Lost in Melbourne - Advice Appreciated!

[bnco]

Originally Posted by kaz101

How long have the agents been managing the property?
Why doesn't the agent know if there are telephone sockets?
And why can't they go round there and check?
Are apartments built nowadays without phone connections? I wouldn't have thought so.

It may be that there is a phone connection but possibly it wasn't used because the previous tenant always used their mobile and didn't have internet access there. Telstra may need to do a re-connection.

If you decide to take the property, take photos of the wall heaters and measurements, so that you can see if anything has changed, in case it gets worse and they say it was like that when you moved in.

Also have you checked over the tenancy agreement thoroughly?

Why not do another viewing and check for phone points?

This does sound strange without there being anything specific wrong.

Hi Karen

We've decided to take the place, after much thought. We're just too tired of going through another round of inspections and applications.

We certainly intend to photograph the wall heaters though!

Still have not figured out why the place doesn't have a phone connection. We were mainly worried abt the cost of getting the phone connection because we needed an internet connection and everyone told us that a phone line is needed for that. Yet no one could tell us exactly what a phone connection would cost - Telstra needed to send a technician to check and just checking will also be charged.

However, the internet problem is now solved as we found out that optus and virgin have broadband via 3G networks and we could also use bigpond cable internet but it's a lot more expensive. In fact, virgin broadband (slightly more expensive than optus) allows home phones to be used on it, thus eliminating the need for a phone connection.

At the moment, we're still trying to determine whether it will be too expensive to rely on mobiles alone... or if it'll be better to pay slightly more for virgin and potentially save on telephone charges.

[bnco]

Originally Posted by cmallon

I saw on this post that you are a landlord and hoped you could answer a question although I don't know if it more a question for the agents. We will be coming over from the UK, hopefully at the beginning of March, and I want to try and be prepared and bring everything with me. We have just sold our home and have never rented so have no references to bring, can you suggest anything that may help us when we try to rent? I didn't realise it would be so difficult I just thought that if you wanted somewhere and could afford it that would be it, first come first served! I was also thinking about emailing some of the agents in advance and asking them what we might need.
Thanks for any advice you have,

Hi Claire

I'm aware from filling up tons of rental application forms that you can state that you owned your previous home. I don't know whether a reference letter from the agent who sold your house in UK would help.

Like you, I thought that getting a place would be on a first come first served basis too, like what we experienced in other countries. Unfortunately we discovered the hard way that it is not and hence our earlier fustrations.

I've now heard that it might be easier if we had gone directly to 1 or 2 agents instead of using the rental websites. This bit of advice came too late so I can't be sure how true it is.

Are you moving to Melbourne too?

[cmallon]

Originally Posted by bnco

Hi Claire

I'm aware from filling up tons of rental application forms that you can state that you owned your previous home. I don't know whether a reference letter from the agent who sold your house in UK would help.

Like you, I thought that getting a place would be on a first come first served basis too, like what we experienced in other countries. Unfortunately we discovered the hard way that it is not and hence our earlier fustrations.

I've now heard that it might be easier if we had gone directly to 1 or 2 agents instead of using the rental websites. This bit of advice came too late so I can't be sure how true it is.

Are you moving to Melbourne too?

Hi bnco,

We are moving to the Melbourne region. Initially we will be in Sunbury in the north west but we will look around to see what we like when we are there. My partner has a job based in Campbellfield so we can't be too far from there. Hopefully we will be getting over there at the beginning of March.

[bnco]

Originally Posted by cmallon

Hi bnco,

We are moving to the Melbourne region. Initially we will be in Sunbury in the north west but we will look around to see what we like when we are there. My partner has a job based in Campbellfield so we can't be too far from there. Hopefully we will be getting over there at the beginning of March.

Hi Claire

I'm not at all familiar with Melbourne's surrounds... just trying to find my way in and around the city is complex enough for me, I'm still frequently lost!

Due to my husband's work, our rental search had to be based in or near the city, where the rental demand is at an all-time high and still growing (I saw statistics that pegged available vacancies at less than 2%), so we ended up having to deal with higher than expected rents plus a whole lot of competition from other potential tenants. It was quite common to see at least 10 to 20 people at each inspection, sometimes even much more at popular areas.

We were also under pressure to find a place by end Jan due to us having to leave our temporary accommodation by 9 Feb and we knew that the longer we wait, the worse it'll get because most of the international students are expected to return or arrive late Jan / early Feb, fueling the demand further. In fact, a handful of the "smart" ones are already here, hoping to beat the crowds.

Hopefully the rental demand for the areas that you're considering will be lower so you wouldn't have to deal with all these and can have an easier time than we did. All the best!!