SecretSpot

This appears to be the perfect place to live, if you like it quiet and safe, yet only a 15 mins drive from Bundaberg CBD or Bargara. Just next door to Mon Repos Conservation Area (turtles) with a brilliant beach. Burnett Heads itself has Oaks Beach and nice foreshore, along with large parks to the north. You will love living here.

We found Bargara to be a nice and welcoming area. In fact, it almost seems every second person has moved here from Brisbane or the Sunshine Coast (or even Melbourne) in more recent times, which may explain the friendliness of the people as I guess no one wants to be a stranger.

The shops and cafes on Bauer St and along the Esplanade are great, and the new Woolies and Shopping complex have brought new competition to this town.

It's just 10 to 15 min drive into town (Bundaberg) for even more things to do.

Speaking purely from a property investment point of view, based on my experience I would strongly recommend for any potential property investor to reconsider and leave this town to its weird people. This applies to out-of-town investors in particular, when you depend on good quality, reliable and honest property management. Do not buy here unless you you can cope with extremely slack attitudes and inefficient property "management". I have tried to work with four real estate agents in this rotten place over the years and none have shown any interest in doing any work other than collecting the rent. There were the odd exceptions but these property managers did not last long. I can't blame them as it must be terrible to work for some of the agents in town - some display an extremely rude and non-caring attitude. Half of all tenants (picked by the agents and with all boxes allegedly ticked) turned out trouble tenants of the worst kind, owing rent constantly and not moving out on due dates and when they finally did, they left behind a trail of destruction. Property inspections were not done and even faked, with grave maintenance issues not revealed until years later, resulting in high cost of repairs and renovations.
You will NOT be given a clear picture of the state of your property or what your property manager "really" thinks of your tenants.
The only two property managers I loved to work with seemed to also have been the only ones "with a brain" ... all the others need an intensive course in customer service, use of email and phone, as well as a good kick in the backside to actually deal with tenants issues and do proper and timely inspections to do what they are supposed to do: PROTECT YOUR ASSET.

We had actually visited Innisfail a few times before we made our investment decisions. We even considered to move and live there at one point. However, the really bad attitudes of many supposedly professional people in Innisfail were a major turn off.

Tradespeople - we all know they don't have the best reputation in general (usually for lack of turning up to a job). However, nothing prepared us for the slack and selfish attitudes of these people in Innisfail. It always seems impossible to find a decent guy doing a decent job for a decent amount of money. It doesn't matter if there was a cyclone or not, they are extremely PICKY and will not do minor jobs unless you are happy to be completely ripped off (i.e. pay double or triple of what would be considered normal). Want to have some windows painted around the house? No, he only does complete houses and a small lowset would be upwards of $20,000. What? You want a couple of roof sheets replaced? Don't bother paying $8,000 ... go for a full replacement instead, it's only $20,000 (the property in question would have had one of the smallest roofs in town).

So in essence - Do NOT bother. Property ASKING prices are generally at least DOUBLE of what they should be in order to even have a chance of selling and there is a HUGE stock built up of properties that have not been selling over the last few years. Buying for investment would be a nasty TRAP in many aspects.