Bendigo contacts needed please

[Lily House]

Looks like our offer for a house in Bendigo has been accepted
(yet to sign the paperwork).

I would most appreciative if anyone could recommend any of the following, from the Bendigo region:

Building inspector.
Pest inspector.
Quantity Surveyor.

Thanks heaps.

Caroline

 

[Belu]

Hey Caroline,

Try my realestate agent, he is a good bloke:

Jesse Gardner, 0428 310 893

Where abouts did you buy? I have one in Golden Square

 

[Lily House]

Thanks Belu - appreciate that.

Quarry Hill. Best of luck with your Golden Square property.


Caroline

 

[wokka1]

Hiya, had building and pest done in June.

Building... Gary Whitfort, pm me for number ($385)
Pest... Go Pest, pm for number ($240)

Both were suggested by selling agent so I rang a completely different pest outfit and asked who they recommended for building and they gave me Gary. I then rang Gary and asked who he recommended for pest and he said Go pest. I figured that was good enough though being a country town (albeit a large one) they may all be mates anyway.

Job was done quickly and with minimal further input from myself. Reports were professional but of course had all the usual disclaimers and recommendations.

Only complaint was that I emailed Gary for a quote for some remedial work and he never got back to me. However I didn't follow up further and as my email was a hotmail account it might simply have been caught out by his junkmail filter so it may have been my blue and not his.

Wokka.

 

[Lily House]

Hey thanks Wokka,

I have actually had the two you suggested, recommended to me seperately,
so your message makes me feel more confident to use them.
I have their numbers so won't need to PM you.

I like the way you rang like that too - clever.
Thanks heaps for your reply.


Caroline

 

[Lily House]

We ended up pulling out of the contract, after the building inspection was done. Too much needed fixing and vendors would not come down in price. I'm glad we worded the contract "to buyers satisfaction" for the reports.

Now to start looking all over again - sigh.


Caroline

 

[wokka1]

Our property in East Bendigo (more correctly my partners) settled last Tuesday. Spent Wed and Frid cleaning and odd jobs, new shelf here, unstick painted over windows there etc. Always a couple of unexpected issues that are small but fiddly to fix.

Ended up using the selling agent for property management, they have lowered rental expectations since their April appraisal which is fair enough given winter tends to be a slower rental period anyway and as I said to the PM "we never base our calculations on the selling agents rental figures anyway". She kept a straight face to that. She knows how it works, we know how it works. Everybody making money. All good. I'll post updates here on the search for a tenant.

 

[mdiddy]

I recently went unconditional on a property in Bendigo as well, settles in 6 weeks. Interested to see how your rental figures ended up Wokka. Have you found a tenant? Easily?
By the way, I also used the same BI and PI guys, no problems.

 

[Belu]

mdiddy where abouts is your place?

FYI I have a place bought for $390k, renting for $320/week in Golden Square. Decent return considering it is a development block.

 

[wokka1]

. Interested to see how your rental figures ended up Wokka. Have you found a tenant? Easily?
.

The selling agents Property management dep appraised at 320 to 340 /week, two other agents appraised at high 200's. Our expectations were around the 300's.
Place was vacant for a bit less than 4 weeks but we have a tenant in at 330/wk on a 6 month lease. We would have liked 12 as the tenant has come over from England with a company job and we are thinking that they are testing the waters and if they stay in the country they will buy. All up I have to say it was vacant for longer than we expected but ended up renting for more than we expected (giving a gross yield of 6 % ish). At that yield and with fair depreciation due to a 4 year old reno the weekly out of pocket won't hurt at all.

Wokka.

 

[mdiddy]

Belu, I also bought a development block, in eaglehawk. Bought for $235k rent for $250/w. Initial enquiry has been good. May I ask what you're going to do with the development? I'm thinking about sudividing with building 'plans' and selling land (2 or 3 blocks). This could pay down existing house and turn it into +CF. Depends if there's any demand for blocks in area (nice part of eaglehawk) and what price market's going to pay.

Wokka, I've also had enquiry from people moving into the area from abroad and interstate. Seems like a trend. Thanks for your info, 6% is better than 3% or less!

 

[Belu]

mdiddy - going to subdivide, build and sell ~ 10 units on the back of the block and keep the house up front.

idea is to sell the front house, sell down the units and keep 2-3.

 

[catlib01]

Bendigo

Hi Lily House, Belu, wokka1, mdiddy,

I stumbled across this link accidentally. Currently, I am searching for an investment property in Bendigo and/or the surrounding areas.

What are your views on the following areas:

Bendigo
Eaglehawk and Long Gully (a real estate agent told me this is not an ideal area for capital growth)
Spring Gully
Golden Square
California Gully
Kangaroo Flat


Your ideas are very much appreciated.
I have done a bit of research and I know that the Victorian Government will be spending $500M for the redevelopment of the Bendigo Hospital and I thought this will be a plus for more jobs in the local area and that's how I've become interested.

I am hoping to go back to Bendigo to view more properties over the next few weeks.

Thanks in advance for any thoughts.

Catherine

 

[Lily House]

Hi Catherine,

I like - central Bendigo (walk to fountain/shops), Kennington, Quarry Hill, parts of Flora Hill, Golden Square walking distance to town (but not all of Golden Square), and areas within a few blocks (walking) to the hospital (parts of Bendigo North near the lake).

I'm not keen, generally, on Long Gully, Cal Gully or Kangaroo Flat, though these are where many of the cheaper properties are.

Eaglehawk also has a bad name, but I think this is changing. I know quite a few professional people buying properties around the lake there (that has recently had an overhaul) and doing them up. So around the lake and a block or two from the main street of Eaglehawk would be worth a look, imo.

I'm not familiar enough with the family estates located away from the city centre (inc Spring Gully etc) to comment on them.

Whatever you do, make sure you have a building inspection "to the buyers satisfaction" as part of your contract when purchasing. Many of the beautiful period homes that make Bendigo so attractive, also have a lot of hidden problems.

Best of luck with your search. Please let us know how you go.


Caroline

 

[wokka1]

Hi Catlib, to be honest the property in Bendigo has been pretty much set and forget to some degree. Aside from a couple of minor maintenance issues and one request that we don't think the PM should have even bought to our attention it has been trouble free. Lease coming up for renewal soon.

Long story short given our ~6 % rental return we are happy with the purchase in East Bendigo but haven't been following the price movements closely since and off the top of my head I can't remember the specific areas that caught our eye.

Lilys' list is a good one though, all those areas ring bells and I do remember plenty of nice areas near the lake and inner north of the city centre. You'll know when you have hit the lower socia economic areas. However depending on your investment goals (capital growth/rental return/development etc) I wouldn't rule these areas out. Some big cheaper blocks out that way and if you get one with a good house on it your rental return will be pretty good.

Regards,
Wokka.

 

[MelbInvester]

Hi All,

What about Strathdale and whitehill area?

MI