sprug

Cazza It is possible to get your rental sorted before you arrive. However, as others have said sight unseen is very risky as you may get left with a lemon and in many states is against the legislation. However, an alternative is a relocation agent. A relocation agent works for you rather than the real estate agent and can view many properties on your behalf reporting back on the reality via video, photos, chat etc. They can then organise the application and get you signed into a lease before you arrive so you can move straight in. A couple of good ones I can personally vouch for are opal relocations www.opalrelocations.com.au and elite executive services http://www.eliteexecutiveservices.com.au/mobile/index.php

Hi Gary it is possible for us relocation agents to organise the rental prior to you arriving. If you prefer to view yourself our 2.5 day search usually does the trick and we usually can turn it around within one or two weeks depending on the market competitiveness including the research and lease signing. We have relationships with many real estate agents to give your application a bump up the queue . When we arrived in Brisbane we only had 2 weeks accommodation paid by our employer and it was panic stations for a while - not what you want when you have moved half way round the world . Hope this helps

Hi Bli bli would be a good 75 to 90 mins on a clear run it used to take me nearly 2 hours to get there fromwest of brisbane going opposite direction to major traffic. You are right there a couple of good schools there though. My wife has helped a number of families relocate around the area so could put you in touch with them. Personally if i had to commute to the airport regularly i would come a little further south.

We did the same sent early by ship and used the address of my work place as a temporary address. About a month before you actually fly is usually about the optimum time although you will be without for a few weeks on the other side. It's amazing what you can cook with one pan and a roasting tin!!! One other thing to remember if you need things urgently other than air freight is you could actually use the excess baggage on your flight. You obviously need to weigh up the costs of using this facility over the cost of regular air mail but it is an option and this way everything arrives at the same time you do

#32 sprug View Profile View Forum Posts Private Message View Blog Entries View Articles TitleJunior MemberJoin DateNov 2009 LocationMoggill, Brisbane, QLD Posts26 Liked9 times Rep Hi I am a licensed real estate agent that worked in the western suburbs of Brisbane as a rental agent for 4 years (I left to work full time as a relocation agent). From my perspective as a rental agent a Tip for securing a home would be to have the following with your application: 100 points id 2 personal reference proof of income (wages, offer of employment, bank statements) A letter from either a selling agent or a rental agent from your last home A personal letter to say why you want the home. Additionally whilst it is not required it may be prudent to offer a little more than the asking price (even 5 dollars a week to make your application stand out). I recently secured a home for a nurse from the uk (last month) in North Lakes whilst they were in the UK. When they arrived in Brisbane I collected them and took them to the new home - no temporary accommodation was needed. The couple in question secured the home against 11 other candidates by having all the paperwork ready (via me) and offering $5 a week more I worked with a lot of pommies as a real estate agent and I have a lot of Pommies as relocation clients and it is not impossible to secure a home when you are not in the country - in fact quite the opposite. When I was a real estate agent everyone would jump when a relocation agent wanted to view a home. It was generally considered that if the individual was using an agent they were already pre screened and were more likely to be the kind of candidate that would look after the home as they had money behind them. Hope this helps

Hi I worked in real estate for a long time in qld and have extensive knowledge about QCAT. Where a decision is found in your favour it is between both parties to arrange payment. In cases where our agency was awarded monies we got the tenant to enter into a payment plan i.e. if you owe me $1000 you can pay be over 10 months at 100 dollars per month. Have the agreement in writing and witnessed. If the party then fails to make a payment to you, you are able to reapply to court for the plan enforcing. It looks like you have tried your best to be reasonable and the magistrate will normally order the other party to pay you within 7 days the full amount. hope this helps shelley

Hi guys Just letting you all know we are doing a meetup in New Farm park at the end of September (with free sausage sizzle). All welcome our miniature poodle loves kids and popcorn . If you are interested go to https://www.facebook.com/events/689746901114038/ to register your interest. Look forward to seeing you there Shelley, family (and Lucky the dog) :smile:

Hi I am a licensed real estate agent that worked in the western suburbs of Brisbane as a rental agent for 4 years (I left to work full time as a relocation agent). From my perspective as a rental agent working in affluent areas of Brisbane it is always preferable that the would be applicant sees the home - whether this be through a relocation agent or in person. Tip for securing a home would be to have the following with your application: 100 points id 2 personal reference proof of income (wages, offer of employment, bank statements) A letter from either a selling agent or a rental agent from your last home A personal letter to say why you want the home. Additionally whilst it is not required it may be prudent to offer a little more than the asking price (even 5 dollars a week to make your application stand out). I recently secured a home for a nurse from the uk (last month) in North Lakes whilst they were in the UK. When they arrived in Brisbane I collected them and took them to the new home - no temporary accommodation was needed. The couple in question secured the home against 11 other candidates by having all the paperwork ready (via me) and offering $5 a week more I worked with a lot of pommies as a real estate agent and I have a lot of Pommies as relocation clients and it is not impossible to secure a home when you are not in the country - in fact quite the opposite. When I was a real estate agent everyone would jump when a relocation agent wanted to view a home. It was generally considered that if the individual was using an agent they were already pre screened and were more likely to be the kind of candidate that would look after the home as they had money behind them. The bond deposit is not held by the landlord but by a third party and it is not the norm for agents to keep bonds for unnecessary reasons. As the other person stated be extra picky with the entry condition report and take lots of pictures. Make sure you get the report into the agent within the required time frame normally 3 days from the lease start date. Wear and tear in real estate is defined as follows: Wear - anything that occurs through normal usage i.e the kitchen unit door falls off because the hinges are old. Tear is defined as anything that occurs outside normal usage i.e the kitchen unit door fell off because in a fit of rage you kicked it. Hope this helps

Obviously to start recommending areas with any real certainty some type of needs assessment would be in order to assess your likes and dislikes, budget and how important particular features are to you. But in lieu of that I would say that to be within a reasonable commute of the bigger tourist centres on the sunshine coast and assuming you want to be near the sea. I would say a number of the suburbs along the beach between Maroochydore and Caloundra which are a little busier - maybe Kawana, Buddina (around there somewhere) or further up in Mudjimba would be quieter. If you don't want to be so close to the sea then there are options inland like Buderim which has a nice elevation to look over towards the coast. As I said to be more specific I would need more info - hope that helps. Go to realestate.com.au or http://www.domain.com.au/ for rental costs.

Hi Leigh As the others say there a high concentrations of hotels in all these places Cairns in the north, Sunshine Coast, Gold Coast, Brisbane in the south east corner to name a few. Obviously at some point you will need to consider schooling as well - you will find the best performing of these in Brisbane. Another consideration will be whether or not you like the hub hub of a city or prefer a more relaxed pace of living. The Gold Coast is quite busy with a lot of high rises in the main beach area. Brisbane is a city but not quite as busy as some of the other big cities like Melbourne and Sydney (more of a large town feel). The Sunshine Coast feels like it has seen less development as limits were placed on the level of high rises and therefore to me feels more laid back. I have only been up to Cairns once so won't comment on that other than it is a tourist hotspot and a gateway to the great barrier reef so has lots of hotels - others on here would know much more about how it feels to live there. Climate may be a consideration for you also with Cairns being tropical and the others being sub tropical you get lower temperatures and less rain in the South East Corner. I hope it all goes well

Organising a BBQ meet up at new farm park in Brisbane - if you are interested then go to https://www.facebook.com/OpalRelocation?ref=ts&fref=ts to come along.

Organising a BBQ meet up at new farm park in Brisbane - if you are interested then go to https://www.facebook.com/OpalRelocation?ref=ts&fref=ts to come along.

Hi Kee, I have just been doing a bit of research for top primary schools in this area for one of my clients relocating from India. They are working in murrarrie. In the top 50 are Belmont, Bulimba, Coorparoo, Norman Park, Seven Hills, Tingalpa, Buranda, and the Manly out near the coast. He is looking at Bulimba pretty closely at the moment and we are going to show him Manly today. Any further help required just PM me.

If you need a buyers agent in Brisbane - I have my real estate licence and I do relocations so could definitely take care of you. Just PM me for further details.

It sounds like many of you are getting close to making your moves. If you have any questions that you need answering about Brisbane please feel free to PM me. I can also definitely help you organise a meetup when you arrive - maybe we can do a brisbane newcomers BBQ in a park somewhere near the city. I also have a good contact for a furniture broker that will get the best deals for you on relocating your possessions and provide a personal touch that you sometimes don't get with the big guys - PM me if any of you want the details.

The other way to do is to let a relocation agent or similar organise a rental property on your behalf so that it is ready for you when you arrive. I often do this for families moving interstate as it is cheaper than them flying over and looking around or taking a holiday let and looking themselves. The same approach can apply for international relocatees Shelley

When we moved over from the UK my eldest was at primary school (6 years old). We had a discussion with the headmaster and he asked us which year we would prefer our son to go in given he had been schooled in the UK (with his peers or in the year above). I suspect the answer to your question is that it will depend on the school itself and you should start by emailing the potentials in the area you are considering to get a feel for this. The links above should give you the email addresses to ask the question. This might help http://bettereducation.com.au/school/Primary/qld/brisbane_top_primary_schools.aspx Thanks Shelley

Yes well there are plenty of new builds around that area as the pimpama commera area is a recently built master planned suburb. My husbands says his company helped with the recycled water they have there when they were planning the suburb. I don't know anyone living in ormeau itself other than what I have read but this link gives a bit of info http://www.goldcoastaustralia.com/suburb-ormeau-pimpama.html and profiles such as those found on realestate.com or this one http://www.realestateview.com.au/propertydata/suburb-profile/queensland/ormeau/. The train runs from Ormeau and is about an hours run into Brisbane and the car is about 30-40 minutes outside of peak hours which could easily double that. Obviously you can also go south to the gold coast quite easily towards your friends house. Shelley

I suppose you need to nail down what it was about randwick/coogee that you liked the most and try and translate that. What did you actually do as a family there the most as it may be quite difficult to translate the proximity to beach and the city in Brisbane. This is because the closest areas to the beach in Brisbane are not sand based (more your mud flats and mangroves type areas). Until you get quite a bit further south or north (redcliffe as mentioned before) - and even here I would say the beaches are not a patch on what you find further north or south where you get that white silica type sand (this stuff is probably from bribie island northwards). The gap would have bit more of a rural feel I would say (very bushland - reserve type area) - probably not as busy as what you would be used to in sydney but still reasonable access to the bright lights of brisbane. Traffic is obviously not as bad as sydney because the population is not quite as dense here. Hope this helps - if you need more help feel free to PM me.

Yep as Cal says the dogs will make it slightly more difficult as not all rental properties accept them. I suppose the key to the suburb you choose is your preferences - do you like something more rural and leafy looking, or do you want to be closer to the beaches, how close to the city is close enough for you to go on a night out. Obviously the closer you are into the city the higher the rents are. What sorts of leisure activities do you like to do? When you go to the beach do you like it to be more built up and commercialised or quieter. I know this sounds like a lot of questions but by answering these and a few more besides we can get a lot closer to some suburbs that might suit. Feel free to PM me if you need any help. Thanks Shelley

Yep if you have a pool and love it then I would definitely try and get one over here in Brissie. We ummed and r'd about putting one in when we recently relocated to moggill, brisbane and built our own house. We are so glad we did now. I get in 1st of September at 22 degrees and swim through to the end of April.

Hi niccster I would suggest definitely going to the expos. http://www.downunderlive.co.uk. Birmingham, Glasgow and London are happening next month. I think advanced tickets for Birmingham are closing soon as it is on the 8th and 9th (might even be today). You will get to speak face to face about your issues and requirements. This was our first step when we had made the decision to come to Australia and helped us immensely. There will be employers there as well as immigration advisors. The same company run the australia and new zealand magazine and the getmedownunder jobs website. Fell free to PM me with any other questions.

Hi Jimmy - I suppose it depends what your budget is but the shortstaynetwork has a number of properties available. We stayed at fairthorpe apartments which is close to the city the maximum bedrooms is two but we had the sofa bed made up to make a 3rd bed http://www.fairthorpeapartments.com/. There is another place near us that has a bit of a complex with pool etc. this is about 10kms from the city to the west. http://www.poincianapark.com.au/. Hope this helps - any more questions please feel free to ask

Hi Tina0101 It is an amazing adventure - we went through it 6 years ago. If you need any advice or have any questions about Brisbane let me know. I'll be happy to help. Eben those questions that you think are too silly to ask need to be asked to put your mind at rest. There can be enough stress in the process without adding to it!!!

Yep just got to get through January and the weather in Brisbane is awesome. I particularly love spring and autumn. After a while the winters do start to feel a little chilly - but I still do laugh when I see girls walking down the street with a scarf and hat and their other halves walking becide them in a t shirt!!!