Canberra, Yass and captains flats.

Well the little 3 bed, one bathroom house that is our current PPOR is starting to feel a bit small now that we have five young children. So we are looking to upgrade and turn this one into a rental.
Only issue is the banks like to cut servicibility when you have so many kids. So we are exploring our options.
We could buy something that would suit us in captains flats, but the concern is that commute for my hubby into Canberra every day for work. Yass is a similar issue, only prices are higher there. But we could buy some land in Yass, paying off completely in the next three years or so and then build on it.
Does anyone here do this commute?
The other options are to save for another three or four years (hoping prices don't increase in the.meantime) so that we have enough of a deposit to buy something suitable in Canberra.
Or save for two years and buy an investment property that would be suitable for us to live in, and rent it out for a year or two (claiming back stamp duty etc) before we move into it.

Of course we could always buy the property in captains flat, live there for the next five years saving for something in Canberra, but reselling the captains flats house wouldn't be as easy, and it wouldn't make a very good investment property.

Just not sure what to do, and the market around here lately has got me scratching my head, especially for the type of property we are looking at. I'm not really sure what it's doing.
Any advice, thoughts, would be welcome. We would be willing to sell up our current PPOR and investment if it would make a difference, but given our issue is servicibility it really won't change much (I estimate there is only about $100k equity in them in this current market), so we would be better off keeping them if at all possible.
 
I have a friend who commutes from Collector. They've been out there about 8 years and I think they are starting to find it quite tiring, particularly as the kids have got older and they are coming in on weekends for sport as well.

What sort of price range you looking at?
 
Our serviceability maxes out at around 500k. Most of the places that tick all our boxes (min 4 bed, preferably 5 or 6; 2 bathrooms, 2 living areas, space for my business, etc) are starting at around the 600+k mark in the cheaper suburbs in Canberra. So we would have to wait and save up some more to achieve that. We are serviceable for a bit more for an investment, because of the extra rental income.

I like the idea of land banking and building my dream home once the land is paid off - but obviously would need to be across the border for that. :/
 
There's always Queanbeyan, not that far across the border. I don't know how prices here are though. New Tralee will be coming on the market shortly.

We had our block for a few years before we built.
 
My brother in law bought a 5 bedroom, 2 bathroom place in Tarago for under $400k. It's on 100 acres.

It's about 50 mins to Canberra - about 20 mins or so to Bungendore. Goulbourn isn't too far either.

Cheers

Jamie
 
Would you be happy with any of the schools in these areas? Or would you need to bring the kids into Canberra too? I imagine that would get annoying very quickly.
 
For what it's worth yass is a beautiful town and has a good school. Lots of people communicate to Canberra for work. - take a drive and check it out.
 
Goulburn - you will get something very very nice for $500k

I have done the goulburn to Canberra work/travel thing. Goulburn also has a pretty good community feel to it and I found facilities/services better then I expected them to be. The schools were good too ( private ones)
 
Goulburn - you will get something very very nice for $500k

I have done the goulburn to Canberra work/travel thing. Goulburn also has a pretty good community feel to it and I found facilities/services better then I expected them to be. The schools were good too ( private ones)
Saw on the Canberra news tonight that Goulburn was voted 8th best family friendly NSW suburb .... no Canberra suburb got a mention in the RP Data report.

Just to add to Gorrillas information ..... $500k in Goulburn would buy a beautiful home. For mid $300k you would get a large 4 bed place on a decent block in town with character .... If new house and land is more your style then new housing estates are expanding constantly.

You would also find some very reasonable properties on development blocks to enable you to add value. We have just received DA approval for a sub-division.

We only paid lowish $200k for our 3 bedder old shop residence and when I've finished the reno and converted to a 4 bed, then I believe the value of our place will be valued at around $350,000 easily, so some brilliant value adding equity coming up .... and that's not including the equity from the new build.

My wife and I often drive to Bowral, Berrima, Moss Vale or Robertson for lunch as it is only a 45mins to an hour drive. Sydney airport about one hour forty minutes ... Goulburn is very central.

The main street has quite a few empty shops, but that's the same even in Manuka ... Many schools in town and they all seem to have a good reputation. Facilities are good ... Hospital, medical ... no shortage.

I travel to Canberra usually once a week for business, but many Canberrans commute daily (many car pool).... Just put the car on cruise control and relax ... 45-50 minutes to Watson.

Goulburn property market seems to achieve positive annual growth. It doesn't seem to boom, but the annual growth is excellent. We've lived here for 14 months now and really enjoy it.

I could go on, but you get the drift.

Good luck in your search.

Mystery
 
Personally, I wouldn't be doing the commute. Not only is it an hour plus each way to Goulburn, the fuel bill would be quite big. I figure 14c/km for a 1.7l car, even before car depreciation, wear and tear, tyres and maintenance. Goulburn at 91km to Civic = $127pw, Yass = $83.

There are places in Canberra or Queanbeyan which would fit your criteria, without the commute.

Would renting in Canberra be an option? It would be cheaper than buying and would save you a lot in commute time and money.
 
Personally, I wouldn't be doing the commute. Not only is it an hour plus each way to Goulburn, the fuel bill would be quite big. I figure 14c/km for a 1.7l car, even before car depreciation, wear and tear, tyres and maintenance. Goulburn at 91km to Civic = $127pw, Yass = $83.

There are places in Canberra or Queanbeyan which would fit your criteria, without the commute.

Would renting in Canberra be an option? It would be cheaper than buying and would save you a lot in commute time and money.
I get your point Geoff, but a fact often overlooked is that you can buy a house for half the cost in Goulburn to those in Queanbeyan, Canberra or Yass..... Okay you have the daily commute, but you have a lot of spare money to pay for fuel when you are saving $200,000 plus on purchase price and mortgage repayments by buying in Goulburn... Just saying.

I agree that if Rugrat can afford buying in Canberra it is probably the best option for her family, but not everyone can afford it. Property is very expensive. Sometimes it's an option to buy further out in the house that fit's your needs and work your way back in at a later date ..... Like we used to have to do in our younger days ... :)

Best of luck with the search and decision.

Mystery
 
Friends of ours bought in Captain's Flat a few years ago. They told us it was peaceful, quiet, safe, cheap and their own little hideaway.

They were back in town in less than two years. The commute damn near killed them. They said it was OK for a while, but it got to the point of just being tiring and annoying, especially in winter. Losing almost 2 hours per day apparently sucked.

I'd be looking at Queanbeyan first - great town, closer to the centre of Canberra than lots of Canberra, cheaper than Canberra.

The Yass, then Goulburn.
 
With Captains Flat you would have the additional commute of children's' activities and education in Canberra/Queanbeyan.
 
Look around the Tuggers region? There are 4 beddies around high 400's/low 500's. The place I'm boarding with at the moment in Gowrie will be put on the market shortly, 4 beds/1 ensuite/1 bathroom/1 garage for $520k on a so-called 700m block (but it's tiny IMHO...their 700m2 is smaller than my 700m2 in Sydney).
 
I like Goulburn, but we have decided the commute from there is simply too far.
There are places we could buy in Canberra, but it would mean compromising on some of my 'wants'. The question is whether or not its worth compromising on those things to be in Canberra, if we can get exactly what we want just a little further out. Haven't made up my mind entirely about that yet. (apparently I have expensive tastes, and I don't see the point of upgrading unless it is a 'real' upgrade).

We don't want to rent. I hate being a tenant, I don't particularly like dealing with landlords or PM's (oh, the irony :p ), especially with two dogs, two cats and five kids. Plus the cost of renting is better put into saving for our own bigger home of own. Our current one might be tiny, but at least if my kids destroy it, I don't have to try and explain it to anyone else.


Either way we came to a semi-decision. We've decided to look into buy a nice block of land out at Yass and paying it off in the next few years; and then when it is paid off we can make that decision about whether to build our 'dream' home out in Yass or to sell the block and use the proceeds towards a house here in Canberra. It won't be income producing, but it will get us a leg into that higher priced market and at the least we will come out of it with a block of land we wouldn't have if we'd saved the same money in our redraw on our current PPOR.
 
Have you thought of extending the existing house?
A block at Moncrief which will be released in June 2014.
Buy a cheap one at established suburb and rent out initially then knock down rebuild or extend.

Not much saving to commute to Yass if you count your time and fuels.
For kids' education, I would prefer to stay in Canberra.

Good luck.
 
Yeah, our PPOR doesn't really have much options by way of adding extensions. We have considered doing that to our investment property - building a second story on it. But that will be our fall back plan failing all else.
 
Friends of ours bought in Captain's Flat a few years ago. They told us it was peaceful, quiet, safe, cheap and their own little hideaway.

They were back in town in less than two years. The commute damn near killed them. They said it was OK for a while, but it got to the point of just being tiring and annoying, especially in winter. Losing almost 2 hours per day apparently sucked.

I'd be looking at Queanbeyan first - great town, closer to the centre of Canberra than lots of Canberra, cheaper than Canberra.

The Yass, then Goulburn.

For me I like CF, but first you need the car with a big bullbar on it and good lights as there are so many roos/wildlife on that road during the twilight hours.

I've hit one. Ouch.
 
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