We’ve all read The Tale of the Ugly Duckling and know he turns into a swan in the end. Now, the same goes for property…

I’ve always really fancied the challenge of buying an old, rundown wreck and turning it into something wonderful. So much more satisfying than buying a modern box and moving straight into the show home.

“Today’s ugly ducking suburbs are tomorrow’s real-estate swans,” says National property researcher Terry Ryder of www.hotspotting.com.au. The man has a point. Let’s look at London - Remember how awful Notting Hill used to be and now it’s a Sienna Miller boho dream complete with my all time favourite Hummingbird Bakery.

Across the pond in New York, the Meat Packing District used to be heaving with cow carcasses and men in wellie boots and is now too cool for school and incredibly expensive.

The same goes for Australia. Wannabe property investors are being urged to target Australia’s cheap, up and coming ‘ugly duckling’ locations whilst they are still affordable, and be safe in the knowledge that they improve in looks and value.

According to Mr Ryder, these suburbs offer the best potential growth prospects in the current uncertain property market. But, if you are anything like Hyacinth Bucket (‘Bouquet,’ darling) and like to keep up appearances, these down at heel locations may not tempt you.

Still, first time buyers or those investors looking for more bang for their buck should definitely consider these up and coming spots.

Mr Ryder said, “Now, more than ever, the affordable ‘Ugly Duckling’ suburbs – which are considered unattractive by those looking through uneducated eyes, but have the potential to transform into something completely different and highly appealing, are the ones with the best prospects.

“With ongoing interest rate reductions and big increases in the First Home Owners Grant, buyers need to focus even more intensely on the cheaper areas of our major cities as they will deliver the best future price growth,” he added.

All of the listed locations have typical property prices below or around £130,000), but it’s not just about the money.

“Successful investors need to identify those locations that have underlying contributing factors or ‘big kickers’ to out-perform the market in coming years.

“These include major projects and government initiatives which generate economic activity, jobs, improved lifestyle and community appeal and, most importantly, convenient transport links.

Public transport, especially train connections to cities, is now arguably the biggest driver of price growth in real estate and plays an important role in the future prospects of all Ugly Ducklings.

Love life, Not just the weekends. You only have one life, Live it! @www.NicciAndLee.com

There is a lot of internet promises out there in cyberspace, you wouldn’t buy a car without fully satisfying your own checklist, make sure you apply the same scrutiny to anything you put money into on the internet. There are a lot of good opportunities and you can explore these opportunities to ensure your own needs are met, as long as you know what your needs are in the first place.

You must have a physical checklist to ensure you capture your needs and then apply them to the business opportunity.

Standard checklists should contain the following
A well established company,
A respected and beneficial product,
A system that will ensure success with selling and marketing the product,
Automated proven results,
Good commission based structure.

A lot of home based businesses via the internet offer business strategies that will advertise a good quality product, a marketing component (design your personalized webpage, email marketing and maybe a call centre for your leads) but you will still need to direct that traffic to that landing page. This will be covered in later blog posts, but beware, this is your most time consuming action with a new internet business.

Good Luck and happy searching

Love life, Not just the weekends. You only have one life, Live it @ www.NicciAndLee.com