Croydon VIC

[dolce00vita]

Hi I am thinking of buying a 3 br unit in Croydon near the Croydon park/Swinburne Uni. Does anyone has any experience in buying in Croydon/surrounding areas? Anything to share?

Think it's a nice area, though a bit too far from city. I wonder what will it be in the next 5 years...

 

[Dis]

I cant be too specific other than to say that some parts of Croydon are "nice" with others are....not. It has pockets with very different characteristics.

Some of the shop keepers are fed up with the drug activity happening on Main street.

When deciding what to pay, bear in mind what pocket you are buying into (and what tenants you may attract).

 

[The Y-man]

My personal preference for the area would be a house with as much land as possible (assuming affordability). You may need to get a realtively old dump that needs a bit of work, but my suspicion is that this will hold greater longer term gains.

The Y-man

 

[dolce00vita]

Thanks for the inputs.

I quick like the area, lots of green area, but have never wondered around after dark. Drug activities, sounds pretty scary to me.

I intend to buy the unit behide the Swinburne campus and opposite the Croydon park. It's a block of 30 over units, the one I'm interested in is a standalone one in the middle. Asked price around 290k, 8 yrs old. Is it worth going?

 

[The Y-man]

30 is a lot in a block. If there is anything we probably would try to avoid if we had our time again is buying into any block greater than 10.

Chreers,

The Y-man

 

[Kristine..]

Hi Dolce

Firstly, I have lived in this area since 1981 and owned and operated two businesses in Croydon, one on Mt Dandenong Road (five years) and one in Main Street (five years).

With both businesses I have often worked until quite late at night and returned to my car alone, which was often parked some distance away. I have never seen any evidence of drug dealings and I challenge any area to say that it is drug free.

Properties which I own in the Croydon and Kilsyth areas have all shown significant capital growth and none of them have ever been empty for any undue period of time. I earn an excellent Internal Rate of Return on all properties

It all comes down to what you, personally, want out of an investment.

Norton Road is a good street, open and with good sight lines. Buying in a 'village' type development is neither here nor there. The villages in Hamilton Road, Bayswater have all shown considerable growth despite being Mission Brown! The villages along Lincoln Road are tightly held and highly sought after. I have customers sprinkled throughout the area and all seem to be growing equity at a respectable rate and achieving relative market rents.

There is no such thing as a perfect property, and a good deal will be a great deal in a year or so. The most important deal, however, is the one with your name on it. If you like this unit, then go for it

Just for the sake of mentioning it, I bought a concrete block unit in Kilsyth last December for $145,000 and without doing anything to it - nothing - it was valued at $185,000 in May this year. Now that the renovations are finished I am about to have it valued again and I expect CMV to be about $215,000. As usual I have no money in the deal so the Internal Rate of Return is gazzillions of percent! If you are buying for $290,000 in a decent development, close to the Main Street and all the other neighbourhood amenities you will probably be paying fair market value

Good luck

Kristine

 

[Melb Wildcat]

In regard to the drug activity on Main St I believe that most of it is now gone. The police have and continue to patrol this area on a regular basis. The police station is located pretty close to Mian St too. The area just needs to get past its past repuattaion of drugs and bashings at the train station. I read an article in the paper a few days ago Croydon, heathmont and Rowville all increased between 12 and 20% in the June quarter. I have just bought in nearby Bayswater so it should be interesting, especially with the freeway.

 

[JamesGG]

Hiya,

I live in Croydon, and have been in and around the area all my life (apart from one breif stint in outback Queensland, when I was too young to know or care about property prices!).

Drugs are still an issue in most of that area; Ringwood, Croydon, Mooroolbark, Lilydale. Similar story down the Belgrave train line as well, Bayswater, Boronia, Ferntree Gully in particular. I remember about a year ago, I had to take a train somewhere while my car was out of action. Sitting and waiting in one of the covered seats at Croydon, a syringe fell on my head. Haven't sat under one of those since (nor have I taken many trains, either, but that's a lifestyle choice).

However, these are focussed mainly around the train stations and a handful of smaller pockets (eg, around the Glen Park Road / McDonalds area in Bayswater). There are very nice parts in all of those suburbs, Croydon included, and there are likely to be people doing things you don't approve of in just about every town.

As far as that particular suburb goes... As Kristine suggested, there are village-like streets in and around Lincoln Road that could be worth looking at. Croydon Hills and Croydon North are also often seen in a better light than the main suburb, but again; execptions to every rule.

Norton Road area is one of those middle band locations; nothing overly special, but not complete scum. There are some very nice walking tracks and parks nearby, and the TAFE and proximity to transport is an obvious plus. Traffic on a weekend is chaotic due to the athletics track, but otherwise nothing too much out of the ordinary to comment on.

The new tollway will also bring Croydon that little bit closer to the city, although I do wonder if some of that growth has already occured in anticipation.

Having said all of that, though; it all comes down to the deal. Does it make sense, and is that particular property likely to help move you towards your goals? $290k sounds like the right ballpark, at least, but beyond that... It really is your call.

Good luck mate

James.