5 Important Questions to Ask when Buying Property Interstate

We all know someone who has two houses in the same suburb and possibly in the same street. It has worked for the last 20 years. Why change it?

When Property Investors were asked where they would buy for the best capital growth in the next 5 years, they cited Melbourne and Brisbane to be the top two areas.*

If you are a Sydneysider, for example, only buying in Sydney limits your options in a big way. I have seen potential investors put property investing off, because they cannot afford the Sydney prices. Looking outside of Sydney as well as buying property interstate, can yield better results than a Sydney investment.

With the property buying services available today, they have made it easier to invest in property interstate. You don’t have to see the property. You probably may never have to see it, even after you have bought it. You can see a video, photos, talk to the agent, outsource to a buyers agent, work with a property strategist. If you engage the right team, they will do a better job than you would do yourself, while stretching you to think broader than the areas that you already know. They can also help you build your property portfolio a lot quicker, thus saving you time and money.

To be a strategic property investor, it’s important to ask the following five questions:
1. What is the current state of the market?
2. What is the growth history the market?
3. What does the data around Immigration, Employment, Affordability, Demographics etc tell me?
4. What areas will deliver the best growth in the next 3-5 years?
5. What is my level of risk and how is this best managed? For example, if all your properties are in one area, what would happen if there was major flooding?

Understand that there’s a big difference between buying a place for yourself or buying a place as an investment property. In investing, the focus is on growth, increasing your yields and returns, along with creating diversification of your asset portfolio so you can manage through the market peaks, troughs and the ever changing government regulations.

When buying property interstate, regions of NSW and Queensland are worth considering, including Central Coast, Gold Coast and Sunshine Coast, and areas of beyond Brisbane including Logan, Caboolture and Ipswich.