Guest PaulTC Posted August 5, 2010 Share Posted August 5, 2010 Hi folks, I have eventually moved to Canberra with OH and 2 kids on a State sponsored 176 visa. I often checked the PIO website for info, so thought I give some info back. We are staying in short term accomadation at the moment in Griffith, very expensive. It is tough to get a long term let, even though this is the 'best' time to look for rentals. You will find that a lot of the houses have been rental houses for years, and have just been a revolving door of tenants, you'll be suprised by the state of the kitchens. There is a lot of new houses for let in Gungahlin, they are mostly semi detached, terraced, or single units with very small back or front gardens. Woden Valley and Weston Creek are good, very central, but very sought after. Unless you have plenty of money, forget about the good spots in the areas directly north and south of the city. On the bright side the are plenty of fantastic properties, its a slog, but you will get one eventually. You have to network and make contact with the locals quickly, we joined the Irish club, it helps, a lot of breaks you will get are because you know someone, Canberra is a small town. About 75% of the work force work directly or indirectly for the goverment. The rest work in retail or service industries, (they are crying out for chefs, waiters etc.). You have to hit the ground running, get your tax number, medicare car etc. Its a beautiful city, and cant wait to get settled, and get the six year old in school making friends. Everyone is very friendly and extremely helpful and am looking forward to living here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest famousfive Posted August 5, 2010 Share Posted August 5, 2010 Great to hear you are off to a good start.Good luck with the house hunting and enjoy as much of the city as you can before you have to get into the slog of work,school etc.Nice to hear you are making friends and contacts.The good auld Irish Clubs can be a godsend.Got my first job in Sydney years ago in one,teaching Gaelic and music.Moved on to dance then and was a good little earner.Best of luck to you all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quoll Posted August 5, 2010 Share Posted August 5, 2010 Glad to hear you are off and running! People never believe me when I say that rental accommodation here is hard - and if you think it is hard now, just wait until October!!! Keep your eyes on the Canberra Times though - there are often a few private rentals in there as well especially on Saturday. You are so right, Canberra is a small town - at any social gathering you only have to say 2 things about someone and someone else will know them! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JacquiB Posted August 6, 2010 Share Posted August 6, 2010 Hi There Glad to hear your settling in ok. Hang in there with the rental. we arrived here September last year & like you had a short term let, ours was in Woden. Started looking for somewhere to rent straight away & after we'd been here 3 weeks and with only 1 week left on our short term let we were starting to worry but then found a lovely brand new 3 bed townhouse (detached bungalow) on allhomes private let, south side in our price range, managed to move in 1 week later. We've been happy ever since. Place is only 10 mins from work so its great. We also joined local clubs but as we're on a sponsored visa we were lucky as everyone at work is great and we've also made some great friends through the PIO canberra meet-ups so definitely worth going to. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest PaulTC Posted August 10, 2010 Share Posted August 10, 2010 Just signed a 12 month lease for a nice 3 bed home in Fadden, has a big enclosed yard for the kids to play in, so everyone happy!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JacquiB Posted August 10, 2010 Share Posted August 10, 2010 Glad to hear you found a place & Fadden is lovely. We're just down the road in Chisholm. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest 101126 Posted August 15, 2010 Share Posted August 15, 2010 Glad you found a place, Fadden is a nice place, we looked at it last year when we were starting to rent but settled on a place in Wanniassa which is in great condition and allowed our dog as well. You will have to look out for our next get together, its been a little while but probably wait for the weather to warm a bit Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
clickettuk Posted September 21, 2010 Share Posted September 21, 2010 Great to hear you're enjoying Canberra. We're waiting for the ACT SMP to get to Cat 2 and then to get our 176 as quickly as possible. (How optimistic do I sound!!!!!). Anyway, stay on PIO so when we get to Canberra we can pick your brains for advice!!! Michael and Mark. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest AnnaStu Posted September 24, 2010 Share Posted September 24, 2010 hi there, thats good to hear ur settling in ok. we intend to be in canberra by the end of february will it be a good time to look for rentals?? would u suggest to contact letting agencies while we´re still in the UK? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest PaulTC Posted October 11, 2010 Share Posted October 11, 2010 Hi Anastu, sorry I have not replied earlier, but have not been on for a while. With regard to renting, January is probably the worst time to look for rentals, as that is when the collages start, and the military who were posted here move on and new personnel move in. So february wont be great. To be honest, in order to obtain long term let's, you have to be here, you have to go to open houses, fill in forms, have a job, or promise of a job, have plenty of money to show you can afford the rent, its a pain but you just have to persevere. You can only get short term lets from Ireland or England, and these are pretty expensive, approx $750.00 per week. You will need 5 or 6 weeks to get a long term let once your here. A lot of the cheaper lets are houses which have been let for years, and not much has been done with them. Sorry if I sound negitive, but it's reality, just hit the ground running when you arrive, t's worth it in the end. The Aussies are only to glad to help people who are making an effort. We got our long term rental through bertramellis.com.au , and found them very helpful. Any more questions, let me know. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
musmanasghar Posted October 31, 2010 Share Posted October 31, 2010 hi All kindly guide that is there bachelor accommodations available in Canberra? ... i m still single :yes: .. so no kids and no wife .... i will b happy to live in one bedroom + kitchen + bath ......... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest MagsInCanberra Posted January 27, 2011 Share Posted January 27, 2011 Hi Anastu,sorry I have not replied earlier, but have not been on for a while. With regard to renting, January is probably the worst time to look for rentals, as that is when the collages start, and the military who were posted here move on and new personnel move in. So february wont be great. To be honest, in order to obtain long term let's, you have to be here, you have to go to open houses, fill in forms, have a job, or promise of a job, have plenty of money to show you can afford the rent, its a pain but you just have to persevere. You can only get short term lets from Ireland or England, and these are pretty expensive, approx $750.00 per week. You will need 5 or 6 weeks to get a long term let once your here. A lot of the cheaper lets are houses which have been let for years, and not much has been done with them. Sorry if I sound negitive, but it's reality, just hit the ground running when you arrive, t's worth it in the end. The Aussies are only to glad to help people who are making an effort. We got our long term rental through bertramellis.com.au , and found them very helpful. Any more questions, let me know. Hi, check out the ANU accommodation website for short or longer term private rentals from academics going overseas or gumtree canberra sometimes have adds too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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