[DaedalusMember@daedalusJoin Date: 2007Post Count: 140]

April 30, 2008 - 4:54 am

BuilderBob wrote:

YES  INCREASE THE RENT..LOL!  Thiess are desperate for accomodation and they would not dare put their  "High ranked staff " in the Mac camp.
They informed me they had 250 men starting and had 6 rooms to share..lol
I'm guessing you have Clint the forman of earth works staying there?  If so tell him he still owes my men some cartons of beer…
 

Love your work, thanks! Nope, I've got a lady from the admin section.

Daedalus.

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April 30, 2008 - 4:52 am

beamseeker wrote:

Gday,
This is my virgin visit to the forum…your a wealth of knowledge!
Have been researching a property( havent visited yet) in Nebo (4 br, 1 bath house with 3 car shed ) area as entry prices are a bit lower than Dysart which you seem to give the great wrap on. What realistic rent should I be looking for on that one you reckon?
How sure is the rumour of  Nebos 'island' town possibilties (when approx?) and how much affect do you think it would have on yields and growth, for the potential of people living in the town, could it be a negative?
Also have you heard talk of a mine opening very near to town?Thanx+Cheers!

Welcome beamseeker,

Nebo is not a place that I would invest right now. I investigated some properties for sale there in January. My guess is that they are the very same properties that you are now looking at. I drove by them on Sunday; they are still for sale, and they are still empty.

Nebo is close enough to the coast that it is feasible to live in/near Mackay and commute to Nebo to work. There is a bit of big industry setup/setting up, and yes there are a number of mines nearby, but Nebo has few indications of flow on prosperity.

The pub is nice though.

Daedalus.

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April 29, 2008 - 10:10 am

BuilderBob wrote:

Deadalus the weather should have been lovely.
Did you see the development on the left side as entering the town?

The weather was lovely one day, perfect the next

Do you mean on the east side of town (I came in from the west) – yes I saw that camp going in. Weekend accomodation isn't so difficult. I stayed at the Country Inn, only booked in about 2 weeks ago. The manager said weekdays are the problem.

Thiess is my tenant in Dysart (or an employee thereof). Looks like I might be able to negotiate a good increase at the next lease renewal…

There were a couple of places for sale by vendor in Dysart, which I thought was interesting. Not sure what that's all about, unless they are just sick of the local REA quality.

Daedalus.

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April 27, 2008 - 8:20 am

Hi Tim,

Just got back from Dysart, and it seems as bouyant as ever. Existing mines are augmenting, and there's a new mine going in to the east of the town.

I can't confirm about the subdivision rules, but can recommend Paul Ingledew (Mackay 07 4954 8535, 0419 712 277) for building inspect. I've used him twice and he does a thorough job. He teams up with Ian Chataway of Deadstop Pest Control (Mackay 07 4954 7555, 0407 759 791). They'll share a car out to Dysart to keep travel costs down.

Good luck with it,
Deadalus.

[DaedalusMember@daedalusJoin Date: 2007Post Count: 140]

April 24, 2008 - 12:24 pm

Also, the local council is pretty fussy about the type of accomodation going in. They are particularly against single person accomodation (dongas). You would find the going easier with family homes.

Daedalus

Hey BuilderBob, pity I didn't know you were in Dysart sooner, I'm going there this weekend to do some maintenance on my property there. Even with airfares and accomodation, it will STILL cost me about a quarter of the local guy's quote. We could have come to an arrangement

[DaedalusMember@daedalusJoin Date: 2007Post Count: 140]

April 24, 2008 - 11:52 am

Hi Mark,

I think building would be more expensive than you might expect. Local builders would be expensive (based on some quotes for maintenance work that I've had), and as you've read above, accomodation is tough for visiting trades.

Having said that, the established houses are pretty simple i.e. not an expensive looking design.

There are a few new houses in these towns, so somebody must be building…

Daedalus

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April 23, 2008 - 10:33 am

BuilderBob wrote:

" explosives plant looks like its back on the agenda " I was told it's a no go and never get off the ground, but with the joining of shires maybe some thing has changed?

Dyno shut the project down, but I'm told site activity never stopped. A few weeks ago I read in the press that the project was being reviewed again…. but that was a few weeks ago. There is a lot of contract pressure on Dyno to find a way to get the plant operational.

Daedalus

[DaedalusMember@daedalusJoin Date: 2007Post Count: 140]

April 23, 2008 - 9:54 am

Hi BuilderBob,

I have not researched Proserpine, but I'll look into it. Thanks for the tip mate.

Daedalus.

[DaedalusMember@daedalusJoin Date: 2007Post Count: 140]

April 23, 2008 - 9:53 am

ashara wrote:

Does anyone know about Moranbah in terms of projected capital growth and mining activities around that area?

I'm considering to buy property in Moranbah with positive cashflow. any tips in terms of what to look out for?

How accurate are the projections from Property Investor magazines?

Thanks,
Harry

Hi Harry,

Remember that they are only projections.You need to understand what assumptions they are based on.
I have a property in Moranbah, and I'm aware that there are almost ZERO rental properties available to lease at the moment. So now is a good time to get in if it suits you, because you will lock in a tenant on a long lease at positive return (presumably).

From my perspective, I'm not investing on the assumption of a significant capital growth. Sure, it might happen in the short term, and that would give a margin of safety, but significant capital growth in the long term is unlikely. However, so long as the rental yield remains high for some time (which I think is very likely), I'm happy for the property to be a cash cow.

Moranbah has the largest open cut mine in the southern hemisphere, and at least 2 other significant pits nearby. The explosives plant looks like its back on the agenda as well. All other accomodation is significantly further away from the mines than Moranbah is, and Moranbah is the biggest town in the area, with excellent services etc.

So those are some of my reasons for moranbah, but you'll need to make sure your happy with your reasoning.

All the best,

Daedalus.

PS I have developed some pretty specific opinions about ONE of the property managers in Moranbah. If you want to PM me, I'll share them with you.

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April 17, 2008 - 8:17 am

Research.

If you've built a $6M business, I don't understand why you see this as such a setback.

Daedalus.

[DaedalusMember@daedalusJoin Date: 2007Post Count: 140]

April 17, 2008 - 8:10 am

suavemechanic wrote:

i only show my tattoos to people who have tattoos and i try to only discuss investment with people who have investment property.
this policy works for me !
units can be great as a " set and forget "
 the areas you mention are full of them so some one thought it was a good idea !
good luck

I agree.

Find someone with a number of investment properties and see what they have to say. Ignore anyone who has none, including accountants and bank managers.

Daedalus.

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April 15, 2008 - 9:19 am

Hi guin_ness,

I was at the weekend too – wasn't it great? (I was the guy with his arm in a sling – it was a great conversation starter so we might have chatted )

I'd identified these towns about a week before API published on them, so by the time I acted my first 4 choices were under contract. That said, my thinking was along these lines:

1. I tried to think of resource-based activities that should be reasonably reliable for the next 50 years or so (I'm being hopeful )
2. I figured that with some minerals it might be harder to pick a winner over that timeframe. Eg metals get used for various things, and may come in and out of favour. Iron ore for example used in steel would be a good bet. But others I know less about and are more specialised eg tantalum???
3. Then I thought about coal, and the fact that even though it's got some green energy challenges, there are 2 things I'm confident about: Humans will continue to increase their energy consumption and it's unlikely that they'll come up with a more economical alternative in that timeframe.
4. So I looked at the major coal areas around the country. Those in NSW and VIC had pretty ordinary yields, but the Bowen Basin was still pretty good. Emerald had seen a bit of a boom, and I thought might flow out to nearby areas. The Surat basin south of Emerald had average yields, so I looked north.
5. Further research revealed that a lot of the coal taken from the Bowen is coking coal, which is used to make steel from iron, so that matched up nicely with my earlier conclusion about steel. Also made me feel a bit better about the green thing. The bowen basin is pretty much all coal, and it's a huge basin. I don't think they'll run out in my lifetime.
6. Then I analysed all the mines, and looked for towns with more than one mine, and more than one mine operator in the area. Then looked at the age of the mines and any activity associated with opening new mines. I gravitated towards the larger towns.

After that it was all about offers and building inspections etc. I didn't travel to see the places until after I'd bought them, so all my due diligence was remote. The good thing about these towns is that there are only about 4-6 types of house in each town, because the mining companies built them (presumably with 4-6 builders!). So I really only needed an assessment of the condition of the house to decide.

All research was on Internet, and a few phone calls to agents and councils.

I hope that helps your investment journey,

Daedalus. 

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April 8, 2008 - 10:49 am

Hi Tammy,

The furthest south that I got on my trip was Blackwater/Emerald. When I was researching those other areas last year, I found that the yields were lower than further north. At the time I thought this was because they were a bit closer to Emerald which had already boomed, and also a bit closer to the coast.

There wasn't anything that met my investment criteria, so I didn't visit. There is a bit of interesting coal seam gas mining happening in the southern parts of the basin. I'm keeping a casual eye on this.

It still comes down to the investment criteria though.

Good luck,
Daedalus.

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April 8, 2008 - 10:36 am

Hi Matt007,

I haven't been to Ayr or Townsville, so can't really offer an opinion on them.
As I understand it, a fair proportion of Bowen Basin coal goes out through Bowen, and Ayr isn't far away. If there's infrastructure development going on, that's a growth sign though…

Regards,

Daedalus.

[DaedalusMember@daedalusJoin Date: 2007Post Count: 140]

April 8, 2008 - 10:17 am

Kristy Maslen wrote:

Hello,

I am just wondering if you need some sort of permission to copy an add off realestate.com and make an example of it on your  email below?? As the owner of the property you make comment on I am not particularly happy with this and will be seeking advice as to whether this is allowed to occur….

Thanks
Kristy 

Hi Kristy,

The short answer is that I don't know if you need permission, but I doubt it. 

The information (realestate.com.au advert) is in the public domain, so I don't see why it would be immune from comment. I didn't pick on your ad in particular, it just happened to be the most recent one that I was aware of when the post was made.

The post is only my opinion, and I don't see it as particularly imflammatory. This forum is all opinion. If you disagree with mine, put yours up here. That's OK, it's what the forum is for.

I'm surprised it hasn't sold yet, as I said in my post, Middlemount is one of the nicest in the area.

All the best
Daedalus.

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March 26, 2008 - 8:52 am

The Residex Best Rents Report predicts strong growth for Liverpool units and higher than average current rental yield. There are no suburbs in the Sydney area with house rental yields and predicted growth sufficient to make it into the report.

Daedalus

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March 5, 2008 - 9:50 am

Hi,

It's easy enough to do yourself online on the ATO website. This will generate a letter to yourself and a letter to your employer advising them of the adjustment.

Here's the link : http://www.ato.gov.au/businesses/content.asp?doc=/content/00096490.htm

It's only a bit confusing the first time 

Deadalus 

[DaedalusMember@daedalusJoin Date: 2007Post Count: 140]

March 5, 2008 - 8:54 am

Thanks Bendbanks and Linar for these views.

This makes sense to me. Ben, I've sent a personal message re the services your company provides.

Thank you all for a stimulating discussion!

Daedalus.

[DaedalusMember@daedalusJoin Date: 2007Post Count: 140]

February 28, 2008 - 11:45 pm

Fair point.

I think the information that is important to me is that which helps build a profile of the tenant. Primarily I'm looking for stability and reliability. This can sometimes be indicated by patterns in work history, accomodation history, family situation etc.

In my day job I've probably hired over 100 people over the years, and there are certainly historical patterns that correspond to reliability and stabilty. Maybe its out of habit that I'd look for that in the tenancy applications. Maybe it's no big deal.

I agree that I don't need their TFN, or specific previous addresses. If I had the application I'd just ignore this anyway, so I didn't really consider those as part of the information I'd get on the application. Of course, they would be there though.

Maybe what I need to do is put together my short list of questions that the PM can answer based on the application – without revealing sensitive details…

Daedalus.

[DaedalusMember@daedalusJoin Date: 2007Post Count: 140]

February 28, 2008 - 2:55 am

JL wrote:

I have not seen any applications, I trust our PM's.  If you can't trust them with this, how are you going to trust them on inspections unless you are there. 

It's not about trustworthiness, it's about who makes an important decision about my income stream for the next 6 months or more – and what information they consider to make that recommendation. It's usually a good idea to make your own decisions about that kind of thing. If I was going to a job interview, I wouldn't send someone else in my place to sus out the prospective employer.

As far as trust goes, I don't feel the need to go on inspections to check that they tick the boxes on the form correctly. That's not a function that significantly affects the income stream. I've bought most of my investment properties sight unseen, so again, I don't think it's about trust.

Interesting point about the number of properties managed and the amount of chasing. What have you found is a good guideline? I haven't done that enough to get a good feel for it.

Thanks

Daedalus