Mt Druitt Suburbs - Yaay or Naay??

[Rondofj]

Hey guys,

I am a random reader of this forum and have thrown in the occassional thread.

Basically have a plan to invest in the 'reject suburbs' of Western Sydney meaning the Mt Druitt area - Emerton, Whalan, Shalvey, Tregear, Lethbridge Park, Willmot, Dharruk etc. Plan is to buy a cheap 3-4 bedder, build a granny flat out the back, find good tenants and sit on an ideally positive cashflow cashcow. This will be my first IP, I currently own no properties, have a good job and over 200k to use as investment.

Now the problem is these reject suburbs are seemingly portrayed full of lowlifes, bogans, druggists, dole bludgers and other good-for-nothings. I have been there a couple times only and havent seen too much of this apart from near the housing commission places.

I need people to tell me otherwise, looking at you Skater, and a couple others -Dave? who invest there actively, don't remember who. I know you will rightly tell me to go out there myself and have a look which I will do of course when I have the time/resources soon. What has your long-term experiences been of these areas?

My flatmate who regularly goes up that way as his partner and kids live in Plumpton constantly advises me against these places because they are full of f**wits who will not pay rent and trash the place up and stay in my IP till I go to court to evict them (time/hassles/money). This view is sort of rooting in my head and a little voice is telling me to just watch your step, but I'm still eager to go with my plan as I'm not easily convinced by people.

So anyone has any advice/anything to warn me of???

On a slightly different note, how hard is it to evict a nasty tenant ??(time/hassles/court/money/place trashed) I know the laws here do favor the tenant in many ways which is not so great.

Thanks in advance,

Ron

 

[DaveM]

For these suburbs you need to go along to opens, pick your streets and have a good pm. Some suburbs are better than others, the ones north east of Mt Druitt tend to be a bit better than those north west (ie west of Carlisle Ave or Poppondetta Road).

Many agents have a map of housing commission and will share these with you. I got mine from Ben Price RE.

For your search you may also want to engage a buyers agent. One of my clients from my IT services company is Property Buyers Australia who specialise in finding good dual occ potential properties and do the granny flat build and all the paperwork for it.

 

[kvellimalai]

Details please

Hi Dave,
can you please forward the details of the client you mentioned who can do the Granny flat ....
I am planning to buy one in plumton and make it a dual occupancy one...

Regards
Velli

 

[DaveM]

http://www.propertybuyersaustralia.com.au

Brendan Renaud is the man to speak with for the areas mentioned.

 

[MsAli]

Hi Ron,

Although your question is for Skater and Dave - who definitely know the areas well and have invested around, I thought I'd offer my two cents. We have invested in Mount Druitt. We have a good PM and so far the tenants picked have been good. The latest one - I'm not sure why they are renting - is a couple with their own business and 100k profit p.a. The rent has been paid on time and we've done inspections. The tenants seemed to have looked after the place like their own....

We did look in Mt Druitt satellite suburbs but at this stage it appears a lot of them needing relatively big renovations have vendors stuck on specific prices - because they know people will pay for them! I have liked the housing commission auctions where prices have been low in the past 6-8 months...some needing even less reno than the private sales. However, at the same time if there are 10 houses on auction, you can't just get a building inspection done on all 10 of them....not knowing if you'd win any of those auctions. Though I know there are people on the forum who would buy them with their eyes closed....

The rental yields are good in the area, which really helps. We just let people talk and say whatever they need to about Mounty County. Investing there hasn't impacted our lifestyle and we like it that way.

Just my 2 cents

 

[kvellimalai]

Hi Ron,

Although your question is for Skater and Dave - who definitely know the areas well and have invested around, I thought I'd offer my two cents. We have invested in Mount Druitt. We have a good PM and so far the tenants picked have been good. The latest one - I'm not sure why they are renting - is a couple with their own business and 100k profit p.a. The rent has been paid on time and we've done inspections. The tenants seemed to have looked after the place like their own....

We did look in Mt Druitt satellite suburbs but at this stage it appears a lot of them needing relatively big renovations have vendors stuck on specific prices - because they know people will pay for them! I have liked the housing commission auctions where prices have been low in the past 6-8 months...some needing even less reno than the private sales. However, at the same time if there are 10 houses on auction, you can't just get a building inspection done on all 10 of them....not knowing if you'd win any of those auctions. Though I know there are people on the forum who would buy them with their eyes closed....

The rental yields are good in the area, which really helps. We just let people talk and say whatever they need to about Mounty County. Investing there hasn't impacted our lifestyle and we like it that way.

Just my 2 cents

Hi MsALi,
Thanks a lot for the details. It was really a good eye opener for some one who wants to invest there.

Let me do a check on what is on offer from housing commission auctions.
Regards
Velli

 

[vaughan]

Did anybody else pick up that the original poster referred to "reject suburbs ... seemingly portrayed full of lowlifes, bogans, druggists, dole bludgers and other good-for-nothings"?

 

[monalisa]

Hi MsALi,
Thanks a lot for the details. It was really a good eye opener for some one who wants to invest there.

Let me do a check on what is on offer from housing commission auctions.
Regards
Velli

R & W tend to get these for auction.

Did anybody else pick up that the original poster referred to "reject suburbs ... seemingly portrayed full of lowlifes, bogans, druggists, dole bludgers and other good-for-nothings"?

Yep! I think with those sort of attitude would make it really challenging for them to invest there.

Such generalisation - there are all sorts of people in Mount Druitt and suburbs - it varies, but as mentioned earlier, some areas and better than others, and for this reason attract a better class of tenants. Best to go to open homes and get a feel for it.

 

[MsAli]

Hi MsALi,
Thanks a lot for the details. It was really a good eye opener for some one who wants to invest there.

Let me do a check on what is on offer from housing commission auctions.
Regards
Velli

Velli, my pleasure. I don't think there have been that many of those of late. There were a lot happening late last year and earlier this year so may just be the time of the year!

Did anybody else pick up that the original poster referred to "reject suburbs ... seemingly portrayed full of lowlifes, bogans, druggists, dole bludgers and other good-for-nothings"?

Oh I missed that. That is a gross generalisation!

 

[DaveM]

Did anybody else pick up that the original poster referred to "reject suburbs ... seemingly portrayed full of lowlifes, bogans, druggists, dole bludgers and other good-for-nothings"?

Funny that some people love to snoot their noses and scoff at the lowlife bogan masses, yet are staking their retirement on take their money and hoping they will be a good little subspecies and pay the mortgage off.

And much wailing and gnashing of teeth and crying to the PM if the rent is a second late.

Treat tenants like decent human beings and they will, generally, pay their rent and not destroy your property. I dont care if a tenant is a brain surgeon or a single mum, they get treated as a human being and not derided because of the life their parents brought them into.

 

[travelbug]

We have a few in Mt Druitt now. All our tenants are wonderful.

The trick is picking your area/street and having a decent property. We fully renovated all of ours and therefore had lots of prospective tenants even though we asked top rent.

First thing I did was to see how many HC houses were nearby (this is a turnoff for tenants). Look at the street presentation ie do the neighbours take care of their yards etc?

Get to know the difference in the suburbs as the prices vary for different suburbs even though at first look they may all look similar. Visit as many places as you can and talk to the agents to get a feel for the areas.

 

[Jake Milne]

St. Mary's has excellent yield - just talk to the local agents about which streets to buy though as there are some trouble spots still.

 

[see_change]

Hi

I worked in Lethbridge park for 17 years so have an idea on what the area is like. There is noticeable rat bag element out there and if you happen to move into one of them they can make your life hell. I met a couple of young couples who bought first houses out there and were selling within a matter of months to get out.

I would be happy to buy out there if I saw the boom was happening every where else in Sydney. Mt Druitt was one of the last places to move . If you can buy places significantly under market and do the Reno yourself ( like skater or nathan ) maybe , but personally I'd buy nicer places closer to the city and wait for those to move before I'd but in Mt Druitt , but I'm not into doing the renos myself.

Cliff

 

[CaliPops]

I've just started working around the corner from Leth/Park and while its a bit ... colourful and somewhat daunting - its not impossible or terrifying. Its more convenient for me in regards to commuting/traffic etc

I bought a house in 2770 last year and converted my unit into an IP and I haven't regretted it once in 12 months. My neighbours are lovely, and every house except for one is well cared for.

There is hype about these places, but for the people who live here or have a vested interest and show some respect for people as a whole - its all good.

Crime, just like prejudice happens everywhere: EVERYWHERE - it might just be more visible or publicized out here ... Each to their own. This is what I could very comfortably afford, and again, no regrets.

I cant wait to buy something else in the near future - whether that is 2770 or I look elsewhere. I made a VERY sound investment. Just do your due diligence same as you would for anywhere.

As for buying a property with granny flat potential - I'd probably go down the buyers agent route just to make sure that the boxes were ticked etc. That's not something I'd want to stuff up

 

[engelo10]

There are bad tenants in good areas the same as good tenants in bad areas. I would have no problems buying in the 2770 postcode.

Any property is good at the right price.

Engelo

 

[kvellimalai]

Thanks to all for your suggestions and comments.

Velli

 

[lpool05]

Quite surprised no one mentioned Nathan Birch. Probably another person to talk in regards to these locations.

 

[engelo10]

Quite surprised no one mentioned Nathan Birch. Probably another person to talk in regards to these locations.

100% agreed.

 

[MsAli]

Yep, that's where Nathan made his equity first from the bread and butter properties.

 

[skater]

Did anybody else pick up that the original poster referred to "reject suburbs ... seemingly portrayed full of lowlifes, bogans, druggists, dole bludgers and other good-for-nothings"?

Certainly did! That's why I couldn't be bothered to reply.

Funny that some people love to snoot their noses and scoff at the lowlife bogan masses, yet are staking their retirement on take their money and hoping they will be a good little subspecies and pay the mortgage off.

And much wailing and gnashing of teeth and crying to the PM if the rent is a second late.

Treat tenants like decent human beings and they will, generally, pay their rent and not destroy your property. I dont care if a tenant is a brain surgeon or a single mum, they get treated as a human being and not derided because of the life their parents brought them into.

Exactly!