Norseman

http://www.walkabout.com.au/locations/WANorseman.shtml

I’ve been lookin at this little mining town area myself, population currently around 800.

Hi Byronent,

After reading the council’s article I’m not altogether convinced I’d buy a house there but winning that raffle sounds pretty good to me – definitly +ve CF! I wonder if they are still going to run it…

Regards,
Sonja

Hello Byronent,
A while back I got a bit excited about a $30K property in Norseman bringing in apparently $100/week . When I spoke to agents there ( well Esperance actually ) they said likely to sit on empty property for quite a while .
No I’m right thanks.
Happy New Year but.
Cheers,
MLV

MLV

I’m also attracted to Norseman by the cheap prices and high ‘expected’ rents.
Why walk away from this town? What makes it worse than any other?

My parents are both from Norseman and my Grandmother ran the local pub for years. Iv’e grown up on stories of the town.

First off – Jul’s Im sorry but if you’ve never been there then ask how you can make such a judgement. If your comments were purely based on an investment decision then fair enough but as for a general opinon of Norseman – its just a bit too harsh.

The town itself is one of the last true-blue tiny towns and is rich in Australian History. I’d go as far as saying it’s unAustralian to speak so ill of it

The people that came from there during the boom time are a fantastic bunch of men and women who would do alot more, even now, for their former neighbours and residents than us of whom call the modern day suburb our home.

It still is a wonderful place – if your looking for hustle, bustle and a bunch of plastic entertainment – bypass it. Norseman provides a rare glimpse of Australia in the early days and is a true icon of our state, not some fast-food tourist mecca.

As for investment – The town is really underpinned by the Gold Mine run by Croseus. Unfortunately the mine is now administration due to what locals are saying was some dubious management decisions. That one site really supports the town and with that in administration people have literally shut up shop and walked. I thought the shops we just closed because they are still fully equipped and looks as if someone will be there to turn the closed say to open and all is running.

But id say 30% of the shops there were like this (keep in mind there’s probably only 10).

I was considering an investment there myself because I just wonder what will happen to the mine with the price of gold the way it is.

byronent – perhaps try researching the mine itself. If it has legs and can still produce the level of gold it was possible of, and it was bad management to blame and not a bad underlying site, the story may have a few new angles.

Id say its a high risk investment move in any case. But as for those so quick to cast a stone against the town – perhaps its worth going there first or grabbing a history book.

I’ve some best friends that come from Norseman, 3 brothers who grew up there. I’ve been there a few times and with all due respect to my mates, i don’t think much of the joint. A real one horse town… and it is seriously far away.

I wouldn’t buy there for all the tea in china. My mates have all left and don’t think there’s much future in the place… even with the price of gold being what it is.

Here’s a funny story: My mates family come from holland to begin with. When they arrive at fremantle all those years back they made a choice, either go to the booming gold town of norseman, or to the booming asbestos town of Wittenoom (spelling?). God knows why they chose between these 2 towns as there were probably about 50 booming lil towns around the place at the time? But any way they chose between them and picked Norseman because my mates great grandmother thought it was pretty on the map and had lots of lakes like they have in Holland. They thought it would be really beautiful just like back home. When they go there, here was this dusty town on the edge of the nullabor surrounded by bloody salt lakes. HA!!! What a bummer![baaa]

Cabo Wabo

Hi,
I can remember going through Norseman in 1991 and stayed for week as my wife and I were travelling Australia at the time and me being a carpenter got a weeks work in town, could have got more as town had no builder, but I have to admit, we couldn’t wait to go to Esperence.
Town was in the doldrums then and I couldn’t believe how cheap the houses were at 2-3 k range, could have bought them with my credit card, in fact I was gobsmacked when I befriended the caravan park owners son and he showed me his house he just bought for 2k. He was paying it off, can you believe it.
I still think about those 50k houses in Esperence with water views we could have bought as we owned our house in Brisbane worth 150k at the time.
Looking back could be very rich if I had property investing on my mind at the time, fond memories of Norseman anyway.

Don

djr