South Western and Western Sydney

Hi everyone
Just wondering what your thoughts are on investing in the outskirts of Sydney, specifically the South West areas of Leumeah / Minto / Macquarie Fields and also the Western Suburbs of Tregear / Lethbridge Park / Doonside / Woodcroft?
I realise of course that they are all housing commission areas, but they are also just about the only thing within my price range, especially the ones near Blacktown. I noticed some people posting that they stay away from Minto/Macquarie Fields, although I have to say that having visited all the areas, I find Wilmott etc scarier than anything I saw at Macquarie Fields! And most of Minto's housing commission is being sold anyway.
Tregear is right next door to Ropes Crossing, shouldn't that affect values in a positive way (eventually)?
I just can't help thinking that the gap between the prices in these suburbs and elsewhere has to narrow at some point, I mean $200,000 is not that bad, it IS Sydney after all, can the prices possibly get any lower? And the housing commission stock is slowly being sold because the housing department has no money - all their properties in these areas are around 40 years old, they simply can't afford to fix them all so they sell some off and use the money towards building new higher density stock. And they've finally realised that creating ghettos is probably not a good idea.
So, in a long winded kind of way, what I want to know is - is it worth it? Do any of you buy in these areas and what is your strategy, buy and hold? Renovate and sell?
Thanks in advance, hoping for some insights!
Kamila
 
Kam, if you do a search, there have been a few posts lately about these areas. I live & invest in Western Sydney, but also have a couple of props in Ambarvale & other areas.

Willmot backs onto the other end of Ropes crossing. We have 2 IP's in Willmot. Like all areas there are good parts & bad parts. One of our IP's seems to always get reasonable good tenants, who want to stay (the one in the worst condition), while the other one (which had an extensive reno) seems to always get the slackers.

The rents have been increasing, which is always good. We are getting on average $230pw for a 4 bed ex-housing commission & $210 for a 3 bedder.

The most important thing you need when investing here is a GOOD property mananger. There are a lot of R/E offering management & there are some that are not very good at all.
 
Kam,

I am a buy and hold person so low purchase price is the key to my investment plan.
I don't have any problem buying that far out as my holding costs would be low but before I buy anything I would need to know the area well.
As skater said there are some good pockets but if you are not from the area it won't be easy to identify them.

I don't know the areas you've mentioned very well so I can't be of much help.
I would continue researching your areas of interest and would try to find someone who knows the local area. Looking at rentals will give you an idea of returns.
Ofcourse having a good PM is very important so perhaps Skater can help you out in this regard.

Also, buying cheap often means that you will need to fix things up.
Are you willing to do this? If you live on the other side of Syd it could be annoying having to travel 30km to get to your IP.
Also, you've mentioned that you are on a tight budget. don't overspend on the purchase, interest rates could go up so leave some cash for a rainy day and definitely get Landlords insurance.
Cheers
 
thanks guys

Thanks for your help Skater and BV. I know that at the prices I mentioned they'll need fixing, in fact I'd prefer it that way! Interest rates don't worry me too much, I tend to fix them anyway (my lowest currently is 6.74%! :D) and I wouldn't dream of investing without Landlords insurance. Having said that, Skater, would you be kind enough to drop some names in regards to the more decent PM's out there? I have to say you seem to be getting decent enough rent, I've looked and I can see lots of $180p/w and some even less than that!
Also, do you trust agents to tell you the better spots in a suburb? I'm not from the area so I'll need to identify the better streets, I'm just not sure if an agent who's trying to sell you something will tell you the truth! What do you do? Drive up every street and eliminate the scary looking ones?
Cheers all
Kam
 
Hi Kam,

Yes there are some cheaper properties in the area. You will find that they either come from a couple of the Agencies that don't put the prices up, the properties are of a poor standard, or they are private rentals (no PM).

I would suggest that if you want to invest in the area, that you come & visit it on a regular basis. Talk to the Agents. It doesn't take long to find out that some of them are full of it. Ask lots of questions, but don't rely on the knowledge gained as gospel until you have checked it out yourself. Go to open houses. Lots of them. Ask more questions. Go to auctions. As you do this your knowledge of the area will increase & you will see the bargains. There really are some very good ones, but you need to be on the ball to find them.:D
 
Hi Kam,


I've been watching the area lately and found a few beauties that caught my eye, in particular Tregear. I did my usual stuff, drive by the house, drive around surround streets. Then I asked a few people I know who lived out that way their whole life, they both said (separately) If you want to live in it - don't buy there (in Willmot, Tregear, Shalvey or Letherbridge park), but for an IP it would be ok.

I spoke with the agent about the house I had interest in at Tregear - her actual advice (suprising to me) was 'not to buy it' unless I had extra cash to fix it up as it was trashed inside. I wasn't phased, but more interested why she said 'No'. She then said that the better areas around there are (of course more expensive but make the difference of what I would have had to spend on the reno job):

- Whalans
- Hebersham
- Blackett
- Shalvey

I have lived in South West Sydney my whole life (Fairfield disctrict - not exactly the best either). I grew up with the impression those areas listed above were and still are the worst of the lot. However, in the past year I have been spending nearly every weekend in Penrith and doing drive throughs of those above areas. I am liking it more and more because of the potential.

Every area has it bad pockets. My next property hunt is out that way. There are many housing commission pockets, but most of it is being sold off.

My only dig on Western Sydney suburbs is Airds - I inspected a house there for the price about 7 months ago - in the most decent street (1 of 2) and the rest not good - I drove through there at night and hated it. I researched it, including projects that people were trying to rectify the area - they made a DVD about it too. Now that is an area the goverment specifically built in the actual sense of housing commission. Others, may see it differently.

Boost :eek:
 
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