(edit title) Tips on moving to Melbourne, Australia Advice on finding an apartment to rent Options

[*Guest*]

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 !

[lolly]

There's a few websites you can use..

http://www.realestate.com.au/cgi-bin/rsear...nf=rbs&a=sf

http://www.domain.com.au/Public/ChooseRegi...t&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.

[Bo-jangles]

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.

[Aussie_Downunder]

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!!!

[penruff]

better option is just to move to sydney instead!!

[AussieAndy]

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.

[Sumit Jassal]

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...

[Axemen.se]

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

[andiel]

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!!!

[anjela81]

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!

[Jamie_plymouth]

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!

[jako]

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.

[swozzie]

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 !

[swozzie]

Oops! COLLINGWOOD that is...

[HALE]

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!