I have been through the first one....townhouses in the area are what I am looking closely at at the moment as I can't afford a house but would prefer to stick with a familiar area and closer to the city for this purchase. The first one has been on the market a while, went to Auction first. Think the second one has been on a while too.
Personally, I am not a fan of the Handford Rd strip - there are a whole lot of large complexes in a row, and something is always for sale. They do seem to rent ok without too many vacancies though. Bus outside to city, new Coles and few local shops just went in up the road from it and a few bus stops from Chermside. A local agent told me that often they go off the market rather than getting sold. I have considered this first one, at least it has a bit of land component and it is nice inside with nothing to do (except for the weird conversion from the standard 3 bed to 2 - there is a window behind the bunk bed and it is cracking where they've put the wall up to cover it). It would have to be a good price to factor in the possibility of having difficulty selling it later on in my book.
Pretoria St I didn't look at - the street is terrible, lots of units, no parking at all even on the street in a dead end with one way in and out and can be busy/hard to get out at times. Right next to station though so good for transport, and the local shops have everything you need there.
The house and land definitely seems cheap for northside - closer to city than areas I've looked at (Zillmere/Boondall/Taigum/Bracken Ridge), and I haven't seen a house for less than high 300k's recently. Close to airport and station, not much else down that way. Pretty old and a lot of industrial around the area, not sure where nearest shops, etc would be.
