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Advice on how to settle in Sydney


Clankaroo

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Hi all,

 

I am planning to move to Sydney at the end of the year, I have a 176 visa sponsored by nsw. In a nutshell, I think I'll rent for a short time a serviced appartment after having arrived and will look for a house (I prefer a house to an appartment, like calm environments) to rent on a long term while at the same time look for a job (savings will pay for the rental at the beginning). I have a few open questions where I would like to have your insights.

 

- how much time do you think I should rent a serviced appartment ? I have read rentals go fast so I don't want to run the risk of having not found anything at the end of the rental period of the serviced appartm.

- what location should I target ? I'm alone, no children, so no need to find a school,etc. I'm more concerned about commute time and as I still do not know where I will work, I'm planning to look into chatswoord, artarmon, etc. as these places are close to the cbd and macquarie park which to my knowledge are where many IT engineers work (I am one btw). I plan to buy a car but think it's best to commute by train so being close to a rail line seems important.

 

Anyone that had to go through this and give advice, you're welcome :)

 

Thanks :)

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Why not stay in a hostel in the city for the first couple of weeks, either in a YHA one or a private one. There are plenty of them around Central station, Kings Cross, Bondi Beach, and a few other areas.

 

http://www.bouncehostel.com.au/

 

http://www.yha.com.au/

 

Of if you want to book straight into a furnished appartment, look on www.seek.com.au and search for furnished appartments, probably around the CBD. A couple of months should do it.

 

If you are coming on your own, you'd probably be better off living in one of the inner city suburbs - Surry Hills, Glebe, Newtown, etc, anyway. Be close to the 'action!'

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I would look to get your serviced apartment for about 4 or 5 weeks, that is enough time for most people to find a long term rental.

 

If I were by myself, I would want to be not too far from the CBD definitely would go nowhere near the Hills or Sutherland (which seem to be more family areas), I would look at Mosman, Manly, lower Northern Beaches or perhaps Balmain and around.

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Depending on finances, wouldn't it would make sense to stay in a serviced apartment until you find yourself a job - you don't want to rent a house in, for example, Surry Hills only to then get a job in North Ryde. Well, you might, but personally I'd prefer not to spend hours per day commuting.

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Hi,

 

Thanks for the answers. From what I have read mosman and manly are quite expensive and the connectivity to the cbd seems poor, I could not see a train line nearby. I definitely do not want to spend hours commuting, I would say 40 minutes or less. I currently spend between 2h30 and 3 hours a day commuting and it's a killer for quality of life.

 

Can you stay in a serviced appartment and renew the rent ? I was thinking that it would be easier to rent first some housing and then find a job to avoid the hassle of relocating after just having found a new job but I could be wrong.

 

More generally speaking how have your organized your relocation when those of you that went to oz did it without a job offer ?

 

Thanks

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Personally as a single person I would not rent a house - you'll spend an awful lot more on rent for space you don't need, and you'll restrict yourself (unless made of money, which it seems not) to areas which are a bit family oriented/dull (depending on how you look at it). This definitely applies to Chatswood which is a soulless largely commercial district - the malls have ripped the heart out of the area I think, it's just two big shopping centres, a handful of grotty pubs, some office blocks and the businesses that serve them, and a dull sprawl of surprisingly expensive accommodation. Unlike.

 

There are plenty of areas with a bunch of flats which aren't that loud/noisy. Although it sometimes likes to think otherwise, Sydney isn't party central once you're away from a very few areas so finding a quiet flat really isn't hard

 

You're on the right lines when looking at areas - CBD, Chatswood itself, Macquarie Park. A couple of biggish IT outfits out at Rhodes too (notably Unisys & HP). I would come closer in on the North Shore Line (from St Leonard's down to the bridge), over to Neutral Bay (often walkable to North Sydney or Milson's Point), Crow's Nest or Cammeray (easy in to St Leonard's from there) for transport, or Inner West (any suburb) but the transport will be slower from there. Nowhere in Sydney is "noisy" IMO except the CBD, King's Cross, by the Unis and parts of Surry Hills. Even most of Pyrmont is pretty quiet away from the casino

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Why not stay in a hostel in the city for the first couple of weeks, either in a YHA one or a private one. There are plenty of them around Central station, Kings Cross, Bondi Beach, and a few other areas.

 

http://www.bouncehostel.com.au/

 

http://www.yha.com.au/

 

Of if you want to book straight into a furnished appartment, look on www.seek.com.au and search for furnished appartments, probably around the CBD. A couple of months should do it.

 

If you are coming on your own, you'd probably be better off living in one of the inner city suburbs - Surry Hills, Glebe, Newtown, etc, anyway. Be close to the 'action!'

 

Try domain.com.au for appartments seek.com.au is a job site :-)

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I've got other open questions, like, for example, when a housing is for rent, is it available immediately or is it put on the market before the end of the previous rental contract ? It's not unusual in some places to have housing contracts signed 2 ou 3 months before it's available for the relocation (it's still occupied by the previous tenant).

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What's your take on the best time to arrive in Sydney in the summer (in oz)? I'm not talking about the weather :smile:, but rather about finding a housing and a job ? Is it better to arrive in December or January ? I imagine many offices and administration close at the end of December, particularly as it is the summer...

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Have your Xmas and New Year at home, then, when everybody else is depressed, broke, shivering in the middle of winter and their summer hols are still six months away, you come out to Sydney and enjoy three weeks of summer to acclimatize and get over your jet lag. Then when everybody goes back to work here after Oz Day, you can start the 'business' part of your new life?!

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I think I'll follow this advice. It does not make sense to arrive right in the summer, I'll come to Sydney in January then. I'm sure it's gonna be hard to leave behind evthg, friends, etc and start a new life but it must have been / will be the case for most people in this forum I guess.

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I did actually come at the start of summer - late spring perhaps - beginning of November In Perth, and I finally got a job at the end of January, in Sydney. It is hard to leave all your family/friends/home and maybe arriving before Xmas might make Xmas itself lonely. I don't know. People are all different. You might get into a hostel and have a great time, although, come to think of it, the hostels are probably fully booked up in Sydney for Xmas & New Year.

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