galba

I am off to Perth in 2 weeks for our looksee trip. We arrive on a Friday night and would like to view some rentals on the Saturday morning. Do they do this or are weekends off limits?

Thanks

Galba

gedge

my experience in Sydney is that most properties view on Saturdays, it's midweek that is more difficult to arrange

rebnatoli

We found in Queensland quite a few rental agencies close at weekends.

chels

It differs from place to place.

In Sydney, the majority of viewings are on Saturdays at 'open inspections' where you have 15 mins to look round with other potential renters. It's very hard to organise viewings outside of these times, I get the impression that estate agents hire saturday staff to do the viewings as most of the time they don't even know what key to use to open the front door. Some will offer Thurs pm viewings. And a small minority are happy to show you rentals outside of the official inspection times, usually if they're already unoccupied.

C&R

It was the same in Melbourne. Last week I had 4 days to find somewhere. I was naive to think I could look at properties outside of the public viewing times, so was shocked that for the time I was there I could only view a few places. Also, when you view the properties at weekends there may be loads of people looking too. The place I chose though was in the week, and there was just me and one other bloke. I had my application form and id info all prepared in advance, so if I liked the place I was viewing, I could apply for it there and then.

The best thing to do, is to look at rental properties on domain.com.au and realeastate.com.au, and check the viewing times. Put together a list of places you can view on the same day at different times, that way you get to view a lot of places in a short time. I wish I had known to do this before I arrived in Melbourne last week. Good luck

chels

That's good advice. When you have just 15 mins to view properties AND get to the next property on the Saturday viewings, you have to be organised and efficient. So try and view properties which are close by to each other (we underestimated how long it would take going from place to place when we first started looking, and would miss lots of viewings through bad organisation of suburbs to look in etc). And be ready to put in the application there and then if you like the place - otherwise someone else could put one in at the viewing and snap it up.

C&R

Exactly. You can print off the rental property application forms from their website. The rental property agents website will also state exactly what supporting documents they require too.

galba

Thanks for the info. How do you know when the viewing times are? Do I need to contact the rental agent for the info? I've looked on realestate.com but it didn't have the viewing times.

Galba

isgraham

I found in Sydney when I was looking that your best bet is to phone the estate agent and visit property mid week, You get more time to look around with nobody else there and you have a better chance of getting the property because you get to apply before anyone else.

chels

They normally post viewing times closer to the day, so have a look on Friday. Otherwise, you can look at individual real estate agents websites for when properties are open for inspection. Finally, the newspaper may have the details - in Sydney, the Sydney Morning Herald has an extensive section on Saturdays with all the viewing times in it.

Give phoning the agents a try, or popping into their offices - you may have more luck than I did (and gedge by the sounds of it) and find agents willing to show you places during the week. But my experience was that they're lazy and unwilling to go out of their way when it comes to rentals as they don't make enough money from that side of the business.

C&R

Yeah, check the properties you like, the day or so before you leave. The websites will defo list the public viewing times if they are coming up. Alot of the properties already have tenants in, so private viewing is sometimes not an option, because the agents have to organise a time with the tenant for a conveniant time to show people round. I would advise you try and find out the viewing times in advance, and not rely on just turning up at the property agents and expect to be able to view properties there and then.

C&R

Also, I just want to add my experience of dealing with Jellis Craig in Melbourne. We turned up at their office, armed with properties we wanted to view [we were not aware of the public viewing times 'rule' and we expected to be able to view properties with an agent that day]. The receptionist was incredibly rude and would not give us any information about how we were supposed to view the properties, when she did give us attention she would tap away loudly with her false nails on her keyboard answering 'no, its gone' 'no its been leased' 'no its not available'.
After 20 minutes we were still stood there and every now and again she would glance up at us with a look that yelled 'you still here then'. I almost went balisitic, but it all worked out in the end. We did not rent from Jellis Craig which I am very relieved about.

galba

That is exactly what I was expecting to do.....send 4 or 5 days seeing everything but looks like it will have to be a bit more planned than that! Anyone got experience of renting in perth?

Thanks

Galba

C&R

You will find somewhere I am sure. In Melbourne the property market is dog eat dog, yet I found somewhere within 3 days. Just be prepared and make sure you have all your ID documents photocopied. I used the libraries photocopier in the area I was looking, and photocopied my passport info page, a bank statement, a birth certificate, an old student card with a photo on it, and also included my cv and a work reference just to show I was employable and would be able to pay my rent. I also included two names and addresses of friends and family who live in Oz, these were required on the rental application form. I also wrote on the front of the application form I would be willing to pay 3 months rent in advance. This was not required, and the rental agent did not call my referees.

C&R

Also - in the library they had a Melways, which is the equivalent of and a-z of Melbourne. I photocopied the pages of the street maps of the areas I was viewing, so we would not get lost and miss the viewing times.