How to find a house to rent for six people

I received the following email yesterday:

Hi, my name is S. B. I saw the blog and understand that you have some knowledge about renting houses just walking distance from the Caulfield campus? I am going over at the end of June 2008 and I am in need of a big house. There are at least 6 of us. Is it possible if you could kindly provide any information to us regarding any house with 5 or more rooms available? We prefer taking the whole house. Your help would be much appreciated.
Thanks.

From Michelle:
Its good to hear you're getting organised early, by getting together a group who will live together. Its more difficult to actually rent a house before you get here, and you should be careful to thoroughly inspect any house before renting it. Beware that some of the rental accommodation in Melbourne is not very well maintained.

If you are sure that you want to live within walking distance of Caulfield campus, you will have only a limited number of houses available to rent. You will have many more accommodation options if you are prepared to take a train or tram, or cycle to the University. I have to admit the transport would be expensive, at $28 for a week if you confine yourself to "Zone 1", but rents can be cheaper a little further from the city centre. Rents for a 4 bedroom house within walking distance of the campus in Caulfield and Malvern are advertised as high as $1000 per month, but search more widely down the train line in Carnegie, Murrumbeena, Hughesdale or Oakleigh and you could find a house like this one for only $450 per week.

One thing many students do to reduce costs is share a room, and there are a few houses and flats set up for high density student living (for example, see this ad on domain.com.au). Looking through the rental advertisements on domain.com.au and realestate.com.au I can see that there are very few houses for rent with more than 4 bedrooms. To fit 5 people, you may have to rent a 3 or 4 bedroom house, and convert a living room or garage to living space, or share bedrooms. Many 3 or 4 bedroom houses will have a large living room (with chairs, TV etc) which some people convert to 2 bedrooms.

While you can contact advertisers on websites like domain.com.au and realestate.com.au before you arrive, I don't think you will get very far. My suggestion is that one or two of you arrive a couple of weeks early to find a house for the rest of you to live.

I hope this advice proves useful.

Finding a house to rent.

Pratik Asked:
Hey michelle , i and my friends are looking out for rental properties here since 2 weeks but we are still not able to get it, do u have any known estate agents who can rent a property out to us?

Charan Wrote:
ya i am in melbourne.. v r 4 members looking for a house ....

Sometimes estate agents don't want to rent to students. They tend to think a group of students will make a mess, especially a group of male students, who may have been used to having their mothers (or servants) clean up after them at home. They may also be concerned about your ability to pay the rent.

To have the best chance of getting a property, you need good references if possible, and some kind of financial statement or job showing you can pay the rent.

Other than that, I can't help you, although if you would like to rent out your house near Monash Caulfield or Clayton, please contact me (operativezplatypusz@gmailzdotzcom remove the zzzs) to negotiate rental to students like Pratik and Charan.

Campus Accommodation at Monash

Harpreet asked:

hey...how do i ask 4 campus accommodation at Monash??

Rajan replied:

Have you applied through any agent like IDP ? if yes then ask them. Otherwise just call Monash International Student cell and they should be able to arrange it. More details are on the Monash uni site.








From the Orkut Monash University community. Reproduced here with permission from Rajan.

Accommodation For July

Huzefa wrote:

Hey Rajan,
I've completely read your thread and your blog and it has been an immense help.

I'm coming to Melbourne around July 2007 for my accounting pg at Deakin. I visited the sites you mentioned but there is a lot of information there and I'm not being able to single out an appropriate dorm for me to book before I arrive. Since after landing at airport I've no-one in Melb to go to I need to book a dorm or a hostel room before hand. When should I contact the landlord as mentioned on these sites for information on availability of rooms and should I send them fees in advance if asked?

Help me out Rajan please I'm right now not even close to being prepared to leave for Melbourne.


Rajan's response
Your uni should be able to find a temporary place to stay at if you do not know anyone here. This will allow you to meet new people at the uni who will be looking for accommodation too. Alternatively you will see a lot of advertisements on the uni boards where people already have taken a place on rent and looking for house mates. I am sure you will manage to find it soon.

Reproduced from the "First time in Melbourne? Few tips for you" thread in the Orkut Melbourne Community with permission from Rajan.

Accommodation advice to an arriving overseas student.

I assume you are on a low budget, in which case a "hostel" will probably be the best place for the first few days while you sort out something else. That is unless you have a close friend or relative you can stay with. I just had a quick look for temporary accomodation for you. These two websites http://www.hostelz.com/hostels/Australia/Victoria/Melbourne
and www.hostelmelbourne.com have plenty of options & the rates are what I would expect. You would be sharing a room there & don't expect security to be fantastic, but they are cheap, convenient & you'll get to know your way around. If you're going to be studying at Caulfield, the hostels in the Melbourne city centre are the most convenient, at only a 15 minute train ride away. You should be able to book a hostel online before you arrive, & then sort out your permanent accommodation when you get here.

If you're going to one of the universities which has on campus accommodation, I would suggest you try that first...I was an OS student in London & the experience of on campus accommodation when I first arrived was invaluable. Monash Clayton, Melbourne Parkville & La Trobe Bundoora have on campus accommodation. Gets you orientated & u get to know some people. For example, places like University College or Mannix College.

Other than on-campus accommodation, your second best option for permanent accomodation will be to band together with a few other students & rent a house or flat.
If you find friends who want to rent a flat or house with you, then you can look on www.domain.com.au eg:http://www.domain.com.au/Public/SearchResults
or http://www.domain.com.au/Public/SearchResults

Shared accommodation in an existing household is a cheap option, but more difficult to organise before you arrive. You'll get a quick guide to prices and availability here:

www.flatmatefinders.com.au

www.flatmates.com.au

http://au.easyroommate.com

www.2share.com.au

www.flatmatesdownunder.com.au

www.domain.com.au

http://www.realestate.com.au

Most of the Universities have online facilities to help you find somewhere to live. For example, you could try the Monash off-campus accommodation listing http://www.mrs.monash.edu.au/off-campus. Once you're here and enrolled, there will be student noticeboards you can check for shared accommodation.