Our 1st week in Melbourne was...interesting. We were lucky enough to have Marty's parents staying in Melbourne for the 1st 5 days we were here, so they had organised accommodation in South Yarra which was very, very convenient. Our 1st couple of days they also had a car so for a few house inspections we were able to drive there. I will say though, if you're not planning on having a car for a while, DON'T drive to inspections. You need to be able to see how good the public transport is in the area and how you're going to get around - to and from work/play/home/friends, and how long this is going to take you from door to door. The other thing is - and I know I'll bring it up again - take the opportunity when you're not working to see as much as you can, because when you're working it is harder. In the same vein, you need a job to get a place! More to that later.
We hit the ground running the 1st day because there were inspections already lined up - aah the power of the Internet. I'd spent weeks looking at rentals, running back and forth from our map to get a sense of locality. Nothing prepares you completely for the real deal though, especially from somewhere small like Christchurch to somewhere large like Melbourne. I'd also applied for a few jobs and got a very positive email back from the recruitment agent. I emailed her as soon as I had a new number - purchased at the airport - and she contacted me that day to set up the initial interview. The one you go to the recruitment agency for and they go through the CV, all the questions and then match you up with some jobs and set up interviews, and it was the next morning!
And then began our manic rushing around looking at places! The positives that came out of that week of manicness were that we had a very good understanding of what not to do, I learnt the public transport system very quickly, and we got exceptionally good at reading the map book. Melways, like London's A-Z, is indispensable. A real must-have that is as important as your toothbrush and train ticket!
The pure and simple fact about house-hunting in Melbourne is: No job=No house. They don't care if you're textbook, model tenants with the best references, if you don't have a job, you can't show a steady income and therefore can't pay the rent every month. Even if you have enough in savings to pay your bond and 1st months rent, they want to be able to see that you'll be paying the 2nd, 3rd, 4th.... because you're signing a 12 month lease. It's that simple, and not something anyone ever told us. Maybe everyone else had a job before they got here, or neglected to mention it. It was actually a property manager at a property we really wanted that said our application was good, and had better references than he'd seen; but simply, with no fixed income he had to decline it. Harsh reality began to set in.
The other truth about property in Melbourne is, it is more expensive than Christchurch, unless you're very, very lucky. For us to have what we had in NZ for $300 a week we'd have to pay $450+. And when something is in a fabulous area and very cheap, there is something wrong with it!
There are some faults we can deal with, and some you just can't! I have to start by telling you about the 3rd place we looked at because this was just a doozy! The 3rd place we got to look at that week was very reasonable and on a lovely street, in a lovely area - Armadale. Think: beautiful tree lined street with gorgeous, well-maintained Victorian homes. and then think of the ugliest 4-storey apartment block on the corner. The property manager hadn't been there for months, and there was still supposed to be tenants in it for 2 more weeks. She unlocked the door and you could see the horror on her face. Firstly, she was so apologetic and told everyone that the move-in date would need to be shifted 2 weeks to give them time to repaint, clean and relay carpets. Secondly, you could smell it was going to be damp and disgusting before you even walked in. But it was 3 bedrooms for around $320 a week and we were curious. Overall the place was huge, but being on the ground floor in a dark corner, with trees hiding the windows and only a small terrace, you knew it wasn't going to get much natural light. There'd obviously been 1 clean person in the house, because 1 room was fine. There were rubbish bags in every other room, graffiti on the wall, filth, food and disgustingness in the kitchen, a dirty bathroom and the final nail in the coffin - someone's business in the toilet! If I could have run screaming I would have. I think I dissolved into a fit of giggles from the shock when we got back in the car!
Actually, the 1st place we looked saw was just as bad. Very cheap (under $300 for 2 bedrooms), dark, damp but cleanish. The 2nd place was the one that scared us the most because it ticked all our boxes. It was well-priced, right in the mid-range for us and well-maintained. What scared us was that it ticked the boxes for almost 90 other people inspecting it. The property manager had to be a door-bitch and only allow 5 people in at a time. I didn't like our chances to say the least.
To be continued ...
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