Chinchilla or Toowoomba

[jameso]

I would avoid harlaxton, Wilsonton, rockville, Newtown, Harastown,

good areas are rangville, centenary heights, middle ridge, glenvale,MT Lofty,Hodgsonvale,

kingsthrope is about 15mins west of toowoomba and is doing very well

Im not an investor but I lived there for 20 years and lots of friends and family do well in those suburbs, and others have many woes with their rentals in the first list, also avoid any street with alcohol in the name, wine dr, port ave, champagne ave, I cant remember the suburb name but its crime central.

cheers James

 

[mrsdawnrazor]

I have a rental in Newtown - Lots of rent growth in past 5 years and 'touch wood' never had a problem tenant. Cashflow +ve in 2 years and I am now starting to see capital growth too. Its not necessarily the suburb, just the part of the suburb. Stay off the main roads - and there are some nice bargains to be had

 

[Jenko]

Hi guys just wanted to get some feedback on this property maybe someone has looked at it in the past ? http://m.realestate.com.au/property-house-qld-chinchilla-111845743 . We have a contract in on it. It's well out of the flood zone. I managed to get a flood map from the council ( did come with a disclaimer) if any one wants it send me a PM and I can email it. I think Chinchilla has good potential (hopefully I'm not wrong) I have a few other properties throughout qld so I'm willing to take a bit of a risk. Chinchilla has a tight rental market and rents are on the rise. With the gas, coal, construction, agriculture & infrastructure makes me quite confident. Any feedback good or bad would be appreciated. Thanks in advance.

 

[Player]

What are the bad and good suburbs in Toowoomba? Any areas to be avoided?

Jameso and mrsdawnrazor have pretty much covered it.

I am not an expert in Toowoomba by any means. I had a look at a few there last year and have visited the place a few times. It's a really, really nice city. There are some streets in Wilsonton (to the north) that are the "wine streets", they are an eye opener. I personally wouldn't buy there, however there are others that have a different risk profile to me.

As Jameso mentions the suburbs on the ridge and to the east are very nice. For me they would be PPOR suburbs, not necessarily investment areas. I imagine that yield would be lowest in the blue chip eastern suburbs.

I actually do like Newtown, especially the stuff close to the large shopping centre (Clifford Gardens). I missed a duplex (separate titles) there last year due to being too slow that sold on & 7+ % yield walking distance to the shopping centre and bus hub.

The areas around Kearney's Springs and the Uni would have decent demand for students. I haven't looked for IP's there for a while as I am focusing on different assets. If I have any funds left over, I would buy there in a heart beat. It holds its own as a regional city however has enough exposure (without the single industry risk) to milk any upside from mining/energy. The numbers to buy in are also small compared to Brisbane.

 

[INVSTOR]

Hi guys just wanted to get some feedback on this property maybe someone has looked at it in the past ? http://m.realestate.com.au/property-house-qld-chinchilla-111845743 . We have a contract in on it. It's well out of the flood zone. I managed to get a flood map from the council ( did come with a disclaimer) if any one wants it send me a PM and I can email it. I think Chinchilla has good potential (hopefully I'm not wrong) I have a few other properties throughout qld so I'm willing to take a bit of a risk. Chinchilla has a tight rental market and rents are on the rise. With the gas, coal, construction, agriculture & infrastructure makes me quite confident. Any feedback good or bad would be appreciated. Thanks in advance.

I have an old school friend who lives in chinchilla. She is also an investor and considers it has great potential. I gave her this link a couple of weeks ago. Hopefully she'll drop in some time as she's very knowledgable on the area, PM's, etc.

 

[strongy1986]

All I'll say about it is when I was looking about 18 months ago you could get a 3 bedroom weatherboard for about 180 - 200
So anyone who bought then has made a fairly reasonable gain considering similiar houses are now 300

Is this correct or is my memory playing tricks?

 

[Jenko]

Hi Ben, did you end up buying in Chinchilla when you where looking?

 

[strongy1986]

Hi Ben, did you end up buying in Chinchilla when you where looking?

No I was really just looking.

I was in between jobs (accountant to electrical apprentice...)
So had no job lined up or way of getting a loan.

Also I didn't know to much about property then at the time I was looking for a ppor on the peninsula. Anyway I was going on a holiday to Vietnam and the plain was delayed so I started flicking through your investment property in the newsagent in the airport and noticed lots of ads about chinchilla. I had a look on the net and remember some properties about the 190 mark. There was one in king street which looked pretty good from memory. At the time I figured that I had missed the boat because it was in a magazine!

However now I think about it, property is a much slower moving market than the stock market ( which I was already involved in) and there are only so many people ready to buy at one time and in the case of mining towns who have the balls to buy!

Interestingly the price of the estate homes looks to remain unchanged

 

[House Hunter]

I have been looking at Toowooomba for awhile now and it does appear that the market is starting to move. I am looking at purchasing an IP in Newtown, South Toowoomba or Harlaxton purely for better yields. Can anyone recommend a good conveyancing solicitor and building inspector in Toowoomba? Jenko, Could you please send me through a copy of the flood map you acquired from council?
Cheers

 

[TMNT]

Any reason why toowoomba is more expensive then Ipswich,

Is it because of the spill over effect from the Surat and chinchilla?

 

[Jenko]

Because the last couple years lots of people have been saying its a great place to invest?

 

[andrew81k]

Toowoomba is a far safer bet. You won't see the yields of Chinchilla, however nor will you see the volatility that can occur with smaller mining reliant towns. Toowoomba holds it's own as it has numerous industries and a population of circa 150,000 that provides critical mass. It services those Surat towns and possibly has some workers raising family in Toowoomba whilst doing weekly or fortnightly stints at the mines and coming home to family for similar time periods.

Others may disagree with me, however Toowoomba has a lot more going for it. Yields will be circa 5-7% depending on the calibre of suburb and type of dwelling.

I would have to agree with "Player". Toowoomba is a much safer, and in my mind a better bet.

 

[INVSTOR]

Any reason why toowoomba is more expensive then Ipswich,

Is it because of the spill over effect from the Surat and chinchilla?

Gosh, I remember when my friend sold her old wooden house at Toowoomba for $40,000 to buy a brick house at Woodridge for $80,000.

 

[Ninobart]

What's everybody's opinion about Westbrook it's only a few minutes down Gore Hwy. developers are selling H&L packages on fairly big blocks. What would be a better performer a brand new house in Westbrook or something older in toowmba itself.

 

[mikezen]

I would personally stay closer in for obvious reasons, I can't comment on handl as I have had no experience w them, but would avoid them in this market. I recently purchased in toowoomba not far from the city and am looking at a 8-9% yield, there r some good buys ATM, go in low and maybe you will be surprised

 

[rayjan]

hi,

i am hoping to hear from anyone that has some idea about the Surat Basin Region in QLD,in particular Chinchilla which is experincing a boom from LNG drilling.....

I am looking at investing in a house , roughly around the $420k mark returning about $700 per week in rent.

my concern is, have i missed the boat in a booming LNG area of Chinchilla?

what are peoples thoughts on chinchilla, or should i cast my eyes on Toowomba?

many thanks,
kk

KK, I have a rental in Chinchilla and would be interested to know where the $7oo a week rent is? As far as CG goes I paid $225 8yrs ago and just had a valuation done for refinancing and it came in at $400. Rent is certainly not $700 p/w but has never been empty in 6yrs of having it rented.

 

[CKR]

Best Investment Suburb in Toowoomba

Hi All,
This forum is very useful. Thank you all.
I live in Sydney. I am the first time investor and picked Toowoomba region to invest for its diversity, compared to Chinchilla. Now what is driving me nuts is which Suburb I need to pick. I have read many blogs to gain the insights on surrounding suburbs, compared every suburb with key indicators like DSR ratio, avg CG, Rental yields, suburb discount, day on market, etc., and finally confused in picking the best one. I understand the reasons behind desirable suburbs Vs non desirable.

I have below two choices to pick. I would like to pick your brain and advise as well as I my brain stopped working as I might be thinking too much on this.

One: Off the plan Two Bed Room Town house in Kearney Springs (Cnr of Nelson St and West St) very close by Uni. 10mts drive to Towoomba CBD.
Purchase prices 313K. Stamp Duty: 10K. My research shows weekly rent $320 PW ?. Body Corp fee is $1450 per anum. Research shows this suburb is steady winner....

Second one (Very attractive but is it worth investing based on Suburb nature):-

House + Land package - Single Level - Duplex pair - 3 Bed 2 Bath 1 Car each side, total 6b 4b 2C) in Harlaxton (9 Castello St, just above Kelly St (Next to Harlaxton Blocks Park, left).
Total Purchase price:- $571K (inclusive of land price $179K). Stamp duty $5K only on land value. Once build is done, I will have house registered in two separate titles. Gives immediate $80K equity on property. Sounds great. but what is driving me nuts here is Suburb is not in desirable locations due to low socioeconomic factors and housing commission houses. I called up at the least local 5 real estate agents, 4 of them told not to invest, one of them told, it is just perception, you may do it.... Estimated weekly rental here is $320-340 PW each side, total $650 around. Is easy rent in this suburb? Research shows this suburb picked up very well in last 12 months. Can we think this suburb is at Alarm Clock 6 and about to pick up ...?

Trust me if this option could have been in Kearneys Springs or any other locations, I would have grabbed it next second..... Sorry to write big one... I really appreciate your thoughts ......
Thank you in advance.

 

[Roachy]

Yeah Harlaxton is a dodgy area, but the second deal sounds OK (not that good) to me.

Another possibility is buying a house on 1/4 acre (in suburbs like Kearney Spring, Rangeville, East Toowoomba) and building a duplex at the back. Or another house. Or destroying the house and building a triplex. The ideas are endless.

Yes, you would need to do all the DA work, but Toowoomba City Council has relaxed it rules in regards to dual occ etc, and thus it shouldn't be too much of a problem. Perhaps 6 months.

 

[Roachy]

Or buy this and do a 50k reno on it?

http://www.realestate.com.au/property-duplex+semi+detached-qld-rangeville-115866727

 

[Jenko]

I can't remember where I read it but there was an article saying Toowoomba could be heading down Mackay and Gladstone's path of over supply! I'd look into a bit more if I was you.