Aussielover

Myself and my partner intend to move to Adelaide from Edinburgh end-January 2017. We're retired, I have a Permanent Spouse Visa, we have no dependents and hope to build a good life out there - but we still have a million questions!

On arrival, we intend to spend 2 weeks in an aparthotel while we get our bearings, and look for a rental for 3/6 months whilst we find a house to buy. The question is - is it likely we could find a rental within 2 weeks at that time of year, or should we budget for longer in an aparthotel? I appreciate its a tricky question, I'm just trying to plan ahead as I understand that Adelaide hotels fill up with visitors and festival-goers from mid-February.

Thanks in advance for your thoughts...

GarryP

I'd suggest budgeting for longer in a short term furnished let (rather than hotel). It will take you time to get adjusted anyway, and finding somewhere (particularly with only a 3/6 month term) will likely take longer than 2 weeks, particularly since you don't know what to expect. It'll take 3 months for your stuff to get here by ship.

Oh, and Edinburgh to Adelaide in Jan - that's gonna be a shock to the system.

Aussielover

Thanks GarryP.

We didn't really want to arrange accommodation from the UK beyond the first couple of weeks in case we got 'tied-in' to something unsuitable - but yes a short term let would be the ideal solution. We thought probably aparthotel -> short-term let -> long-term let -> own house might be the likely sequence of events, more expensive but maybe easier on the system - as you say it's going to be a shock, and we'll need time to find our feet. Its hard to imagine what it'll actually be like when we get there, but we don't want to find ourselves homeless!

I will look into short-term lets then; are they likely to be widely available in February? Is there any good place to find these? Any opinions welcome...

GarryP

You could try Short term furnished rental accommodation, Adelaide - Adelaide Bound making migration easier. but you are likely to find many of the short term lets booked up, this close to the date.

For me I booked 6 weeks in a let well before I got here, and used it all. If you get a long enough time, you might find you can buy and settle on a house fast enough - I think there are a number of 'motivated sellers' in Adelaide at the moment...

Probably worth getting your head around where you want to be - Glenelg way (expensive), in the City (expensive), North (avoid like plague), in the Hills, down south, etc. It might only be 1+ million, but its still a big city. Then look at realestate.com for both long term lets (typically 12 month) and sales.

Aussielover

Thanks for the link...

We were thinking Glenelg or somewhere coastal ideally, if affordable, but we're open to suggestions. When you say 'avoid going North', do you mean North of the city centre, or North of the A21 (Blair Atholl/Enfield), or further North still? Can you give a reason?

Also, you said that there might be some motivated sellers in Adelaide- can you elaborate as to why, just to give us an insight? Thanks.

GarryP

In general the areas north of the city (Elizabeth, Smithfield Plains, Daveron Park, parts of Salisbury and Andrews Farm) are recognised to be dodgy areas. Best avoided.

Mate has just bought there, put in an offer for less than the asking and got accepted within the week. Suspicious.

rammygirl

Your problem is the time of year, we arrived late Jan 2014 and struggled to find somewhere near the city to rent for 6 weeks and it was expensive despite a long stay reduction. Main issue was many are booked already for weekends due to CLIPSAL , festival etc all going on near the city. With the tramline we found this also applied to Glenelg. And we booked the November before.

We also found it was a quiet time for rentals and we struggled to find something as there wasn't much on the market. It took us the full six weeks to find a suitable rental and get the keys, we actually had to extend the holiday let for a few days.

Obviously it will depend where you are looking and you could get lucky.

There are some short term furnished let's in the city for 3 months but whether one will be available when you want it is another issue.

Most longer term unfurnished lets require a 12 month lease and in popular areas you are unlikely to be able to negotiate for less as others will happily sign for 12.

In hindsight we would have come later in the year but we did enjoy the festivals!

rasen78

It really does depend on where you want to be. Generally speaking, the further away from the city centre you are, the easier you will find it to get a place. Your budget will go a long way to determining where you will be. It is a busy time in Adelaide because of Clipsal and the start of the festivals, but have a look at some of the outer suburbs.

Personally, I would stay away from Glenelg. It's expensive and there are plenty of other much more attractive areas.

If you can give us an idea of your budget, and the type of place you are looking for I can give some suggestions for areas you can look at.

When we first arrived, we were at a short term let in Morphett Vale - not the best of areas, but was well located for looking around the southern suburbs and we were only there for 3 weeks before we moved into a 12 month rental. We stayed here when we first arrived Roos Place, Morphett Vale, SA Holiday Accommodation

Aussielover

Thanks for the input. Our flat here in Edinburgh unexpectedly sold in only 5 days (!), which means we have no option but to come out around 27th January - much sooner than expected. Additionally, our buyer can still pull out of the purchase until the missives are exchanged (hopefully in the next week or so..), so we can't even book flights/accom. until this happens - which is really going to pressure us to do a lot in a very short timescale.

Since we don't know our way around Adelaide too well - and we don't need to be based anywhere in particular, it's proving difficult to narrow down where we'd like to live from over here. Ideally we'd come out and spend some weeks looking around to get a feel for things - but that's the expensive option! It might be that we end up just having to book 'tourist accommodation' initially, and look at everything available until we find something suitable.

I note that there's lots of rental accommodation on Gumtree - is this a 'safe' and reliable way to go about finding accommodation in Adelaide? What I do know is that if we end up staying in a grotty unit in a scary neighbourhood for six months, my missus will not be a happy bunny! Any thoughts welcome...

rammygirl

Personally I would avoid gumtree for accommodation, but in any case you need to view in person.

For holiday let's use reputable sites like airb&b and stayz and look for an abn number.

For longer term use domain.com and realestate.com. Most will have opens where anyone can turn up.

If you give us an idea of your budget that would help with areas. In good areas a cheap rental will be cheap for a reason, some are shocking and pictures can be decades old!

Look at the average price for a better guide. We were paying $800 a week for a three bed ( million + dollar home in Norwood) but letting out our 4 bed property in Hahndorf for $475 ( worth about $580k ) a week. Both similar quality homes.

We now live in the Hahndorf house and are happy.

Aussielover

We're probably thinking in the AUD500/week for a two-bed furnished for 3-6 months - but we want to be buying as soon as possible, at least as soon as we feel sure we've found our 'place'.

By the way, I'm a real Germanophile - Hahndorf sounds interesting!

rammygirl

We love it. It has history but is a bit touristy and packed at the weekends.

We can stroll to shops, restaurants and cafes and be walking in the country and vineyards without the need for a car.

Decent transport to the city also so don't need to spend a fortune on taxis for a night out. We even got the bus from the airport ( well two buses) the other week for less than five bucks each.

There is a sense of community with people pulling together after the floods, clearing creeks and generally making the place look nice.

A bit further from the beach but once you are in the car it doesn't really matter for and extra 10 mins. And you do need stuff for the beach like chairs and shade so ........

I am busy painting today but have a look at the real estate sites I mentioned all the agents use them. You can search for rentals although most will be unfurnished. Most of the furnished 3/6 month ones are in the city and will be apartments or townhouses.

rammygirl

Oh and plenty of steins and wurst here

GarryP

Hahndorf is FULL of tourists - I know, I went there as a tourist

Something worth taking into consideration.

rammygirl

Most are day trippers and we find it much better in the evening but at least it isn't dead. I like a bit of life! Living here means we don't need to find a parking space either!

In winter it is quieter too. We lived in Norwood before and that was busy and bustling even in the evenings all year round.

This weekend with the Christmas fairs will be very busy, but we will still stroll out and enjoy the atmosphere.