Now that you have arrived in lovely Melbourne Australia, where will you stay?
Well, this is a problem easily resolved if you have close family or friends that you can live with - while you patiently search for your dream home. But for many newcomers to Melbourne, this can be a lengthy and stressful process.
There are basically 4 phases (maybe less if things go extremely smoothly or if you have lots of spare cash!) that most immigrants go through in their initial years of life in Melbourne …
- Temporary accommodation
o It is a good idea to give yourself some time to get to know the city before committing to a rental lease - which is likely to be 6 to 12 months with penalties for breaking it early.
o Motels / hotels are expensive options so a more practical alternative would be short-stay apartments. This can easily be arranged prior to you arriving in Melbourne.
o I personally stayed in a short-stay serviced apartment close to the city for about a month while I settled in at work and went about searching for a rental property
- Short-term rental property
o At this point, you still don't really know Melbourne all that well and still undecided about which suburb/area to stay longer term.
o However, serviced apartments are relatively expensive and you lease a cheap rental apartment while you continue your search for the ideal rental property.
o Most likely this place will be in close proximity to where you work or around the main city area.
o In my situation, I managed to find a place with a short 6 month lease which I moved out of when it expired.
- Long-term rental property
o Congrats! You have now decided on the area you want to live in and found a great rental property!
o Many people (including yours truly!) will remain in this phase for quite a few years while they save up a deposit to buy a home.
o After all, Melbourne house prices are very expensive relative to many other places in the world! (http://www.abc.net.au/news/2011-01-24/australian-houses-among-worlds-most-expensive/1915882)
o There are also people who are perpetual renters who choose to invest their money rather than committing to a large mortgage!
- Home Sweet Home!
o Even more congrats on really extending your roots and achieving the Australian dream of owning your own home!
By this stage, you are most likely a very settled Melbournian who has decided to call this wonderful city your home. You may even be thinking of writing a blog to help others move and settle down here too! ;-)
Last but not least, don't forget to check out my brand NEW website - www.melbourneahoy.com.au - dedicated to all things about moving to Melbourne and life in general in the world's most liveable city !
Last but not least, don't forget to check out my brand NEW website - www.melbourneahoy.com.au - dedicated to all things about moving to Melbourne and life in general in the world's most liveable city !
Firstly congrats in advance on your move to Melbourne ! Summer is a great time to move to Melbourne and I arrived in here myself in Jan too (many moons ago now). There's a lot going on with Australia Day (Jan 26th), school holiday activities, Australian Tennis Open, Melbourne F1 Grand Prix, etc all happening one after another early in the year.
ReplyDeleteAs for your question, the 2 sites you mentioned are fine but I would add domain.com.au & rent.com.au to the list. For inner city apartments, micm.com.au is also quite popular especially with overseas students. I agree with your friend to stay away from Gumtree especially as you are new to the country. You can always check it out again once you are settled down and know the lay of the land.
Just another tip. Being new to Melbourne, the chances of you getting your ideal rental property first time round is slim - especially sight unseen ! As I described in my blog post above, try to go for a shorter initial lease (maybe 3 to 6 months) so you can review your choice after you get here.
Hope this helps.