My goodness Harris, I certainly was not expecting that tirade. I didn't know that I was having an argument and certainly that was not my intention. As I stated, I was just giving my opinion - however "ill formed" you deem it to be.
It's obvious that I am not a sophisticated investor, unlike yourself, and I agree with you that living here is not helpful to being objective. I grant you that my perception is clouded from seeing what goes on from day to day.
I also agree that I should obviously put up my rents! I didn't mean to be misleading by quoting dollar figures. Over the past 18-24 mths I have been able to raise Frankston rents up to 9% cf: Inner Melbourne 20-30%. Quite possibly those rents were too low to begin with but that wasn't my impression from PMs. I'm very interested to know what kind of property you are renting out in Nolan St & whether you've had any vacancy? (PM me if you'd prefer).
I have been talking up Frankston ever since moving here to anyone who will listen, mostly because of the eyebrow-raising I have encountered every time I tell someone where I live(!).
Within the context of our agreement that Frankston is a FABULOUS place & should have great medium-term CG potential AND that everyone & their dog should get down here & help push up my valuations
, may I humbly offer the following OPINION to people from out of the area reading this thread:
- Frankston is 40km from the CBD. The CAD is terribly run down despite plans to "beautify" it that I've been hearing for years now. There have been great improvements with the expanded Frankston Central shopping centre but the main Nepean Hwy thoroughfare is really ugly. I am sure that it is inevitable but even the much-touted development of the eyesore Peninsula Centre by Jamie Durie et al fell through.
- I disagree with Harris that Karingal is as nice a place as most middle-ring suburbs closer to town. If I go shopping in Karingal Hub (admittedly have not done this for a couple of years), I am in no danger of thinking that my fellow shoppers could have been transplanted from Chadstone or even Knox City or Eastland.
- In my life I have never heard of Bentleigh & Highett having a worse reputation that Frankston. Would be interested to know other Melbournians perception of this. I believe that the Pakenham line has now overtaken the Frankston line for crime but there is a reason why a police station had to be set up directly opposite the train station. There is also a reason why Frankston Magistrates Court had a special domestic violence unit set up. I am sure that things are changing for the better, and I dearly hope they are, but last I heard the area had the dubious honour of being the domestic violence capital of Victoria. The karingal area has been singled out for special 3 year Federal Gov't community crime prevention program.
Other positive initiatives include the safe taxi ranks in central Frankston now manned with security guards & monitored with CCTV, the "anti-hoon hotline", etc.
I guess when Karingal is 300k+ it makes me wonder what that means for Marylands/Frankston East/Frankston Central/Frankston Heights/Frankston Sth. I agree that there should be a flow-on effect to these other areas & buying for $340k in Frankston Sth is looking like a relative bargain! Karingal is regarded as a high rental area, so that's why my perception is that it's we investors who are creating a lot of the demand (seeing it's this area & Frankston Nth which are moving first).
Like most people I am getting antsy about the safe boat harbour. I believe the council has called for expressions of interest from the private sector for the second time (Don't know what happened the first time!) and I hope the private sector comes to the party. All of these things are changing Frankston for the better and IMO the pluses of living here outweigh the negatives. But it is what it is. . . As I said, I have made the exact same points as Harris about the pluses of Frankston and I believe them or I never would have moved here & invested here. All i wanted to say is that if you are interstate and wondering why is Frankston so cheap, there are reasons. That doesn't mean that we should focus on the negatives - just be realistic about why people are not exactly fleeing other suburbs to live in Karingal just yet.
Needless to say, this is not meant to be RIGHT - just an opinion.
It's obvious that I am not a sophisticated investor, unlike yourself, and I agree with you that living here is not helpful to being objective. I grant you that my perception is clouded from seeing what goes on from day to day.
I also agree that I should obviously put up my rents! I didn't mean to be misleading by quoting dollar figures. Over the past 18-24 mths I have been able to raise Frankston rents up to 9% cf: Inner Melbourne 20-30%. Quite possibly those rents were too low to begin with but that wasn't my impression from PMs. I'm very interested to know what kind of property you are renting out in Nolan St & whether you've had any vacancy? (PM me if you'd prefer).
I have been talking up Frankston ever since moving here to anyone who will listen, mostly because of the eyebrow-raising I have encountered every time I tell someone where I live(!).
Within the context of our agreement that Frankston is a FABULOUS place & should have great medium-term CG potential AND that everyone & their dog should get down here & help push up my valuations
, may I humbly offer the following OPINION to people from out of the area reading this thread:- Frankston is 40km from the CBD. The CAD is terribly run down despite plans to "beautify" it that I've been hearing for years now. There have been great improvements with the expanded Frankston Central shopping centre but the main Nepean Hwy thoroughfare is really ugly. I am sure that it is inevitable but even the much-touted development of the eyesore Peninsula Centre by Jamie Durie et al fell through.
- I disagree with Harris that Karingal is as nice a place as most middle-ring suburbs closer to town. If I go shopping in Karingal Hub (admittedly have not done this for a couple of years), I am in no danger of thinking that my fellow shoppers could have been transplanted from Chadstone or even Knox City or Eastland.
- In my life I have never heard of Bentleigh & Highett having a worse reputation that Frankston. Would be interested to know other Melbournians perception of this. I believe that the Pakenham line has now overtaken the Frankston line for crime but there is a reason why a police station had to be set up directly opposite the train station. There is also a reason why Frankston Magistrates Court had a special domestic violence unit set up. I am sure that things are changing for the better, and I dearly hope they are, but last I heard the area had the dubious honour of being the domestic violence capital of Victoria. The karingal area has been singled out for special 3 year Federal Gov't community crime prevention program.
Other positive initiatives include the safe taxi ranks in central Frankston now manned with security guards & monitored with CCTV, the "anti-hoon hotline", etc.
I guess when Karingal is 300k+ it makes me wonder what that means for Marylands/Frankston East/Frankston Central/Frankston Heights/Frankston Sth. I agree that there should be a flow-on effect to these other areas & buying for $340k in Frankston Sth is looking like a relative bargain! Karingal is regarded as a high rental area, so that's why my perception is that it's we investors who are creating a lot of the demand (seeing it's this area & Frankston Nth which are moving first).
Like most people I am getting antsy about the safe boat harbour. I believe the council has called for expressions of interest from the private sector for the second time (Don't know what happened the first time!) and I hope the private sector comes to the party. All of these things are changing Frankston for the better and IMO the pluses of living here outweigh the negatives. But it is what it is. . . As I said, I have made the exact same points as Harris about the pluses of Frankston and I believe them or I never would have moved here & invested here. All i wanted to say is that if you are interstate and wondering why is Frankston so cheap, there are reasons. That doesn't mean that we should focus on the negatives - just be realistic about why people are not exactly fleeing other suburbs to live in Karingal just yet.
Needless to say, this is not meant to be RIGHT - just an opinion.
