Moving To Melbourne - Renting Tips

Hi Everyone,

Moving to Melbourne in a couple of weeks with my wife from Adelaide and we are currently looking at renting a place. My wife has been transferred with work so we have around 4 weeks to find something.

Work is in the CBD, we enjoy the restaurants, nightlife etc. so want to be realtively close to the action.

We have narrowed our search to 2 bed 2 bath 1 car places in:

1. St Kilda Rd
2. South Melbourne
3. Southbank

From what we can gather we are looking at around 500+ per week.

Any tips on dealing with Property Managers, is it worth negotiating, what important questions to ask. We have never rented before and the Adelaide rental market is different to Melb from what I hear.

Any places/buildings to avoid, other areas to consider. Any other info for newbies in Melb...

Thanks for your time.
OG
 
Always negotiate - or at least ask the question.

Not sure how things have changed, but 5-6 years ago, 80 Clarendon (Clarendon Towers) was a bit of a pain because we used to get people (I assume) overflowing from the crisis accomodation centre a few buildings away "camping out" in the foyer. It lead to a few security incidents where the tenants got in a fight with them etc.

Cheers,

The Y-man
 
Cheers Y-Man! Will be sure to keep that on the blacklist.

I have also been looking at Port Melbourne, from what I've been told there is only 1 tram line, so ideally you would want to be close to that.

Thoughts on Port Melbourne...
 
Friends have a son who lived in Melbourne for about 3-4 years and rented at Port Melbourne. He and his partner were very happy with the convenience and when they had to move found another apartment nearby.
Marg
 
Port Melbourne is really nice from what I see. If we could afford it, we'd buy an IP there.

Personally I'm not keen on Southbank. It's a little too close to the action and is regularly in the news with the nightclubs etc.

St Kilda road is pretty good and used to have a great place that did yummy tandoori chicken (Barberellos or something?). But it is a busy road.

I'm not just saying this just because we have an IP at Docklands, but have you considered Docklands?
 
Thanks for the replies.

Well we arrived on Saturday and I have started hitting the pavement for a rental.

Casserole Dish - Haven't really considered Docklands, seems a bit quiet down there and probably a bit too close to the CBD than we hoped for.

We have started looking in Albert Park, Middle Park and South Melbourne. Agree about Southbank, we have ruled that out. Still checking out St Kilda Rd but my wife is starting to think against an apartment. However she wants modern fixtures... which seem to be hard to find in the terrace type houses in the Albert Park area.

Well I will keep searching...

OG
 
Goodluck! Good choice in Albert Park, I live very close by and love it. Is a beautiful position, close to city and beach with lots of trees and parks. I agree about Southbank and Docklands, I personally think they're too much in the city. I like to see some green and not so many people. :)
 
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