Researching a suburb you don't live in

[SupaRex]

Hello All,

I thought this thread might be useful to other people, who like me are considering buying in a suburb they are not familiar with. I'd like to keep this pretty general, so all I'll say is in my case, I live in Victoria (Mornington Peninsula) and am looking at Frankston/Frankston South.

What I'd like to know is: When looking at a suburb, what information do you seek out/research and more importantly, where/how do you get it?

Example: In my case, I keep hearing on this forum and read in the paper that Frankston is on the way up. What I'm wondering is, how do you find out which parts of a suburb are "good", how old is too old a property for the area? Things like that.

Anyway, I hope that makes some sort of sense .

So, how do you research a suburb and what/how exactly do you research?

 

[GordonGekko]

look at whats comming to frankston .... a liiiitle thing called EastLink ... or should i say Ea$tLink LOL .. infrastructure and have a look at the income level of that suburb .. is it full of rich or not so rich people? .. how far to the beach if you are a beach person? , how far to recreational facilities...

have a look what you get for 800.000 in the city and what you get for the same in frankston? ... are you a city dweller or can you handle 25 mins traveling? or would you like to pay 4mill for the same house in sydney? or maybe live in the bush for 90.000$ ?

you have to ask yourself... do you feel lucky punk? ... now do you?
also be carefull not to buy too expensive and stretch yourself ... doom and gloom is around the corner and you dont want to be stuck with negative equity.... for a while.....

alternately do what i did .... franngggerzzz north! ... even people from frankston didnt like it ... ahhh... oho and drugs and what not! so go for a drive ... does it look like melton? or torak? do you like what you see?

well thats enough for my rambling.

GG. the younger one.

 

[BayView]

Hello All,

I thought this thread might be useful to other people, who like me are considering buying in a suburb they are not familiar with. I'd like to keep this pretty general, so all I'll say is in my case, I live in Victoria (Mornington Peninsula) and am looking at Frankston/Frankston South.

What I'd like to know is: When looking at a suburb, what information do you seek out/research and more importantly, where/how do you get it?

Example: In my case, I keep hearing on this forum and read in the paper that Frankston is on the way up. What I'm wondering is, how do you find out which parts of a suburb are "good", how old is too old a property for the area? Things like that.

Anyway, I hope that makes some sort of sense .

So, how do you research a suburb and what/how exactly do you research?

I am a Dromana resident (not currently), we have an IP in Central Frangers, my wife used to work at Frangers Hospital, and her sister owns a house/lives in "The Pines" in Nth Frangers.

As was said by GG; there is a lot happening there now, and I reckon long term it will be great.

The best way to research a suburb is to go there every day for about 3 months, drive around, see where all the amenities are, the standard of houses in different areas, talk to all the agents, look at their windows, go to opens, go to auctions, visit the Council to ask about future developments such as new schools, shopping centres, hospitals, improved roads (Eastlink for eg). If you can't go there this often; then go every w'end.

Get to know the area like a resident would if you can.

A lot of the info can be obtained through phone calls and emails to agents, but you really need to go there I think and pound the streets.

South Frangers is upmarket, more expensive; nice area. It's sort of the "Brighton" of Frangers. Will always be in demand by the more well-to-do. It's right near Mt. Eliza which is w@nker-ville, but better value (at least it used to be 2 years ago when I was around).

North Frangers is traditionally drug/bogan-central, but it has boomed in the last 5 years, and given it is still rather cheap by Melb standards, it still has some steam left. You can get some big blocks there.

Central Frangers; especially on the beach side of Nepean H'way is the place to buy if poss. They aint makin' any more beach, and there is a Marina planned.

Kooringal, and that area out towards Cranbourne/Langwarrin is also going ahead, but is more suburbia and not all that close to beach, CBD etc, and is still affordable.

Our IP is in Central Frangers, but on the west side of the railway track, but right near the CBD, the Hospital, the TAFE and the SouthEastern Arterial entrance in a quite court. We chose there for location, but also cost; we could only afford $150k to spend at the time, and this was the best spot we could find for our money.

 

[SupaRex]

Thanks L.A Aussie for you thoughts regarding Frankston, they will help me, but what I really want this thread to focus on is what information you try and obtain about a suburb and where you get that information. I understand you addressed this a bit (and I thank you), but I'm just saying that the what/where/how is where I want to keep the focus.

 

[Jontxu]

3 ways on getting research for free

3 things you can do to get FREE market research:
1- DEMAND a print out of the latest property transactions from the selling agent on any property you are interested, they are all subscribed to RP Data, Homepriceguide, etc. Tell them to give you a Radius search so you can see what REAL comparables are selling for. If they say no, take your business somewhere else.
ANY half decent agent would immediately give you a print out with the latest sales on the street, complex, etc in which you are buying. They are subscribed to this services and it only takes a couple of minutes to produce this kind of reports. The real price of the property is determined by what other comparable properties SOLD for, not for what they are listed, key distinction.


2-Get your FREE subscription at www.prd.com.au, the research section is one of the best I have seen, and they have a snapshot of almost every suburb in Australia, including sales cycle charts and demographic info, very cool stuff.

I used to work for them and I know the integrity of the property data and information here is the best I have seen so far and most importantly accurate. Go to their web site and register for FREE, they have a snapshot of every suburb in Australia. The charts are really helpful, especially the sales cycle charts as you can see what “price trend” your area is following. They also include Number of Sales, very helpful when working out how hot… or not your market is.

3- Vacancy rates, in a nut shell, refers to a measure of how many dwellings are available for rent over a specified time period. You can easily find the vacancy rates for major cities, but what about regional areas or even “pockets” of your city?. Here is how I do it and it WORKS all the time. I ask 3 or 4 agents in the area about how many properties they have in their rent roll (they will jump quickly and give you the total, as this makes agents feel proud, very…), then ask them how many they have vacant, and divide. For example an agent says, we have 400 properties for rent and only 4 vacant at the moment, 4/400 x 100= 1%, compare between the 3 or 4 and this should give you a very good indication on the current vacancy rate for your area.

Vacancy rates are very important as it tells you how long your property will sit vacant if the tenant moves out. There seem to be a lot of areas with very low vacancy rates, however when people talk about Melbourne (for example) having a vacancy rate of 1%, this does not mean every suburb in Melbourne has got a low/same vacancy rate. Point 3 (above) shows you how to work it out for yourself for any area, it is very simple, all you have to do is ask the agents and do a minor calculation. It works all the time.


Happy Investing
Jon Salvador
www.headinghome.com.au
For investors … from investors