Doonside - which streets are bad?

I went to Doonside this weekend and had a look at a few properties in the area boxed by Knox Rd,Richmond rd and the rail line. I'm particularly interested in one on Ellie Stewart Rd. Driving around on Saturday I felt the area was quite nice and not bad like most people say about Doonside.

Can anyone tell me if this section is ok to invest in?
 
Jacque is a good person to ask.

But if you post the street number then can look up neighbouring houses and streets for doh stock
 
I went to Doonside this weekend and had a look at a few properties in the area boxed by Knox Rd,Richmond rd and the rail line. I'm particularly interested in one on Ellie Stewart Rd. Driving around on Saturday I felt the area was quite nice and not bad like most people say about Doonside.

Can anyone tell me if this section is ok to invest in?

Can not be specific regarding the various pockets in Doonside.

However I have owned a rental property on Suncrest Place for over 5 years, no crime/thefts etc and always have had great tenants. Rents out immediately its been a stellar investment as it is also cashflow positive.

My PM mentioned that this pocket is State Housing precinct, however it is earmarked for the elderly and this is in part why we have not had any issues. I am from Perth and can only give you details on my experience and I am not sure how State Housing operates in Syd. Also, you may want to search as I believe some time ago someone posted a map on this area identifying "no go zones", however this may now be out of date.

Cheers, MTR
 
Ok so after number 65 that street is almost entirely housing commission from numbers 66 to 135 with a few exceptions
 
Cool. Thanks Dave. The place is at number 17 so I hope it will be ok. I plan to hold onto the property for the long term so don't want tenants leave every 6 months to due to crime etc
 
That end of the street is all privately owned as are the houses at the rear. Neighbors either side are long term.

Number 17 sold a year ago for 336k I see they have listed it for 429k (was on at 459k initially) so why is it worth 100k more after a year? The photos from the 2012 sales campaign show no real difference in interior. They have made the garage into a teen retreat is it approved?
 
Dave, that particular real estate agent is always selling properties above market value. Have tried with them for more than 18 months, all their properties listing at-least ~30K more and some properties are not even selling for months and that too in hot hotter hottest western sydney suburbs.

Anyway that particular property costing 100K within 12 months is plain ridiculous.
 
That end of the street is all privately owned as are the houses at the rear. Neighbors either side are long term.

Number 17 sold a year ago for 336k I see they have listed it for 429k (was on at 459k initially) so why is it worth 100k more after a year? The photos from the 2012 sales campaign show no real difference in interior. They have made the garage into a teen retreat is it approved?

It shows the importance of looking at past sales as it would be easy to over pay, especally in this market. Just looking at Realestate.com, the medium price has increased by 6.6% in 2012 and possibly another 3-4% this year??
So maybe a closer price would be 336K + 10%?? = 370K?

Also depends, like you say, about what value they have added to garage.
 
Hi guys, the garage has been converted to a 2 bed self contained granny flat. I didn't walk inside only peeked in from the window but it looks very new. The flat is not council approved but I was thinking of Serge to get the approval. At that price the property is still very positive cash flow in terms of cash flow.

The alternative is to buy a similar place for about $360k with double garage and build it myself. I would be saving about $30k?
 
If its not approved then the valuer will ignore it from a val point of view and the lender will ignore it from a rental income point of view. And if it burns down and the tenant dies then you can bet your insurer will ignore your policy coverage too.

Doing an unapproved convert from garage to a gf costs about 30k tops so you are overpaying by 70k from the get go. And if your ceiling height is too low like in many garages, and the slab has no damp course then it will never be complianced without expensive works.

Bottom line, there are plenty of people turning garages into unapproved dual occs and flogging them to unsuspecting or inexperienced investors who have read about the granny flat thing and have $$ in their eyes. Ensure your eyes are wide wide open on anything unapproved and dont overpay for a tarted up garage
 
Hi Dave, thanks for the advice. This is actually my 4th investment property but yeah as I don't know the area very well it looked like a good deal from the cash flow side of things. Serge has done an approval for me recently so I was planning to get him to take a look at it.
 
Hi Dave, thanks for the advice. This is actually my 4th investment property but yeah as I don't know the area very well it looked like a good deal from the cash flow side of things. Serge has done an approval for me recently so I was planning to get him to take a look at it.

Dont get me wrong, not saying that you are an inexperienced investor :) Just saying there are plenty of people converting garages and sheds that will never have a hope in hell of being complianced due to construction or basix issues then selling them as dual occs, and to ensure an expert like Serge gives you his appraisal.

I emailed him a place a few monts ago and he gave all the reasons it wouldnt pass so I was able to walk away. He is good with his advice :)
 
Dont get me wrong, not saying that you are an inexperienced investor :) Just saying there are plenty of people converting garages and sheds that will never have a hope in hell of being complianced due to construction or basix issues then selling them as dual occs, and to ensure an expert like Serge gives you his appraisal.

I emailed him a place a few monts ago and he gave all the reasons it wouldnt pass so I was able to walk away. He is good with his advice :)

Well i'm still relatively inexperienced compared to you guys on here. I'm grateful for such a wonderful community.

Good thing you called Serge out. He's extremely creative and if he can't do it then I don't there's much chance it can be done :)
 
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