Telling someone who is relocating to Melbourne from overseas and interstate that finding a rental property here in Melbourne is difficult and stressful is difficult. Without being here and experiencing it for yourself, it would seem that the horrors I share are made up and it is a ruse to get these unwitting people to sign up for our services.
Finding a Melbourne rental is difficult even with a local rental reference
When I came back to Melbourne in 2005 after spending three years working overseas, I thought it would be easy to find a rental place. I did have a local rental reference that was outstanding when I was lived here. But after searching for ten weeks, none of my applications was accepted. The hospitality of friends started wearing thin and the situation was bleak. Fortunately, I walked past a person clearing out a terrace home and doing some renovation and chatted with him. He was renovating his place to rent out. I told him that I am looking for a rental and can pre-pay the rent for 6 months. He accepted. For a month, the removable canopy for his Porsche sat in the second bedroom and took another two months for him to make the kitchen useable. But this is another story. Sometimes you just have to take what you can get.
A journalist who lived the hell of finding a Melbourne rental
I am writing this because a journalist working for The Age newspaper, one of the two major newspaper in Victoria, wrote about his recent experience when he relocated from Canada to Melbourne. What better way to forewarn relocating employees about the hassle and frustration than from someone who moved to Melbourne and went out and looked for his rental property himself.
“Not a civilised affair and a hypertensive tour of hell”
His name is Steven Lewis. This opinion piece was published a few days ago, 31 July 2018. The title itself is telling “The strange hell that is searching for a rental in Melbourne”. If you opt to not continue reading, you’d pretty know the tone of this article. It’s almost part documentary. He defines his experience with the following phrases: “hypertensive tour of hell’, “finding a rental accommodation is a civilised affair…not so much in Melbourne”. I won’t ruin your reading pleasure by giving it all away.
The Melbourne rental market according to Steven
Steven also prepares your expectations with who you will be dealing with and what kind of properties you will be faced with once you commit yourself to attend an inspection. And yes, he talks about the scheduled inspections as well. Don’t think you’re going to an inspection and that you’re being given a private tour by the agent. It’s a public inspection so it will quite lively and harried affair.
A better option to money and time on Melbourne hotels and AirBnb
This is why Finders Keepers Rental Property Locators exists. We are out there to minimise the impact of this activity. We like looking at houses and having been in operation since 2011, we know what to avoid from online photos. Instead of spending your money on weeks living in a hotel or AirBnb with no guarantees that you’ll find one in two weeks, our rental finding service in Melbourne will not only find you the home you’ll choose, we’ll also get everything ready for you to move in and unpack.
