Hello Mary
Sorry, I didn't mean to 'bristle' so if my reply appeared to be 'bristly' then I most sincerely apologise.
Yes, I alluded to 'Brunswick' as a generic 'close to the CBD' suburb as distinct from Ringwood, which some would think is an 'outer eastern' suburb. I wasn't necessarily meaning Brunswick itself.
Dis asked about buying in Ringwood. Essentially, rather than compare Ringwood to the inner suburbs - whether that be Footscray, Elwood or Brunswick, I compared Ringwood with suburbs a little further out but in the same corridor.
I also suggested considering access to the property for future maintenance work, or even self-management.
To my way of thinking, if Dis bought in Hobart then he / she wouldn't be thinking about access and would expect to be paying someone to do everything involved with the property, whether that be letting, management, mowing grass, changing lightbulbs or painting.
By choosing to 'nest' our properties we have reasonable access to do a lot of the work ourselves. This in and of itself is no reason to buy a property, but in our experience of this area the capital growth has been reasonable to good and yes, of course, if we had the pockets to buy in Hawthorn or Toorak or other blue chip areas then perhaps the capital growth would have been stronger.
We primarily look at having a mix of property, and so far have not been disappointed with either rental return or capital growth, and the Internal Rate of Return has been excellent.
For example, Daughter bought her first place in Kilsyth three years ago, paying $136,000 and using $4,000 of her own money and receiving the previous $7,000 FHOG. Yes, she and I renovated somewhat extensively which cost about $15,000 including new windows, a new kitchen, upgraded the bathroom, a full internal repaint, new carpet downstairs, a complete electrical overhaul including new circuits, cover plates, switches, light fittings etc. and a garden makeover to the courtyard. In one month, and working 14 hour days.
She has paid me back from her other earnings so her investment in this property - which has now been rented for $185 per week for eighteen months - was a total of $19,000. The property has improved to about $185,000 market value.
So her $19,000 has earned her another $30,000 in three years.
But most importantly, she was earning $13,000 per annum when she bought it, with $4,000 deposit.
There have been many threads on what to buy and where to buy, and Dis is obviously planning ahead with a two year time frame. No: 2 Son also planned ahead, but couldn't buy until he turned 18. He signed the Contract on his Birthday.
Ringwood is still largely affordable, that is, how many weeks / years pay to buy the property. It is an area which had many defence houses built in the late 1940s and early 1950s and many of the original occupants still own and live in the houses. My next door neighbour there moved into the house which was built new for her and her husband, she was 19 at the time.
These properties tend to be on full size blocks of land, generally around the 850 square metres, and the infrastructure is excellent. Schools, recreation facilities, public transport, shopping.
You can catch a bus at Ringwood Station and go to Warburton for a cup of tea if you like! My neighbour actually does this, she never learned to drive and enjoys the outing. The bus stop is 50 metres from her door.
As a stable, lower middle class area, Ringwood is hard to beat. I would suggest that lower capital growth reflects the stability of the market, and the generic nature of the properties. As properties come up for sale and are bought and modernised, so too will capital growth rates increase.
Capital growth comes from not just what we as individuals do, but what the whole area does. Massive injections of capital, such as those involved with the By-Pass, encourage more investment projects and once the 'lift' starts in an area the neighbourhood becomes more attractive, vendors achieve higher prices and so it goes on.
Eastland has grown over the years, not just once but a number of times, and now that Maroondah Council has decided to re-zone to encourage apartments and other styles of medium to high density living, in a specific area fringing Eastland, many more people will be attracted to the area.
However, it should be kept in mind that this high density area is very tight and permission for one development does not imply permission for all developments. We shall not see a return to the cubic blocks of flats on stilts so beloved in the 1960s. For a start, each tenement must be able to provide for two off street vehicle spaces, so a building containing 20 apartments must be able to provide at least 40 car park spaces. This rule applies even for studio or one bedroom apartments, and this economic factor alone would limit the temptation to randomly build flats or apartments.
There are some very nice, and some very ordinary, units and flats in Ringwood. There are also some quite extraordinary properties which anyone would be pleased to live in.
If Dis is looking at buying a separate dwelling, that is, a family home, there is plenty to choose from. If Dis is looking at buying a flat, apartment, townhouse or unit, there is now also the choice of buying 'off the plan' with settlement probably about two years away.
Ringwood has long awaited the By-Pass. The years of lobbying for the preservation of the Mullum Creek reserve have finally paid off and the ribbon parklands will remain for posterity.
The City of Maroondah is a good place to live and to raise a family. We have always experienced strong rental demand and have been pleased with the calibre of our tenants (with a few exceptions) and the rent they have been prepared to pay.
In speaking of my personal experience I do not seek to contradict anyone else's experiences or to make any point except that 'this is our experience'.
There are many areas around Melbourne I would fancy to live in - Sandringham so I could walk to the beach, Docklands so I could sit on the balcony and admire the view, West Melbourne, Carlton, St Kilda, Elwood, Camberwell, Maribyrnong, there is beauty and 'buzz' anywhere, and no area is 'better' or 'worse' than another, as beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
But this thread is about Ringwood, and I would be more than happy to own twenty properties in Ringwood, or Croydon, or Kilsyth. I am sure that they would keep me fed into an advanced old age.
And as both No: 1 and No: 2 Sons have promised to drive me to Bingo in return for all the planning, plotting, support, encouragement, help and nagging I have given them thus far, I may as well live close enough to them so that they can easily just call by to pick me up!
Dis, Ringwood has something for everyone. Good luck with your search and enjoy the next two years
Cheers
Kristine
