Defence Dept Housing

Out of interest I was wondering has anyone been looking at or invested in Defence Dept. housing where they lease back the property for a number of years, they do all the maintenance for you but charge you 16.5% in fees. The houses are usually pretty new and its nice to know you don't need to look for tenants, although the returns seem pretty low. It would be interesting to hear from anyone who has gone down that path.

Cheers

some people on this forum have so do a search for it.
Overall it depends on whether you are looking for a passive or active investment.

The one you mentioned is passive-do nothing low returns low yield. Structured for mum/dad investors.

Active investments involve some work and more knowledge on your part and can be higher risk (if you lack the knowledge) but offer better yields and returns.

There is no right answer and only you can decide on what strategy is best for you.

I personally would never buy them and feel like I know enough to make money now in real estate instead of sitting and waiting

If you do search the forum, look for "DHA" or "Defence Housing Authority".

I've had one for 10 years, and is has performed on par with other Canberra properties- according to the Residex report I received yesterday, 7% PA growth fairly consistently for the last 10 years.

Xenia said:

never buy them and feel like I know enough to make money now in real estate instead of sitting and waiting

Click to expand...

What's wrong with sitting and waiting?

I had one for 3 years.

Good growth, fair returns. (Got a review yearly with an "independant" (paid for by them) assessor evaluating market rent. As it went up every year, I had no compliants.

Although, as another poster pointed out, I think "bargain hunting" if you know what you're doing will give you a better CG returns. When I did it, I thought they charged 12.5% management fee. Has it gone up in the last 5 years?

You will find that ones for sale that are already owned by an investor will be cheaper than buying direct from DHA.