Beware Of Renting Before Seeing Property! (especially Mt Martha!)
just thought I would give my experience. We replied to an ad in the UK in the 'Emigrating to Australia an NZ' magazine. to cut a long story short we signed a contract for 6 months for a property in Mt Martha. It was $450 per week and it was a complete dump to say the least. The garden was the only nice thing. The woman who was deputy head of a prestigious private school nearby was a complete con artist. We only stayed there for 2 months and just paid her off.
Beware of signing anything without viewing it first. I would not have normally done anything like this but I wanted to stay somewhere immediately to have a 'home' for the family. I cried everyday.
It is worth staying in a caravan park or holiday accommodation before plunging into renting as we did.
Hi ItsKaren
I am so sorry to hear what you have been through it is not a great start to a new life in Oz! As you mentioned rentals are so hard to come across that if people are offered a long term rental they jump at the chance and unfortunately a lot of the properties advertised are a real dump. People should come out and look for themselves this doesn't only go for properties but suburbs also. Melbourne gets a lot of flack on this group so if you are unsure if it is right for you come and look round first. If you have heard conflicting advice about East and West come and look for yourself, if someone has said oh I wouldnt live in that suburb, maybe they wouldn't but come and look for yourself. Everyone has different thoughts and ideas of what their perfect home, state, suburb should be like and yes it's fine to get some feedback from others but please go and look for youself a lot of the time its chinese whispers and a competition of my states better than your state, and like ItsKaren says please don't commit to anything (unless a short term holiday rental or a caravan park/hotel) until you are here then you can be the judge.
I hope it didn't spoil your outlook on Melbourne and that you have now found somewhere that you are happy with
Location: From Bury,Manchester To Jimboomba, Brisbane
Posts: 6,409
So sorry to hear you had a bad time Karen,i hope your in a nicer place now and feeling happier. I fully understand what your saying about wanting a home enviroment as soon as you can ,i think it can help you settle quicker.I must admit i have seen some rental houses in Brisbane i wouldnt leave my dog in never mind us and kids,lol, but they make them look so good on the pictures!!! hope you have better luck from now on
Cal x
Hi Karen
So sorry to hear you had such a rotten start but its good that you've posted your exxperience on here as it will be a caution to others . I would definatley advise getting here & then look for a long term rental as you really need to see a place before signing for it. Hope you are feeling a lot more settled now
Mandy x
glad you are settled now must have been horrible for you xx
i did also move straight in to a rental and luckily i love it i can fully understand what you mean about wanting to get your family settles and it can be quite difficult to secure a rental in certain places depending in popularity.
I think you are quite right to share you experiences and i would say to people if you are going to go straight in to a rental make sure you fully research it first and use someone you can trust - I got my rental through Jo so I knew it would be fine but some people dont have that option
We were also lucky in securing a 12 week temporary rental here in Oz before we moved - the accommodation was fine and in an area we liked. But I do know of people that have arrived and found the way the property has been presented has been misleading - e.g. photo's taken suggesting more rooms than are actually there. Old photo's of the property. I've also heard so many times of people moving in and the rental property being dirty. Personally, I'd try to avoid signing up for anything longer than a 3 month period (if you can help it), until you're in a postition to actually view the property
Ali
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"POZZIE" - HAPPY AND LOVIN IT!
I'm sick of following my dreams, I'm just going to ask them where they're going and hook up with them later
I have this sometimes with my clients, they want me to secure a rental for them as the picture looks "perfect" they will view a property on the internet and ask me to view it for them as it might have a "pool" which looks stunning on the picture but unfortunately this is not always the case as the house will be a right hovel, some pictures are based on the house at it's newest or have not been updated for a while giving you a false eye as to what it really looks like. I will always say to people if I would not live in it I would not expect you to live in it. It is worth it if you can for someone to check the house over on you behalf to give you that piece of mind.
So true. If you can get someone to view it for you that would be great. However, we didn't know anyone. Obviously now if this was the case I would get my friends on Poms in Oz to view!
Location: South Gloucestershire thinking of the Redcliffe Peninsula
Posts: 875
Is it difficult to find a long term rental thats nice then because we are going to have to rent for quite a while when and if we finally get over there. Is there a shortage then because if so thats a worry.
Would relocation experts be worth there money then ? We don't know where we will end up yet but looking at the job adverts there does seem to be plenty of work for the OH near Newcastle NSW.
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Cath, Matt, Jamie 14 & Travis 7, Agent appointed 12/6/08 House on the market 02/8/08 TRA lodged 19/8/08. Australia asap please!
