Everyday,  Personal

5 things I’ve learnt trying to find a rental property!

We have a house! If you follow me on Twitter or Instagram, you will know that I’d put in an application for a rental property in Melbourne. To be completely honest, I’m super surprised we got the first house we went for. I was expecting to search for awhile, maybe get rejected, etc, but nope. It’s a cute 3 bedroom place with a roomy backward. I’ve not yet seen it, but I’m super excited to. You’ve probably noticed that my posts have slowed down recently, between that and packing, I’ve honestly not been doing anything exciting or wearing more then leggings and singlets! Sorry! Anyway, I thought I’d share a few things I’ve learnt along my recent journey!

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Use the phone, don’t email.
I have a bit of a phone phobia. I dislike talking on phones, and prefer to communicate other ways. Email, text, I’d even prefer to write a letter, but sadly I found that using the phone was the fastest solution. I’m pretty sure I made more phone calls in the last month then I did all of last year. While Domain has a nifty little form on the property page, which sends a quick little email to the Agent, it’s often a pre-filled copy & paste reply. I had to suck it up, and use the phone.

Secretary > Agent
Secretaries are amazing. Agents seem to not really care. Then again, I find that with Nurses and Doctors in hospitals too. Out of the many Agents I contacted, only a few seemed to be helpful. I’m not sure if that’s the nature of rental agents or what, but it was a bit frustrating. On the other hand, the secretaries were helpful and very charming. The lady who managed the house we got seems to be quite nice though.

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Have all the documents you think you’ll need, and then some. Also, a scanner!
Thank heavens for the internet! These days, most of your information like bank statements and such can be found online and downloaded as a PDF. I’ve been lucky in the past and only had private rentals, so the amount of info I had to show kind of astounded me. I admit to being a bit naive going into it. Bank statement, Centerlink documents (if any), utility bills, your passport, your medicare card, your drivers licence. I had all the info needed though and was able to scan everything onto a computer to send off. Of course, me still being in Sydney meant I’ve had to do 95% of everything via email.

All states are different.
Most of the info I know about renting through a real estate, has come from my Brother and his more recent house hunts. To say that the property market in Sydney is different to the one in Melbourne, is an understatement. From pricing, to rent in advance times and also general leasing time lines, it’s all quite different! In NSW, you are only required to pay 2 weeks rent in advance, whilst we had to pay a Month.

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Use a Pet Resume!
If you have a pet, that is! I remember Liz writing a post ages ago about doing up a Pet Resume for her cat. Whilst the post isn’t online any more, she was happy to send me a copy so I could have a look at it. I included a couple of pictures of Tonka, some information on him, as well as contact numbers for my current vet and a pet reference. While the Agent called me and asked me a few questions about him, I think the Pet Resume helped in learning a bit more about him.

The photos in this post is my current place, #thedarlingden. I’ll share some pictures of the new place once I’ve moved. I need to think of a new name!!

Have you rented? Any tips you can share with me?