Intro & Moving to Brisbane

[Rachel_Leo]

Hi All,

I'm an Australian who's been living out of the country for a while (in London) but after recently having twins we're moving back to Brisbane where my family live. My husband is transferring to a role in Asia so half of his time will be in Kuala Lumpur and the other half in Brisbane where I will be based.

We've decided to rent somewhere for the first year before we look at buying anything for ourselves. I grew up in the Bulimba/ Balmoral area and I know it has become fashionable and expensive since I lived there 20 years ago but it seems to tick most of our boxes. Firstly, we need a place that is handy for the airport for my husband's trips to Asia but also accessible to the south side and Gold Coast freeway as my mum lives in Pimpama and my Dad is on the Gold Coast. Secondly after living in London close to shops, restaurants and transport etc.... we are used to being within walking distance to everything so we want somewhere close to these facilities and to the city.

As landlords, what proof of income and credit history etc... do you require? We've been living in London for 8 years and we own our own place so we don't have a recent rental history here or in Australia. Also, my husband will be paid out of Asia and our property income is in the UK. We still have good income plus savings but this is all outside of Australia so I'm not sure if this will count against us when we are looking for a place to rent.

Any suggestions on our scenario above would be great. If we need to get together various paperwork then it would be good to be prepared before we leave London.

Cheers,
Rachel

 

[Perp]

Rachel,

You definitely need to talk to sue78 on this forum. She also has young twins, has also lived in London and Asia (I believe), and is a landlord and will be able to answer your other questions. And she lives in the inner south of Brisbane. All in all, you two definitely need to talk!

 

[wylie]

Hi Rachel. I would suggest taking a look at self-managed houses rather than through an agent. We self-manage and hear from many people that the paperwork and proof involved in trying to rent through an agency is overwhelming. Of course, you will no doubt look at houses offered by agencies, but a self-managed property may just be easier for you if you don't have the paperwork required.

 

[cazandpaul]

Just a quick thought re where to live - Air Asia fly direct to KL from Coolangatta a couple of times a week.

 

[Rachel_Leo]

We did consider living on the Gold Coast but initially we've decided to go for Brisbane. We'll have more choice of international flights to Asia plus maybe not so much culture shock coming from London.

Hi Wylie - where do landlords advertise privately in Brisbane? It would be good if I could line up some viewings for when we arrive.

 

[wylie]

We get most of our tenants from the Saturday Courier Mail. The adverts are in with all the other general "for rent" ads at the tail end of the real estate section of the paper. If you look for adverts with just a phone number these are usually private landlords.

The other places we advertise is rentfind.com.au and gumtree.com.au but most of our results are still from Saturday's paper.