DianneH68

I've read a few nightmare stories on here about finding a rental.
We are really hoping to find a furnished place within a week of arriving in Melbourne - is this realistic or am I living in cloud cuckoo land?
We arrive on Nov 7 and I start work on Nov 13 so wanted to be in a new place by then.
Also, do they expect references? We own our own house in England so don't have any landlord references

mackinnon

Whereabouts in Melbourne? Flat or house?

Applying for a rental place in Melbourne is like applying for a job. They gather together all the applications & pick the one they like.

It has been said on here before you have 5 unsuccessful applications on average before you finally secure a rental. Having said that, we got one on our first application. After a very stressful few weeks search indeed.

Most of the places we viewed just weren't up to it, there are some shocking properties in Melbourne. That combined with agents not turning up for appointments and offices handing out keys to us that just didn't fit the properties they were meant to.

Some of the other "Melburnians" I'm sure will pick up on this thread and relay to you their own stories.

A week might be a tad ambitious, but maybe some of the others have managed this?

touchingcloth

Do you think that there is high demand/queues for properties in the further out suburbs? eg 30-40ks from the CBD?

Thanks
TC

mackinnon

Wouldn't know about that far out, hoping some of the other Melburnians will see this thread tomorrow

Dried Graze

We're staying the night in Melbourne before driving up to Bendigo. There we'll have a 'bush cabin' for a couple of weeks only, so I hope to God we find something by then. Otherwise we're dipping into funds set aside for all the other important stuff.

I don't know what the turnaround is for the agents but I don't see why you shouldn't be successful with a fortnight. A week might be pushing it thought.

DianneH68

Oh dear, don't like the sound of that!
To be honest we're really just looking for something short term and immediate to start with, maybe even just for a month or two, while we have a proper look around.
A one or two bed flat will be fine for the first few weeks. Don't really want to spend too long staying in a motel/hotel though as it becomes very expensive.
Maybe I'll try www.gumtree.com initially as no agents involved.
Thanks for the info

mackinnon

We stayed in serviced apartments for a few weeks.

I think we payed about $80 per night.

Tiawamutu

Anyone know about the reference side of things that the OP asked, as I would like to know this as well?

simpy

Hi, where abouts were these? do you have any more info?

Simpy

Mctree

If you have proof of employment in Australia, then they don't seem to want references. Of course this could be different depending on the real estate agent. Also it seems to be the owners final choice on whether they will rent to you or not.

The main problem we found was the "100 point" ID check. You need bank statements (from Australian financial institution" etc.

In Sydney, (so not Melbourne), we secured a rental within a week. The estate agents were great, showed us lots of properties without any appointment. It does seem to be first come first serve though. We were told who ever gets their application in to the office first, is considered first, and the property is "off the market" while the owner makes a decision.

mackinnon

Hello, we stayed at Aston Apartments:

http://www.quickbeds.com/Hotel.aspx?...id=gaw00003774

In fact, quickbeds.com is probably the best place to look for short term serviced apartments around Australia.

movetoperth

If you haven't rented before it is handy to obtain records of mortgage payments having been made when they should, a letter from your lender to say "yes mr and mrs so and so always paid when they should" a letter from the estate agent who sold your home stating that the home was well kept and cared for. You may be asked for none of these but if there are a few people all in for the same place then the more you can give them the better. The landlord of you short term accom would usually always be happy to give a ref too. As a final resort you can offer 6 motnths rent up front, I'm never too sure on this one, offering it should be enough, you should never have to pay it, although i did come across someone recently who was advised by the agent that paying 6 months up front would help them secure the property, they paid, they got the property but now if they decide to break the lease you can rest assured the agent wont move their bum to try and re rent the property.

Not having kids ot pets and having employment will usually see you higher up the list than some others.

Lynn

Kevhaze

Hi Dried Graze

Picked up on your mention of Bendigo. We arrived in Bendigo last December and stayed at a holiday apartment for two weeks. This gave us time to look around at rental properties. We were worried that we had no credit rating in Australia so, because we knew we would be renting for at least a year, we offered the rental agent a years rent upfront. It took us about a week of searching for a suitable house, but once we agreed on one we moved in fairly quickly - in fact only had to extend our stay in the holiday apartment by a couple of days.

Are you staying in Bendigo or just passing through?

Hazel

DianneH68 - we couldn't find any rentals in Bendigo which were furnished, I don't know if this is just here or common all over Australia?

simpy

Ok thanks

h2oskineil

Hi

Can't speak for Melbourne but Perth is VERY tight for decent houses.

My advice... get everything ready before you leave the UK. You will need minimum of three types of ID. Photo copy passports, visa's, marriage certificates, birth certificates, driving licences etc etc.

Have references ready, names of people that can contacted to vouch for your character, Australian citizens would be good.

In Perth, you need to provide cash or a bank cheque, the equivalent of one weeks rent when you put in the application. This stops people putting in multiple applications. If you are not successful, you'll get the cash back.

Dress-up 'smart' and go and meet the real-estate agents personally, so they can see you will be a good choice for one of their properties.

Get the Saturday paper (early) look for the house opens and fly around looking at all the ones you want to view and ring all the private ones to see what they are like.

We viewed a home on Sunday arvo (last Sunday) put our application in Sunday night ready for the office opening on Monday morning, with ALL the I.D. and names for references which I had prepared earlier.
By Monday lunch time the phone started ringing to speak to my manager etc etc and by 2.00pm we were offered the house, but they had at least 5 people to call if we did not want to accept it. We had to take a minimum of 12 months contract also. (they wanted 24 months!!!)

If you are slow and do not have the ID all scanned/photo copied etc... you'll not get the house. At least that's what we have found in Perth.

Now we have the mother of all houses in Hillary's, just got to figure out how to pay for it now! :-)

Hope this helps?

Neil.