Forest Lake or Inala - which suburb to choose

[Aulyna]

Hi all,

New to here and first post, hope anyone can help me out:

Would like to buy an investment property (first one), found newer houses mostly in Forest Lake and Inala. Which suburb to choose? Only thing I know is Forest Lake is 17km from CBD, and Inala is 14km.

Any advice is welcome. Thanks in advance.

Aulyna

 

[angela]

Hi
Forest Lake is a Delfin estate, and much more upmarket than Inala.
Inala was always known as a rough area, not sure what it is like now, but I know the prices have certainly gone up there!
Forest Lake is next door to Inala, but has more prestige and is nice and leafy.
Have you had a look around Oxley area, if I had more funds, I would buy in Oxley/Corinda.

 

[Spectre]

Aulyna

Ive been in the western corridor for abt 10 yrs now. It depends on your price range, e.g. I'm doing a purchase for a client in forest lake now for 420k. New house 6 yrs old, 4 bed, study, good block etc. Same house in Jindalee is a 30 yr old reno job (if you're really lucky).

Come across the ipswich mtwy and you wont get the same bang for your buck in a lot of cases, and agents in the area are flat out keeping stuff on the books... dont think this is the same case the other side as much. But what they sell for in the area are issues like travel, where if you are commuting to the cbd by car that will add on well over 40 mins a day if going into forest lake/inala.

That might change once they get the roads fixed up.

Suppose things all depend on your price range....

Let me know if you need some agents in the area to have a yarn to, I know a few for obvious reasons (and I've bought a couple off them over the years as well).

 

[sue78]

Depends on the numbers I guess. How much it cost? the actual property? and rental?

For example similar house

Forest lake $350k a few yrs old, 4br, dual living, dbl grg, ens Rent $350 p/w
Inala $330k rent $280p/w

It's around about that isn't it?

I just sold an IP a few mths back in Forest lake for $350k renting $340 p/w to the tenant who had lived in it since brand new. I thinkI may have sold it too cheap It was in Cascades and wlaking distance to Lake and shops.

I did make over $150k profit

 

[BoatBoy]

Hi
Forest Lake is a Delfin estate, and much more upmarket than Inala.
Inala was always known as a rough area, not sure what it is like now, but I know the prices have certainly gone up there!
Forest Lake is next door to Inala, but has more prestige and is nice and leafy.
Have you had a look around Oxley area, if I had more funds, I would buy in Oxley/Corinda.

I'd rather live there as well, but it is 2 to 3 times more expensive.

BB

 

[mikeyk]

i go to uni with a guy whos a valuer in forest lake and he reckons that the asking prices are about 30k more than they're worth. i dont really know what he means 'cause i thought it was all about supply and demand. but either way i reckon suburbs around oxley/corinda/durack/ are better. and i guess maybe inala seeing its still really cheap- probably the cheapest. (although i personally am not a big fan of inala or forest lake- so im probably not much help sorry)

 

[Aulyna]

The 2 house details:

These are the 2 house's details:

Forest Lake: 365K, 11ys old, 3 bedroom 2 bath, 2 garage, land 450m2, building size 170m2

you can have a look at it at:

http://www.realestate.com.au/cgi-bi...eader=&c=62746589&s=qld&snf=rbs&tm=1184411689


Inala: 375K, 7ys old, 4 bedroom 2 bath, 2 garage, land 650m2, building size 150m2(? not realy sure)

you can have a look at it at:

http://www.realestate.com.au/cgi-bi...header=&c=4084760&s=qld&snf=rbs&tm=1184411034


I just think the Inala one has one more bed room, bigger land, and closer to CBD.

There is a plaze in Inala, I thought it would be convenient to live there. Am I wrong?

 

[sue78]

Omg, I sold my house for way too cheap then Ours is way nicer actually and newer. Double semi recessed basins, downlights, timber blinds, rendered, split a/c in every room so all together 6 a/c's, s/s appliances, s/s dishwasher, jennings built.

For $375k have you thought of building a brand new house is Parkwood Estate? It's costing us about that much for a 660sqm block with a 5br, 3 living room 27 sq house and will rent for around $450 p/w.

I don't really like Inala. I think Woodridge is better value. However, Forest lake is very family friendly and attracts excellent tenants. I think it's a quality estate.

Houses in Oxley/Corinda go under contract very quickly. My friend made almost $70k on her Corinda house in just one year and it's about the same size as a townhouse.

 

[BoatBoy]

I love Vietnamese food and and the Vietnamese shop's with all the fresh green's and excellent butchers, so Inala and Darra would work for me if it was the right place.

Darra has one of my favourite restaurant's "Cam Ranh" but they are both places I would live in purely for the food.

BB

 

[Aulyna]

Parkwood Estate

For $375k have you thought of building a brand new house is Parkwood Estate? It's costing us about that much for a 660sqm block with a 5br, 3 living room 27 sq house and will rent for around $450 p/w.

Hi Sue78,

Where is Parkwood Estate? Is it so cheap to build such a house? I'm building a similar one in ACT, it cost me 550K. When did you build? How much the land cost you?

Waiting for your reply?

Aulyna

 

[sue78]

I love Vietnamese food and and the Vietnamese shop's with all the fresh green's and excellent butchers, so Inala and Darra would work for me if it was the right place.

Darra has one of my favourite restaurant's "Cam Ranh" but they are both places I would live in purely for the food.

BB

is that the 'my friend' restaurant? i don't know the name but he says 'my friend' to everyone.

yes, that's why I like forest lake coz quality housing, nice estate, lake, facilities, excellent schools yet close to the asian groceries, markets and vietnamese restaurants.

we did live that for awhile but then moved back to sunnybank coz i think i still prefer the variety of food here and shopping better.

land cost $188k inc stamp duty
House cost $170k all up ready to move in.

however, land has gone up to about $230k+ for that size block. But you can get smaller blocks which will still fit a big house for about $215k. The land there sells quickly. It's also very popular with project builders as there's a really big display village there so you have to compete with the builders to buy land.

That's pretty good land CG in such a short amt of time 6 mths.

For example, I could make almost $100k CG if I sold this property new for about $465k but if I rent it out, the value will drop back to about $435k...that's $30k that I lose out straight away and I have to consider how long it will take to go back up to $465k.

so I'll probably sell it and put the money in MF.

 

[Morgs]

We recently made the trip up north to invest in the western corridor, looked all around from Goodna and suburbs inward. Everything was selling quite quickly (very hot market up there, more so than we anticipated!!) and we ended up with something in Camira. Inala still seems to have a pretty bad rep was my impression.

 

[BoatBoy]

is that the 'my friend' restaurant? i don't know the name but he says 'my friend' to everyone.

.

"Yes my friend, can do, can do".

West End used to have our fav's, Quan Heng's and Kim Than's, but then it went all yuppie and all the good Vietnamese closed or moved.

The new "Vanilla" variety just don't do it for me.

Another good one and has been for 20 year's is "The Vietnamese" in the Valley.

Only the decor has changed, slightly, in that timeframe.

BB

 

[CairnsAgent]

You may want to have a look at jamboree heights and jindalee as well.
They are experiencing good growth and you can get some excellent properties there in your price range.

cheers