How long did it take for you to secure your long term rental?

[Hughes'Roberts]

Hello PIA....

 

Yippeeee ...... we are making the move this year and we are now looking to arrange some short term accommodation in the next few months for when we arrive in Adelaide however we are a little unsure as to how many weeks to book.

 

We were wandering perhaps, those of you that have made the move, could you possibly tell us the length it took you to secure your long term rental and did you find it a straight forward process? It will would be a great help.

Many Thanks

[Guest norris]

Hi when we arrived we had booked a camp site at brighton for 2 weeks, within that time we sorted rental, school, and all basics that you 1st need to do. Its amazing what you can get done in a short space of time

[Guest Guest75]

It can vary enormously, depends upon a little luck also.

 

Arriving at peak holiday times will slow down your search (lots of stuff shut down for Xmas and New Year).

 

It will depend upon which area and size of house you are seeking.

Some areas are very high demand with 15 to 20 applicants turning up for the 15 minute open houses.

 

Speaking from my own experience of 6 years in the furnished accommodation business I still could not give a precise time scale.

Some manage it in 2 weeks, lots comfortably around the 1 month mark, some longer.

 

I've had some real panic situations where I've had people moving out into expensive hotels because they could not find a long term rental or had to wait for tenants to leave a house they have chosen.

 

A LOT of long term rentals on the market are just plain awful,"you would not put a dog in them" - quoted from some of my guests yesterday

 

You will need references and perhaps proof of funds such as a bank statement.

 

Good luck!!

[Guest Shanners]

Gary/Natalie,

 

The majority of families who have stayed with us have booked between 4-6 weeks and have all managed to find a decent long term rental within that timeframe. Some within a couple of weeks and some taking alot longer.

 

It can be quite an ordeal so you don't want to add to the stress of settling in by giving yourselves too short a period to find longer term accommodation.

 

Cheers

 

Chris

[Guest wijaya]

Hi

We arrived in Adelaide in September 2010, and booked for rental accomodation for 2 weeks in Hallet Cove. With hindsight, it was not an ideal location because we wanted to live in Eastern Suburbs, where some good state schools are located. We managed to have a long term accomodation in the first week in Marryatville suburbs. Basically, we went almost everyday to any open house in the area that we found from realestate.com.au. Bring all necessary papers , and if you are "desperate" , prepare to pay 3 months rent in advance. We brought a summary of our life before in the UK for the landlord to see. I do not know whether that swayed them to choose us. From my experiences, some areas were not to busy, but others were. But for me the most important thing is to really look at the house, because some property looked all right in the internet, but different reality when you see them.

 

kind regadrs

[Hughes'Roberts]

Thank you all for your great advice!!

 

I (Nat) am aiming to secure a job in the CBD, it appears my job opportunities are higher there. Garry is a P&D and he is expecting to work anywhere! Lots of commuting for him sadly

We are thinking of staying in the City maybe for 2 or 3 weeks whilst we search and secure our long term rental unless we see a short term rental in the suburbs that has a good network of public transport.

We've looked at New Port/Semaphore/West Lakes/Ethelton/Woodville/Glanville but although we can see (Google Earth) a train line, we cannot see on the Adelaide Metro website that there is a journey? Are the trains not running in this area maybe?

We are not bringing any furniture over with us either, so we will be looking to rent a fully or Part Furnished Property for 12 months. We have had a good look on Domain & Real Estate etc and have seen some really nice apartments/town houses that are fully furnished. Yes putting up 3 or even 6 months rent is looking to be a good option!! We will definitely make up a few packs for the rental process showing our bank statements/references etc so yes this should might help.

Cheers again for your help and we will keep plodding along with our research!

 

Nat & Gaz

[Guest jorose]

2 weeks then stayed there just under 2 years. We offered 6 months rent upfront but it was declined. The agent was happy to take us on anyway. We did initially only want to take a 6 month lease in case we didn't like it but the agent preferred 12months. Hence, we took 12 months. Good luck.

[Guest ali]

Second day I was here I signed and have been happy ever since!

[aliogilvie]

We have booked 8 weeks worth of short term accommodation to just give ourselves time to stop, think and decide what we want. Also, we are unsure whether we want to live in the city or on the coast so have picked a short term in between the two. It's just the two of us and we want to take our time to explore, visit areas and make informed judgements before we settle on anywhere, I know short term rates are higher but I want to get my bearings before we commit to a property for a 6 or 12 month lease.

 

At the moment we like the idea of West Beach, Glenelg or Port Adelaide if we are not in the CBD - we will also need part/fully furnished as we are not shipping any furniture - eek!

 

Just gave notice on our flat in the UK today, my job is now advertised online - it is starting to feel real!

[scooterdan]

Hey,

 

We had short term booked for 3months, only stayed their 2 as we bought loads of stuff and rapidly needed a proper place! We got the first house we looked at.... didnt offer anything special, just the filled in the form and hey presto it was ours with 2 days!

 

Dan

[KathleenandCraig]

6 weeks for us. We were (still are) new to Adelaide so took some time to find the areas first but when we started to apply it only took 3 weeks. We applied for 2 and got offered both (1 was a funny deal though as the owners were recently sperated and wanted the option to sell so wanted a rolling 3 month contract - no thanks). We did have to offer more bond for the one we did get because of our 2 dogs.

[snifter]

We've looked at New Port/Semaphore/West Lakes/Ethelton/Woodville/Glanville but although we can see (Google Earth) a train line' date=' we cannot see on the Adelaide Metro website that there is a journey? Are the trains not running in this area maybe? [/font']

 

If you use Google Maps Adelaide and load the page, then click on the drop down in the top right of the map page a drop down appears. Says Public Transport. Check that and all the options should show up. At least for me. You probably just need to zoom in a bit to see it in more detail.

[Hughes'Roberts]

We have booked 8 weeks worth of short term accommodation to just give ourselves time to stop, think and decide what we want. Also, we are unsure whether we want to live in the city or on the coast so have picked a short term in between the two. It's just the two of us and we want to take our time to explore, visit areas and make informed judgements before we settle on anywhere, I know short term rates are higher but I want to get my bearings before we commit to a property for a 6 or 12 month lease.

 

At the moment we like the idea of West Beach, Glenelg or Port Adelaide if we are not in the CBD - we will also need part/fully furnished as we are not shipping any furniture - eek!

 

Just gave notice on our flat in the UK today, my job is now advertised online - it is starting to feel real!

 

OMG. You must be so excited! March will soon be upon us! So do you feel all organised? Yes i agree about the short term and having a good explore! I think were going to do a 3 week short term most likely the CBD. We like the look of a few places for our long term rental, we like Seaton/West Lakes (basically around that area) and they seem to be in the middle of the city and beach which is where we want to be.

We have calculated costs that we will have to pay upfront, i think we are going to go with the Unfurnished Option and kit the apartment/House with cheap stuff. There's a few discount stores around plus an Ikea near the Airport. I will certainly look forward to a few days shopping, not sure my husband would say the same! Ha!

Glenelg and West Beach are lovely! Are you on a PR visa?

 

Nat

[Hughes'Roberts]

If you use Google Maps Adelaide and load the page, then click on the drop down in the top right of the map page a drop down appears. Says Public Transport. Check that and all the options should show up. At least for me. You probably just need to zoom in a bit to see it in more detail.

 

 

 

Brilliant! Thanks Snifter!!

 

Nat

[Hughes'Roberts]

2 weeks then stayed there just under 2 years. We offered 6 months rent upfront but it was declined. The agent was happy to take us on anyway. We did initially only want to take a 6 month lease in case we didn't like it but the agent preferred 12months. Hence, we took 12 months. Good luck.

 

That's good how it took you 2 weeks, that is what we are hoping for! Thanks for the 'Good Luck'!

 

Nat

[Rabeah]

Hi wijaya,

 

it is illegal for an real estate agent to take 3 months rent in advance! The law only allows 2 weeks rent upfront + 4 weeks bond = 6 weeks in advance. I wouldn't deal with somebody who wants to cheat on me! Adelaide has enough places to rent when you compare it with Sydney, Perth etc. which are really overcrowded and people are struggeling to find accommodation. But this is not the fact in Adelaide.

I think your advice a little bit too sketchy regarding any prohibited advance payment methods because it gives the wrong impression that people cannot find accommodation timely when they play after the rules.

So people you have to know that the landlord/real estate agent can only ask you for 2 weeks rent upfront + 4 weeks bond, and that is already a hugh amount of money.

[Rabeah]

2 weeks then stayed there just under 2 years. We offered 6 months rent upfront but it was declined. The agent was happy to take us on anyway. We did initially only want to take a 6 month lease in case we didn't like it but the agent preferred 12months. Hence, we took 12 months. Good luck.

 

Of course your offer was declined - it was illegal for your real estate agent to take 6 months rent upfront!!! It is prohibited by the law - SA Residential Tenancies Act 1995 www.sa.gov.au housing, property and land - and law is taken seriously here in Australia. It is common to pay 2 weeks rent upfront + 4 weeks for a bond. That's all! A good landlord or a legalist real estate agent would never overfraud tenants. Besides my dear just in case anyone would do that paying 6 months upfront the lease agreement would become invalid itself because it is based on an illegal arrangements. So that would be the only positive aspect that the contract as a whole is invalid and people could move out ealier because it is not binding at all. We don't have the competition in finding proper accommodation like in other states - Sydney, Melbourne, Perth - so I didn't get your point!

[Guest vikkiann]

We also offered to pay 3 months tent in advance and that was accepted! Surely you could pay the whole of the lease upfront if you wanted to?

It took us 2 weeks to find a rental we liked, we applied for the 1st 1 we liked and got it. We offered 3 months advance payments to secure the rental as we didn't have jobs.

 

Vikki

xx

[IrishStew]

Hi We booked 3 weeks with HomesDownUnder. We got our long term rent sorted in two weeks, but it was a further 2 weeks before we got into our rental. Also we had the time during those weeks to drive the miles. We are now in Strathalbyn and very happy so far.

 

IrishStew

[Sallyh]

Each time we have moved it has taken us between 3-4 weeks to find something.

 

Best advice I can give is have EVERYTHING ready to go. Take it all with you to the inspection, and complete the application there and then (if you can't get the application prior to the inspection) and hand it all in. They all want very similar things - ID, references, etc. You need to have a number of references for your first place, (prob also inc your short term let, get a reference from them up front if you can). If you haven't rented before , maybe get any professional friends who know you and have visited your place and know your family etc, to write the sort of reference that says they would have no reservations renting their own property to you. Work reference would also be good, as employer is an arms length contact.

 

We found it very hard to get this place -we'd lost out on 2 or 3 applications before that. I don't think bidding wars really get you anywhere. Best have all the documents lined up, be polite, make some sort of connection with the agent doing the viewing, if you have children make sure you take them with you to the inspection (our 4YO at the time got us this place, pretty much, by talking to the agent at the inspection).

 

Hope that helps.

 

Strictly speaking putting in an application binds you legally to signing a lease and can leave you liable for rent if you pull out. Many people tell you that's a load of rubbish. Which is fine for them, if they want to pay your legal bill when they are proved wrong, so don't test that one, take my word for it and only apply for a new place when you have heard that the previous application was unsuccessful.

[Rabeah]

When we arrived 1 year ago we didn't have jobs either. The best advice I can give new migrants is to search for a private lease in terms of avoiding real estate agents. We rented privately, advertised in the Advertiser and it worked for us! Before that we had some open inspections near Glenelg and Westwood, either too many interested people or rubbish places. Real estate agents are a good option when you really want to live in that unit/house and nothing similar is advertised in the papers.

We had our bank statements ready to show that we could afford renting our place because we had no job. Our search took us 3 weeks before moving in (1st week we didn't seek permanent accommodation because of job interviews). After 4 weeks hubby could secure a job.

Sallyh's advice is really good, too.