Potential Future Retirement PPOR

In this post HERE, I talked about the type of retirement PPOR I was looking for specifically. I had the following requirements:

• Needs to be a free-standing house (or at least something without strata / body corporation fees)
• Minimum 600m2 land (I do not want to live on a tiny patch of land)
• Minimum 3 bedroom
• Minimum 2 bathroom
• Granny Flat / Self Contained Studio as part of the property (I want to be able to rent out the unit on Air BnB as extra income, and also a place for guests to stay if they do come visit).

I was also hoping to spend around $400,000 for such a place. Coming from Sydney, looking at everything I require for the price I am targeting, is almost beyond imaginable. If I was to get a property like this, anywhere in Sydney, I really doubt I would get change from $1,000,000 – and even then I think I would be about 50km from the CBD.

So obviously that means I would have to look in places outside of Sydney, Melbourne and most likely Brisbane (although around Sunshine Coast is relatively well priced too).

The reason for this post, however, is just to show that it is achievable! It does help that I really do not care where I live, I am easily satisfied and have minimal needs to be close to anything in particular. If the house itself is nice, I should be able to be quite content. Although, I would not really want to be in the middle of nowhere, so being near some sort of civilisation is required also.

Go West!

I am planning a trip to Perth at the moment and will be leaving in Late June to check it out. I have never been there before but have heard nice things and looking at the real estate market over there has definitely got me excited.

Just this weekend I found a place which looks like it would be absolutely perfect for me, so I just wanted to share it with everyone so they can have a look at what is achievable if you get away from the expensive cities.

Unfortunately, they do not seem to provide floorplans too often in Perth real estate markets, so it does leave a lot of imagination required. Above is a picture of the front yard, apparently it is quite rate for there to be grass on the lawn as well so it is a nice bonus to have a lovely lush looking lawn out front.

So, what are the details of the property and does it meet my requirements?

• Bedrooms – 4 (3 in the main house)

• Bathrooms – 2 (1 in the main house) – this is not ideal, but not the end of the world

• Land – 824m2 (nice size block of land with a decent back yard)

• Granny Flat – Yes! A self-contained 1 bedroom 1 bathroom granny flat in the backyard.

Nice size backyard, with an existing veggie patch, chicken coop.

Inside is not the most impressive, but it is perfectly liveable, and some basic renovations/updates could really make the insides come to life. The flooring throughout the place looks to be relatively new, the rooms are all freshly painted, and I think it would be a comfortable place to live.

The kitchen in the granny flat! Inside the granny flat actually looks nicer than the house. It looks quite modern with updated fittings and furnishings throughout. Definitely potential to be rented out on AirBnB.

Location

I won’t go into too much detail on the property, but it is about 1 hour drive South of Perth near Mandurah.

About 2km away from Collins Pool (a large bay they have around Mandurah) and 5km from Town Beach.

Overall, it might be a bit more remote than living in Perth itself, but there is around 90,000 people who live in Mandurah so at least it will feel close to civilisation.

I am really looking forward to checking out the area, but from looking online, it looks like a nice relaxed coastal town where a lot of people go to retire! So, I will be going there to retire also, but I might be in a different age bracket to most!

I used to live on the Central Coast, about an hour North of Sydney and I get the same sort of vibe from this area. Central Coast was great, and I enjoyed living there, so definitely excited to checking out Mandurah.

Price

So now the all-important part, how much does this house actually cost? Does it meet my budget of $400,000?

Well, at the moment I am not 100% sure. I was looking on realestate.com.au, and it did not have the price disclosed. I have asked the real estate agent and they couldn’t specify exactly but could only give the price guide they used which was $299,000 – $309,000. Seems ridiculously cheap to me!

AirBnB Potential?

I also had a quick look on AirBnB to see what other places in the area were offering, and it seems that I could confidently ask for around $140 per night for the granny flat at this place. Definitely looks like it could have some potential to create a nice side income through retirement.

Even if the place was only rented for one night a week at that price, that would be an extra $7,280 (minus the fees) into my pocket. A great money earner.

Summary

So, although I will not be going for this specific property, it is currently under contract and I am not looking to buy for another 8 months yet anyway. It is good to know that there are properties available that suit my criteria, especially with the price range I am looking at.

The one downside I do have with this property, is there is not really much of a view from any of the windows. I have always liked a nice view to look out on. It is a “nice to have” but definitely not a “must have.”

There were a couple others that also looked promising, but this one was definitely my favourite. I am really looking forward to checking out the Perth area, because I can see some cheap areas on the internet, and am curious to find out exactly why they might be so cheap.