Sydney in general & UNSW in particular

HI,

I am moving to sydney with my husband and two year old daughter. I want to know if it is possible for me to put my child in playschool and work part time. Also people have been telling me that Sydney is verrrry expensive place.

What is the cost of living like. What can we expect in terms of housing, scjhools, transport, grocery etc. I mean day to day living.

My husband's office qwould be in downtown sydney so we plan to live in some suburbs, any suggestions are welcome.

Thanks
Tanu.

 

Moving to Sydney..Some info needed.

Hi all,

I am currently living in Frankfurt,Germany and my husband is working in IT. I have a 3 year old son. It is time for us to decide on moving to Sydney.

Could you help me in knowing more like housing(good school area where i can look out for housing), transportation(his office is in Rhodes),schooling, genrl. living costs etc.

Thanks and regards,
Sujatha

 

New to Sydney-"No worries mate" rental home search tips

My 2cents of tips for people newly or to relocate to sydney and are looking for a rental accomodation


How easy is to get house in <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-comffice:smarttags" /><st1:City w:st="on"><st1lace w:st="on">Sydney</st1lace></st1:City>?
It is always found that getting an accommodation within the 2 weeks is challenge unless and until you do some basic planning before you reach <st1lace w:st="on"><st1:City w:st="on">Sydney</st1:City></st1lace>.


What is the basic planning that I need to do before I travel?

1.Get familiar with the suburb names and speak to your friends if any in <st1lace w:st="on"><st1:City w:st="on">Sydney</st1:City></st1lace>.
2.If possible, finalise few suburbs based on your interactions and internet searches
3. Find out through the real estate websites what the typical rent ranges in these suburbs is.

How will I search for a House?
1. In <st1lace w:st="on"><st1:City w:st="on">Sydney</st1:City></st1lace> the house search is done through Property agents.
2. There is no direct involvement with the House Owner.
3. Some of the popular websites for house search are listed below.
4. Note that house rents listed are weekly rents.
5. The houses which are available will be listed in the Websites and also in front of the real estate agents office of the concern suburb.
6. Identify the list of houses in the suburb of your choice and which meets your requirement.
7. Find out the Open House timings of the houses you are interested to see. Please note that majority of the houses are available for inspection only on Saturdays. And the inspection of the house is not as per your wish. The house can be inspected only at the convenience of the property agent. (If you are delayed by a hour to the start time , I bet you have high risk of missing very good properties as others would have occupied.)


Which are the famous property agents?

Some of the major property agents and the popular rental property websites are listed below. Units are equivalent to flats in <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1lace w:st="on">India</st1lace></st1:country-region>.
· www.realestate.com.au
· www.domain.com.au
· www.ljhooker.com.au
· www.raineandhorne.com.au
· www.mcgrath.com.au

Please note that this is not comprehensive list and just some recommendations.


What are the key things I should keep in mind while looking for house?

1. Identify where is your work/study location.
2. Study the Sydney Rail Map or the Sydney Bus Stop map and identify where the work locations closest train/bus stop is.
3. Also once you see a house, find out how far it is from Public Transport stop/station and whether you get direct bus/train to your work place.
4. The big supermarkets in <st1:City w:st="on"><st1lace w:st="on">Sydney</st1lace></st1:City> are Woolworths (www.woolworths.com.au ), coles(www.coles.com.au) and Aldi(www.aldi.com.au) . See the distances to these supermarkets.
5. If you have kids, please find out about the schools as well. (http://www.schools.nsw.edu.au and http://www.schoolchoice.com.au/)


If I like a house, how easy is to finalise the house?

1. Good, so you have finalised the suburb, decided on the budget and even liked the house. But still it’s not over!!!!!!
2. You need to file an “Application for Tenancy” to the property manager. My exp. there will be a minimum of 5 people putting the application for the same house.
3. The “Application for Tenancy” will be reviewed by the House owner and he takes the final call whether you will be allotted the house or not. And as stated earlier there is no way for you to know who the house-owner is or to speak to him or to influence him.
4. If you are lucky, the property agent will do a reference check of the details stated by you in the application form by calling the person whom you have stated in the application form.
5. And if you go through successfully the property agent will inform you of the final decision.


Once I get the house, what are the other formalities?
In most cases it is as follows…
1. You need to pay the advance of 1 month rent.
2. You also need to pay 2 weeks of advance rent.
3. You need to show proof and satisfy the 100 points criteria. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/100_point_check)
4. Some accomodation demands you to stay for a minimum period and if you fail and vacate the accomodation you will have to pay some extras for that.
5. Ensure that you cross verify in detail what is stated in the Inspection report.



Disclaimer: Iam any way away from sydney for the last few months, So would like the present sydney people to come with their tips

Cheers,
SVRLax

 

Re: New to Sydney-"No worries mate" rental home search tips

That was a wonderful post SVRlax.....This will help many people migrating to Sydney get an idea on finding a home....

Thanks for the info..Keep visiting....

Regards,

Corallux

 

Re: Moving to Sydney..Some info needed.

Hi Suja,

I didnt see your thread when I posted mine. Sorry for not being preemptive to check the post.
But anyway here is the link. http://www.indusladies.com/forums/indians-in-australia-and-nz/23553-new-sydney-no-worries-mate.html

As you mentioned the office is in Rhodes. If it was me I would prefer Strathfield as there are trains every 15 mins in peak hours and every 30 to 45 mins rest of the lean hours. Also by taxi it takes a 10 Mins to reach Rhodes from Strathfield and costs less than 30 AUD.

As far as schools I have heard there is a Indian school named "Bharathi". If you are a Tamilian. THe good news is it is run by ethnic tamils. Also it is in the town called Burwood and its besides Strathfield.

Also I would usually opt a house in the Boulevard side (Strathfield plaza side) as the place has more ethnic Indian population than the other.

PS: How come you are planing to be omni present in both Syd and LA. Hey was just kidding. Request you to take it on the lighter side. I understand, when oppurtunities comes in life it comes pouring and the stress is in deciding which is the best to opt for.... Excuse me if my comments hurt you

Cheers,
SVRLax

 

Re: New to Sydney-"No worries mate" rental home search tips

Thanks a lot for the motivation. Happy to hear that the post was informative. Planning to put a serial of post on the topic "New to sydney".....
Lets see

Cheers
SVRLax

 

Re: Moving to Sydney..Some info needed.

Hi SVRLax,

That was excellent..Certainly your reply (also the post about rentals) would help people like me who have no idea about Sydney. I am sure more and more would benefit from your post. Thank you very much.

No worries..What you mentioned is perfectly right..when one makes lifetime decisions like relocation,there is always stress. On the top of it, to decide between two places.

I am still trying to find more info like average monthly expense for groceries/vegetables(here in Frankfurt i can say that it is around 200EUR/mth for 3 of us(2 adults and 1 Kid), house costs other than rent like water/electricity, Cost of Car Insurance and fuel etc.
Also i heard that until i get PR, there are few things i need to pay or pay more like Public school fees, Medical Insurance(to be taken by own) etc.
Can you throw some light on this?

Regards,
Suja

 

Re: Moving to Sydney..Some info needed.

Thanks for the reply. I am tied up please give me time till this weekend. I will come up with a couple of post on tips to move in to sydney. Sorry for the dely....

 

Re: New to Sydney-"No worries mate" rental home search tips

Hi svrlax

Excellent work and very detailed too. Just one more point to be stressed on the condition report (just because of my personal experience), i would strongly suggest, you click a few digital photographs of the cracks, hooks, stain marks (that have not been indicated in the condition report). Even though you write them down in your commecnt part of the condition report, it helps to have the photos for proof, when it comes to a point of discrepancy. So anything that you dont agree with the condition report, take a photo....... just my opinion
Keep up the good work.

Cheers
Sky98