My home must be sold - NICHOLLS ACT

[Pedro61]

Hi all,

As a long time forum member I think it will be Ok to post this on the forum. Yes - it is an advert, but no different to any "buyer beware" situation when you buy real estate.

The thing is. its time to sell our much loved home in NICHOLLS ACT. This is the one where, back in 2009, I spent months renovating the Granny flat to then rent out. You can see the results of the Granny flat Reno by searching for my photos in the Gallery. The reno was the only images I ever posted to the photo gallery. There are also a couple of threads about it.

As an investment property you'd go a long way to find something with better returns. The flat was eventually rented. The last rent paid was $380pw a few months ago when we vacated it to put on sale. I'm told it could easily fetch $400 now.

The main house (the one we were living in), recently received a brand new Kitchen, new carpets, a complete reno on the Laundry and downstairs bathroom and a complete coat of paint. The PM quoted us a rental figure of $650 - $670. So based on a potential rental of $1050pw, and a Sale Price of $769,000 we get a gross rental return of over 7.1% which I think is pretty OK these days. Think of it this way - $1050 per week is a full time job for many people.

It's a pretty good growth area with schools, shopping centres, bus connections and parklands all very close.

I would love to keep it as an investment, but the reason for the sale is that we have moved to QLD and short of holding a gun to our brokers head, no one will lend us a cent to buy something here as the NICHOLLS property is heavily mortgaged. So she has to go and unfortunately I have to take a step backward before I can move forward.

You can view the house here:
http://www.allhomes.com.au/ah/act/sale-residential/1-quist-place-nicholls-canberra/1316819574311

All questions welcome.

Best wishes

Pedro

 

[Jamie M]

Nicholls is a great suburb. I have an IP there and it's done ok in a short space of time. We also lived there for a few years - lots of space, very safe, good schools, couple of golf courses and gold creek down the road

That's a pretty healthy yield as well. Best of luck with the sale.

Cheers

Jamie

 

[geoffw]

I feel somewhat qualified to comment on this property. I have been there on quite a few occasions, and not always left in a state of complete sobriety.

The property has a nice backyard area, great for entertaining, and with areas for chooks and dogs. It is completely enclosed so great for pets or kids.

The front has space for heaps of parking- it has had ashphalt put in. It's on a quiet cul de sac, quite close to the golf course.

Pedro, I do have a question. You had the place listed very briefly for rent, but the granny flat wasn't listed separately for rental. Is there a reason for that? I thought that he was doing an injustice to the property, but there may have been something behind that.

 

[Pedro61]

Thanks Jamie and Geoff for your kind words.

It is worth noting though, that Geoff's observations of the property were usually made before he compromised his sobriety so in case anyone is wondering, they are actually accurate.

With reference to the rental attempt, I did have it listed for a few weeks to rent but it was the other way around. I thought that if I could at least rent the Granny Flat that would cover our mortgage payments whilst preserving the brand new Kitchen, carpets, paint, laundry and Bathroom renos on the main house. I was advised against this because our ultimate goal is to sell, and having tenants in place is generally a small barrier to achieving this. Its not impossible but they wont be too happy with the regular openings every weekend. Plus they may just move out anyway.

So I did a backflip and put it back on the market empty. Its starting to generate some interest now so I'm hopeful of a sale soon.