Jonnah24

My boyfrind and i are planning a trip to Melbourne, possibly in january for one month with a view to moving there.

My boyfriend has family there which we know will be a huge help, however we have a few questions...

how easy is it to find rented accomodation? and my trade is a beauty therapist, how much work is there?

and for my partner, who has no trade, but does have citizenship (he lived in perth when he was younger for 3 years), how hard will he find it to get work?

and are there many horse yards in the area?

we are both dead excited about the prospect of moving to an amazing country, but get sad at the fact of leaving family behind!

any advice please anyone??

thank you!

WelshSarah

Firstly... Welcome to BE!!

You will soon be completely addicted to this site and conversation between you and your partner will cease as either one or the other of you will be trawling through the BE archives for answers to the squillions of questions you will have as you start this 12,000KM journey!!

I cant really advise you on Melbourne as I am on the wonderful

GOLD COAST!!!

But now I have written that certain members of BE 'buzzing' around who will charge in and tell you all you need to know that is wonderful about Victoria!!

( actually I have family there too and thought it was beautiful when I briefly visited last august but I wont let buzzy know!!)

Good luck with your plans and enjoy looking around this site.... its got loads of info for you to mull over...
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RCoight

The rental vacancy rate in Melbourne is less than 1%, which basically means it can be very hard to get rental property. You may need to move fast, put a lot of readies down and quite possibly resort to sealed bids.

Can't comment on beauty therapy or horse yards.

What does your OH do for a living?

Deutschmaster

It was very hard finding a rental flat. We moved into a hostel in St Kilda and I was working while trying to find somewhere.

We would go around the estate agents between the city and Clayton and there was hardly anything like a 1 or 2 bedroom flat going. We were in an agency in Murrembeena and we signed up to see some property during the inspection hours, the list had about 20 names on it. It was very different to the UK where I've always found a flat on same day as I've started looking.

We saw some absolute dumps which looked as if they were about to fall down, and any property we looked at there was always other people there also viewing.

The agents were fussy wanting to know everything about us. At least I had a job here already so could show them the contract. A mate of mine came over from the UK and it took him 2 months to find a flat as no-one was interested in him since he didn't have a job. He managed to secure somewhere after offering to pay 9 months rent up front.

I've ended up living in student accommodation! It was luck of the draw because when I spoke the manager he just so had a room spare because someone didn't turn up. We stayed there short term until someone moved out and we took over their flat. Better than nothing.

Jonnah24

at the moment my partner is workin with vending machines, like re coditioning them, he has also done driving delivering them all over england. but he would like to get into car sales.

its very difficult here as they want you to start in tele sales!

Deutschmaster

I found a job before I came here. I went to a few industry conferences in the UK in 2006 - I'm in the electrical power industry - and I got talking to a couple of Aussie engineers who told me what companies would be looking for somebody like me.

I emailed these companies telling them what I was up to, and if a job opening came up would they consider me for it. Several months later I received an email from one of them saying that there was an opening - did I want to apply. Urm, yes.

I suppose the answer to that 'are there lots of jobs available' is well - depends on the person applying!

Melbourne is very spread out. If you come here make sure you get yourself a car or bike!

Caroline G

Hi, The Mornington Peninsula might be worth looking at depending on how close you want to be to Melbourne city. The Frankston train line runs directly into the city.

The Mornington Peninsula is approx 1hr away but more the further down you go. There are lots of beauty saloons particularly in Mt.Eliza as there is a high population of wealthy older ladies. Rentals don't seem to be as difficult to come by than if you are nearer to the city. Plus there's sea and country side, built-up areas, properties on large blocks and rural living to choose from.

Also, Dandenong has a fair bit of Industry and production going on and isn't a bad commute. It is thought that lots of businesses may relocate or set up near the newly completed East Link Rd.

It's worth checking out during your holiday and seeing if you get a good feel for the area.

Best of luck.

SNH

I'm going to generalise about an entire country (extremely stupid, I know!), but the sooner you start looking for rentals, the better.

Australia is the only place I have seen people really struggling to find a plcace to rent.

My brother, for example, searched for a full year!! That was in Canberra though, where demand is exceptionally high.

But people I know in many places across the country are shocked by how difficult it is to find a rental property.

I seriously would start thinking about accommodation as soon as you can - that should be your priority in your planning.