catsinely

Hi All,

This may be a barmy question....

but has anyone rented a property via real estate sites online before seeing a place?
being anal and wanting to sort everything from this end Im wondering if it would be a possibility.....

Thoughts appreciated...thanks,

Tashx

BettyBoop

We rented this way initially. We were very lucky as it was a brand new villa in a nice area. However, if you don't know the place well/at all it can be quite a risk as the estate agents photos drown out the rest of the properties surrounding. Most agent's get you to sign a six month lease, however if you can get a shorter lease then i suppose you can put up with somethin not quite you until you find what you want. Try and negotiate with them on the rental lease initially.

Cheers
BB

VikkiL

Hi Tash,

I was in touch with L J Hooker recently about this and they told me that unless somebody physically views the property and okays it on my behalf, then we wouldnt be able to rent a property this way. We dont know anyone in Australia well enough for them to do this so it will be a problem but maybe its different with another agent? Will be interested to hear about this myself.

Vikki x

Mrs Jackaroo

Hi Tash

We rented a property from online that we were lucky enough to have a friend go and view for us too. Unfortunately it was a mistake for us - we knew that as soon as we step foot in the door and ended up breaking the contract 3 months early.

I would probably do it again however but would have to be a lot more specific about our likes and dislikes and I would only do it if the house had EVERYTHING that we wanted/needed.

Whereabouts are you heading? Is there anyone over here who could do a viewing for you?

Good luck

Rach xxxx

Centurion

I think you'd be mad to rent before you actually see a place. That and very lucky indeed to even find an agent who would be willing to do that. You have to bear in mind that rental properties have an excellent market generally and get snapped up quickly by people who are 1. In the country already 2. Willing to move in straight away 3. Earn the commission for the agent with the minimum of hassle.

Those properties which have been available for some time and are harder to shift for an agent which you would end up being offered most likely...well...they are harder for good reason.

Sort out some temporary accomodation before hand if your that panic'd about it, there's people on this board who have that sort of property for rent. Then you can take your time about it.

chels

If you are happy to rent in an area you may not know much about, and with no idea what/who the neighbours are like; if you find a real estate agent you can trust, who is honest about the property for rent and provides pictures which give a realistic picture of it; who is willing to make the effort to deal with someone from overseas; and the landlord is happy to take your money despite you not yet being in the country and only able to provide UK ID with no 100% guarantee you will move over...

then yes, go ahead with trying to rent from overseas. I found the process of finding a property to rent in Sydney hard enough even living here. I saw a lot of properties that were basically cr@p. When I saw decent properties, I lost out to other people - sometimes up to 40 people were viewing the same property. When we got our eventual house, we got it by charming the agent.

drivetrain

Hi Vikki,

We have just bought a house in Buderim and used Century 21, realesate agent was Grant Smith, he was fab, he takes about 20 pics of each property, so you can see the property in detail, not sure if he is the contact for rentals, but Im sure he would only be too happy to assist. If you need any help with rentals, I would be happy to help you out. We're moving there on the 22nd Dec, cant wait to get there, we're living in Sydney at present, so our new house beckons!

PM me if you want further info, speak soon, Em

catsinely

Hi All,

Well thanks for all that information, really useful.

We do have a couple of contacts in Perth but none Id feel comfortable about imposing on to check out a rental, and plus I get the point about things being snapped up by people in the country already etc

Hoping visa will sorted so we can go early Feb....so, if anyone knows of any 2 or 3 bed house anywhere 20 miutes from western perth (my job is there) in a decent neighbourhood, with a decent primary school,..... think of me and keep me posted....!
Good luck to everyone else with this sorta thing..

Tashx

JenJen

we were told by the real estate agent we had to have someone physically go round and view it before a rental contract could go ahead.
We're quite lucky as we have friends who would actually go and view places for us and they know what we like and don't like, worst comes to worse she said she'd take pics and send them to us to see if we were happy first.
We're not too picky about the rental as long as it has the rooms we need and is clean and has a reasonable back garden we'll be happy as we intend to buy a plot of land and get a house built on it to suit us.

Jen

micged

We have arranged a short term rental over the internet. It is really marketed as a holiday let so is a lot more expensive than a longer term rental, but it is fully furnished and we willnot have to worry about all the furniture arriving on time. We will stay for 10 weeks and hopefully in that time be able to decide on a longer term plan - buy or rent. We have only seen pictures of it but it looks fine and we ahve been impressed by the owner.
Michelle

Koala Konnection

This rental 'problem' - location, type, availability, etc. is why we've started sourcing short-term rentals for individual needs.

See the property rentals section of the website http://www.koalakonnection.com.au for details, if you're planning to live on or around the Sunshine Coast.

Paul.

catsinely

Hi Michelle,


Yes, I think we will be having to cough up the dough and go down the holiday let route too.

Did wonder if I could short circuit that route and go straight to ordinary rental, but this has made my mind up....will aim for one with a pool.


Enjoy,

Tash

task

a definite yes we rented via the net and they where British and it was a dump
4 week rent but only stayed for 2
be carefull and lost 1500 dollars.
task,,,,,

catsinely

Thanks for that Task,

Sorry you had to experience it though..... :scared:

Tash

Bix

Spot on.
A risk too far.