Condition and Rarity

Condition
Houses and apartments should be well maintained and be structurally sound. They should have a logical floor plan and attractive, functional living areas.

Ensure that the property has areas that are light and open and that there is a good flow from room to room. The floor space should be greater than 50 square metres.

If the property takes up a large proportion of the land then you will generally have less maintenance.

The number and size of the bedrooms is often important as many tenants use their own room a lot.

For apartments, look for low rise blocks containing a relatively small number of apartments. The securement of an individual car space either on the property or at the front of the apartment is essential for investment properties.

Rarity
While most investors are aware that location is very important, if you can add rarity to your house purchase you could be sitting on a goldmine. Over recent years we have seen one of the best examples of rarity in real estate with the increases in prices of coastal property. With increase demand for houses along the Australian coastline, comes an increase in value of the properties.

But rarity in residential property does not just relate to location. A house with rarity will be one that increases in value due to an increase in demand and limited supply. Heritage listed areas are very popular for investment properties because of the rarity of the houses and high demand.

In Australia, many period style homes have overlays that limit the changes an owner can make to the house. Californian bungalows are another example of a high demand, low supply property.

To establish a property’s rarity value, consider property with a constant demand and limited supply.

Properties with timeless and broad ranging architectural appeal that were built from the 1890’s to the 1960’s are usually your best bet.