Whether you’re ready to purchase a property this very moment, or you’re simply scoping the market to see how that savings plan of yours in tracking, online search tools are most likely going to be your first point of contact.
They’re a great place to start because you can save time and money by kicking off your property dreams from the comfort of your own couch – with your laptop fired up, pyjama bottoms on, TV remote in hand – without having to drag yourself down to your local real estate agency to talk to Jo Smooth.
Of course, there are the tired old sites that we’re all aware of, but as renters and buyers will know alike, it can be really difficult to sort the good from the bad on these platforms. Instead of doing a general ‘spray and pray’, the first step you should take is to do your research using an authoritative and specialist website with a dedicated investment search tool.
It makes sense, right? When buying an investment property for example, you’re not looking for a property that meets the needs of your lifestyle so comparing lots of general listings simply won’t give you the competitive figures you need to make the right call. Instead, you’re after a logical, risk-adverse investment that is likely to yield great returns over time.
That’s where sites such as homesales.com.au help investors. Here you can find properties for sale and rent as well as comprehensive investment information through their investment property search tool.
Ah ha – all of a sudden your competitiveness in an already cut throat Australian property market just spiked tenfold. Clever features like specialised searches could be the difference between you getting or missing out on that perfect property investment that ticks all of your boxes.
You can cover all of Australia in your search, but also get really granular over small details. On top of common features like property type, price, car spaces, bathrooms and bedrooms, you can also enter your investment strategy (positive cash flow, negative cash flow, or either), loan percentage, loan type, interest rate and term. But it gets better… You can actually enter your investment metrics.
These are considerations such as minimum to maximum desired rental return, expected capital growth, suburb population, home ownership percentage, maximum listing age and even price your results as a percentage of median value in any given suburb.
Serious investors will be delighted at the depth of search Homesales offers, but if you’re just starting out on your path to property investment, don’t fret. The site has plenty of online resources and guides including their investing glossary, news section and a learning hub. So no matter what stage of the journey you’re at, finding the right investment property in Australia is only a few clicks away.
This post was written with support from homesales.com.au.