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The Local _ World travel _ Tips on moving to Melbourne, Australia

Posted by: Guest 27.Jun.2009, 10:54 AM

G'day Mates!!

I am moving from Stockholm to Melbourne and I have no idea how the process to rent an apartment is, Is it easier than here in Stockholm?

Due I know lots of Aussies are enjoying life here in Sweden, I would like to ask you for any kind of helfpul information in order to choose where to live. My requirements are really simple and not too many; small apartment (or Studio), near CBD or in CBD (no more than 30 min in public transport), not in a fancy area, good price (around 800 AUD), good transport connections.

Taking these considerations can you please help me with tips for:

1)Nice options to live in
2)Areas that I should avoid
3)How to rent a house before moving there (from here)

Any kind of weblinks, hints, contacts tips are more than welcome.

Thanks and have a great day !

Posted by: lolly 27.Jun.2009, 11:02 AM

There's a few websites you can use..

http://www.realestate.com.au/cgi-bin/rsearch?s=vic&t=ren&snf=rbs&a=sf

http://www.domain.com.au/Public/ChooseRegions.aspx?mode=rent&state=VIC

They have photos.

I believe some rental agencies charge for you to pay your rent, depending on the agency.

Usual methods are direct deposit, Bpay or going in and paying over the counter with either cash or money order.

You need to give them 4 weeks bond, 2 weeks rent in advance and the bond is held until the end of the lease.

Know your rights:

http://www.tuv.org.au/links/default.aspx

Hope that helps.

ps: I'm aussie, I don't live in Melb but... I have friends that talk about their experiences in Melb.

Posted by: Bo-jangles 29.Jun.2009, 09:32 AM

Nice area's to live that are close to CBD are Richmond, Hawthorn, Fitzroy or most suburbs on the south east of the city.

The west and north west of the city are the main areas you want to be careful or King Street in the city on a Friday or Saturday night.

Make sure you check out the Mornington Peninsula and towns like Mornington, Mt Martha, Sorrento, Portsea and Red Hill.

Posted by: Aussie_Downunder 31.Jul.2009, 01:17 PM

Hahaha yes definitely avoid renting anything in St Kilda. I agree with Bo-jangles.. Hawthorn is nice. Richmond is alright.
I would go to the inner East suburbs as they are heaps better. Brunswick is also alright if you don't mind hippies
Below are some of the major real estate agents in Melbourne..

http://www.hockingstuart.com.au/

http://www.noeljones.com.au/

http://www.fletchers.net.au/

http://www.marshallwhite.com.au/

http://www.woodards.com.au/

If you have any other queries, don't hesitate to ask!!!

Posted by: penruff 31.Jul.2009, 07:16 PM

better option is just to move to sydney instead!!

Posted by: AussieAndy 1.Aug.2009, 04:45 AM

I live in Melbourne. This is some info for you. PM me if you want any specific information

Melbourne is a low density city, and the suburbs can be very large. Every suburb has it good & bad spots.

Each locality in Melbourne has different characteristics. No spots are better or worse than others. It depends on your own lifestyle.

Getting around Melbourne by public transport alone can be difficult. Unless you live in the inner suburbs well serviced by trains, trams & buses, you will need a car.

Taxis are expensive. Melbourne taxi drivers act naïve on where to take you and will always take at least one wrong turn. Hate short or long trips, they cannot refuse genuine fares. Insist on talking to you. If you hire a Taxi by yourself, sit in the front seat.

Melbourne planning is based on zoning. Areas are primarily zoned, residential, retail, commercial, and industrial. Some areas may have a mix of zoning.

Melbournians generally travel to the CBD for work and live in the suburbs.

Nightlife is spread around Melbourne and the suburbs.

Some good sites to visit about Melbourne
http://www.street-directory.com.au (the main road map book for Melbourne)
www.connexmelbourne.com.au (Melbourne’s current train operator
www.yarratrams.com.au (Melbourne’s current tram operator)
Google street view is very good.

Posted by: Sumit Jassal 1.Aug.2009, 08:58 AM

hey mate , i'm from australia, i have 3 aprtments thr , in Australia u will be paying ur rent weekly not montly , u r look at around 150- 200 a week , for a 1 room apartment . When are u moving thr , i hav few friends who hav houses and they might be able to help you , I just moved from thr to gothenberg , yeah but life thr is fast moving i find it here very slow... Anyway gd luck there , u will love it...

Posted by: Axemen.se 2.Aug.2009, 01:22 PM

Make sure you pick a AFL footy team to support. You'll get asked this by nearly everyone at some point.

If you need advice in this area, I'd suggest the Richmond Tigers footy club. Richmond is also a nice place to rent a place.

Melbourne is often in the top 3 most liveable cities in the world and is a really nice place to live in.

Good luck!

Axemen.se

www.axemen.se

Posted by: andiel 3.Aug.2009, 06:40 AM

Hey!

I am 24 live in Melbourne and am making the move to Stockholm! Hawthorn, Richmond and Kew are great areas to live in, as are Windsor and Prahran. They are close to the city and not to far from where most people would head out at night (ie. Richmond or Chapel Street) and have good transport connections ie. From Glenferrie station in Hawthorn, you can get to Flinders Street Station (city) in about 10 minutes.

If you go through a real estate agent and want your own lease, they generally last for 12 months and are difficult and expensive to get out off, so you have to be prepared to commit if you want to do things that way. You would also have to pay a bond (usually equal to one months rent) and one months rent in advance. The rental market is pretty tough at the moment, I was looking for a long time (with proof of a good income etc etc) and only found a place by personally calling the agent, introducing myself at the open for inspection and writing a “cover letter” telling the agent a bit about myself and my housemates when I turned in our application. It was a bit cheesy, but the cover letter seemed to do the trick as they get a pile of applications so you need to make yourself stand out.

The other option is to share with people, you can find places on www.domain.com.au – another good place to look is www.gumtree.com.au but beware as apparently there are a few dodgy characters on there (ie. A guy who says you can have his apartment while he is in India – just deposit $1000 into his account and he will send you the keys). Other than that it is usually genuine people who have a spare room they need to fill.

Melbourne is an unbelievable place to live! You will love it!!!

Posted by: anjela81 7.Jan.2010, 12:16 AM

Hooray - we LOVE people who have the class to choose Melbourne over Sydney!!
(Can you tell I'm a Melbournian?!)

In answer to: is it easier to rent in Melbourne? - Yes!!!
If Stockholm is like Gbg, where you have to be put in a queue to rent an apartment, satisfy a million criteria and can't even VIEW an apartment without getting on a waiting list.
Then yes! yes! yes!

Melbourne has a pretty standard market system for renting.
If you want an apartment, you look at some ads, contact the owner or agent, go have a look and if they are satisfied you can pay, and will be a good tenant, its yours. You sign the lease etc.

I'd agree with the other commenters. Stay away from St. Kilda! So totally overrated. Also Southbank.

The inner eastern suburbs are nice. Fitzroy, Richmond, Colllingwood, Abbotsford, East Melbourne, Carlton and all the areas around there.

The inner west is pretty nice, and often overlooked - look around Flemington and Kensington

North is OK as well - Northcote, Brunswick.

Living in heart of the CBD (the city centre) will probably get you a flush place, but it will be small and expensive.

If you live in the very inner suburbs (those listed above) you can probably get around without a car, if you make sure you can get to the trams.

Use the websites that everyone has previously suggested.
www.domain.com.au is good as it has properties from many different real estate agents.

Best of luck in Melbourne!! Hope you like my hometown!

Posted by: Jamie_plymouth 7.Jan.2010, 12:30 AM

Wow cant believe how stoked for Melbourne people are here. If I was to talk about my home town (Plymouth) I would recommend people to move else where...

I was thinking of doing the working holiday visa starting next winter as I dont think I can do a third straight winter here and as im a painter and decorator and can do dry lining so I dont think getting a job will be too hard.

Melbourne definately sounds like one city to live in for a while!

Posted by: jako 7.Jan.2010, 08:04 AM

I can't believe all the advice AGAINST St.Kilda on this page.

As someone who has lived and worked in St.Kilda for over 5 years I adore the place - it's the first place I'd advise someone your age from Sweden to move to.

Sure Hawthorn and the inner-east is nice - if you're married with 2 kids and want to be close to expensive private schools.

Some of melbourne's richest experiences are offered close to the beach, in the evening, on those beautiful warm nights in summer.

Posted by: swozzie 7.Jan.2010, 08:46 AM

Hi mate

you are going to LOVE Melbourne. Its the best city in Australia to live and more european than any other.

St Kilda is great I agree but then I agree with everyone else's opinion pretty much as well as there are so many facets to Melbourne and each place has its own character. Would avoid the commuter suburbs however. (boring)

Renting a place to live is SO not like Sweden and you will be spoiled for choice - enjoy the free market :-)

My favourite areas are Prahran, East Melbourne, North Melbourne , Richmond and Hawthorn

This is making me so homesick...and yes, VERY important to pick a footy team (not Coillingwood ha ha ha )

Have fun !

Posted by: swozzie 7.Jan.2010, 08:47 AM

Oops! COLLINGWOOD that is...

Posted by: HALE 7.Jan.2010, 12:23 PM

Don't think we are enjoying it much in this freeeezing weather...think we will all join you and go home.

Anyway, should have picked Perth! At least pick the eagles as your footy team...not anyone from Melbourne.

You will want to live in a house...not an apartment.
Learn how to relax a bit, not take things too seriously and get use to sarcasm.
Definately don't wear socks in summer..or at the beach.
Engage in converstations, don't sit back and just listen to people, actively participate,
don't be rigid and formal and you can have a messy house with lots of clutter just make sure your lounge, entry, bathroom and kitchen are tidy, not picture perfect swedish house. People don't come to your house in aus and give themselves a full tour of every room and every cupboard like they do here

Don't go in shops and pay what they ask for things such as electrical items, bargain and go to the next shop and tell them what the other shop will sell it to you for.

Buy a BBQ (gas), people just drop in with a 6 pack and a pack of sausages without invite, get use to it. Be spontaneous, drop everything and go to the beach. It you live near a beach you can go for a run or surf in the mornings or in the evenings. Join a club, surf club, footy club, masters swim club, dragon boat paddling club...try to swim normally, not with you head stuck up out of the water doing breastroke all the time..stick your head under, learn freestyle. Join in twilight sailing as a crew member at a local yacht club or hire sailing gear, learn to snorkel on the reefs and don't worry about sand getting on your feet at the beach, there will be plenty of that.
Have a good time!

Posted by: Wigglywoo 7.Jan.2010, 02:04 PM

i usually use www.gumtree.com when looking for cheap private rents in the uk. They have a Melbourne section so it might be useful to you.

Posted by: Thebinary1 7.Jan.2010, 06:27 PM

Try not to get yourself stabbed in Melbourne.

Perth's record is quite impressive compared to the other capitals but that could be because there is less to do in Perth compared to the other cities,

Posted by: Guest 25.Oct.2010, 02:20 PM

I'm also from Melbourne, and while I don't want to put anyone off moving here, it's not quite as simple as all that to get a rental property at the moment. The procedure isn't that hard, but you've gotta be quick 'cause things come and go from the market really quickly. As well as finding somewhere and viewing it - and yes, you HAVE to view it before you're legally allowed to rent it - you have to submit documents proving you can pay your rent etc. So you pretty much have to have a job and references in English, otherwise it gets too tricky and real estate agents will over look you for someone else. So make sure you attend viewings with all the documents you need.

Which are: Proof of ID, Bank Statement, Reference from your Employer, or school maybe, your Visa if you need one, your past residences, and as many bills etc. as you have for yourself.

Be organised and it shouldn't be too hard though - and it's a brilliant place to live.
I found my last home on this site: http://www.nestoria.com.au/melbourne/real-estate-properties/rental

Hope that helps!

Posted by: swedenlulea 17.Feb.2012, 09:14 AM

Hi!

I am in talks with a company based in Melbourne and just might get the job. The office will be in CBD.
I am looking for advice about renting a place close to CBD, schools for a 6 year old nearby and life in general in Melbourne
Do I need to provide reference for renting a place(from landlords in Sweden)? Can I find a place from Stockholm itself?
Movers?

Basically fill me in with information about moving into Melbourne.

Thanks a lot!

Posted by: Guest 23.Jun.2012, 03:24 AM

Hi I moved to Melbourne few months ago and I used a company called Homes of Melbourne to look for a place for me. You might give it a try, their website is www.homesofmelbourne.com.au

Good luck!

Posted by: Leonie 26.Jun.2012, 07:34 PM

[quote name='jako' date='7.Jan.2010, 09:04 AM' post='490495']
I can't believe all the advice AGAINST St.Kilda on this page.

As someone who has lived and worked in St.Kilda for over 5 years I adore the place - it's the first place I'd advise someone your age from Sweden to move to.

Sure Hawthorn and the inner-east is nice - if you're married with 2 kids and want to be close to expensive private schools.

Some of melbourne's richest experiences are offered close to the beach, in the evening, on those beautiful warm nights in summer

. I very much agree with this I live I st kilda for some time it has all you need close by beach, night life/ live music, and good places to eat also look at Pt Melbourne and Albert park. Pt melbourne and st Kilda both have trams going direct to the City and are close to the CBD. AP and PMelb both have lots of open space around Parks ect. St Kilda unless your standing on a corner in a short skirt looking for work you will not be bothered by these sorts I people In the area as a female I use to live alone in st Kilda and had no problem I am guessing the lady's of the night are the reason people are saying do look a St Kilda, I am not sure I would live any where else if I lived in Melbourne. Good luck house hunting.

Posted by: Guest 7.Sep.2012, 08:11 AM

Hi

Melbourne is a great city for work and play!

It is wise to do your research before getting here just so things fall into place when you touch down.

I own Elwood Beach Apartment here in Melbourne and work with relocation agencies and oversees tourist that are looking for a place to stay while they settle in whether it be short or long term. Check out the apartment on http://www.flipkey.com/melbourne-condo-rentals/p415722/

Elwood Beach Apartment is fully furnished with modern accents. It is located in the beautiful beachside suburb of Elwood and neighbours St Kilda. It is only 6km from the CBD with public transport bus, train or tram only a short walk away.

If anyone requires local knowledge on Melbourne just email me...happy to help!

A : )

Posted by: james5 8.Sep.2012, 08:47 AM

Melbourne is the best city to the market of renting.

Posted by: Guest 25.Jan.2015, 07:21 PM

My names Gunner,

I'm moving to Melbourne, Australia March, 1st 2015. Can someone help me, concerning housing, job opportunities, and the do's and don'ts when I arrive? I have a retail action sports store in the United States, California. How hard would it be to open a retail store in Melbourne?

I'll need to rely on public transportation.
I'm good with staring of finding a roommate, or living at hostel to start. What should I expect the cost will be for rent?
What City would you suggest I make my first stop? I would like to move some ware that would be the easiest to get a job.

Thank you for any help or advice you can give me. Cheers...

Posted by: ben18616 26.Jan.2015, 08:01 AM

Hi Runner,
Accommodation:
Housing is, at least compared to Sweden, not a major challenge. Depending on you personal preference you rent an entire apartment or join a existing share house. www.realestate.com.au has most rental properties listed with estate agents in one place, has share accommodation too. www.gumtree.com.au has more share accommodation and also private rental listing (direct with property owner). Make sure you read this publication regarding you legal rights to renting http://www.consumer.vic.gov.au/library/publications/housing-and-accommodation/renting/renting-a-home-a-guide-for-tenants.pdf despite the industry being regulated there a a number of unscrupulous operators out there ripping off new arrivals.

My advise would be to find a share (or rental) house after you arrive in Melbourne and book a room with airbnb.com for your first few weeks, somewhere central or at least close to a train line.

costs - share house in inner suburbs $250 per week including bills, outer suburbs $175 per week including bills.

Job Opportunities:
Hard to comment, you have given no information regarding your experience or preferences. There are many opportunities, but expect it to take a number of months for you to get something. Job-search website include mycareer.com.au and careerone.com.au as well as gumtree.com.au

Public transport:
Most Melbournians rely on their car and never or rarely use public transport. This is because Melbourne is very spread out, and most live quite a distance from the CBD. On a global scale the public transport system is pretty good, and if choose your location in Melbourne wisely you can happily rely on public transport/walking/biking. Look at inner city suburbs with a combination of rail/tram options within walking distance.

Posted by: Guest 17.Sep.2015, 11:33 AM

Hey,

i have just read your post. its nice to hear that you are planning to move to Australia. kindly find out few facts about the Australia like which place is best suited for housing with marketplace & other basic facilities. I am suggesting you a site that i trusted & visited a lot to have a complete knowledge of Australia's suburbs. http://www.nationmaster.com/n/heat-map/walk_only_percents#115.85701180000001:-31.9535959:13 this site is very helpful with correct data facts. Kindly let me know, if you need any further information about Australia visit.

Regards !