Average time to secure a rental

[wonderer]

We are about to book furnished accommodation (I'm surprised at how affordable one can find it)  We are thinking of booking it for the first month but wonder whether we are over shooting a bit. 

 

From your experience; what is the average time it takes to find a long term rental? We are looking at Melbourne specifically. 

 

One quote was R16 000 for 2 weeks and R20 000 for a month, so it feels like a month makes much more sense than 2 weeks even if you don't stay the whole month.

 

Also: is availability mostly from the 1st of the month? In which case it would be better to book up to the end of the month...

[Mara]

@wonderer It will all depend on where in Melbourne you plan to settle. The closer you are to the city, the demand is often greater and therefore there could be many people chasing one property. If you live further out, then it depends on which suburbs you are looking at, the more popular, it could be the same story. It is a good idea to make up an A4 sheet, with a picture at the top of the family and then a description of what your occupations and the interests of the family is. If you are extremely keen on a property and you can afford it, offer to pay 3 months rent in advance. If you have not secured a job yet when you go house hunting, it may be an idea to have a copy of your bank statement attached, to show you can afford the house. If you could get a reference from the agent that sold your house in RSA, stating that the house was in an excellent condition, that could help as well.

 

Where I live in Sunbury, there is a lot of building going on, plenty of new investment homes and older homes for rent, you could probably secure a rental within a week. Train to the city takes about 50mins and most suburbs have buses that travel to the terminus at the station.

 

With regard to affordable temporary furnished accommodation, just a short distance from the city, do check out : http://www.bellcity.com.au/residences/

 

If there is anything else I can help with, feel free to contact me.

[Kevin]

Thanks for asking this question, @wonderer. It's something that I also wanted a ballpark estimate for.

[FromDurbs]

Most rentals are immediately available, so being tied into temporary accommodation for too long wont help you much either.  For example 2 months would be as hard as 2 weeks.  My suggestion would be to spend a few days sorting out cell phones, a car, etc.  It is infinitely easier finding a rental with a car and a cell phone than without.  Then one week looking at neighbourhoods.  And then you start looking seriously for a place,  Which could take a week or two.  It might also take a week from applying for a property to moving in.  So 3-4 weeks????  

[AFreshStart]

5 hours ago, wonderer said:

We are about to book furnished accommodation (I'm surprised at how affordable one can find it)  We are thinking of booking it for the first month but wonder whether we are over shooting a bit. 

 

From your experience; what is the average time it takes to find a long term rental? We are looking at Melbourne specifically. 

 

One quote was R16 000 for 2 weeks and R20 000 for a month, so it feels like a month makes much more sense than 2 weeks even if you don't stay the whole month.

 

Also: is availability mostly from the 1st of the month? In which case it would be better to book up to the end of the month...

 

You haven't shared WHERE you are moving, but in Sydney it can take you over a month to secure accommodation, the landscape is extremely competitive at the moment with 50+ interested parties turning up for an open home in block.

 

Accomodation is paid by the week here, unlike SA which is largely month to month, so every week properties come up for rental and the move in date is normally 1-2 weeks or ASAP.

 

Hope that helps!

 

Cheers

 

Matt

 

 

[wonderer]

5 hours ago, wonderer said:

 We are looking at Melbourne specifically. 

 

Thank you, that gives me a better idea, (did mention Melbourne)

 

Edited February 20, 2017 by wonderer

[RedPanda]

4 hours ago, wonderer said:

 

Thank you, that gives me a better idea, (did mention Melbourne)

 

Sorry if I laugh, but saying 'Melbourne, specifically' is like saying 'Gauteng, specifically'. The landscape varies a lot over the city. Your best info will probably be on realestate.com.au there you can see what the rental prices are. My feeling is that the higher the price, the more competition you will face to get a spot. The example that @Mara has given you with Sunbury is probably the easiest you'll find a place. (I've been to Sunbury, nice place, go have a look there once you've landed) The place where we live (Belgrave/Tecoma) you'd probably pay $320-$450 per week for a 3-4 bedroom house. It's 50min per train from the CBD, far far east of Melbourne. But just two suburbs closer to the CBD (Ferntree Gully) your range is $350-$530, where you really don't want to live in the $350 range there. Our area has 7 rentals currently available, the Ferntree Gully has 30. Almost all of the rentals are either available asap or within a week or two. If you look at Essendon then there are 34 places available and the range is $350-$875. St Kilda gets you 18 places from $550-$2,300 per week (in the 3-4 bedroom range). And these examples don't even include anything West like Point Cook, or far South like Mount Eliza.

So now you might understand why we ask: Where specifically do you want to rent? We mean the suburb, or group of 2-3 suburbs that you have in mind.

The advice about a cover letter that describes your family with what they do, and don't do (like eg smoke) is definitely spot on. I think it helps, lots of people have had good results with that approach.

So dive in to some web research, and best luck with your rental hunts!  

[RedPanda]

Just to get an idea of the relative size and distances, here is a side-by-side comparison of Melbourne and central Gauteng on Google maps, on the same scale:

 

(The blue dot is where my suburb is, and it is still, just, considered living 'in Melbourne'.)

Edited February 21, 2017 by RedPanda

[wonderer]

5 hours ago, RedPanda said:

Sorry if I laugh, but saying 'Melbourne, specifically' is like saying 'Gauteng, specifically'

 

Well, we are not looking in Sydney, Perth or Adelaide.

 

I was hoping that few people might say it took us x weeks and there might be an average or at least we might get a sense. (like now I know Sunbury would be fairly quick)

 

We have not committed our minds to a suburb. We have looked at Ferntree Gully (probably not) and Greensborough, we are also still keeping an open mind browsing places like Williams town (maybe a bit pricey), Rosanna and maybe somewhat north. My husband applied for a nice sounding job which then redirected our search. If we are lucky enough to secure a job for either of us before we move we will try to live close by as we are not too keen on the CBD (work wise), so therefor I hope to get a wide / general sense.

 

We have spend hours on realestate.com.au but they don't give indications of timeframe.

 

[RedPanda]

3 hours ago, wonderer said:

 

Well, we are not looking in Sydney, Perth or Adelaide.

 

I was hoping that few people might say it took us x weeks and there might be an average or at least we might get a sense. (like now I know Sunbury would be fairly quick)

 

We have not committed our minds to a suburb. We have looked at Ferntree Gully (probably not) and Greensborough, we are also still keeping an open mind browsing places like Williams town (maybe a bit pricey), Rosanna and maybe somewhat north. My husband applied for a nice sounding job which then redirected our search. If we are lucky enough to secure a job for either of us before we move we will try to live close by as we are not too keen on the CBD (work wise), so therefor I hope to get a wide / general sense.

 

We have spend hours on realestate.com.au but they don't give indications of timeframe.

 

 

 

Aha, makes a bit more sense like that.
If I remember correctly then it took us about 2 weeks of keen searching to find our current rental. We were approved for both of the rentals we applied for, and then just took the one we liked more. It will also depend on how fussy you are.

If you're lucky, then some people who live in or near the suburbs you mentioned might comment and tell you how they fared.

The one thing I can tell you about the Melbourne property market is that the turn around time is crazy fast compared to RSA. Rentals don't stand open if the owner wants tenants.

[AFreshStart]

14 hours ago, wonderer said:

 

Thank you, that gives me a better idea, (did mention Melbourne)

 

 

What I meant is WHERE in Melbourne, because the prices vary greatly as does availablity as @Mara and @RedPanda pointed out. If you are willing to live an hour outside of the city I'm sure you can secure a rental easily and quickly, but if you want to be close to work (if you do end up being based in the CBD) the market will be a lot more aggressive, so you'll need to give yourself more time to find a place. Supply and demand I'm afraid.

 

Cheers

 

Matt

[wonderer]

Thanks for your responses guys.

 

I do think my initial question was reasonably phrased and i do think the forum allows for general discussions that needn't be THAT spesific.

 

Thanks for your efforts to respond though.

[RYLC]

7 hours ago, wonderer said:

Thanks for your responses guys.

 

I do think my initial question was reasonably phrased and i do think the forum allows for general discussions that needn't be THAT spesific.

 

Thanks for your efforts to respond though.

 

I sense a bit of a tone in your reply. Might want to pack that away once you get here as it will get you labeled pretty quickly. You'll see once you're living here that it is one of those "how long is a piece of string" questions.  It is very difficult to answer because there are so many variables: rental budget, number of family members, whether you have pets, your willingness to commute a long way, how much space is "enough", your tolerance for noise. On top of that is the fact that supply may be better or worse at the time of year you are looking. It is a very hard question and we haven't even got to the suburb question yet.  If the question was reversed and somebody told you that they are moving to Port Elizabeth and how long will it take to get a rental? You'd have a lot of questions before you could answer and even then it would be a guess. Everybody ends up finding something. 

[Mara]

@wonderer Greensborough and Williamstown are lovely places, then north of Greensborough there is Mernda, which is beautiful as well. Please just realise that you will need a vehicle to go and look at all these places, as they are pretty spread out, so that would have to be first on your list of things to do, if you are planning to buy and not rent a car.

[monsta]

@wonderer  I guess what @AFreshStart  might have been getting at is that its easier and quicker to secure a rental if you try to rent a more affordable place.

 

Aussies genertally like to rent to South Africans... for example we don't cook smelly foods, where the smell hangs around long after you move out. 

 

But it all comes down to, how likely are you to be able to pay the rent? Could you afford to pay for things you damage? If you have the $$$, the agent would push for you to get professional cleaners in when you leave, etc... 

Edited February 27, 2017 by monsta