Property Investing Made Pure
Let me set the record straight. I have bought properties 'sight unseen'. Meaning, I have not physically seen the properties myself.
BUT…
This is not to say that I have not thoroughly researched the sales & vacancy data, spoken to local experts about both the property, the street and the town I am buying in, along with using a strong support network of local professionals to vet the validity of the individual property I am looking to buy.
With the ever growing interest in interstate property investing, there is a heightened trend towards investors sourcing properties online and taking the agents word as gospel that the property presents as it looks in the photos. This is an enormous gamble that can have VERY costly consequences. Remember that a selling agent only represents the interest of the seller, not the buyer!
If you're buying ‘site unseen’ without any support, you're taking a huge punt.
Let me outline a recent case study to demonstrate the potential downfalls of sight unseen properties. I inspected a property recently in SE QLD. I had already negotiated a sale price and had a contract sitting in my inbox ready to go before I physically viewed the property. The property had a new tenant move in one month before and the photos of the property online were taken when the property was vacant. Online, the property looked to be neat and tidy with no work needed to be done. So upon inspection, I was very disappointed to be met with a property that had two old cars on the front lawn, a shipping container, four large dogs on chains and enough junk to fill three houses sitting in the back yard. Not to mention a very embarrassed selling agent. Needless to say I did not buy the property for the price I had negotiated given that the property had quite a bit of money, effort and time to get it to a point that I could find an appropriate tenant.
This was not a complete disaster as I am now renegotiating a much lower price on the property and may be able to grab an even greater discount…
The moral of the story is that if I had not inspected the property in person, I would have been potentially buying a property that would have cost me in excess of $10,000 to bring it back to a habitable state, not to mention have the issues of kicking out the problematic tenant and having the property vacant for a considerable amount of time whilst fixing the issues.
My advice — if you are buying ‘site unseen’, you MUST have trusted eyes look through the property. Using an accredited buyers agent who has a strong network of agents, tradies, property managers and build and pest inspectors in the area will ensure that you avoid buying a lemon…
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