Wilso16

OH has got a job down in Sydney so was are moving from Brisbane down to Sydney on the 4th Jan - now I know not many people do that, it's usually the other way!

I was talking to a friend the other day who moved over about a month before us and who were staying with family before they found their own place but it took them 5 weeks to get a rental property due to their being 20 other couples also viewing the same properties as them at the same time!! They were even offering 3 months rent upfront!

Am now very worried as we can really only stay with friends for a couple of weeks max!!

Has anyone else experienced the market and not had such a nightmare?!

northerner

We rocked up, viewed the property (with several others it has to be said), liked it, put the application in and got the rental. This was about 3 days after arriving in Oz and in one of the most popular areas so it's not always a nightmare.

I have to say that I think we may have been a bit lucky as I have read others not having such and easy time of it. Maybe you could do some research and do a reccy to view a few places one weekend??

Graham

walaj

we are just leaving the rental house we are in (St ives) - the agent had around 8 lots of people in one go around the house in the arvo mid week, and the person who is moving in put a holding deposit down before the last person had finished looking around.

ie you need to be prepared with forms filled in & chq book, available to view mid week, plus don't be late.

All the best - where abouts will you be looking and for unit or house?

Wilso16

We are looking at the Northern Beaches - probably the worst place to look for the competition!!

Thanks for the tips! We won't be working so we'll be able to view properties anytime - not actually sure who it works here i.e. whether it's all open houses and you have to find them or whether Estate Agents will take you around!

Red_V_Roger

Can I REALLY give you some advice here……put a pack together of the COPIES of the type of documents that they want to see for rental:

Passports, Birth Certificates, Driving License, Letter from the company confirming position and salary. Rental refs, details of houses you have previously owned, sold, etc

Write a nice covering letter about your time in Oz, why you are here, what you will be doing and other points if they go for you like no pets and not smoking?

Make 7 or 8 copies of this pack so when you put in the application you can attach it. It’s a bit of a competition/lottery, so you have to stand out from the other applicants who may just throw in a couple of scruffy documents – who would you rent your house to?

We were also a bit shocked and panicked when we saw the level of competition for rentals. However, we put in for 2 houses and got offered the both! So we must have done something right.

Wilso16

Thanks for the advice! I will start putting a pack together - that's a good idea!

emmo

Hi there

I posted some info about my experiences of renting in the northern beaches on another thread today - it's attached if you fancy a read x

ps I've not attached a link here before so I hope it works!

http://britishexpats.com/forum/showt...97#post5550897

LisaD_uk

That is really good advice and is what we did after not hearing anything from quite a few estate agents. We had viewed a fair few houses hearing nothing from agents and were getting a bit panicky as we only had two weeks left in our serviced apt. With a bit of advice from one agent about getting things photocopied in advance ready to put straight in with the application we managed to get a rental at last and lucky for us is was the one we had liked the most, it was also the agent who gave us the advice that we got accepted with, oh and we did offer 6 months upfront so that did help.
The competition is very high for rentals and more often than not around 10 or more people turn up to view so get there early and if you like it get an application straight away and fill it out there and then, some agents have applications on their websites for you to download and print off so this was a problem for us so we just went into the agent before the viewing and asked them to print us one off. You have got to make yourself stand out from the rest and getting in first does help even if your sitting outside for 20mins before so you are first in line.
Don't be put off by what i'm saying as we are now in a lovely 4 bedroom house that we really like but I would sooner tell it like it is and be realistic. Our budget was $450 and this is a very popular price band so if you have a bigger budget (northern beaches budget) then you may not experience this as much as we did.
Good luck with it all and I hope your move goes smoothly.

Stu Ward

Lisa

Would be great if you could tell me what area in Syd you got your place.
We are looking at the same price bracket of $450, but just haven't got a clue where the good areas are.

Stu

Red_V_Roger

We are paying $460 for a very nice place in Gymea Bay, Sutherland Shire.

3 (big) beds main bathroom plus en-suite, big living and kitchen down stairs, laundery, double garage (with remote control door - my favourite thing!), nice garden, very quiet and backs on to a bit of bush/creek.

30 minutes to where I work in Revesby and 40 - 45 minutes on the train for my wife to Mascot.

nadine23

Hi there - we arrived in Sydney about 5 weeks ago and got the first place we looked at (and applied for) - arrived on a Friday and moved in the following Friday (in Balmain which is supposed to be a nightmare to rent it as well!) - I was worried as had heard it can take ages as well but don't panic too much ;-)

northerner

Balmain's the dogs nuts. Forgot to say earlier that we did the whole getting all your info/bank statements/nice letter etc together before hand so we could give all that info when we applied. We also offered 6 months rent in advance but they didn't take us up on it.

Graham

LisaD_uk

Hi Stu
We live in Glenwood, its not everyones cup of tea from what i can gather as some people don't like the fact that its mainly big houses on not so big plots but we were not bothered about a big garden. The house is right accross the road from my youngest daughters school and only a 15 min walk to the high school for our eldest daughter.
The prices vary from $400-$450 for a 4br house but you can get a 3br for under $400. Not very many rentals around here have pools but the ones that do go over $450. We did find a few in Baulkham hills and Castle hill that did have pools within our budget but the houses were holes and i don't know how they had the nerve to rent them in such bad condition.
So far I really like living in Glenwood there are so many amenities around this area and its only 40 mins drive away to the lovely mona vale beach and hubby's drive to parramatta for work takes him 20mins. Not sure about public transport yet but I am going to look into that soon as I don't have a car yet.
happy house hunting.
Lisa
xxxx