Hi gld
Welcome to the Forum
Clayton is a very interesting area. The Hourigan Street units are literally a walk across the car park to the Monash Medical Centre. This could make the two bedroom unit interesting to staff working at the Medical Centre
Both bedrooms are almost even in size, and there is one ‘family’ bathroom with a separate WC with wash basin, so no waiting on using the bathroom
The unit has street frontage, a side driveway which it does not share with the other units, a single lock up garage and extra parking right next door!
We can’t choose our neighbours, and any after hours noise from the car park would probably be limited to when the Hall is in use at night.
With that type of set up I would expect that the Hall and the Medical Centre is well lit at night and that there would be security patrols. As the bedrooms face front and back the security lighting should not present any problem for these rooms.
Remember that statistics can be very misleading. The chart showed a spike in vacancies in the post code. I would expect that the sudden influx of properties in the successive Januaries would be the result of falling enrolments from International Students following the GFC of 2008. The statistics, however, don’t show what type of property is ‘vacant’. The official vacancy rate is quite specific – the property must be available for rent and must have been vacant for 30 days before it can be listed on the ‘vacancy rate’.
As you can see, as the year progresses the vacancy rate falls during the year. I would not expect that a two bedroom single storey villa unit in a side street would be typical of the properties affected by the seasonal vacancy rate
To combat the seasonal nature of the January vacancies you may want to negotiate a settlement well before the end of the year however any property manager will tell you that the peak time for rent enquiries is after Christmas and before Australia Day
Each person has different expectations from an investment property
You may be happy with 4% gross and expect that the property would show long term capital gains
Over the last 36 months, despite the GFC, the median value of all units in Clayton showed 21% growth
http://www.investsmart.com.au/property/search.asp?OrderBy=1&Suburb=3168
No one can tell you what is going to be a good investment for you. I have an investment property which, 17 years after I bought it, has trebled in value and now provides a 16.5% gross yield on purchase price. I have another property, which I bought in 2002, which has since doubled in value and which provides 4% gross yield on purchase price.
Which is a good investment and which is a dudd? They are both good but different investments – yet I can walk from one to another on less than 10 minutes. I know exactly why there is such a difference in rent returns and the 2002 property actually has greater potential than the 1994 property.
What are your circumstances, what are you wanting to achieve, what are your current parameters?
Someone with a high income would find 4% gross yield quite acceptable, but someone with a lower income may not be able to hold the property without financial stress.
The Hourigan Street unit looks pleasant, well laid out, well maintained, is in a good street, has it’s own street frontage and a private courtyard. You could do a lot worse than this and perhaps you could do better – depending on your criteria.
As with every thing in life, know yourself first and the rest will fall into place.
Hope this helps
Kristine
