kips

We are moving to Perth next Friday from the East coast so searched www.reiwa.com.au and realestate.com.au for a rental in areas with good primary schools after printing off the list from the Better Education website.

OH is already over there so he went to look at any properties I discovered. I found it incredibly difficult as I have never lived in Perth and don't know what the suburbs are like - apart from the ones in the expensive areas.

We have a budget of $450-$500 a week and couldn't find much we - or rather my husband - liked in the following areas which have the top performing schools: Peppermint Grove,Shenton Park,City Beach,Nedlands,Bull Creek,Cottesloe,Floreat,Swanbourne,Dalkeith,Clarem ont,Mosman Park,,Wembley Downs,Gwelup,Leederville,Applecross,Leeming,Subiac o,Fremantle,Mount Lawley,Willeton, Dianella,Como,Duncraig,Glendalough,Marmion,Mullalo o,Hillarys,Karrinyup,White Gum Valley,Yokine, Riverton,Woodvale, Mt Hawthorn, Victoria Park, Sorrento,Doubleview, Kewdale and Rossmoyne.

For our budget the properties available are older and we wanted something newish. I was willing to compromise but OH wasn't. Tried to find properties in neighbouring suburbs.

And my hubby rejected perfectly good properties in Beeliar, Hamilton Hill and Darch - either because he didn't like the look of the area or the house - and running out of time I gave up.

We've ended up renting in Baldivis and will be sending our son to Settlers Primary School. The property is a brand new 4x2 for $450 a week. I would have preferred to be nearer the city.

But as we are only renting it will give us a chance to get to know the suburbs before deciding whether to stay put, buy an existing house in another suburb or buy a block of land and build a new home - as we have done up to now.

The rental process is a pain and very time consuming. If you want to rent a property you have to fill in a detailed application form, usually view it at very specific times and then wait to see if your application is approved by the owner. There can be several applications for the one property.

It doesn't help that most of the properties I found were available to rent immediately or within a couple of weeks and our belongings don't arrive until Sep 15 so pointless filling out an application form for a place that most likely will be snapped up by then. The good properties do get leased very quickly.

Good luck.

sadeb

You are absolutely right, I just figured out yesterday that in WA year #7 students attends a primary school, unlike Victoria. My daughter will be joining a primary school then as she was born on 3 May1999. This will magnificently narrow the search

sadeb

Thanks Kips, now I definitely know the bitter truth about what I’m going to face in a couple of months. By the way, my wife is as much picky as your husband

Japonica

I think this is the way to go. We originally rented in a different suburb to the one we're now living in and after a year, we knew it wasn't a good fit for us and we're lucky we didn't jump in and buy a house there right off the bat. We moved out six months after that, when our new house was finished.

And I'm familiar with two of the suburbs on your list...we rented in one and we've built in another. We like where we are now. It suits us, the kids are happy, the house or car haven't been broken into yet, it's all good.

sadeb

Is it that common that cars and houses are being broken into It sounds like a daily routine to me and applies to all suburbs (correct me if I’m wrong)

northernbird

In some suburbs yes. In my suburb there have been 17 reported burglaries in the year 2011. In a suburb of 3500 (1350 dwellings) that isn't too bad. Other suburbs do better, others worse.

WA Crime Stats is a good website to start your crime search.

JBJ14

Everyone is playing nice ... where is Weebie to pitch in on this? He's making me sound like a liar

HelenTD

In some suburbs the stats are quite scary (look at Armadale), but sometimes it helps to have some local knowledge to interpret the stats. Suburbs with pubs have much higher numbers of assaults. Expensive suburbs can get targeted by thieves as those households would be more likely to have stashes of expensive jewelry and luxury cars. Reasonable areas with bad areas nearby (perhaps with high unemployment rates or large areas of social housing). In Perth, crime rates tend to be higher in summer, as people leave doors and windows open to get some cool air into the house (if there is any cool air). A lot of people leave their doors unlocked when they are at home during the day or evening - part of the casual lifestyle here.

Car theft often involves home burglary as well, as the thieves need the car keys. We had an attempted break-in 2+ years ago, when they tried to get in overnight (got into the garage first to get at the tool kit). Luckily the security glass worked and they couldn't smash the window next to the back door, although it was damaged and had to be replaced. It is standard here for newer houses to have locks on every window and lockable flyscreen doors. We also have a burglar alarm and put it on every time we leave the house. Since the attempted break-in, we put the alarm on downstairs every night when we go up to bed.

Home security is not necessarily a priority for landlords and I doubt that you would see them in too many rentals. You can look at it 2 ways though: if you view a property with a burglar alarm, would you think "OMG they must have a lot of crime around here" or "That's a relief, I'd feel safe here"? BTW, there are portable alarm systems if the landlord hasn't/won't provide one - that way you can take with you from one rental to another.