In exciting news Hubby and I have just acquired our first investment property!
I have a passion for property and fresh out of school I gained my Real estate agent registration and working in the industry for a time.
So here are the details of our little Gem….
The Location:
Muswellbrook, a mining town In the Upper Hunter Valley NSW only 3 hours from Sydney and 1.75hrs from Newcastle.
A great deal of growth is in the cards for this area with planned expansion of the coal mines, new commercial developments and a power station due to be built. These projects span at least 10 years into the future and will see thousands and workers needing rental accommodation.
The vacancy rate is less than 1% being the best in 25 years. The demand will begin to increase in the first quarter of 2012 as will the rental prices.
The property:
Property size: 696 sqm
Bedrooms: 3 (with plenty of room for a 4th)
Bathrooms: 1 (with the opportunity for a 2nd)
Garage: single car garage with access to the rear yard and extra workspace.
Features: In ground concrete swimming Pool, covered BBQ area, Air conditioning to the lounge and master bedroom, build in Robes to all bedrooms.
The Numbers:
Purchase price: 195kRenovation budget: 20-25k
Anticipated rent: $375 p/w
Weekly mortgage repayments: $216 (20% deposit + renos not borrowed)
$304 (if we had borrowed 100% plus renos)
Rental yield: 8.86% pa (including renovations)
The Auction:
We decided before the Auction that 235k would be our maximum bid. If we could buy it for this price we’d feel it was a good purchase.
despite having a good agent on the case, Being a mortgagee sale there was no marketing budget and the home was only advertised for less than a month before the auction date. This was a month of rainy winter weekends.
There were a few other interested buyers at the auction BUT they all were waiting on finance approval they scrambled, but failed to arrange before auction day. Therefore they could bid as they had no means of paying the 10 % deposit.
We had reached the trifecta! A mortgagee sale, No other buyers in a position to purchase and an Auction day (meaning we could exchange contracts and make the deposit on the day with no risk of being gazumped).
The agent again took us through the property with us feeling cautiously excited.
The auction started with our first bid (I chose to start very low rather than allowing the vendor bid to set the starting line), the auctioneer added a vendor bid, we made another (cheeky) bid and the property was passed in under reserve. Off the agent went on the phone to the mortgagee’s representative to see if they would entertain our final bid. And hey presto the property was ours for only 195k! that’s 35k UNDER reserve and 40k under our maximum.
5.5 years ago the property was purchased for $215k by the previous owners. And a few doors up a year ago this weatherboard house sold for 260k.
The street has recently been extended with new homes being built and fetching 375k+ So we’re pretty stoked with our first investment purchase.
My website recommendations
To search properties available on the market, sales history and properties for rent.
More detailed sales and rental histories
A basic negative gearing calculator to help you to estimate how much a property will make you or cost you.
Suburb profiles for median house prices, historical growth and demographics
A little inspiration from a guy who’s build a large profitable portfolio with a positive gearing strategy
