TRJP

Hi

We have arrived in Sydney and have been here 4 days. Trying to find somewhere to live and having a nightmare. We need to be within a commutable distance to CBD as that is where my husband will be working but we want a decent area as we have a nearly 2yr old Son. We don't seem to be able to get anything big enough or decent enough in the lower north shore or northern beaches.

Can anyone please help with good, family areas with nice places to rent at $350 - $450 per week?

Thanks

Un-Co

I'm biased but I've found Annandale great! You could definitely get somewhere in your budget and there are a lot of schools and kindergardens, there are a couple of parks, it's walking distance to the waterfront (not the nicest bit of it but still) and best of all on a good day I can get into work in the city in 20 minutes by public transport. Have a look at justlisted Good luck with the hunt - I know its hard but it'll get better. And if you need to let off some steam join us for the girls night out next Friday!!

Sandra

How Lower Lower North Shore, what about Gordon, Pymble, Warronga ect out on the North Shore Line - try LJ Hooker or one of the other general area estate agents and they should be able to help - also if you have a car, drive to the area and visit the estate agents, they have lists of the local area rentals each week and may know of something more your needs.

PM me if you want my number to chat, I live in St Ives and commute to the CBD each day - approx a 45 min journey by Bus I know fastfunker on here wanted to be nearer the beaches than inland at the rail links so there are ups and downs of both. Possibly they can help you with the northern beaches.

gedge

Hello. If it helps, we thought it was a nightmare looking for places to live too. We didn't have jobs at the time but assumed that being close to the cbd would be good for me. We ended up in Kirribilli, paying $350 for a large 2 bed unit with harbour views. Looking back it was a very good price, and probably should have been $450.
It seemed to take absolute ages to find. It was only 2 weeks, but that was our deadline in our the holiday place we were in. All I can say is don't give up. You will need to look at at least 20-30 dumps to find 1 ok place.
Get yourself the papers (SMH on Saturday) sign up to the web mailing lists, and get in with the estate agents.
You probably know that the Saturday Sydney Morning Herald has the biggest listing of rentals. We found that they were all covered by the web sites too, and you could get a few days lead on people who rely solely on the papers by looking at the web.
Try:
www.realestate.com.au
www.justlisted.com.au
www.domain.com.au
www.cracker.com.au

I think they all have an email service where they send you lists of places that match what you are after. You’ll get some duplication, but more importantly a fairly thorough list of what’s available.

I also recommend talking to the estate agents in the areas you are interested in. For the lower north shore, get on to Military Road, just past The Oaks pub, for a large concentration of agents. We occasionally found a good agent who would listen and sometimes call you if something came on their books. They can also tell you if they know of anything on their books might come available soon. Keep asking lots of questions and show that you are keen.

When going through listing, get to know what you want and definitely don’t want. For instance we knew we wouldn’t want a big apartment block so we would look at the unit number. If it was higher than 12 (i.e. 20/123 Sydney Road = Unit 20 at 123 Sydney Road = a large block) we would then reject it straight away.
Also try and become familiar with areas and roads. Take notes if it helps to remember that Sydney Road is really busy and you definitely wouldn’t want to live on it.

If I were to recommend places to look that I know of:
Kirribilli is good, with a city village feel to it. Small shopping area and good links for anywhere.
Neutral Bay is good too, but no real centre unless you count Military Road. The best part would be down toward Kurraba point and the ferry. Steer clear of Military Road it is a nightmare!
We moved up to Queenscliff after 6 months in Kirribilli as we preferred the relative openness and access to beaches. I ended up working near here too. You could still commute to the city from here if you don’t mind a 20 minute walk to the ferry.

Anyway, info overload. Good luck and don’t let it get you down.
Chris.

queenie

Lane Cove is nice with heaps of reasonably priced units. Express bus about 15 minutes I think.

What exactly is wrong with the ones you have seen so far? How are they not decent?

Queenie

WHEEZY

Don't give up it really is early days, I was just like you when we arrived, dragged the kids around loads of houses every day, trying to find a decent place. I agree with JulesandChris you will have to trawl through dozens to find the one right for you. I live in the lower north shore area and love the fact that it is only 15 minutes by bus or ferry into the city. Means I can meet hubby for lunch and be back in time to pick kids up from school. There's a great cafe culture here as well, and the majority of the restaurants are child friendly.

There is a downside though, and thats the price of accommodation , however, a friend of mine who is also in the same position as yourself, has just found a 3 bedroomed house in Mosman for $480 per week!! So they are out there, you just have to persevere. Don't forget to haggle on the rent, if you see a place advertised for $500 per week, go and view it anyway, you never know, you may be able to knock them down a bit. The property market in Sydney is not good at the moment, and when we were looking agents would tell us that their busiest time is January and September, apparently this is when most of the expats arrive!! So given that its now June and the middle of winter, you may strike lucky. By the way, we used an agent called Sydney Boutique, its a small, one woman (Genevieve), letting agency, it may be worth giving her a call as she may know of something coming up, which hasn't yet been advertised. Her number is: 02 9955 5922


On a lighter note, as Un-Co said, there's a girls night out on Friday the 24th June, we're all heading down to Darling Harbour to chill out over a few bottles of wine. Why not join us and forget about the house hunting for a few hours http://britishexpats.com/forum/showthread.php?t=307825 here's the link.

Louise