suffolk nuts

hi does anybody know what references you need to be able to rent a house in brisbane. also can anybody recommend any good schools on the northside of brisbane. for girls of 11 and 12 my husband is also looking for a motor mechanics job any ideas what they get paid any recommendations would be greatly appreciated

karen and rob

The Murphsters

References??

I never thought of that! We are moving to Brisbane in Feb and will be looking for somewhere to rent, been a long time since i rented over here and references completely slipped my mind.

I would be interested in any replies....

Cheers Gary

paulhill

We too are moving to Brisbane in February and never thought of references, god there is so much to do and think about!!!!

smiths

Hi,

We arrived in Brisbane in October 2006. had no problem renting a place.

Don't know if any of you guys are setting up bank accounts before you come. We went with Commonwealth - set up account in UK and activated it on arrival in Brisbane. They have a dedicated member of staff in the main branch in each state capital dealing with migrants. We made an appointment with her to activate our accounts and used her as a referee (which she was happy to do). Most of the main banks probably offer the same service but I'm not sure.

That was really all we needed. Most initial rents over here are only for 6 months (some are for 12). Landlords are really looking for ability to pay and appreciate that the forms you fill for tenancy applications aren't migrant friendly - i.e. no job on arrival and all that other scary stuff.

Consequently, if you've got enough money in your account to pay the rent for a while and you look 'genuine' then you should be fine. We hadn't got a lot in our bank accounts when we came because our house sale didn't complete until three weeks after we had arrived.

We live on a complex in a townhouse with a shared pool and barbecue area. The site manager (who we applied to) said that we looked 'genuine' and in her experience most migrants come looking for work and normally never give them problems.

So get your bank accounts sorted and you should be fine.

Best of luck to you all

Regards

The Smiths

suffolk nuts

thankyou for that information that is really helpful to know there is so much that you do not know it is all very daunting to start with there is so much to think about youre head ends up spinning:scared:

paulhill

Thank you for your help, have arrange an account with the Commonwealth Bank, so may they will do us a reference too. Take care Sue

The Murphsters

Thanks very much, one less thing to worry about!!
We will be opening a bank account before we go and although we will be in a similar position as you i.e. House will not be sold by then and therefore will be a bit skint when we get to Aus i have a job already with a decent salary so i imagine that would be okay too.

Thanks Gary

Gaz & Sue

how did you find the commonwealth bank when dealing with transferring money from the uk? what are the pitfalls with the banks over there?
Cheers
Gaz&Sue

smiths

Hi Gaz & Sue,

We've found the Commonwealth bank excellent since we've been here.

As I said, we set up account in London and paid some cash into it before migrating so that we'd have cash when we got here. We also had approx $1,000 in cash which was good in hindsight as we arrived on a Saturday and couldn't get an appointment to see the right person at the Commonwealth until the Wednesday. The Australian account had already been set up, we just had to go in and present our ID, activate the accounts and collect our cards - they also sort out PIN numbers and everything on the system while you are there so that when you leave the bank you are ready to go. Appointment takes about an hour.

House completed on a Friday about three weeks after we arrived. We instructed our solicitors in UK to CHAPS funds into the London Commonwealth feeder account. This was done on the Friday in the UK and the funds were cleared and converted to AU$ in our Brisbane account by Tuesday morning.

We also considered these other enterprises like Ozforex to convert our money but went for the convenient option. Having said that we got a conversion rate of $2.49 which was the money market rate at that time so don't see that we could have done any better with anyone else.

As far as we've been concerned, the Commonwealth have been excellent - can't fault them.

Regards

Haydn and Heather

smiths

Hi guys,

If you're looking for rentals in brisbane / gold coast areas try this website: www.seqrents.com.au

The place we've rented is a three bedroom townhouse on a complex with a shared pool and barbecue area - we've got it on a 6 month lease and we''re paying $270 per week in rent - its very nice and is ideal for 6 months.

Complexes only tend to post on the website when they've got vacancies so important to check on a regular basis. Prices depend on location, size etc. We're in Ormiston which is in the Bayside area next to Cleveland. From what I can gather they are in most suburbs in south east queensland, you just have to decide on areas. We like the Cleveland area but depends on what you want and would have considered living in several other areas.

Hope this helps.

Haydn and Heather

PS if you're only renting you don't have to pay any rates or water rates out here, so what we pay is just rent, gas, elec and phone.

paulhill

Fantastic website, I cant thank you enough

dr-dak

Hi guys. Hobbs family here...my wife, 4 month daughter and i will be moving to brisbane northern subs somewhere, around April. Thanks for the info...this site is a god send! So much to organise but still very excited. Jobs are arranged so just starting the the long list of organising, banks, money, rental accom, transport etc etc. keep up the good work on these forums it really helps. Once we have moved i hope we too can pass on our experience to help all other brave souls making the move.

Best wishes...hope to bump into some brissy folks soon!

Gaz & Sue

Thanks for the info....we've got no idea which part of Brisbane to live in, what's it like where you live. We have a 2 year old son and need to keep him occupied! Hopefully, we are looking to be out there April/May, got medicals booked for 19/1.
Thanks
Gaz & Sue

nuttiegirl79

Hi can you tel me how we go about setting up an account with the commonwealth bank and how long it takes. Also can the money from our house sale be transferred straight in to it ? So much stuff to think about and so little time! Thanks

Billabong

If you have sold your house in the UK then you can get your Estate Agent to give you a reference on the quality/standard of the house prior to sale. Your mortgage lender could also give you a letter regarding your payment history etc etc.

However, we weren't asked for a reference when we first came out and if you can pay 6 months upfront the don't really give a crap.