Finding a decent place to rent when you’re a student or a young professional living in Australia isn’t an easy task.
With a combination of excessive demand and eye-watering rent prices, it’s exceedingly hard to find a place to live that’s reasonably priced, decent sized, close enough to where you work/study without being an inconvenience, has a bathroom, and isn’t falling to bits. Normally you either have to lower your expectations and accept that you’re either going to have to commute two hours to work every day or live with cockroaches as your roommates, none of which is ideal.
However, there’s a cheeky way to where you can get a nice place to rent that’s decently priced: pay a little bit more.
Bear with me here, there’s method to this madness.
Speaking to several young professionals and students who were seeking a place to rent in one of Australia’s big cities, the main problem they faced was the intense competition to find a reasonably priced place that’s not filled with rats or in the middle of nowhere. With so many people looking for cheap places to rent, the chances of landing accommodation is low even if you’re a good renter with glowing recommendations.
But after opening up their search to slightly more expensive places (about $150-$200 a week more expensive than the $900-$1,000 for a four bedroom place), offers and interested landlords started coming in far more frequently. It turns out with everyone squabbling for the cheapest places available, the slightly more expensive rental properties are all up for grabs by comparison (relatively speaking).
So just open up your wallet a little bit and renting will be considerably easier. For those willing to splash out even more dosh, then you’ll be spoiled for choice when it comes to places to rent.
Of course, this little tip may not work for everyone. $150-$200 split between four or so young professionals is pretty doable but it may be a bit difficult for struggling students, not to mention the volatile housing market to take into account, and other people who have the same idea.
But with everyone trying to gain an edge in the cheap rental game, sometimes the key to victory is paying just a bit more than your competition so keep that in mind when looking for your next place.