Secure/Gated Communites

[GeeVee]

Hi everybody!
I have recently began to take an interest in these Gated Communites. As yet we don't seem to have anything that you could class as such here in sunny Ballarat, apart from a retirement type of place but I've seen some stuff about them in QLD.
Thread: http://www.somersoft.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=5804&highlight=secure+communities
But not much else. Has anybody any thoughts on them now, what are they like to live in? What do the costs seem to end up being? Are they the kind of living situation that you could purchase now to live in later and rent them out for five years? Do they make for a good IP situation?
Thanks in advance.

 

[GeeVee]

Hmmm, with no responses, does this mean that these types of communities do not make for an ip option? Or are they primarily marketed at owner occupiers?
OR a well kept secret????

 

[Mondie]

Hi GeeVee,

No idea why no one responded!

Gated communities have become very popular in the US and l have several friends there who live in these type of estates. They are growing in popularity here as increasing concern for everyday safety makes them more appealing. Friends seem very satisfied with the estate and l must admit it does look very appealing, but then it is newish.

l cant see any reason to avoid them, but no real reason why they would be more appealing than a normal house in the burbs from an investment point of view.

Having siad that l believe the estates my friends live in the US have some sort of BC type arrangement that governs the estate and looks after the common areas, security etc so l guess everyone makes a contribution to some sort of administration fund. Not sure if this is similar in Australia, and what sort of costs would be involved.

Do you have a particular estate in mind?

 

[Fester]

Hi Jane. I have a couple of IP's in gates complexes. I assume that is the type of complex you mean (mine they have a card to access the main gate). I got them when prices were little lower than what they are now! The CG has been excellent. But the body corp fees on mine are pretty high. Admin plus sinking add up to around $2600 per year each. They are in Queensland and the rents are not bad, comparing what I get for my other properties here in Adelaide. For what they want for similar properties in the same area now, I probably wouldn't bother!

Regards, Fester

 

[geoffw]

Originally posted by Mondie
Hi GeeVee,

No idea why no one responded!

Gated communities have become very popular in the US and l have several friends there who live in these type of estates. They are growing in popularity here as increasing concern for everyday safety makes them more appealing. Friends seem very satisfied with the estate and l must admit it does look very appealing, but then it is newish.

My own experience of a gated community is, I'm sure, not very typical.

I had been an exchange student in the US many years ago- some years later, I went to visit some of my host families. One family was living in Palm Desert- just a little further out from Palm Springs. He had been a quite successful Ford dealer, and was very comfortably retired.

This was an extremely well off community. It was one of what was then one of 50 such communities. Each community was built around two golf courses- and the houses were a part of the golf courses. This is becoming quite common here now, but in 1986, this was quite a new concept for me. This community had about 950 homes- the most expensive one back then was worth $US5M.

The reason for two golf courses?

The heat was extreme, but bore water was plentiful (and so was fertiliser). So every year, they completely ripped out one golf course, and replanted it from seed, while the other was operational. There were different varieties of grass for the different times of year.

The golf course, being planted in the desert, was very interesting. It was not flat desert, but with some quite high outcrops. The outcrops were natural desert, with rocks- and possibly rattlesnakes. The lower bits were replanted normal looking golf course stuff. gardeners also too care of allexteriors- including all lawns and gardens.

A tee off in some cases was blind. The green was well over the next outcrop, out of site from the tee.

Annual "BC" fees (whatever they were called) were incredible. But they could afford it,

For three months of the year, the heat made it unlivable- so you had to hav another home back in the cooler climates to make it liveable.

 

[BV]

GeeVee

Have you got a particular estate in mind?
Location of the complex and available facilities are important

Does it have a Pool, gym or sport facilities?
If it does, the BC fees would be higher but then you would probably have a good steady flow of tenants.

If its nice, you might want to move into it yourself
one day.

 

[ndavy]

I've got one townhouse in a gated community. On refection, whilst it is well managed etc, it is probably too expensive. I don't plan to make any further purchases in such estates. The sinking and admin costs are too high.

 

[Bmok]

Hi GeeVee,

I'm in the early stages of doing a 14 unit project. My wife was considering putting in a security gate as part of the project.

When she mantioned this to a R/E Agent, he mentioned that he knew of 2 unit complexes side-by-side with one of them gated. He mentioned that the gated site attracted about $20 per week extra rent. I know nothing about the standard of the 2 complexes, other than the gate or lack thereof. These sites are in Toowoomba.

Cheers,
Bernard

 

[handyandy]

Hi Bernard

At $280 pw it would certainly pay to install security gates. Off course this is a step down from the gated communities but still I have found it personally worthwhile.

Don't forget that with the gate comes intercom access and security front door.

In a 9 unit complex that we did the cost of the gate was $2500 the side fence was $2500 (included retaining wall/foundations) the intercom was $2000. These costs are all from memory.

Here is a pic of the block
http://www.somersoft.com/forums/photopost/showphoto.php?photo=626&password=&sort=1&cat=500&page=1

Cheers

 

[GeeVee]

Hi everybody. Thanks for the comments. In answer to a few, I have been looking at what delfin have to offer,especially in the Brisbane area, but then a couple of you have developed some unit projects on your own as well and it may be that something of a smaller concern (not a major building company) may also be well worth considering.
It would seem from most of the comments, that the ongoing fees, such as maintainence and the body corporate fees seem to be higher, and I'll have to look at how that would impact the overall worth of the investment. Interest as well as the ongoing in comparision to the rent acheivable, as well as any capital growth.
If there are any other comments or even things to watch out for, please comment or even private message.
Thanks again.

 

[bobandmarta]

Hi GEEVEE,

We live in what you would call a gated community. It is called
Logandale which is on the Logan river about 30klm south of Brisbane on the way to Redland Bay. Our estate has been here for around 12 years now and I must say that my experience here has been very positive. However other people don't like the concept. You see we have 24hr security guards who not only man the front entrance but they patrol the whole area 24hrs a day. For us though we feel safe here and for the total amount of $1000 per year we feel it is worth it.

We have an eighteen hole golf course and tavern as well as convenience shops and garages close by. On the estate there are about 500 homes and about 100 units/townhouses. The townhouses on the golf course are three bedrooms and usually sell for around $220,000. The ones closer to the tavern are two bedrooms and sell for around $150,000. We do not own an IP in Logandale because it was simply a case of not putting all our eggs in the one basket. You can command higher rents here than in the local area and so I guess that would offset the body corp fees which I think are reasonable. They cover a full size swimming pool and tennis courts as well as BBQ areas and basketball for the kids. All in all it is a lovely place to live and we wouldn't think of living anywhere else.

Having said that we own some IPS in other gated communities not on the same scale but still they have security and onsite manager and our tenants love it there as well. We have heard that in some gated communities you have no say in the colour of your house for instance. It is not the case here. Although there are covenants, there are some very individual houses ranging from $300,000 to around $1,000,000. I don't really know of any other estates like this one but there should be more like it. I hope this info helps. Bob

 

[GeeVee]

Hi Bob and thank you very much for your comments.
Do you find it easy to get tenants in your IP's that are in the secure/gated communities? I also wonder what the average length of tenancy is? Do they like to stay for more than say 12 months?

 

[bobandmarta]

GeeVee,

I have found that the gated complexes do rent easier than the others and it is true to say that they do seem to have long term tenants. I think it is the security thing myself although it could just be that they are well maintained having an on-site manager.

Bob