedale. Any words of wisdom from people living near or who know the area well. eg areas to avoid or other recommended areas in Geelong area. 1st purchase. cheers

    Profile photo of llaurenllauren
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    @llauren
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    generally grovedale is a good place to buy/live, good areas are grovedale, belmont, hamlyn heights, highton- bad areas are, corio, norlane, and north shore, i would suggest not going into those ones

    Profile photo of Solomon10Solomon10
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    How about the suburbs around Breakwater on the Queenscliff side of Geelong? People seem to be buying up houses in Norlane/Corio/North Shore etc like crazy, they are under 200K 40 min drive to Melbourne cbd, but how long would one have to wait until gentrification begins and the bad people move out of there? Interesting gamble says i…

    Profile photo of tinamwetinamwe
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    @tinamwe
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    generally for lifestyle purposes you would avoid Corio, Norlane and Whittington as suggested by llauren, although they may prove to be a good longer term investment.

    New development in Armstrong Creek will be close to grovedale. Not sure what $ range though.

    Apartments/units near Geelong West (Pakington Street) can still be found at a reasonable price.

    Hamlyn Heights / Herne Hill / Manifold Heights – all very reasonable areas with good rental returns and demand.

    Profile photo of Jacqui MiddletonJacqui Middleton
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    If it is an investment, you are not trying to buy a place to suit your lifestyle.  It's only about the numbers.  Look at historical and projected capital growth, rental yields and vacancy rates for each of the areas mentioned.  The rear pages of "Australian Property Investor" magazine are good for this.  Also keep a close eye on a couple of areas on http://www.realestate.com.au/rent to get a feel for how long properties are taking to rent.  If no single house in an area stays on the books longer than a week, then that's a fair indicator that rental property is in demand in that area. 

    Jacqui Middleton | Middleton Buyers Advocates
    http://www.middletonbuyersadvocates.com.au
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    VIC Buyers' Agents for investors, home buyers & SMSFs.

    Profile photo of tigermigertigermiger
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    @tigermiger
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    That is very helpful JacM.
    Everyone keeps mentioning 'make sure the numbers work'. But I'm a little confused as to how to calculate my numbers.
    Is anyone able to shed any light on this formula?

    Profile photo of justbeginningjustbeginning
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    @justbeginning
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    Thanks for all the feedback. The other areas of Geelong mentioned support what I'm finding out. Having trouble finding a property where the figures work though. Bit shy of investing in the new Armstrong Creek development would like a more estalished area. Like Waurn Ponds too but everything seems a a bit pricy for the rental return once the numbers are crunched in Geelong at the moment. Keep in on my radar but looking elsewhere. Cheers everyone. 

    Profile photo of Scott.Dunstan77Scott.Dunstan77
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    @scott.dunstan77
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    Hi Just begging

    I have not started in invest yet myself so please only take my advice lightly and just has a rough guide but I have lived in Geelong my whole life, so i will suggest the areas that are considered "lower end" and some areas that seem to have high demand and are commonly have middle – upper class family's living in these areas.

    Corio: By far is lowest social economic area in geelong and just about every house here is a government commission home and are about 40 to 50 years old. It is not unusual to see houses that have been burnt down by people deliberately and the area is clearly has some very shady people living there. Saying that there are many people living in corio who i personally know who are good people and pay there rent on time and keep the property well looked after and respect it. The area is close to shops/plaza  and is about a 10 minute drive into the CBD.

    Whittington:  Whittington is like corio but not as bad. I grew up in whittington but on the better side. There are 2 sides in this area the commisson home side and the other side that has normal houses and this area seems to be growing because of the high demand for infrastructure (this area has everything – schools, shops, buses, library, medical etc) My mum brought our house 7 years ago for 230,000 and has recently been revalued at 287,000. This area like already stated is a mix or lower and middle class families.

    Leopold, Newtown, waurn ponds, east geelong: Are great areas with high demand for rental from my research especialy for new families and professional couples. Newtown is quite trendy and most likely out of your budget. I am personally planning on investing in east geelong as it falls into my mum and myself budget (joint venture). Waurn ponds and leopold are very popular suburbs in the geelong area.

    highton: is expensive and has manly established families and older people living in these areas. Therefore not a lot of demand for  tenants. Still worth a look at though.

    Bell post hill, Hamlyn heights: Are areas with a diverse range of people from different cultures. This area only has the basics such as a small supermakret, primary school and few little shops as well.

    Hope this gives you a rough idea about the area. Feel free to PM me if need be. :)

    Cheers

    Scotty

    Profile photo of Jacqui MiddletonJacqui Middleton
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    How to do the numbers?  Just find out what ALL the bills are, and work out how much each bill costs on average each week.  For example, if the council rates are $900 a year, then per week, it's $900 per week. 

    Then do this:

    Expected weekly rent
    minus
    Total of weekly bills
    minus
    How much interest you'll have to pay the bank each week

    If the result is a negative number, that will be the amount you have to put in each week for the first year.  It will reduce by about $20 a year for a house worth about $280k.  This is because you'll put the rent up each year, and eventually you will no longer contribute your own money each week.

    Jacqui Middleton | Middleton Buyers Advocates
    http://www.middletonbuyersadvocates.com.au
    Email Me | Phone Me

    VIC Buyers' Agents for investors, home buyers & SMSFs.

    Profile photo of justbeginningjustbeginning
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    @justbeginning
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    Thanks for those comments Scott.Dunstan77. Would you believe my alerts in Geelong have gone made over the last 2 days so guess who’s back looking. Looking at Grovedate at the moment and East Geelong too and Bell Park so I appreciate your comments. Any areas in Grovedale/Waurn ponds and East Geelong to avoid or any streets look better to you than others. Your feedback would be really welcome. (didn’t know what pm meant either – can you tell I’m a novice)
    Cheers :-)

    Profile photo of Scott.Dunstan77Scott.Dunstan77
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    No problem mate.

    PM by the way means private message but i dont think that they have that feature on this although i could be wrong.

    I would suggest you ring up the local real estates in geelong to find out more. although i have lived in geelong my whole life Geelong is still a big area. The real estate people (hopefully) will be able to give you more detailed advice. All i can say is avoid solar drive in whittington that street is on the commission side of the area and runs in a big loop people drag on it and there are dodgy type everywhere.

    so bottom line i guess is yeah to ring/meet local real estate agents or even perhaps just come in to geelong on a week end and ask some well thought out questions to the locals and buy them a beer or coffee in return.

    Cheers

    Scotty

    Profile photo of justbeginningjustbeginning
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    @justbeginning
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    Thanks Scotty. Haven't had much luck with the agents – haven't been helpful at all but like the local idea. Cheers.

    Profile photo of bythebaybythebay
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    Solomon10 wrote:
    How about the suburbs around Breakwater on the Queenscliff side of Geelong? People seem to be buying up houses in Norlane/Corio/North Shore etc like crazy, they are under 200K 40 min drive to Melbourne cbd, but how long would one have to wait until gentrification begins and the bad people move out of there? Interesting gamble says i…

    i have a property in corio, returning great rental with fantastic tenant, Corio just has a bad name , but as affordability declines, people dont have a choice but to buy in these areas,….The land is huge, and will fetch high prices in the future,…the potential for growth is great, close to the new avalon international airport. Its a good start for anyone wanting to start in the property market. without spending too much.

    Profile photo of bythebaybythebay
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    @bythebay
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    there are dodgy people in every suburb including the so called elite suburbs, not just corio and norlane…….Eventually these comission homes will be redeveloped, and this suburb will prosper.

    Profile photo of tigermigertigermiger
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    Profile photo of Jacqui MiddletonJacqui Middleton
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    @jacm
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    by the way i obviously intended to say; if the council rates are $900 a year, then per week, it's $900/ 52. 

    Jacqui Middleton | Middleton Buyers Advocates
    http://www.middletonbuyersadvocates.com.au
    Email Me | Phone Me

    VIC Buyers' Agents for investors, home buyers & SMSFs.

    Profile photo of bythebaybythebay
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    @bythebay
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    Solomon10 wrote:
    How about the suburbs around Breakwater on the Queenscliff side of Geelong? People seem to be buying up houses in Norlane/Corio/North Shore etc like crazy, they are under 200K 40 min drive to Melbourne cbd, but how long would one have to wait until gentrification begins and the bad people move out of there? Interesting gamble says i…

    WHY? are they buying up houses in Norlane/Corio/North Shore etc like crazy, they are under 200K 40 min drive to Melbourne cbd???

    Profile photo of Jacqui MiddletonJacqui Middleton
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    I started a thread about investing in dodgy suburbs a little while back.  People referred to valid cases such as Richmond VIC.  Once upon a time, you would not get of the train in Richmond.  No way.  Now, it's a lifestyle suburb and super expensive.   Footscray is following suit.  Even Frankston has gone up in value despite is dodgy profile.  Why?  It's commutable to the cbd for people that work in the cbd each day, and it's near the water, and has all the stuff people need – freeways, trains, shopping centres and all the rest of it.  Corio is not at all far from Geelong CBD.  The geography of that will not change.  It's not like in the future God will say "oh hang on, we're actually going to shift Corio into the desert just to upset the apple cart with investors".  Corio will always be positioned where it is, relative to the established cities of Geelong and Melbourne, and a train line which is unlikely to be torn down.  When the near suburbs fill up, the cheaper suburbs will fill the blank space currently on the map and Corio will, by sheer proximity to Geelong, polish up.  It's a given, in my opinion.

    Jacqui Middleton | Middleton Buyers Advocates
    http://www.middletonbuyersadvocates.com.au
    Email Me | Phone Me

    VIC Buyers' Agents for investors, home buyers & SMSFs.

    Profile photo of DWolfeDWolfe
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    @dwolfe
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    Post Count: 1,253

    Good points JacM!

    D

    DWolfe | www.homestagers.com.au
    http://www.homestagers.com.au
    Email Me

    Profile photo of troy6225troy6225
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    @troy6225
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    Hi guys

    I live near Geelong and have been looking around corio/norlane area and there has been a lot of re development going on in these suburbs

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