vanriet

Hi - my boyfriend and I will be moving from London to Sydney in February 04 on a 4 year business visa. Does anyone have any ideas about cheap accommodation? We would need to rent for about 4 weeks in March until we find a flat. Also any advice for finding work as an interior designer appreciated. Any other tips welcome or anyone with the same destination who wants to exchange emails do drop me a line!

Thanks

annemarie

PS if anyone is interested I got a good deal on a one way ticket with travel planners 020 8559 7808 £397 with Malaysian Airlines all inclusive

Megalania

Take a holiday flat:
Apartments & Flats

vanriet

thank you so much - found lots of places that could work!

Sandra

What is the business visa- are you starting up one? Let us expats know we might need it? If moving with a 457 work one...where will you he be based...easier to recommend via travelling to work options....have a ball enjoying it all.

Cheers

vanriet

Hi Sandra - indeed my boyfriend goes in on visa 457 and I go in with him as a de facto spouse. He will be starting up a business in photographic services and I will be looking for a job as an interior designer. So I guess we could be based anywhere, ideally somewhere a little bit outside of the centre of Sydney close to some green spaces, I like period properties and not too expensive (oh god that all sounds rather naive!). Have been looking so far at Crow's Nest and Balmain, guess we will start looking in earnest once we get there!

annemarie

Sandra

Crows Nest, Balmain? Have you a very decent deposit to buy? if not rentals are getting cheaper.

....photographic services ...what type?, believe after being quoted over $1600 to get some professional family shots to send 'home'......I hope your partener is in the right bit!

Look at Bondi Poms Posts....or ask him direct, he rents in Bondi and there are others on here who know the city rentals or there abouts. I am suburbs (family type). For period type property....they are really high high priority now in Sydney...so buy big big plot and build your own!

Cheers

sjn2003

We are going to Sydney in March to activate visa and for good in September. My wife is a photographer's stylist in London but not sure whether she will pursue this in Oz.

We haven't looked into property too much yet because I have a feeling it will depress me too much - don't think we will be able to afford somewhere nice too close to the city. Think we want to be further out anyway, maybe Northern Beaches.

Anyway, will be interested to hear how you get on

vanriet

oh yes we are definitly looking at rental for the first year at least - we probably couldn't afford to buy in any of these places... Being an interior designer I dream of getting my hands on some unmodernised piece of property - friends of ours live in erskineville and I loved their house even though it was tiny.

Philippe specialises in fashion photography and travel reportage although he has done a lot of portraits as well - I'm sure he could do you a better deal than $1600

What are the suburbs like then? Doesn't it take a long time to commute (we are definitly trying to improve on our commute from hell in London) - how long have you lived there?

annemarie

bondipom

For Sydney rentals check out www.domain.com.au .

The best place is the Saturday Sydney Morning Herald which by far has the most rentals.

It is a renters market so don't take shit from landlords and haggle. Balmain is OK but is basically a done up slum in a pollution and heat sink. The pubs are good and there is a cafe society but like Newtown summer can be stifling. Then again I am biased towards to the Ocean and the cooling breezes.

The big questions are what is your budget, where will you work and what do you want out of a suburb. What commute time do you want?

For commute times check out www.131500.com.au

Everyone in Sydney seems to be buying tiny shitboxes for way too much money and doing them up. My hope is that the insanity will soon go and some more affordable quality will hit the market.

Penguin

Wow - that's more or less the same as us! Me and my byfriend arrive in Sydney on 5th Jan on a 4 year business visa! I am going as a defacto too.

We have booked into a furnished apartment set up for the first 6 weeks and will have a look around and see what's available to rent more long term when we get there.

Maybe it will be quieter by Feb, but my advice is to get ringing round any holiday apartments you like the look of ASAP. When we started ringing for the dates we needed, quite a few were booked up already.

Good luck and see you in Sydney maybe!

spigs

We are going to Sydney in feb 2004 also

Anyone know of good holiday type rental that isn't going to bust the bank?

or

is it possible to get an apartment without jobs?

vanriet

Hi - found this place seems to offer very good value for money - no big luxury but OK for a few weeks whilst we look for something more permanent and fairly central
http://sydney.citysearch.com.au/E/V/...0/80/44/1.html
Most of the other places I found are about AUD 500- AUD 800 a week. Apparently it is Mardi Gras the first week of March so price of rentals go up then!

You're in London as well - how about we all meet up for a drink to celebrate? Email me if you're up for it.

annemarie

vanriet

Thanks Bondi POM will check these out - was a bit surprised by your take on Balmain, I thought it looked nice when we visited but admittedly that was in April when it wasn't very hot.

We haven't found a job yet and my boyfriend will probably work from home (as he'll be starting up a business) for a while so not sure how we will choose an area. I guess we'll just do a lot of walking around in our first weeks there and see what we like. I did do a search on the net but could not find much background information on Sydney's suburbs. I don't think we would want to be too far out as I don't want to get into a long commute again, but also we don't want to live too central - something with a 'villagey' feel with a few nice pubs and a market would be nice. No too expensive as we'll be saving to buy the tiny shitbox to do up

vanriet

Hi - just in case you didn't see the email I posted elsewhere, this is the cheapest studio that I found

http://sydney.citysearch.com.au/E/V/...0/80/44/1.html

annemarie

bondipom

The area is visually nice and there are good pubs but villagey feel with nice pubs isn't really Sydney. Personally I am an Eastern Burbs person and I would love to buy my shit box in Bronte because it is close to a nice beach and isn't far from town. Bugger is there are few places to rent and prices are silly.