pread

We (2 adults & 2 kids) will be flying out to Melbourne in mid-August, and our intention is to rent a house for the first year or so, until we decide exactly where we want to live. I've been in contact with a few real estate agencies, and they advise that a) they will not rent a property from overseas, i.e. you have to see it, and b) it can take anywhere from 1 to 5 days to arrange the rental so that you can move in, assuming it's empty of course. So the chances are that it could be a week after arriving before you can move into a house. We do have an offer to stay from people we know for a couple of days, but we certainly don't know them well enough to abuse their hospitality for a whole week.

I would appreciate any advice regarding what other people have done in the same situation, we'd prefer not to stay in a hotel if we can help it.

Jacqui

Why not check out the tourist sites for this area and stay in a holiday/villa apartment for the week?

pread

Jacqui,

I did think of that, but where we're looking to start (Glen Waverley, east suburbs of Melbourne) isn't really very close to the holiday rentals available. Most of the normal rentals are either right round Philip Bay, many kilometres away, or in the CBD of Melbourne - executive apartments, very pricey, and still 20km away. Ideally we want to be right in the tick of things whilst we're house hunting.

Daniel Bowen

"pread" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
    > I did think of that, but where we're looking to start (Glen Waverley, east suburbs
    > of Melbourne) isn't really very close to the holiday rentals available. Most of the
    > normal rentals are either right round Philip Bay, many kilometres away, or in the
    > CBD of Melbourne - executive apartments, very pricey, and still 20km away. Ideally
    > we want to be right in the tick of things whilst we're house hunting.

Do a search on http://melbourne.citysearch.com.au/ for accomodation. I'm sure
you'll find something around the Glen Waverley area to keep you going while you do
house hunting.

As for house hunting, take a look at http://www.realestate.com.au/ or
http://www.realestateview.com.au/ for rental properties - it should give you a good
idea of what's available, and you might find some agents willing to deal with you
"remotely".

Daniel
--
Daniel Bowen, Melbourne, Australia [email protected]
http://www.danielbowen.com/

pread

Daniel,

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Daniel Bowen
you might find some agents willing to deal with you
"remotely".
I thought this, and mailed 5 local real estate agents about various aspects including this. Only 3 responded, and of those only 1 would consider dealing with us from overseas. What we might do is get someone locally to filter out the crap/unsuitable houses visually, then that'll just leave us a few to view when we arrive.

Vicki Steven

in article [email protected], pread at [email protected] wrote on
3/4/02 1:07 AM:

    > We (2 adults & 2 kids) will be flying out to Melbourne in mid-August, and our
    > intention is to rent a house for the first year or so, until we decide exactly
    > where we want to live.
Chances are it will be more than a week before your furniture catches up with you
too. remember in Aust a rental property is nearly always unfurnished, unless you get
a "house-sit" eg for someone going away for 6 months to a year - try the nearest
university for this.

A motel might do for a week or two - although you'd have to eat out as Australian
motels don't have kitchens. We've just done this in reverse (ie Aust to NZ) and the
motel for 2 weeks was bareable because it had a kitchen.

Vicki

Jean Weber

There are "serviced apartments" or "self-catering accommodation" in the suburbs, that
aren't all as pricey as the "executive" places in the CBD. I just had a quick look at
an auto club (NRMA) accommodation guide which listed quite a few, but I don't know
the Melbourne area well enough to tell which are semi-conveniently located for you.
What price range are you looking for? (What's "very pricey"?)

You could also try http://www.needitnow.com.au/ but they don't usually have anything
listed more than about 10 days in advance.

Jean http://www.avalook.com.au/

On 2 Apr 2002 13:36:00 GMT, pread <[email protected]> wrote:
    >... where we're looking to start (Glen Waverley, east suburbs of Melbourne) isn't
    >really very close to the holiday rentals available. Most of the normal rentals are
    >either right round Philip Bay, many kilometres away, or in the CBD of Melbourne -
    >executive apartments, very pricey, and still 20km away. Ideally we want to be right
    >in the tick of things whilst we're house hunting.

Jean Weber

Eh? Lots of motels in Australia have kitchens. But perhaps not in Melbourne or other
big cities (?) No... my NRMA book shows motels in the Melbourne area with in-room
cooking facilities, though they are in the minority.

We've noticed that these days motel rooms "with cooking facs" often have only a
microwave oven (no hotplate or conventional oven) in addition to a fridge, toaster
and an electric jug for hot water, but that's enough for a lot of cooking
requirements.

Jean http://www.avalook.com.au/

On Wed, 03 Apr 2002 18:26:08 +1200, Vicki Steven
<[email protected]> wrote:

    >A motel might do for a week or two - although you'd have to eat out as Australian
    >motels don't have kitchens.

Gerrit

pread <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:<[email protected]>...
    > Daniel,
    >
    > Originally posted by Daniel Bowen you might find some agents willing to deal with
    > you "remotely". I thought this, and mailed 5 local real estate agents about various
    > aspects including this. Only 3 responded, and of those only 1 would consider
    > dealing with us from overseas. What we might do is get someone locally to filter
    > out the crap/unsuitable houses visually, then that'll just leave us a few to view
    > when we arrive.

Have you tried a search with Google on "caravan park melbourne"? A park I have stayed
at is http://www.toptouristparks.com.au/vic/sccp.html This is on Princes Highway SE
of Melbourne. Reasonable access to Glen Waverley as I recall. They have cabins from
$56 a day. Public transport comes past the front door/gate. For something (much) more
expensive check out http://www.travelaustralia.com.au/ph...t.php?region=-
3010&category=accommodation This website has links to fully serviced appartments in
Glen Waverley at about $170 per day!

http://members.ozemail.com.au/~accom/east.htm This gives a listing of accommodation
in the area you are interested in. Also has a little map to help a bit.

Gerrit