Purchase or Pass: Property investments on a reasonable budget with Chris Gray

In our Purchase or Pass segment this week with Charles Tarbey and Tom Panos we see if it was still possible to get a great investment, close to the city, for a reasonable budget at the end of last year.

Location: 8.5kms from CBD

Beds: 1

Bath: 1

Parking: 1

SQM: 68m

Price: $625k

Rent: $550-600/wk

Chris: It’s a 1 bed, 1 bath unit with parking 8.5km’s from the CBD and less than a km to the local action. It’s a 68 sqm first floor unit, with courtyard off the lounge for outside dining and entertaining. It’s located at the back of the building in a well maintained security block. The property sold for $625k, has a rental estimate of $550-600/wk and has strata fees of $633/qtr. I thought we’d look at some of the information on the advert and decipher how we’d read into that. So when you hear something that’s maybe 8.5km from the CBD and less than a km from the heart of the suburb, what does that mean to you Charles?

Charles: Well, as we’ve always said the western suburbs start at Centennial Park for most people. It’s nice and located close to the city and if you’ve brought it up or you’ve raised it as a property for purchase or pass it’s likely to be in the eastern suburbs somewhere and you’ve likely bought it off one of your mates who work near the eastern suburbs. That’s what I got out of there. What have you got out of that Tom?

Chris: What about for you Tom, 68sqm?

Tom: It says to me that it’s not tiny, it’s the sort of unit that’s liveable. So they’re happy to talk about the size there. And on that previous point, 8.5ks to the city. Anything within 10ks of the city you think it’ll suit a city dweller. So it feels like you might not be right in the heart of it, but you’re close to it. That’s the initial impression.

Chris: Charles, for some of the listeners in the Blue Mountains who like fresh air, how does the courtyard suit?

Charles: Well, I had a look at the photo it looked pretty nice. It looked like I was looking at a wall but was that right, are you looking at a bit of wall?

Chris: Potentially, yeah

Charles: So we’d call that privacy, right, so you get no neighbours looking at you. So that’s what I’d get from that. Tell me, 68sqm does that include a patio?

Chris: That’s including the patio, yeah

Charles: and not the car space

Chris: Yeah, I think car space is maybe 15 on top or something. So again it’s not massive.

Charles: No, it’s a great price for that size

Chris: Backward block Tom?

Tom: Backward block to me, straightaway the initial feeling is that it’s quiet, that you’re not going to be hearing lots and lots of noise. That’s the suggestion on why the agent would write that in the marketing literature.

Chris: Maybe the block’s the other way around and the backs the freeway, you never know so you’ve also got to go and check it out at the same time. But in this case that’s right. North facing Charles?

Charles: Well, that’s an important part of it, you know, the sun, making sure it’s not facing the west where you’ve just got to have your air conditioning on at a certain time. Facing north always is an appealing thing and every agent will use it when they can.

Chris: 22 end block Tom?

Tom: 22, it’s basically saying it’s not one of these big Meriton complexes, where you won’t know everyone. 22, you’ll get to know who the people are there. It’s also not as good as say 6, 8, 10 or 12, but 22 says that it’s not a monster of a building. 

Chris: Yeah, reasonable size. 633 a quarter for the strata fees Charles?

Charles: Yeah, I thought that was really excellent. Actually, and I would have promoted that as probably one of the first points because some of those buildings down there can cost you a great deal more and a lot of people are very concerned about strata fees and they should be.

Chris: Yeah, and I’ll do the final one, 5-600 a week for the rent, 4 and a half to 5 per cent rent this market it’s pretty superb so purchase or pass for you guys?

Charles: Definitely purchase based on the price

Chris: And what about you Tom?

Tom: Purchase, whether it’s 625 or 650 I’m not quite sure what it was, but it’s a good buy.

(Chris) I think this is an almost text book purchase for someone that has a limited budget and still wants to stay in a blue chip suburb. Everything ticks the boxes for me so I would PURCHASE

To watch the discussion in full, click here.