Hi guys
My boyfriend and I are moving to Perth at the start of April. We don't have jobs yet but I'm a qualified accountant so im hoping it won't take too long to pickup work. Basically I'm worried because I have heard some horror stories about finding accommodation in areas like Sydney and didn't know if perth would be the same. We don't have jobs yet and have no rental history in oz. We are able to pay more of a deposit if needed.
What does everyone think? Am I right to be worried?
Any advice much appreciated
Alixx

Hey
Welcome to Perth(well nearly!)
Recommend having a ref from home if you can. Here's the real estate website www.realestate.com.au and most job ads are on www.seek.com.au

Nope, no need to be worried.

bring letters of reference from your current bank/ mortgage company to use for rental references. and from your current employer as well testifying to your reliability etc..

these along with offer to pay higher deposit/bond will generally see you through.

Given you dont yet know where you will be working can I recommend that you focus your accomodation search on suburbs such as West Leederville, Subiaco, West Perth, East Perth, Perth City or the town end of Victoria Park as the transport links from all of these suburbs is relatively simple to all points of the compass. After you've been here for 6 months and have settled into a job then you can easily move onto a different suburb if you prefer but for first few months I think you will find these the easiest suburbs, plus there's generally lots of apartments / townhouses available to rent in each of them and they all have a reasonable cafe lifestyle as well.

Thanks guys I can stop worrying a wee bit now. Alixx

Awww... here I was coming in to give all kinds of good and sage advice and Vegemite Kids beat me to it!

Basically everything they said!

I will tell you though, offering to pay a higher deposit/bond won't help - an ethical real estate agency will not take that higher bond because they can't - it's against REIWA rules and regulations. If they do take it, and you get the house - well, they're probably not an ethical agency and there could be issues down the track.

Also, one thing you'll have to watch out for with looking in the city is the fact that competition for housing can sometimes be very fierce! Working in a real estate agency, I get a lot of people through the door (we're smack dab in the city) and they've often checked out us along with every other city agency they can, and will have a stack of rental lists. Don't lose hope however!!! Jan - March is generally a very hectic housing time as a lot of students are coming from overseas to get into apartments - by April it has started to calm down a fair bit, so that definitely plays into your favour.

I wish you the best of luck!

Hi! Another handy website to keep an eye on is the Perth Gumtree website:
http://perth.gumtree.com.au/
Real estate is divided into short term, house/apartment rental, and house share, so there are different options available to check out.
Good luck!!
Jen

We booked a holiday home on www.holidaylettings.co.uk for 2 weeks when we 1st came here then started looking straight away.

We managed to get a friend to give us a reference (even tho we had never rented back in the UK) which really helped and we offered to pay 6 months rent in advance. It def worked for us. Good Luck

www.stayz.com.au is also a good one for holiday accomodation till you find a rental.

Thanks everyone for all your advice. I have been in contact with HSBC and they say they don't give references! My partner and I have been renting from his parents for the last few years so don't really have a rental reference either. Is this going to be a big problem?? Alix

Hi again,
Not necessarily, don't panic
If you are staying in a short term fully furnished property when you arrive, you can always ask the owner/s if they can provide a reference for you. We do this all the time for tenants and provide both verbal and written references, depending on what is requested. Aussie agents also like a local rental reference, because that way they can speak to someone in the same time zone (don't laugh! It helps!), plus the information they get from short term landlords is obviously very recent/up to date in terms of things like reliability of paying rent, cleanliness etc.
Hope this helps

Can you bring references from the parents as well as any local holiday lets? References from employers might help too.