Anyone from Broken Hill

[Philquad]

any of you guys happen to live at broken hill way?

1 of my friends bought a house out there, as a investment anyway

its sooo far from here, like 12 hrs, so some local advice would be great

[gordon_s1942]

I have a friend who has just returned from another stay at BH.
He worked there on the Railway as a Signalman and he speaks highly of the place, hence this recent visit, the second in 6 months.
As for being 12 hours from the Coast, in reality its a wee bit longer because its a damn long way.
By Train, you leave Sydney on the XPT at 8am to Dubbo arriving around 1330.
After about an hour, you catch the Bus to BH that arrives there after 9pm that night.
The Bus stops once (Cobar?) for a feed, tucker is good but pricey.
The big thing you have to tolerate out there is the Summer Temperatures which makes having a functioning AC system mandatory.
It's a totally different climate to the Coast where temps can and do go down to freezing point and very low humidity which can be good or bad for you.

Oddly enough he's been contemplating buying 'something' out there mainly to live in for himself.
He's divorced, in his mid 50's working as a driver for Domino's Pizza with a locked up Superfund that might be enough to buy out there when it matures in the next year or so.
He has no personal attachments so its only himself he has to consider but he has lived and worked on the Lower Blue Mountains except when he was working away and that's going to make it hard to move away, particularly so far.

[Philquad]

actually your right gordon, its a f'in long way (i learned that word from bcf )
12.5 hrs
long way for her to drive just to check it or get things done
shes a goer i'll give her that

[WhiteOx]

I don't understand why your friend would buy an investment property in Broken Hill.

[Philquad]

I don't understand why your friend would buy an investment property in Broken Hill.

i dont understand anything she does
shes pretty out there
its like she only has 60g, so buying a house, > broken hill
must admit, found a tenant at 250 week, thats $12500 yr, no loan, shes money back in 5 yrs
might be a gold digger
get it?
ha ha

[lsemmens]

I'm near by (relatively) it's only 400 odd Ks

[VroomVroom]

I can see why the purchase price is attractive , BUT - if the place lies empty for any length of time , then the whole deal quickly turns to crap. and you cant look at the $250 per week , becauase after tax it might be around $160 per week , depending on her financial circumstances. you need to check the long term vacancy rates for country towns first.
some capital growth would be nice too , as a backstop.

[mtv]

Plus the cost of council rates, agent's fees, etc, etc.

Apart from the cost of maintenance... who arranges/performs it when the tenant reports a problem. (agent?)

[VroomVroom]

all those ongoing costs like rates , insurances , fees etc are tax deductible , so will cost the owner approximately half the face value once tax is worked out.

the agent organises any required maintenance , and bills to the owner via the monthly statement. This is normally done on a reactive basis , as or when the tenant complains about the issue.

having rentals is not always a cash cow , there are many ways the investment can go pear shaped , so i would suggest your friend does a lot more thinking about the idea prior to signing up.

[gordon_s1942]

When my friend first mentioned this idea a couple of years ago, one thing I suggested was to see how long places in general sat before being sold.
Unless there is a major change in employment at what industries are there, like adding or closing down, buying and selling times should be similar IF your only buying for an Investment and dont intend to live there.
There are places where more houses are occupied by Renters than Owners due to the uncertainty of their employment or on Contracts.

[allover]

My opinion, i have a property investment in inner Melbourne, friends who have bought investment properties in the country are paying half the price and receiving not far short in rents i am. There fore are paying off their investments quicker and can use the collateral to buy again
So apart from any calamity i think Broken Hill could be a good investment

[gordon_s1942]

Anyone checking will find as allover has there is little difference between the Metrop and Regional for rents.
Obviously Metro areas get the higher amount but on average I dont believe the Regional property would be under 75% for its Metro counterpart.

[Rocket]

Like many country towns Broken Hill has experienced a decline in population over the years and as such there are plenty of houses on the market, however there is a shortage of quality rental properties. If your friend has purchased a tidy and presentable property she will have no problem finding a tenant.