Moving to Melbourne in May end and suggestions for a good neighbourhood?
February 22nd, 2011 | by admin |Hello All,
I’m moving to Mel by the end of May with my partner and is looking for a place for medium term accommodation, like about 3 – 6 months. My rent budget would be around $200 to max 300 pw. What do we get in this price?
Major considerations while looking for a location would be;
- access to public transport as we’re not planning to buy car immediately
- safety
- cosmopolitan area
We’re fine to travel for 30 min – 1 hour for work if needed to.
One bedroom or even studio apartments would be fine. Any recommendations on which suburbs to look for? With no local rental history, how do we approach for obtaining a rental (I heard it is very difficult to get a house without history). What is your opinion about realestate.com.au?
Thank You
Thank you all for your valuable time. Your answers are really helpful.
@Danijel Jefic: I am into the field of social work.
@Merry: Loved your response, for its comprehensiveness.
Hi … I am going to work backwards through your question! 
Yes – realestate.com.au is good – other’s I have used include www.domain.com.au but really they largely have the same properties listed anyway!
As for rental history -if you have rented were you are then ask for a written reference. If you have not rented before get a personal reference from someone you have worked for or someone who knows you well (this person should be a professional who is well regarded in your area – such as a Dr, lawyer etc)
As for somewhere within 30 + mins of the city that is reasonably priced – look at where you would LOVE to live then look at the suburbs boardering these (the rent is usually more reasonable) ie St Kilda is great – but boardering suburbs such as Caulfield, Carnegie and even St Kilda East are a little cheaper.
Richmond – consider boardering suburbs such as Abbotsford and Collingwood, Northcote and Fairfield.
Other suburbs which are nice on many levels and still reasonable in terms of distance to CBD would be Glen Iris, Malvern East & Chadstone (would highly recommend these areas!)
Your price range is quite realistic – however, finding short term rental can be tricky – "short-term" is anything under 12 months and MOST rentals are based on this time period – it is possible to get short-term, there are just less of these to choose from!
Hope this helps
6 Responses to “Moving to Melbourne in May end and suggestions for a good neighbourhood?”
By Danijel Jefic on Feb 23, 2011 | Reply
What kind of work are you looking for?
If its work in the city, i think the best option would be North Melbourne.
Easy acces to trains, busses, very close to the cbd, that would be around 299pw for a preety good one bedroom appartment. If your work is in the city you will spend no longer than 30 mins by public transport.
Other good places inlude Strathmore, Airport West, Pascoe Vale, they all have quick access to the freeway (Toll Zone) but it also has access to trains aswell, its close to the airport where there is alot of work opportunities, not too sure about rent pricing but shouldnt be too much. Traveling to work from these suburbs to the CBD would be 20 mins by car (parking is expensive) so your best bet is to go by train which takes about 20-30mins.
Every Suburb has its ups and downs with safety, it all depends on where you go and who you are with.
this is the best i can come up with
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By Merry on Feb 23, 2011 | Reply
Hi … I am going to work backwards through your question!
Yes – realestate.com.au is good – other’s I have used include http://www.domain.com.au but really they largely have the same properties listed anyway!
As for rental history -if you have rented were you are then ask for a written reference. If you have not rented before get a personal reference from someone you have worked for or someone who knows you well (this person should be a professional who is well regarded in your area – such as a Dr, lawyer etc)
As for somewhere within 30 + mins of the city that is reasonably priced – look at where you would LOVE to live then look at the suburbs boardering these (the rent is usually more reasonable) ie St Kilda is great – but boardering suburbs such as Caulfield, Carnegie and even St Kilda East are a little cheaper.
Richmond – consider boardering suburbs such as Abbotsford and Collingwood, Northcote and Fairfield.
Other suburbs which are nice on many levels and still reasonable in terms of distance to CBD would be Glen Iris, Malvern East & Chadstone (would highly recommend these areas!)
Your price range is quite realistic – however, finding short term rental can be tricky – "short-term" is anything under 12 months and MOST rentals are based on this time period – it is possible to get short-term, there are just less of these to choose from!
Hope this helps
References :
Luv Mebourne
By Alley Smith on Feb 23, 2011 | Reply
let me just tell you the neighbourhoods you should stay away from
-lily dale
-mouroolbark
-springvale
-hawthorn
-chirnside
anything past ringwood basically. anything past ringwood is basically drunken hooligans, and bogans.
for easy transportation
-ringwood
-heatherdale
-mitcham/ theres a bunch of units near the coles shopping centre its on whitehorse road.
-nunawading/ theres a bunch of units near rooks street
-blackburn/ most indians live there
-boxhill/ although theres mostly asians that live there
these four are very close to the train station
-wantirna/ you have to take a bus to get to a train station from there.
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By Peter on Feb 23, 2011 | Reply
I’d stay away from most of the outer suburbs as they have less quality public transport, less variety of amenities than the inner-city, are quite boring and have a large minority of bogans.
You could also try this site: http://www.cityhobo.com/
@Alley, what’s wrong with Hawthorn? I thought it was a decent suburb :S
@OTTB: No, a lot of the outer suburbs have too many bogans. I would know as I live in the outer southeastern suburbs.
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By OTTB on Feb 23, 2011 | Reply
Do not listen to Alley Smith or Peter…. they above everyone here are showing signs of boganism anything past Ringwood is not full of drunken bogans…. Ringwood itself is quite frightening on a bad day. It has licensed venues and nightclubs on it’s main street.
$300 pw rent is going to limit you quite a lot…. you will more than likely have to move quite a way out of the city to find accommodationn this cheap. But as you say you are not necessarily looking at a house so a unit or townhouse will offer reasonable rental rates.
Check out the following estate agents for their rentals. They all have offices located all over Melbourne and it’s surrounds.
Barry Plant
Century 21
Max Brown
If you don’t have transport of your own you’ll be looking for something close to trains etc. You could try along the Lilydale line (Keep in mind the closer you are to the city the more expensive your rent is likely to be).
Richmond
Hawthorn
Box HIll
Canterbury
Mitcham
Ringwood
Mooroolbark
Lilydale
Or the Belgrave Line, check out the route on line and that will give you the suburbs that yu can look at (sorry not sure of them all along this line).
Bayswater
Boronia
Ferntree Gully
Belgrave
From what you say I think you’d like Richmond, Canterbury or maybe even Box Hill.
Richmond is full of entertainment venues, is close to the city and is the sporting hub of Melbourne.
Box HIll has the Tafe etc..and yes while there is a high asian population who says that’s a bad thing? All of Melbourne is very multicultural.
Canterbury can be very pricey.
My pick for you….Richmond.
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By SJP on Feb 23, 2011 | Reply
East Melbourne. My daughter rents a studio apartment there and pays approx. 240/- pw. It’s a beautiful location, and very safe. Walking distance to the CBD, trams and trains.
Good luck!
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