Places to live in Sydney

Well, well... the first application I put in has been accepted, and I will be staying in a little cottage in Rozelle from 28 March.

 

A few mins walk from Darling St and all the cafés and restaurants, and hopefully a fairly flat 25-min cycle ride to work along the edge of the bay.

 

More than anything, I think I'm relieved that I won't have to give up any more Saturdays and lunchtimes charging about the place on the bus, hoping to arrive in time to traipse around a property with 12 other people! There is some real crap out there for totally unrealistic prices.

 

In the meantime, another 4 weeks on Airbnb by the look of it. Off to Bondi Beach for 4 days tomorrow... after that, who knows?

 

Thanks everyone for all the sterling advice, as always!

well done! That was pretty quick work. And a cottage sounds nice. I'd like a self-contained place but looking at prices, that's not going to happen for a very long time, if ever! So apartment block, here we come.

Well done @mungbean - you have made lots of progress quickly. Sound like a lot of hard work, but you have got a good result. Thanks for sharing your discoveries and experiences.

Yeah well I'm not too fussy, but one thing that was on my essentials list was outside space, i.e. a yard or a garden so I can get my gardening fix.

This place has one that's tiny (the whole place is tiny, you can touch both walls in the bedrooms pretty much), but the yard is North-facing - which is good!

There are some great apartments as well though. In my limited experience it seems that the price mainly depends on location, location, location... but houses certainly do go for a premium. Some of the old terraces with ironwork balconies are gorgeous. (And some, for almost the same price, look like a long-standing tenant just died there last week or the landlord hasn't decorated in 30 years....)

In other words: a lottery as ever!

Congratulations, Mungbean! Sounds fabulous. I lived on Evans St in Rozelle for 6m, it was great

Well, well... the first application I put in has been accepted, and I will be staying in a little cottage in Rozelle from 28 March.

 

A few mins walk from Darling St and all the cafés and restaurants, and hopefully a fairly flat 25-min cycle ride to work along the edge of the bay.

 

More than anything, I think I'm relieved that I won't have to give up any more Saturdays and lunchtimes charging about the place on the bus, hoping to arrive in time to traipse around a property with 12 other people! There is some real crap out there for totally unrealistic prices.

 

In the meantime, another 4 weeks on Airbnb by the look of it. Off to Bondi Beach for 4 days tomorrow... after that, who knows?

 

Thanks everyone for all the sterling advice, as always!

Well done mungbean

As a new arrival did you have to offer a few months rent up front or offer higher than asking rent? Or what in general did you have in your rental pack showing funds, current employment status etc.

I have heard of 1form is this used by all the agents?

Appreciate yours and other people's input

Well done mungbean

 

As a new arrival did you have to offer a few months rent up front or offer higher than asking rent? Or what in general did you have in your rental pack showing funds, current employment status etc.

 

I have heard of 1form is this used by all the agents?

 

Appreciate yours and other people's input

Thanks @djfuddy

Well, I offered $10 over the stated price per week, and to sign up for 12 months rather than 6. This may have been a bit rash but the place is exactly what I wanted, plus the whole process was starting to stress me out a bit too much - and I've rented in London!

1form.com is used by some agents, but by no means all. If you've got all the same docs ready in electronic format you can email them to whoever wants them.

Overall I wasn't too confident in my "evidence" because I was living and renting in India for the last 4 years, but then again I'm single with no kids and no pets, which I've been told many times helps in the eyes of a landlord.

I think a lot of it comes down to luck in the end, and probably stamina too... I've been renting places for more than 30 years now, and I think the main things I've learned are that you have to get stuck in as soon as you arrive, and be prepared to up your budget ASAP if you're being shown stuff that's not within your parameters.

Good luck to the rest of you guys... it's a jungle out there!

Thanks @djfuddy

 

 

Overall I wasn't too confident in my "evidence" because I was living and renting in India for the last 4 years, but then again I'm single with no kids and no pets, which I've been told many times helps in the eyes of a landlord.

 

 

We're screwed then! 3 kids and a dog ouch

I've always said that I'm not really a "beach person", but I just did the coastal walk from Bondi Beach to Tamarama, Bronte, Waverley and then Clovelly this morning.

Had brunch at the café by the beach (Sea Salt I think?) and walked back up, doing a spot of casual Dolphin-watching along the way.

There were several thousand other people also walking and jogging, due to it being Sunday I guess, but it was a really gorgeous morning. A bit warm and sweaty at 32 degs by 11.30am, but clear blue sky and I kept stopping to re-apply sunscreen. (There were even some ginger people out running, plastered in SPF 50.)

But wow is this coastline beautiful! The boardwalk is really nicely made. Hundreds of kids having surfing lessons, paddling out lying on their fronts on their boards, looking like a bunch of baby turtles as they flapped their feet. Great to see so many people enjoying the outdoor lifestyle.

Tomorrow I'm off to Rushcutter's Bay for a couple of nights, and then hopefully Elizabeth Bay (next door?) for a week.

Yes Mungbean that is a brilliant walk! I also used to enjoy strolling round Waverley cemetery which you can see in one of the photos.

Yes Mungbean that is a brilliant walk! I also used to enjoy strolling round Waverley cemetery which you can see in one of the photos.

Yes, as an ex-resident of Edinburgh, I was curious to see what Waverley NSW was like

We have enjoyed eating at The yacht club at Rushcutters bay.

Manly for the win. If you want a little less expensive go Dee Why...but you get what you pay for.

dee why has not atmosphere at all aprt from dog walking and beaches

I used to stay at the Vibe hotel in Rushcutters Bay when I was working in Sydney. Lovely spot. Lovely places to eat all round there. Had a fantastic pizza once from a shop over the road from the hotel.

That Bondi coastal walk sounds great. I am looking forward to doing that when we get there very much [emoji106]

For the sake of balanced reporting I should add that at 4pm a big storm blew in, and we had torrential rain for a couple of hours.

It's still blowing like crazy out there, and some nutters are out in the bay kite-surfing!

I've always said that I'm not really a "beach person", but I just did the coastal walk from Bondi Beach to Tamarama, Bronte, Waverley and then Clovelly this morning.

 

Had brunch at the café by the beach (Sea Salt I think?) and walked back up, doing a spot of casual Dolphin-watching along the way.

 

There were several thousand other people also walking and jogging, due to it being Sunday I guess, but it was a really gorgeous morning. A bit warm and sweaty at 32 degs by 11.30am, but clear blue sky and I kept stopping to re-apply sunscreen. (There were even some ginger people out running, plastered in SPF 50.)

 

But wow is this coastline beautiful! The boardwalk is really nicely made. Hundreds of kids having surfing lessons, paddling out lying on their fronts on their boards, looking like a bunch of baby turtles as they flapped their feet. Great to see so many people enjoying the outdoor lifestyle.

 

Tomorrow I'm off to Rushcutter's Bay for a couple of nights, and then hopefully Elizabeth Bay (next door?) for a week.

Sounds and looks beautiful!

Be sure to catch sculptures by the Sea along that stretch, think it's around Nov.

http://www.thefifthestate.com.au/property/infrastructure/sydneys-stuck-in-traffic-putting-the-brakes-on-women-and-the-west/72111

Sydney is a city grinding to a halt, with the worst traffic congestion anywhere in Australia.

Our new analysis reveals that over the decade to 2012, the proportion of full-time employees in Sydney who commute for more than 10 hours a week rose from 22 per cent to 29 per cent. Those workers are spending almost three full weeks a year just to get to and from work.

That is one of the new findings in our book, City Limits: why Australia’s cities are broken and how we can fix them, published today. It also shows that residents of large areas of outer Sydney have little choice about long commutes – and congested roads and crowded trains and buses are only symptoms of a much deeper problem facing Australia’s most populated city.

[continues]

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Also talks about property rental btw, e.g...

One in four Australian households now rent their home, and many face punishing rents and some of the worst security of tenure in the developed world.

@mungbean - sounds ace [emoji107]

Going to try and choose wisely and be on a trainline.

Re renting - it sounds like a supply and demand thing. High demand means people will try and take the piss.

We did look at the potential of other (cheaper) cities, but it seems Sydney and Melbourne are where all the jobs are in the creative sector. The only motion design work in Perth seems to be based around 3d visuals for mining projects.

Sounds a bit like London @mungbean but with less train tracks and more people driving to work as a consequence.

Sutherlandshire, we moved to Heathcote near Engadine and love it!

We lived in North Ryde then moved to Dulwich Hill. Loved living in both those places.

I have some mates over there. Some born and raised in Sydney, others have lived there for 8 years. They always tip the up and coming areas. Rosebery and Maroubra are 2 places. They seem great, except the state high schools seem to be quite poor.

If that wasn't an issue we'd look there

Sounds a bit like London @mungbean but with less train tracks and more people driving to work as a consequence.

One very annoying thing is that even in suburbs where there is a good train or bus service, people prefer to drive - and then whinge about the traffic. Australians are married to their cars.