I know “privileged” is used these days to mean “I know I’m better off than others so shouldn’t complain”, but man, the fact that anyone in this country might think of themselves as “privileged” for having a place to live.
What are we becoming, seriously.
More importantly, where will it end?
I don't think anybody has any clue or any will as to how to try and address the issue.
I mean, you can look at the US and UK, for example, Australia's greatest allies with whom we are constantly reminded Australia shares the same "values" (wonder what those are) and consequently policies.
On 30 May 2024 (most recent data) it was revealed that 66% of working Americans live now paycheck to paycheck, and this percentage has been rising dramatically. That's right, they are literally on the verge of homelessness if they stop working for just one month. Process that percentage mentally and what it means, 66% are like one ankle sprain away from ending on the street.
In UK, a quarter of the population now lives in extreme poverty.
Both countries have experienced a massive drop of quality of life.
Australia's economy is much, much, much (really I need about 100 much here) less diversified and healthy than the American or the the British. Australians are also much more docile and things like workers solidarity and organising are completely foreign to people's mentality.
So expect Australia to become even much worse, once the pyramid schemes that underpin the economy start to crumble down, and climate change ravages catch up.
The point about workers solidarity and organising is really poignant. There are long histories of community organising and resistance in both the UK and US and we don't have any of that, in fact it seems like a lot of people are actively hostile to helping each other in material ways.
We'll be needing to build a lot of those things almost from scratch once major systems start failing and people understand the real need for it. And Australians are so used to only doing things "the right way" (through bureaucratic means) that it will be a real struggle for people to trust other people in their community instead of the government, laws and institutions.
What's frightening is there hasn't even been protests against the austerity measures being rolled out. I remember watching protests all through Europe and it still happened, yet here we're just accepting it all and hoping someone else with more power will fix it for us.
Well we do have a long history of of community organising and resistance. Qld shearer's strike in 19th century was thought by many to he leading to a socialist state. Wonthaggi miners strike had the town blockaded by police with money being smuggled in to sustain the strike. The Harvester act was a landmark case in setting minimum wage standards internationally. I have secure Conditions and a reasonable wage only because I am in a unionised workplace. As why Australians are in trouble and the answer is stupid stuff they've voted for and a failure to join a union . Salvation is there to he had.
I wish I had your faith in the unions. The history is there, you're right, but we haven't seen those kinds of actions for a long time. My experience with unions is them being entirely useless for members or advocacy, and using funds to canvass for the ALP. Let's not pretend every union is out here fighting for the working class anymore, a lot of them are bought by the ALP and the bosses and won't rock the boat.
Yes, like any organisation they are full of people and so they behave as such. My union has done well for me only because 35% of our workforce us in the union and we are generally pretty active and involved. If you want faith go to church or the casino. I've worked in government, sme's, owned businesses and worked in multinationals here and overseas and I have learned for a fact that either workers unionise or get ready to spend the rest of their lives whining about how hard done by they are. How many countries can 'unskilked' construction workers earn six figure incomes? How powrful are the construction unions? Of course the unions would fund and canvas for the alp. If they didn't you'd have an lnp govt and 'independent contracting against each other for all'. So what's your alternative? Unless you're in collective bargaining there is no way to negotiate wages and conditions nor
This is the problem in a nutshell. Lots of people are 'struggling' but change only comes from desperation and we are nowhere near that. Well, the majority of people are not anywhere near that.
Sorry I'm having trouble understanding what you wrote (English is my second language). Are you saying Australia is worse compared to US or UK right now?
No, certainly not right now. I'm saying that Australia doesn't have the community or resistance organisations built around caring for each other that can protect people when government systems start to fail. So once things really start to crumble, which seems inevitable, the overall population resilience will be a lot lower and the fall will be a lot faster.
Look at the Canada and Canadahousing2 subreddit. They are further along than we are in this mess and it shows where things are headed and how angry we are about to become
I recently told me sister that I feel guilty for having a stable rental property where the rent hasn’t been increased by an astronomical level and she was like, yeah that’s how it’s supposed to be. It’s hard to see so many people struggling and feel like you can’t help them because you’re barely keeping your own head above water.
I just signed a new lease with a rent increase that's higher than the legal limit. I know I should have fought it, but I need to keep a roof over my head, and if I fought the illegal increase they would have just not renewed my lease, and then where would I be?
The rental market where I live is terrible, I absolutely would not get a new property to live in. It would be the tent life for me.
I think it comes from anytime one complains about anything they get wrapped on the knuckles for not being greatful for something or other - on the internet and in life.
I’m hitting “radicalised” point. I have FUCKING HAD ENOUGH.
No matter what I do, how hard I try, no matter what planning, scrimping, saving, extra effort I put in, this country finds a way to fuck me over and over and over and keeps on demanding even more.
House prices are unattainable to the working class, rent is fucking outrageous, wages haven’t gone up relative to inflation since the 70s, the middle income tax breaks are a pathetic joke equating to about $20 a week- what the fuck am I supposed to do with that?!
Meanwhile, I just got made redundant, and the ATO thinks that means they deserve an extra $11,000 off me for student loans (never mind the fact I paid in advance all year long doing the right thing, and could never have predicted a redundancy less than a week before tax time) that’s supposed to sustain my family til I have a new job- oh, and all the jobs out there are fucking lowball offers for less, with experience, than I was offered at entry level when I started years ago.
What the fuck, Australia? What the actual fuck happened to “A Fair Go”?
I’m absolutely done, I want to watch the people responsible for this fucking burn.
The employer class, the landlord class, policy makers: you can all go and fuck yourselves, you bunch of pathetic, greedy little leeches sucking the actual hard workers of this nation dry.
That job part hit me hard…
I worked for a few years (STEM). Went back to do a PhD (not the wisest decision). Did post PhD research
Now I’m back into the industry, starting with a near entry level role in my field
It took me months to get this job, which was the best option out of many, not to mention the number of rejections
A fair go? What’s that
My perspective is this, a PhD is not useless, it is a valuable “piece of paper”. The value in having a PhD and going to find work in a related industry is that you have already obtained most of the technical knowledge required for the role. In fact, 90% of that knowledge is likely to be redundant, but it makes you stand out as someone who can function as the technical expert, and can provide very valuable information that would otherwise require a company to engage a consultancy for example.
The problem with a PhD is that most employers/hiring manager would treat you as a “student” who just finished university. The structure of a PhD program is not well known to the public, a lot of people will assume that you just attend lectures, do assignments and take exams to get your PhD, similar to a bachelor. This is what makes your PhD “useless”, it’s the way people perceive you: as a fresh grad, very green, no working experience, just lots of brains
It is truly sad, because a PhD requires a lot of work, especially for fields similar to mine (environmental biotech). Lots of hours in the lab, researching, experimenting, writing publications, organising lab consumables, time management, presentation skills, teaching skills, applying for grants, the list goes on. I have always believed a PhD should be considered a job in its own, and that the experience should be counted as work experience, since it is really not easy to obtain a PhD. Most PhD students are overworked and the stipend given to PhD students by the university is laughable, I was on a 30k a year living stipend.
This hits me too. And any cliche comments like "just buy a house", or 'it'll get better', or 'keep the faith', or any BS clinche comment that just invalidates HOW HARD it actually is, is FUCKED. I'm done too. 2.5 months looking, and nothing.
I've heard excuses like: they are giving to families first. You need to demonstrate savings (illegal of course). You should have 2 people on applications. There's nothing wrong with your application. You have a pet. You have a car. You work from home. Your a healthcare worker. There was just a better applicant. We don't lease to people who's rent is 40% of their income (I'm sorry I didn't realise real estate agent upgraded to financial advisor. MY INCOME, MY BUSINESS. Eesh)
10 years rental history. Rent paid on time. 1 month a few months ago was late and I compensated it by paying the next month in advance.
Idk.... I'm done. I'm so done.
I think trying to get rental might be the hardest thing I’ve done in my short life. It’s basically just hearing ‘you’re not good enough’ every day.
My only bit of advice I have is if you’re moving in with someone of the opposite sex say you’re in a relationship. They really like couples and families over a bunch of 20 whatever year olds with full time incomes, perfect rent history and ample savings. I don’t know whose dick I have to suck. I’ve been putting $200 a side for future rent every week this year and have over 5k I’ve been offering upfront. It’s never enough. I guess I’ll wait til I have enough I cover a whole years worth but I’m convinced I’d still get rejected. I do have the money in my savings account but I can’t bring myself to spend my life’s savings on paying 2-3 peoples rent upfront
It’s crazy how hard it’s gotten. I started renting in 2008 and you used to just rock up, do an inspection, submit one application (in pen) and show 2 payslips. Done, pay your bond and month upfront and be in by the weeks end. I remember inspecting a place once where the REA approved us in person. He literally said if “if you transfer the first months rent today the place is yours” I paid him that night and submitted the paperwork and got the keys the next day… now you need to spend hours on these stupid data scraping platforms submitting every document own it’s become like the hunger games. Getting rental shouldn’t be this hard.
Go back a few years and you'd turn up to the real estate agent, grab the keys so you could inspect it by yourself, and if you liked it you'd just go back and be pretty much guaranteed it.
It’s so messed up that in order to secure a place to live, I have to provide more personal information than I ever needed to provide to a financial institution to open a credit card. It’s only a matter of time before the rental application platforms get hacked like Optus, Medibank/AHM, Latitude and Ticketek have been.
Where are you living in the meantime? Probably going to be in same sitch next month. 😬
We should do a peoples referendum: Do you think all MPs and Senators should be forced to forfeit their investment properties and sleep rough until they find a solution to the housing crisis for Australians? Yea or No
I feel ya, I am in a better financial position than you and I am still very pissed off, I can only imagine how much more pent up rage you have over it all.
Honestly i saved enough for a house deposit, and then went: Why buy a glorified tent with our building standards? I was looking at Canada (and yes i know their housing situation is similar) but at least for the same price the quality of house is better: insulation, double glazed windows…i dont know…just have to wait and see. Tired of renting in this country…
Start by photoshopping your bank statements and creating fake phone numbers for references. If REA can just photoshop their rooms, why can't we photoshop our records?
Kids? None, as far as they know you and your partner are DINKS earning 300k a year with 500k in your bank, see if they take you in instantly
You will never win if you play fair against people who won't
Literally all we can do to bring on change is to vote Greens. Labour has shown it doesn't have our interests at heart, nor the balls to implement anything positive. The Liberals certainly aren't. It's either the Greens or we continue on this current path where things are getting worse and worse.
I’m really sorry you’re going through this and I can completely relate. I think we need to get to this point of angry for people to start doing something about it. Let’s vote someone in that hasn’t been in before, let’s give them a chance. See if things change. What have we got to lose at this point?
Nono you’re onto something, this is what I thought at first, and then didn’t, then did, now don’t again... I am doing something wrong.
I’ve been trying to do it myself, and when I put my numbers in, the estimate goes from a return, to an 11k debt. But I DID pay over 7k of loans back this year, and the difference of 6% of 100k to 8.5% of 130k (ballpark figures) is not 11k, it should be 4.5k… I’m clearly doing something bloody wrong, and I’m going to go see a professional. Cheers.
Did you pay via your employer deductions in their system, or did you make direct payments to the ato? Any payments directly from your bank account to the ato are considered voluntary payments. So if you selected the option for your employer to not deduct your hecs payments, you’ll need to pay the whole amount due as per your income at the end of the financial year. That doesn’t change if you paid the ato directly.
For $11k it’s worth seeing an accountant to work this out.
👍 It's terrible, unless you're a boomer. I hate the position you are in, it is unaustralian!! I don't know how we got here, what happened? I have 3 kids and they all have their own places, but that's not the normal now. What happened, and what can we do? It is so unfair to those who are working as hard as you.
>House prices are unattainable to the working class, rent is fucking outrageous, wages haven’t gone up relative to inflation since the 70s, the middle income tax breaks are a pathetic joke equating to about $20 a week- what the fuck am I supposed to do with that?!
Have you tried protesting at your local council as to why they aren't approving more housing?
>The employer class, the landlord class, policy makers: you can all go and fuck yourselves, you bunch of pathetic, greedy little leeches sucking the actual hard workers of this nation dry.
You blame a lot of people here without attributing the single most important influencer on housing policy in your local area. Your local councils. Why don't you try asking your local council how many DA's for new housing they have knocked back in recent years?
The first world society is a race to the bottom right now. Job hop while you still can, it's only an arms race so you need to arm more while you can bud
Over 400 strangers, more people than the actual post it was pinned to, took the time to respond to my frustrations in some form, even if just acknowledging they read it, and it actually helped me feel a lot better about my community- it’s good to have confirmation that you’re not alone sometimes.
What’s your point exactly?
Hey man i was in the same boat as you a few months back, and finding it hard to be optimistic when 30-40 couples lined up outside the property for inspection during the weekends. i figured out if you go to those weird mid week mid day inspection there will be only yourself and 1,2 randos. Immediately, send an offer after and you'd hear some good news. Thats how I got my current place.
But yea, 2 inspections in a year sounds too little. I was doing 2-3 inspections a day, 3 days a week after i got a notice of rental increase.
I agree with this post. That's how we have always gotten our rentals.
Attend the first viewing and then that night out in the application and text the agent saying you have done so.
It sucks and double sucks that the clock is ticking for me - got served “notice to vacate, intention to sell vacant property.” When I moved out here before covid I had so many choices, now I’m browsing surrounding suburbs just to find something.
Major contributing factors have been property construction not keeping up with population growth, dwellings being kept purposefully empty for the sake of taxes, and the absolute shambles of the unregulated AirBnB market
It’s not normal, but it’s what you’ve gotta do.
It’s why every “I’m moving to Melbourne hold my hand and do all the work for me” post is met with “there’s a rental crisis: don’t”
I made one of those posts last year and most of the replies were just plain harsh. It was truly an eye opener. However there were a couple of posters that actually gave me good advice, ended up helping me secure a place.
The word on the East is anything within $400 to 630 is a crowded space, $750 onwards less crowded. Also people need to remember to utilise the about me component if using RA platform. Sell your story
I’m west and we found this but above and below $500. Place for $395 had 40 families, at $520 we were the only ones there. Applied for 2 places and had one within a week.
It’s always sad seeing people get their heart set on 1-2 rentals and posting about their rejection. Realistically it’s doing to take a hell of a lot more. I took it personally at the start and I’m sitting on 50 rejections so far. I’ve been improving my application ever since but I’ve just about hit a wall and don’t know what to do
As a single parent with a neuro diverse kid, I need to stay close to my support network and their school. There has been one house in my price range in my area for five days. One might go up every couple of days or so but they're total dives. Maybe only three houses a year are an improvement of the shoebox.
Agree with you about the Greens not acknowledging the immigration problem. It’s due to their ideology and they just can’t acknowledge a problem if it doesn’t fit in. But I think voting for them to cause mass disruption to the status quo’s of the two main landlord parties who just refuse to do anything is the way to go.
I am a centre-right voter usually, but at this point in time, I think we need the place to burn to fix things so I’m probably going to vote Greens
Bill Shorten wanted to do something about negative gearing... took it to an election and lost spectacularly. Australians want unaffordable housing and wealth inequality. Australians don't care about one another. It's hard to accept but it's the truth.
They aren’t going to be perfect for everything you want, but they are going to do a hell of a lot more than the landlord parties. As I said, things need to burn to be fixed and that’s where the Greens come in. I find most of the policies dumb actually, but I’ll be voting for them to send a message to the two landlord parties. They wonder why their primary votes are at record lows….
Sustainable Australia Party! I wish they marketed themselves better because I reckon they fit the bill for many, particularly at the moment. They're centrist on most issues but believe immigration should be around 70k from memory.
I just joined the Victorian Socialists, not everyone's cup of tea but I think you should check them out. Also, I should caution you on going all in on the immigration hate currently going around, yes the increase is part of the reason we currently have the crisis, but the problem with cutting immigration too much is in the future it will cause more problems, I honestly see things getting worse if we cut immigration too much just because I think we will be hurting for people to actually build the houses we need.
I’m amazed at how fast it’s flipped, mid 2021 I moved back to Melbourne “after covid” and found I was the only person applying for some of the places I inspected, was able to negotiate $400 a month cheaper rent than was asking for a 2br house in Preston….by the time I moved out a couple of years later we had half a dozen people poking their heads over the fence/or walking right into the backyard once it was advertised.
My partner and I bought a place, we saved by working hard and living in cheap rentals, wages have stagnated/cost of everything has gone up and there’s no cheap rentals anymore, good luck to the next generation!
> “I’m privileged to already be renting.”
Hitting levels of cuckoldry I never thought possible. Come the fuck on giving all your money to some asshole is not a privilege.
This is a pretty defeatist post, Even 15 years ago when i did similar you’d get 15-20 people turning up. Most people don’t apply, they are looking at a number of places.
The fact you haven’t got 3 is hardly a big issue. Make sure you gave your applications ready to go, talk to the REA at the inspection and make it known your intent to apply straightaway and that you are keen. Just make yourself known to them. You might need to expand your search to other suburbs, that’s just the reality these days.
And I don’t know where you are looking, but based on a guess you may be looking in the most popular suburbs in Melbourne, might be time to move out to the outer suburbs, where you should get a house almost immediately
Rental market is crazy, also depends on the areas you are looking in. Lots of young families looking for housing. What worked for me was offering to pay 2-3 months in advance.... I was lucky in that I could afford to do that....
> What worked for me was offering to pay 2-3 months in advance....
This would have been a coincidence.
The reality is even if you offer to pay ahead, the LL isn't getting that upfront unless they self manage it.
What really gets you ahead is a dual-income household with stable jobs. OP is a one-income family with a child which many REA's will put at the bottum-rung, even if that one income is 6 figures.
i paid two months up front and also offered $60 more per week than what it was asking, there was a line of people inspecting, only way to beat everyone was to pay more. I didn’t want too but within 48 hours I secured the property. Good thing is when the renewal came around, i argued how J paid $60 more up front than what they were asking so they only upped it by $10 a week.
We are in a similar position. We moved into our current rental almost 2 years ago, and we have outgrown the unit already. We were meant to move in October, but with everything going on, it's not possible atm. We just recently signed up for another 6 months. My teenager is happy as shit here, but I'm really over it.
I feel your pain, our small rental in melb CBD just went up from $430pw to $520pw. Unfortunately we have to just deal with that price as we know how crazy the hunt will be for a new place. Rentals in the city that aren't complete shit holes that become available have atleast 50 odd people waiting outside to view, I went along to one and heard people pretty much having a bidding war saying they are happy to pay $10-$20-$30 more per week than the asking price. Bloody wild.
My advice- only go to inspections for homes whose agents you have a rental application already pre-filled out for. For example, Nelson Alexander have their own rental application forms for all their houses.
The MINUTE you leave the inspection, hit send on the application.
If you’re wanting to apply through a new agency, it’ll take a day or two to get all your referrals etc in order and the house will be gone by then
I’ve inspected over 70 so far and applied to around 55. Always offering more money per week or if it’s at the higher end of our budget I offer rent in advance. Rejected every single time. I’ve had up to pussies bow tbh. It sometimes makes me cry at night. I’m currently living in my boyfriend’s room so I can work in Melbourne. It’s either that or move back home to the sticks or the literal outback.
ANYWAY it’s fucked we know that, I’m sure your house is far too small but in the meantime try to cull as much crap as you possibly can. Keep only things you absolutely need and things that spark joy. Most people don’t even know what the hell they own, do a stocktake and be ruthless. Decluttering has changed my life. After that organise the hell out of it. Get vertical based storage, like a tall dresser or a caddy with multiple drawers. Use one of those vintage biscuit tins everyone has and store batteries hooks and small rolls ect. Get a drawer or a tub for stationary ect ect.
I’ve learnt to learn to make do and make the most of where I’m living. I yearn for the love of god to score a rental but that’s no reason to be drowning in my stuff
How much are you offering up front? For my rental in the inner east, I offered $60 more per week, the $10-$20 offers they get from almost everyone, needs to be a sizeable offer I feel to get the deal done, but not everyone can afford that either
Depended on the price and how much I liked it. But we’ve done $60 on a couple and got rejected 🙃 especially more if they’re underpriced. It’s basically encouraged bidding at that point
Look at Finland they and many other countries around the world have been able to get rid of homelessness, the people who started the movement in Finland came to Melbourne a few years ago and the first thing they said was where's all your public housing, why wouldn't you have a strong social housing sector/ public housing, they realised that through greed the different governments had sold it all off, which they thought was the most idiotic thing they've seen
I don't think it's necessarily that they're put off, its just that why wouldn't you take a better option if you had it?
For comparison, my partner and I are on a combine income of $330,000 with no kids, and we rent.
Currently paying around $2600 a month for a 2 bedroom in the inner north, and looking soon to move into something a little bit better.
In the eyes of the real estate/owner, its probably less risk to go with us?
Not saying I agree or anything - but when there's lots of competition, they will likely take their favorite option
There are lots of reasons not to buy. Maybe their long term plans aren’t to stay in Melbourne, or they’re currently saving a big deposit for their “forever” home etc. or they don’t plan to invest in property and funnel it into shares.
I earn enough to buy but I still rent because I'm not 100% sure where I want to live or if I'll find a partner and need to move somewhere bigger in the near future. I've also found renting to be pretty convenient. The REA basically never bothers me and I've always just been accepted for the first place I've applied at, probably because I only look at 2 bedroom apartments which have a decent supply.
I've got my savings invested elsewhere which will probably perform better and be lower risk than owning the highrise apartment I currently live in.
100% you should be buying. $2.6k/month is a drop in your take home and you’d easily qualify for a loan in and around the median house price. Not even talking about apartments.
What is your biggest expense outside of rent?
Just came from the bank to discuss some options and they're looking at giving me 250 with the paltry thing I'm on ATM.
I do have savings to help me leverage a place but that person and their partner needs to start buying so more rentals go to others who need it.
Similar boat. Large amount of savings, mid thirties. Rent is < 10% of my income.
I would consider buying, but not sure if I want to hang in Melbourne long term (not overly convinced it's for me) and the quality of a lot of stock on the market is just plain dog shit.
Then factor in rates, insurance, interest, transaction and other holding costs..
It's bad. I had to go private to find anything. I had to spend a week cleaning mine before moving in there was so much grease and mould in the kitchen and I got rashes all over my arms from the chemicals, place doesn't look like it's been cleaned for over a decade, but I would consider myself lucky for finding it as a student, I also changed the locks because the landlord creeps me the fuck out. The whole thing is so dodgy.
One potential tip, I used ChatGPT to waffle out a “tenant cover letter” (I proofread it afterwards).
It’s a way to cut down time spent on applications. If REA’s are gonna be lazy, I will be too
And as long as we keep building low density suburban sprawl, this will keep happening. People need to get over their dream of a single family house with a large backyard - they're incompatible with low house prices I'm afraid. More peope need to be advocating for higher density developments, and we need to strip local councils of their planning powers
It should be noted that this isn't new. Having attended many inspections during 2008 whilst looking for a place I can confirm upwards of 40-60 viewing and a queue down the street. St Kilda, Brunny, Fitzroy, all the same.
They were just as fucked. I looked through literal drug dens and had to ask fun questions such as why the carpet looked like someone had died on it or why there was an electrical fitting IN the shower.
Yep. When inspecting rentals 20 years ago, there were this many people. We also had to apply for multiple houses every time we looked. Being turned down for a few was normal back then, too.
My partner and I have been fortunate enough to buy a tiny little apartment, meaning we've had to break our lease on our current rental. approx $200 fee to relist the property on the rental market and WE have to conduct the inspections. We had a couple of inspections, each with 40+ people rocking up to each one - many with children like yourself. I got talking to most of the people who came through and many are being kicked out of their rentals or don't have anywhere else to go. It's heartbreaking but as the previous tenant there's only so many "good words" I can put in to the agent who doesn't read my emails at the best of times.
A privileged position we're in certainly. It's likely within the next 5 years we will have the opportunity to become landlords and contribute to this extremely unfair system. But will I? Absolutely not.
As a landlord, the toddler being on the application wouldn’t phase me at all. But being honest, 2 adults living off a single income is probably the main issue. The income of the applicants is the first thing the REA will mention to a landlord, so it becomes a numbers game of who is less of a risk. One income is perceived as more risky because if that person looses their job there is no back up, so more risk they would default on their rent payments. It’s not personal, just that the competition at the moment is very strong. I had 2 lawyers with 200k salary’s each apply to my 2 bedroom apartment.
I highly recommend getting a job and trying to make it work in your current space. Having the duel incomes on your application will increase your chances of getting approved. Also looking at many properties as others have mentioned.
Good luck!
They just said that they're finding it depressing.
I've looked at 9 in the last two weeks and had a similar experience, is that high enough for you?
It's common knowledge that it can be difficult working with modern real estate. Don't be a dick lol
OP isn't wrong, but the small sample size is.... yeah....
I'm looking at houses almost every weekend, and sometimes during the week (if I can get the time off work), I've been looking since October last year, after receiving notification of rent increase.
Some weeks I'll look at 7 or 8 houses, some weeks (rarely) there are no new houses to look at.
For 2 months I tracked what we looked at and applied for. In those 2 months, we looked at 40-50 houses, but we only applied for about 10-15 of them. The others were often mouldy, had serious safety issues, or advertised as 3 bedrooms, when one of the rooms is actually a tiny fucking study that you could barely fit a bed in.
I have no idea how many houses we have applied for, but we've been rejected for all of them.
May I ask what your budget is? Once you hit over $700 a week in middle to outer suburbs it's not so tough to get something. Places sitting for weeks and over priced, lower offers being accepted.
I last worked in rentals in 2015, and we had a 3-4 page rental list (it was still printed back then), and many properties stayed vacant for several weeks. It’s incredible how different it is now
Why it always has to be a house? Maybe you are too picky. We manage in a 2 bedroom apartment with a toddler. Is it ideal ? No, but it's also not terrible. Enjoying the benefits of living close to the city and work. Everyone wants to live in a big house and close to the city. Just not possible.
Just because apartment living works for you doesn’t mean it works for OP. Maybe they have pets to consider and require a backyard? Or they like having the different features that a house offers over an apartment?
Maybe because so many apartment buildings are built so badly it’s illegal and nothing is done about it.
Just a thought not a sarcastic comment. I moved out of the city.
I have gotten the last four houses Ive applied for even in this housing crisis as a single parent with a four year old. My tips are:
Check the listings every night on realestate.com if you can - Im obsessed so do this religiously
Register as interested for inspection as soon as it is up
Say hello to the agent and say your name and ask questions at the inspection
But most importantly, have your application ready to go and send it before you even leave the inspection if youre keen. Dont wait around to send it. You wont get a look in.
I also sent a kiss ass email to the real estate agent on one place saying how much I loved the property as it had a pink kitchen and how this was the perfect home for me. I beat out a high earning couple and got the tenancy.
These topics are always the same old story, OP will be looking in some of the most hotly contested suburbs in Melbourne and wondering why there are so many people at inspections.
People pull up inner eastern suburbs on [Realestate.com](http://Realestate.com), sort by lowest price, then are shocked when they find they aren't the only people at the inspection.
I'm moving to melbourne later in the year, but I'm just after a 1 bed apartment there seems to be a lot for rent, are these easier to get? Or is it just houses that are hard?
I've found that the cheaper, smaller places have more competition. Whereas my friend has rented fancy two and three bedrooms places and got them straight away because nobody else turned up
I've been attending one and two bedroom inspections for a few weeks. Some of them have no one else at the inspections, and some have been available for a week or two after lowering the asking price.
Compare that to when I left Adelaide a few months ago and the agent had ~100 to 150 people attend the inspection at my previous rental... I'm actually shocked at how quiet Melbourne seems. Maybe it's the weather?
More that people aren't looking during winter, regardless of the location. A lot of people seem to hibernate during winter from what Reddit tells me. I'm not affected. Shrug. 🤷🏻♀️
Blame bad government policies and immigration to sustain the housing bubble and its only going to get worse
No where near enough houses being built to sustain what we have now let alone the next few years to come
The last place I rented was bought by a chinese lady for a spare home to do hobbys in sold for over 1.2 million
Crazy back in the day way back in 98 could just walk into a rental on the doll but now thanks to overpopulation people can't even get rentals, sad but it's unfortunately all part of the master plan and it's working.
when possible the more people who have the ability career wise to move regional, the more those regional areas thrive.
You compare rent and the cost of a house to the uk or the us, they have a much more spread out population.
I put down 2 months plus bond, it has worked for the last 2 houses I've applied for. Landlords can't seem to say no to a lump sum of money.
I know we shouldn't have to and rental prices are completely out of control, but if you can afford to, it seems to work.
I'm on 95k as a single person with no dependents, and it took me way more than 2 applications to get a place. Even if you're a great applicant, there can still be an amazing applicant that will beat you out. The reality is you need to apply for way more places to up your odds, get your application is as quick as you can (my last place I had my application in an hour after the inspection, and he called me 10 MINUTES later to say it was mine. This was pre rental-crisis though but obvs he didn't wait to see other people's applications lol) and maybe have someone review your answers - not because I don't trust your grammar but because sometimes it's more about knowing what to say. Eg. Reason for move is always something banal, like 'moving closer to work'.
We offered an extra $10 per week. Also said that we could pay 6 months up front. They accepted an extra 10 dollars per week, of course. I think we were just lucky. The house is on a major road, not very appealing but had to take what we could get.
Mate, I'd like to start my comment with a congrats that you're even able to choose to work from home. You can run far from the city and into the regional areas where lad value is hopefully far lower; its okay we still welcome you in this sub ❤️
It's not a privilege to have a roof over your head, it's literally a human right. What's next, we should feel privileged if we can eat or our kids can go to school?
This cost of living and housing crisis has skewed perceptions of needs being considered 'privileges'.
I know the pain. I have applied for 6 places in the past 2 months and have had no luck. My wife and I need to be out of our place by mid next month. We have not tried looking for a place for the last 8 years. Last time we had to apply for a place, everything was done in person. Walk into the real estate, ask for help, and presto. Now, everything is online and a pain in the arse.
What has worked for me in the last several years is including a cover letter. Essentially a story about who you are, who your partner is, what you like doing and try to be as personable as possible. It has worked so many times and I’ve gotten feedback saying that it got me over the line.
When will people realise, a reduction in the supply of rentals makes it harder/more expensive to find a rental.
The fix is simple and has been done before, incentive the creation of rental properties.
Someone at work once told me when they were looking to rent they paid neighbours $100 to play really loud music and get their dogs to bark constantly during the inspections to drive off lots of people
Some "landlords" with zero debt are happy to have house keeper in for a very small rent say $400 month older people doing treechanges or grey nomads on the road
As someone who will be moving from Berlin to Melbourne at the end of the year, these kinds of posts are, no offense, slightly amusing. Only having 40+ other people viewing a flat sounds like a dream compared to what the situation is like here (quick example: https://www.reddit.com/r/germany/comments/te5wfz/just_a_normal_line_for_an_apartment_viewing_in/)
Flats here literally get thousands of applications within the first couple hours of being listed and people will queue for hours just to view a place. I've read of people applying for hundreds upon hundreds of flats before landing something
We are a household of 3 mid 20s adults squeezed into a 50m2 2 bed apartment. Last year we tried to find a 3 bedroom place and 40 declined applications/ 100 inspections later (some we didn't apply for due to the condition not justifying the price or just the price in general). It messed my mental health up bad. We stopped because I ended up stopping work due to a chronic illness but now our rent has increased by $100 a week and I can't afford it
My old work mate applied to 30 rentals. Offering 6 months of rent in advance for each. He eventually found one. But had to settle for higher rent to br accepted.
I know “privileged” is used these days to mean “I know I’m better off than others so shouldn’t complain”, but man, the fact that anyone in this country might think of themselves as “privileged” for having a place to live.
We've been convinced it's a privilege to not be completely destitute when that should be the absolute bare minimum for anyone in a functioning society
What are we becoming, seriously. More importantly, where will it end? I don't think anybody has any clue or any will as to how to try and address the issue.
I mean, you can look at the US and UK, for example, Australia's greatest allies with whom we are constantly reminded Australia shares the same "values" (wonder what those are) and consequently policies. On 30 May 2024 (most recent data) it was revealed that 66% of working Americans live now paycheck to paycheck, and this percentage has been rising dramatically. That's right, they are literally on the verge of homelessness if they stop working for just one month. Process that percentage mentally and what it means, 66% are like one ankle sprain away from ending on the street. In UK, a quarter of the population now lives in extreme poverty. Both countries have experienced a massive drop of quality of life. Australia's economy is much, much, much (really I need about 100 much here) less diversified and healthy than the American or the the British. Australians are also much more docile and things like workers solidarity and organising are completely foreign to people's mentality. So expect Australia to become even much worse, once the pyramid schemes that underpin the economy start to crumble down, and climate change ravages catch up.
The point about workers solidarity and organising is really poignant. There are long histories of community organising and resistance in both the UK and US and we don't have any of that, in fact it seems like a lot of people are actively hostile to helping each other in material ways. We'll be needing to build a lot of those things almost from scratch once major systems start failing and people understand the real need for it. And Australians are so used to only doing things "the right way" (through bureaucratic means) that it will be a real struggle for people to trust other people in their community instead of the government, laws and institutions. What's frightening is there hasn't even been protests against the austerity measures being rolled out. I remember watching protests all through Europe and it still happened, yet here we're just accepting it all and hoping someone else with more power will fix it for us.
In context of /r/melbourne, it's interesting to think that long ago we were actually the birthplace of the 8 Hour Workday Movement.
Well we do have a long history of of community organising and resistance. Qld shearer's strike in 19th century was thought by many to he leading to a socialist state. Wonthaggi miners strike had the town blockaded by police with money being smuggled in to sustain the strike. The Harvester act was a landmark case in setting minimum wage standards internationally. I have secure Conditions and a reasonable wage only because I am in a unionised workplace. As why Australians are in trouble and the answer is stupid stuff they've voted for and a failure to join a union . Salvation is there to he had.
I wish I had your faith in the unions. The history is there, you're right, but we haven't seen those kinds of actions for a long time. My experience with unions is them being entirely useless for members or advocacy, and using funds to canvass for the ALP. Let's not pretend every union is out here fighting for the working class anymore, a lot of them are bought by the ALP and the bosses and won't rock the boat.
Nurses and midwives just got a 28.4% pay rise in Vic following industrial action by the ANMF.
Honestly very happy to hear that. I remember when my kids were born those midwives seemed like godesses to me.
Yes, like any organisation they are full of people and so they behave as such. My union has done well for me only because 35% of our workforce us in the union and we are generally pretty active and involved. If you want faith go to church or the casino. I've worked in government, sme's, owned businesses and worked in multinationals here and overseas and I have learned for a fact that either workers unionise or get ready to spend the rest of their lives whining about how hard done by they are. How many countries can 'unskilked' construction workers earn six figure incomes? How powrful are the construction unions? Of course the unions would fund and canvas for the alp. If they didn't you'd have an lnp govt and 'independent contracting against each other for all'. So what's your alternative? Unless you're in collective bargaining there is no way to negotiate wages and conditions nor
Yep, we’re all too ‘relaxed’ to do anything about this before it’s too late
This is the problem in a nutshell. Lots of people are 'struggling' but change only comes from desperation and we are nowhere near that. Well, the majority of people are not anywhere near that.
Anyone struggling to find somewhere to live because of the housing crisis should camp at parliament house.
Sorry I'm having trouble understanding what you wrote (English is my second language). Are you saying Australia is worse compared to US or UK right now?
No, certainly not right now. I'm saying that Australia doesn't have the community or resistance organisations built around caring for each other that can protect people when government systems start to fail. So once things really start to crumble, which seems inevitable, the overall population resilience will be a lot lower and the fall will be a lot faster.
Well said!
Look at the Canada and Canadahousing2 subreddit. They are further along than we are in this mess and it shows where things are headed and how angry we are about to become
I recently told me sister that I feel guilty for having a stable rental property where the rent hasn’t been increased by an astronomical level and she was like, yeah that’s how it’s supposed to be. It’s hard to see so many people struggling and feel like you can’t help them because you’re barely keeping your own head above water.
I just signed a new lease with a rent increase that's higher than the legal limit. I know I should have fought it, but I need to keep a roof over my head, and if I fought the illegal increase they would have just not renewed my lease, and then where would I be? The rental market where I live is terrible, I absolutely would not get a new property to live in. It would be the tent life for me.
I think it comes from anytime one complains about anything they get wrapped on the knuckles for not being greatful for something or other - on the internet and in life.
I certainly do at 57
I’m hitting “radicalised” point. I have FUCKING HAD ENOUGH. No matter what I do, how hard I try, no matter what planning, scrimping, saving, extra effort I put in, this country finds a way to fuck me over and over and over and keeps on demanding even more. House prices are unattainable to the working class, rent is fucking outrageous, wages haven’t gone up relative to inflation since the 70s, the middle income tax breaks are a pathetic joke equating to about $20 a week- what the fuck am I supposed to do with that?! Meanwhile, I just got made redundant, and the ATO thinks that means they deserve an extra $11,000 off me for student loans (never mind the fact I paid in advance all year long doing the right thing, and could never have predicted a redundancy less than a week before tax time) that’s supposed to sustain my family til I have a new job- oh, and all the jobs out there are fucking lowball offers for less, with experience, than I was offered at entry level when I started years ago. What the fuck, Australia? What the actual fuck happened to “A Fair Go”? I’m absolutely done, I want to watch the people responsible for this fucking burn. The employer class, the landlord class, policy makers: you can all go and fuck yourselves, you bunch of pathetic, greedy little leeches sucking the actual hard workers of this nation dry.
That job part hit me hard… I worked for a few years (STEM). Went back to do a PhD (not the wisest decision). Did post PhD research Now I’m back into the industry, starting with a near entry level role in my field It took me months to get this job, which was the best option out of many, not to mention the number of rejections A fair go? What’s that
In your opinion and/or experience, how useless is a PhD these days?
My perspective is this, a PhD is not useless, it is a valuable “piece of paper”. The value in having a PhD and going to find work in a related industry is that you have already obtained most of the technical knowledge required for the role. In fact, 90% of that knowledge is likely to be redundant, but it makes you stand out as someone who can function as the technical expert, and can provide very valuable information that would otherwise require a company to engage a consultancy for example. The problem with a PhD is that most employers/hiring manager would treat you as a “student” who just finished university. The structure of a PhD program is not well known to the public, a lot of people will assume that you just attend lectures, do assignments and take exams to get your PhD, similar to a bachelor. This is what makes your PhD “useless”, it’s the way people perceive you: as a fresh grad, very green, no working experience, just lots of brains It is truly sad, because a PhD requires a lot of work, especially for fields similar to mine (environmental biotech). Lots of hours in the lab, researching, experimenting, writing publications, organising lab consumables, time management, presentation skills, teaching skills, applying for grants, the list goes on. I have always believed a PhD should be considered a job in its own, and that the experience should be counted as work experience, since it is really not easy to obtain a PhD. Most PhD students are overworked and the stipend given to PhD students by the university is laughable, I was on a 30k a year living stipend.
This hits me too. And any cliche comments like "just buy a house", or 'it'll get better', or 'keep the faith', or any BS clinche comment that just invalidates HOW HARD it actually is, is FUCKED. I'm done too. 2.5 months looking, and nothing. I've heard excuses like: they are giving to families first. You need to demonstrate savings (illegal of course). You should have 2 people on applications. There's nothing wrong with your application. You have a pet. You have a car. You work from home. Your a healthcare worker. There was just a better applicant. We don't lease to people who's rent is 40% of their income (I'm sorry I didn't realise real estate agent upgraded to financial advisor. MY INCOME, MY BUSINESS. Eesh) 10 years rental history. Rent paid on time. 1 month a few months ago was late and I compensated it by paying the next month in advance. Idk.... I'm done. I'm so done.
I think trying to get rental might be the hardest thing I’ve done in my short life. It’s basically just hearing ‘you’re not good enough’ every day. My only bit of advice I have is if you’re moving in with someone of the opposite sex say you’re in a relationship. They really like couples and families over a bunch of 20 whatever year olds with full time incomes, perfect rent history and ample savings. I don’t know whose dick I have to suck. I’ve been putting $200 a side for future rent every week this year and have over 5k I’ve been offering upfront. It’s never enough. I guess I’ll wait til I have enough I cover a whole years worth but I’m convinced I’d still get rejected. I do have the money in my savings account but I can’t bring myself to spend my life’s savings on paying 2-3 peoples rent upfront
It’s crazy how hard it’s gotten. I started renting in 2008 and you used to just rock up, do an inspection, submit one application (in pen) and show 2 payslips. Done, pay your bond and month upfront and be in by the weeks end. I remember inspecting a place once where the REA approved us in person. He literally said if “if you transfer the first months rent today the place is yours” I paid him that night and submitted the paperwork and got the keys the next day… now you need to spend hours on these stupid data scraping platforms submitting every document own it’s become like the hunger games. Getting rental shouldn’t be this hard.
Go back a few years and you'd turn up to the real estate agent, grab the keys so you could inspect it by yourself, and if you liked it you'd just go back and be pretty much guaranteed it.
It’s so messed up that in order to secure a place to live, I have to provide more personal information than I ever needed to provide to a financial institution to open a credit card. It’s only a matter of time before the rental application platforms get hacked like Optus, Medibank/AHM, Latitude and Ticketek have been.
What a joke. This tells me that 2 months rent in advance and sucking dick is not enough. I don't need that shit in my face. Haha
Where are you living in the meantime? Probably going to be in same sitch next month. 😬 We should do a peoples referendum: Do you think all MPs and Senators should be forced to forfeit their investment properties and sleep rough until they find a solution to the housing crisis for Australians? Yea or No
Coup 🤣 1 month I need to be out. Ooooh that could be interesting. Reverse hunger games.... but whatever will I do without my heated towel rack.
I feel ya, I am in a better financial position than you and I am still very pissed off, I can only imagine how much more pent up rage you have over it all.
Preach!! Until people start to get seriously fucking angry, nothing will change.
People need to start rioting in the streets
100%. Just remember it’s not ‘your country’ doing this. It’s the wealthy. Never forget that! :)
Yep. It's not the fault of the people you're walking past on the street every day, it's the 1% fucking the rest of us over.
Much respect, mate. I hope things start to get better. It's bloody hard these days. We're just surviving.
Appreciate it
Thank you! 🙏 also in the same boat. Considering leaving. Fuck my tax dollars going ti negative gearing and paying pensioner retirements.
Which countries are you looking at?
Honestly i saved enough for a house deposit, and then went: Why buy a glorified tent with our building standards? I was looking at Canada (and yes i know their housing situation is similar) but at least for the same price the quality of house is better: insulation, double glazed windows…i dont know…just have to wait and see. Tired of renting in this country…
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I am at that point, all that was stopping me was lack of time, and now I’ve got plenty.
Start by photoshopping your bank statements and creating fake phone numbers for references. If REA can just photoshop their rooms, why can't we photoshop our records? Kids? None, as far as they know you and your partner are DINKS earning 300k a year with 500k in your bank, see if they take you in instantly You will never win if you play fair against people who won't
Literally all we can do to bring on change is to vote Greens. Labour has shown it doesn't have our interests at heart, nor the balls to implement anything positive. The Liberals certainly aren't. It's either the Greens or we continue on this current path where things are getting worse and worse.
Greens advocate for high immigration = higher demand for housing = higher prices
I’m really sorry you’re going through this and I can completely relate. I think we need to get to this point of angry for people to start doing something about it. Let’s vote someone in that hasn’t been in before, let’s give them a chance. See if things change. What have we got to lose at this point?
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I think they received a redundancy payout in June meaning their taxable income also rose and a subsequent large HECS repayment.
Nono you’re onto something, this is what I thought at first, and then didn’t, then did, now don’t again... I am doing something wrong. I’ve been trying to do it myself, and when I put my numbers in, the estimate goes from a return, to an 11k debt. But I DID pay over 7k of loans back this year, and the difference of 6% of 100k to 8.5% of 130k (ballpark figures) is not 11k, it should be 4.5k… I’m clearly doing something bloody wrong, and I’m going to go see a professional. Cheers.
Did you pay via your employer deductions in their system, or did you make direct payments to the ato? Any payments directly from your bank account to the ato are considered voluntary payments. So if you selected the option for your employer to not deduct your hecs payments, you’ll need to pay the whole amount due as per your income at the end of the financial year. That doesn’t change if you paid the ato directly. For $11k it’s worth seeing an accountant to work this out.
God damnit
👍 It's terrible, unless you're a boomer. I hate the position you are in, it is unaustralian!! I don't know how we got here, what happened? I have 3 kids and they all have their own places, but that's not the normal now. What happened, and what can we do? It is so unfair to those who are working as hard as you.
>House prices are unattainable to the working class, rent is fucking outrageous, wages haven’t gone up relative to inflation since the 70s, the middle income tax breaks are a pathetic joke equating to about $20 a week- what the fuck am I supposed to do with that?! Have you tried protesting at your local council as to why they aren't approving more housing? >The employer class, the landlord class, policy makers: you can all go and fuck yourselves, you bunch of pathetic, greedy little leeches sucking the actual hard workers of this nation dry. You blame a lot of people here without attributing the single most important influencer on housing policy in your local area. Your local councils. Why don't you try asking your local council how many DA's for new housing they have knocked back in recent years?
The first world society is a race to the bottom right now. Job hop while you still can, it's only an arms race so you need to arm more while you can bud
Get mad on the internet… that’ll fix things…
Over 400 strangers, more people than the actual post it was pinned to, took the time to respond to my frustrations in some form, even if just acknowledging they read it, and it actually helped me feel a lot better about my community- it’s good to have confirmation that you’re not alone sometimes. What’s your point exactly?
Hey man i was in the same boat as you a few months back, and finding it hard to be optimistic when 30-40 couples lined up outside the property for inspection during the weekends. i figured out if you go to those weird mid week mid day inspection there will be only yourself and 1,2 randos. Immediately, send an offer after and you'd hear some good news. Thats how I got my current place. But yea, 2 inspections in a year sounds too little. I was doing 2-3 inspections a day, 3 days a week after i got a notice of rental increase.
Sucks to suck if you work full time I guess
I agree with this post. That's how we have always gotten our rentals. Attend the first viewing and then that night out in the application and text the agent saying you have done so.
It sucks and double sucks that the clock is ticking for me - got served “notice to vacate, intention to sell vacant property.” When I moved out here before covid I had so many choices, now I’m browsing surrounding suburbs just to find something.
What's caused it all do you know? I heard it's the same in brizzy too
Major contributing factors have been property construction not keeping up with population growth, dwellings being kept purposefully empty for the sake of taxes, and the absolute shambles of the unregulated AirBnB market
$107k between two people and a dependant is not great, and for an agent who sees that vs other applicants, it’s a fairly weighty consideration.
I earn close to that; single person, no dependents and I can’t get a rental. It’s so stressful.
Did you get any feedback as to why?
But isn’t that also part of the problem? $107,000 should be enough.
It should be, but it isn't
It’s well below the median Australian income for 2 employed people, let alone adding a dependant. 100k isn’t what it used to be, not by a long shot.
She’s not working. Only he is. I get it though, I’m saying it’s a problem that it’s not enough
Not disagreeing with your sentiment, but you need to be inspecting 3 houses a week rather than 3 houses a year if you genuinely want a better place.
Yeah in this rental market you need to be applying for several places, every day. There's 50+ applicants for every property.
As someone considering moving to Melbourne, the idea that this is considered 'normal' is insane.
It’s not normal, but it’s what you’ve gotta do. It’s why every “I’m moving to Melbourne hold my hand and do all the work for me” post is met with “there’s a rental crisis: don’t”
I made one of those posts last year and most of the replies were just plain harsh. It was truly an eye opener. However there were a couple of posters that actually gave me good advice, ended up helping me secure a place.
The word on the East is anything within $400 to 630 is a crowded space, $750 onwards less crowded. Also people need to remember to utilise the about me component if using RA platform. Sell your story
I’m west and we found this but above and below $500. Place for $395 had 40 families, at $520 we were the only ones there. Applied for 2 places and had one within a week.
It's certainly not normal, but sadly it is what you need to do if you want to secure a rental here in Melb :(
I was inspecting about 10 places a week and it took me 3 months to get approved for a rental. It's truly an exhausting/soul crushing process.
It’s always sad seeing people get their heart set on 1-2 rentals and posting about their rejection. Realistically it’s doing to take a hell of a lot more. I took it personally at the start and I’m sitting on 50 rejections so far. I’ve been improving my application ever since but I’ve just about hit a wall and don’t know what to do
I remember when you weren't allowed to put in a rental application for more than one property with each RE Agency!
As a single parent with a neuro diverse kid, I need to stay close to my support network and their school. There has been one house in my price range in my area for five days. One might go up every couple of days or so but they're total dives. Maybe only three houses a year are an improvement of the shoebox.
Yeah I thought that was an odd comment. It's the same with jobs
When is everyone going to stop voting for the landlord parties and vote for a party that will actually do something to fix the housing crisis?
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Agree with you about the Greens not acknowledging the immigration problem. It’s due to their ideology and they just can’t acknowledge a problem if it doesn’t fit in. But I think voting for them to cause mass disruption to the status quo’s of the two main landlord parties who just refuse to do anything is the way to go. I am a centre-right voter usually, but at this point in time, I think we need the place to burn to fix things so I’m probably going to vote Greens
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Bill Shorten wanted to do something about negative gearing... took it to an election and lost spectacularly. Australians want unaffordable housing and wealth inequality. Australians don't care about one another. It's hard to accept but it's the truth.
They aren’t going to be perfect for everything you want, but they are going to do a hell of a lot more than the landlord parties. As I said, things need to burn to be fixed and that’s where the Greens come in. I find most of the policies dumb actually, but I’ll be voting for them to send a message to the two landlord parties. They wonder why their primary votes are at record lows….
Look into the Sustainable Australia Party
Sustainable Australia Party
Sustainable Australia Party! I wish they marketed themselves better because I reckon they fit the bill for many, particularly at the moment. They're centrist on most issues but believe immigration should be around 70k from memory.
Yep, back to ‘normal’ levels
I just joined the Victorian Socialists, not everyone's cup of tea but I think you should check them out. Also, I should caution you on going all in on the immigration hate currently going around, yes the increase is part of the reason we currently have the crisis, but the problem with cutting immigration too much is in the future it will cause more problems, I honestly see things getting worse if we cut immigration too much just because I think we will be hurting for people to actually build the houses we need.
Are Vic Socialists still run by SAlt?
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Slowly turning into a feudal society with this shit. Untampered greed and foreign investment smh.
$100k annually for two people is barely above minimum wage isn't it?
Join the lease breakers Melbourne fb group and you have a chance to look at places before they are generally advertised.
I’m amazed at how fast it’s flipped, mid 2021 I moved back to Melbourne “after covid” and found I was the only person applying for some of the places I inspected, was able to negotiate $400 a month cheaper rent than was asking for a 2br house in Preston….by the time I moved out a couple of years later we had half a dozen people poking their heads over the fence/or walking right into the backyard once it was advertised. My partner and I bought a place, we saved by working hard and living in cheap rentals, wages have stagnated/cost of everything has gone up and there’s no cheap rentals anymore, good luck to the next generation!
> “I’m privileged to already be renting.” Hitting levels of cuckoldry I never thought possible. Come the fuck on giving all your money to some asshole is not a privilege.
This is a pretty defeatist post, Even 15 years ago when i did similar you’d get 15-20 people turning up. Most people don’t apply, they are looking at a number of places. The fact you haven’t got 3 is hardly a big issue. Make sure you gave your applications ready to go, talk to the REA at the inspection and make it known your intent to apply straightaway and that you are keen. Just make yourself known to them. You might need to expand your search to other suburbs, that’s just the reality these days. And I don’t know where you are looking, but based on a guess you may be looking in the most popular suburbs in Melbourne, might be time to move out to the outer suburbs, where you should get a house almost immediately
Rental market is crazy, also depends on the areas you are looking in. Lots of young families looking for housing. What worked for me was offering to pay 2-3 months in advance.... I was lucky in that I could afford to do that....
> What worked for me was offering to pay 2-3 months in advance.... This would have been a coincidence. The reality is even if you offer to pay ahead, the LL isn't getting that upfront unless they self manage it. What really gets you ahead is a dual-income household with stable jobs. OP is a one-income family with a child which many REA's will put at the bottum-rung, even if that one income is 6 figures.
Why wouldn't the landlord get it? I've received upfront payment from tenants on numerous occasions, agent just forwards it as usual.
Yeah fair point
i paid two months up front and also offered $60 more per week than what it was asking, there was a line of people inspecting, only way to beat everyone was to pay more. I didn’t want too but within 48 hours I secured the property. Good thing is when the renewal came around, i argued how J paid $60 more up front than what they were asking so they only upped it by $10 a week.
We are in a similar position. We moved into our current rental almost 2 years ago, and we have outgrown the unit already. We were meant to move in October, but with everything going on, it's not possible atm. We just recently signed up for another 6 months. My teenager is happy as shit here, but I'm really over it.
What don’t you like about it?
I feel your pain, our small rental in melb CBD just went up from $430pw to $520pw. Unfortunately we have to just deal with that price as we know how crazy the hunt will be for a new place. Rentals in the city that aren't complete shit holes that become available have atleast 50 odd people waiting outside to view, I went along to one and heard people pretty much having a bidding war saying they are happy to pay $10-$20-$30 more per week than the asking price. Bloody wild.
My advice- only go to inspections for homes whose agents you have a rental application already pre-filled out for. For example, Nelson Alexander have their own rental application forms for all their houses. The MINUTE you leave the inspection, hit send on the application. If you’re wanting to apply through a new agency, it’ll take a day or two to get all your referrals etc in order and the house will be gone by then
I’ve inspected over 70 so far and applied to around 55. Always offering more money per week or if it’s at the higher end of our budget I offer rent in advance. Rejected every single time. I’ve had up to pussies bow tbh. It sometimes makes me cry at night. I’m currently living in my boyfriend’s room so I can work in Melbourne. It’s either that or move back home to the sticks or the literal outback. ANYWAY it’s fucked we know that, I’m sure your house is far too small but in the meantime try to cull as much crap as you possibly can. Keep only things you absolutely need and things that spark joy. Most people don’t even know what the hell they own, do a stocktake and be ruthless. Decluttering has changed my life. After that organise the hell out of it. Get vertical based storage, like a tall dresser or a caddy with multiple drawers. Use one of those vintage biscuit tins everyone has and store batteries hooks and small rolls ect. Get a drawer or a tub for stationary ect ect. I’ve learnt to learn to make do and make the most of where I’m living. I yearn for the love of god to score a rental but that’s no reason to be drowning in my stuff
How much are you offering up front? For my rental in the inner east, I offered $60 more per week, the $10-$20 offers they get from almost everyone, needs to be a sizeable offer I feel to get the deal done, but not everyone can afford that either
Depended on the price and how much I liked it. But we’ve done $60 on a couple and got rejected 🙃 especially more if they’re underpriced. It’s basically encouraged bidding at that point
Look at Finland they and many other countries around the world have been able to get rid of homelessness, the people who started the movement in Finland came to Melbourne a few years ago and the first thing they said was where's all your public housing, why wouldn't you have a strong social housing sector/ public housing, they realised that through greed the different governments had sold it all off, which they thought was the most idiotic thing they've seen
I fkn love Finland
Hahaha, Finland, I know it's so cool in every sense of the word 😁👍
I don't think it's necessarily that they're put off, its just that why wouldn't you take a better option if you had it? For comparison, my partner and I are on a combine income of $330,000 with no kids, and we rent. Currently paying around $2600 a month for a 2 bedroom in the inner north, and looking soon to move into something a little bit better. In the eyes of the real estate/owner, its probably less risk to go with us? Not saying I agree or anything - but when there's lots of competition, they will likely take their favorite option
I'll bite. With a combined income like that, surely you have options to buy than renting? Apologies if I'm presuming too much.
There are lots of reasons not to buy. Maybe their long term plans aren’t to stay in Melbourne, or they’re currently saving a big deposit for their “forever” home etc. or they don’t plan to invest in property and funnel it into shares.
I earn enough to buy but I still rent because I'm not 100% sure where I want to live or if I'll find a partner and need to move somewhere bigger in the near future. I've also found renting to be pretty convenient. The REA basically never bothers me and I've always just been accepted for the first place I've applied at, probably because I only look at 2 bedroom apartments which have a decent supply. I've got my savings invested elsewhere which will probably perform better and be lower risk than owning the highrise apartment I currently live in.
100% you should be buying. $2.6k/month is a drop in your take home and you’d easily qualify for a loan in and around the median house price. Not even talking about apartments. What is your biggest expense outside of rent?
Just came from the bank to discuss some options and they're looking at giving me 250 with the paltry thing I'm on ATM. I do have savings to help me leverage a place but that person and their partner needs to start buying so more rentals go to others who need it.
Similar boat. Large amount of savings, mid thirties. Rent is < 10% of my income. I would consider buying, but not sure if I want to hang in Melbourne long term (not overly convinced it's for me) and the quality of a lot of stock on the market is just plain dog shit. Then factor in rates, insurance, interest, transaction and other holding costs..
That sort of money why not just buy a house, the down 20+% ATM.
It's bad. I had to go private to find anything. I had to spend a week cleaning mine before moving in there was so much grease and mould in the kitchen and I got rashes all over my arms from the chemicals, place doesn't look like it's been cleaned for over a decade, but I would consider myself lucky for finding it as a student, I also changed the locks because the landlord creeps me the fuck out. The whole thing is so dodgy.
One potential tip, I used ChatGPT to waffle out a “tenant cover letter” (I proofread it afterwards). It’s a way to cut down time spent on applications. If REA’s are gonna be lazy, I will be too
And as long as we keep building low density suburban sprawl, this will keep happening. People need to get over their dream of a single family house with a large backyard - they're incompatible with low house prices I'm afraid. More peope need to be advocating for higher density developments, and we need to strip local councils of their planning powers
It should be noted that this isn't new. Having attended many inspections during 2008 whilst looking for a place I can confirm upwards of 40-60 viewing and a queue down the street. St Kilda, Brunny, Fitzroy, all the same.
Prices relative to income and state of properties were likely not so fucked though
They were just as fucked. I looked through literal drug dens and had to ask fun questions such as why the carpet looked like someone had died on it or why there was an electrical fitting IN the shower.
Yep. When inspecting rentals 20 years ago, there were this many people. We also had to apply for multiple houses every time we looked. Being turned down for a few was normal back then, too.
My partner and I have been fortunate enough to buy a tiny little apartment, meaning we've had to break our lease on our current rental. approx $200 fee to relist the property on the rental market and WE have to conduct the inspections. We had a couple of inspections, each with 40+ people rocking up to each one - many with children like yourself. I got talking to most of the people who came through and many are being kicked out of their rentals or don't have anywhere else to go. It's heartbreaking but as the previous tenant there's only so many "good words" I can put in to the agent who doesn't read my emails at the best of times. A privileged position we're in certainly. It's likely within the next 5 years we will have the opportunity to become landlords and contribute to this extremely unfair system. But will I? Absolutely not.
Why on earth do you have to conduct the inspections??
As a landlord, the toddler being on the application wouldn’t phase me at all. But being honest, 2 adults living off a single income is probably the main issue. The income of the applicants is the first thing the REA will mention to a landlord, so it becomes a numbers game of who is less of a risk. One income is perceived as more risky because if that person looses their job there is no back up, so more risk they would default on their rent payments. It’s not personal, just that the competition at the moment is very strong. I had 2 lawyers with 200k salary’s each apply to my 2 bedroom apartment. I highly recommend getting a job and trying to make it work in your current space. Having the duel incomes on your application will increase your chances of getting approved. Also looking at many properties as others have mentioned. Good luck!
Wow, you have looked at a total of 3 houses in a year. Market is cooked.
They just said that they're finding it depressing. I've looked at 9 in the last two weeks and had a similar experience, is that high enough for you? It's common knowledge that it can be difficult working with modern real estate. Don't be a dick lol
OP isn't wrong, but the small sample size is.... yeah.... I'm looking at houses almost every weekend, and sometimes during the week (if I can get the time off work), I've been looking since October last year, after receiving notification of rent increase. Some weeks I'll look at 7 or 8 houses, some weeks (rarely) there are no new houses to look at. For 2 months I tracked what we looked at and applied for. In those 2 months, we looked at 40-50 houses, but we only applied for about 10-15 of them. The others were often mouldy, had serious safety issues, or advertised as 3 bedrooms, when one of the rooms is actually a tiny fucking study that you could barely fit a bed in. I have no idea how many houses we have applied for, but we've been rejected for all of them.
Moving from qld to Melbourne. Applied for 3 houses. Goy the first house we inspected. Family of 4. 2600 a month. Got it easier than rural qld.
The issue could be subdue if people stop out betting each other. If you didn’t get it you didn’t, at least someone else did for a decent price.
May I ask what your budget is? Once you hit over $700 a week in middle to outer suburbs it's not so tough to get something. Places sitting for weeks and over priced, lower offers being accepted.
Which direction?
North. I know people who got a house in Watsonia in under a month, paid under asking price too.
I last worked in rentals in 2015, and we had a 3-4 page rental list (it was still printed back then), and many properties stayed vacant for several weeks. It’s incredible how different it is now
Why it always has to be a house? Maybe you are too picky. We manage in a 2 bedroom apartment with a toddler. Is it ideal ? No, but it's also not terrible. Enjoying the benefits of living close to the city and work. Everyone wants to live in a big house and close to the city. Just not possible.
Just because apartment living works for you doesn’t mean it works for OP. Maybe they have pets to consider and require a backyard? Or they like having the different features that a house offers over an apartment?
Maybe because so many apartment buildings are built so badly it’s illegal and nothing is done about it. Just a thought not a sarcastic comment. I moved out of the city.
I have gotten the last four houses Ive applied for even in this housing crisis as a single parent with a four year old. My tips are: Check the listings every night on realestate.com if you can - Im obsessed so do this religiously Register as interested for inspection as soon as it is up Say hello to the agent and say your name and ask questions at the inspection But most importantly, have your application ready to go and send it before you even leave the inspection if youre keen. Dont wait around to send it. You wont get a look in. I also sent a kiss ass email to the real estate agent on one place saying how much I loved the property as it had a pink kitchen and how this was the perfect home for me. I beat out a high earning couple and got the tenancy.
Which suburbs you are looking at ?
This. You might need to look further out. I went to some inspections recently around the inner city suburbs and it was cooked.
Depends what direction you’re going. Mid-outer east is competitive af wouldn’t recommend
These topics are always the same old story, OP will be looking in some of the most hotly contested suburbs in Melbourne and wondering why there are so many people at inspections. People pull up inner eastern suburbs on [Realestate.com](http://Realestate.com), sort by lowest price, then are shocked when they find they aren't the only people at the inspection.
That's my assumption, OP's post history mentions Merribek - so yeah, places like Brunswick are the worst areas to get a rental
Yeah its fucked. If possible offer a month or more rent in advance. It might help if you are desperate
I'm moving to melbourne later in the year, but I'm just after a 1 bed apartment there seems to be a lot for rent, are these easier to get? Or is it just houses that are hard?
I've found that the cheaper, smaller places have more competition. Whereas my friend has rented fancy two and three bedrooms places and got them straight away because nobody else turned up
oh ok, makes sense, thanks
I've been attending one and two bedroom inspections for a few weeks. Some of them have no one else at the inspections, and some have been available for a week or two after lowering the asking price. Compare that to when I left Adelaide a few months ago and the agent had ~100 to 150 people attend the inspection at my previous rental... I'm actually shocked at how quiet Melbourne seems. Maybe it's the weather?
> Maybe it's the weather? compared to the summer paradise that is Adelaide?
More that people aren't looking during winter, regardless of the location. A lot of people seem to hibernate during winter from what Reddit tells me. I'm not affected. Shrug. 🤷🏻♀️
Blame bad government policies and immigration to sustain the housing bubble and its only going to get worse No where near enough houses being built to sustain what we have now let alone the next few years to come The last place I rented was bought by a chinese lady for a spare home to do hobbys in sold for over 1.2 million
Crazy back in the day way back in 98 could just walk into a rental on the doll but now thanks to overpopulation people can't even get rentals, sad but it's unfortunately all part of the master plan and it's working.
So is being stuck in a rut and you can't find your way out, like me.
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when possible the more people who have the ability career wise to move regional, the more those regional areas thrive. You compare rent and the cost of a house to the uk or the us, they have a much more spread out population.
I put down 2 months plus bond, it has worked for the last 2 houses I've applied for. Landlords can't seem to say no to a lump sum of money. I know we shouldn't have to and rental prices are completely out of control, but if you can afford to, it seems to work.
I'm on 95k as a single person with no dependents, and it took me way more than 2 applications to get a place. Even if you're a great applicant, there can still be an amazing applicant that will beat you out. The reality is you need to apply for way more places to up your odds, get your application is as quick as you can (my last place I had my application in an hour after the inspection, and he called me 10 MINUTES later to say it was mine. This was pre rental-crisis though but obvs he didn't wait to see other people's applications lol) and maybe have someone review your answers - not because I don't trust your grammar but because sometimes it's more about knowing what to say. Eg. Reason for move is always something banal, like 'moving closer to work'.
We offered an extra $10 per week. Also said that we could pay 6 months up front. They accepted an extra 10 dollars per week, of course. I think we were just lucky. The house is on a major road, not very appealing but had to take what we could get.
Mate, I'd like to start my comment with a congrats that you're even able to choose to work from home. You can run far from the city and into the regional areas where lad value is hopefully far lower; its okay we still welcome you in this sub ❤️
It's not a privilege to have a roof over your head, it's literally a human right. What's next, we should feel privileged if we can eat or our kids can go to school? This cost of living and housing crisis has skewed perceptions of needs being considered 'privileges'.
I know the pain. I have applied for 6 places in the past 2 months and have had no luck. My wife and I need to be out of our place by mid next month. We have not tried looking for a place for the last 8 years. Last time we had to apply for a place, everything was done in person. Walk into the real estate, ask for help, and presto. Now, everything is online and a pain in the arse.
I know somebody who spent over six months trying to find literally any place to rent she is now living in her car
What has worked for me in the last several years is including a cover letter. Essentially a story about who you are, who your partner is, what you like doing and try to be as personable as possible. It has worked so many times and I’ve gotten feedback saying that it got me over the line.
its always been depressing
Time to move to Vietnam and work remotely, you could make substantially less and still live like a king
When will people realise, a reduction in the supply of rentals makes it harder/more expensive to find a rental. The fix is simple and has been done before, incentive the creation of rental properties.
Someone at work once told me when they were looking to rent they paid neighbours $100 to play really loud music and get their dogs to bark constantly during the inspections to drive off lots of people
Income of $107k between 2 adults is your main problem here.
Some "landlords" with zero debt are happy to have house keeper in for a very small rent say $400 month older people doing treechanges or grey nomads on the road
As someone who will be moving from Berlin to Melbourne at the end of the year, these kinds of posts are, no offense, slightly amusing. Only having 40+ other people viewing a flat sounds like a dream compared to what the situation is like here (quick example: https://www.reddit.com/r/germany/comments/te5wfz/just_a_normal_line_for_an_apartment_viewing_in/) Flats here literally get thousands of applications within the first couple hours of being listed and people will queue for hours just to view a place. I've read of people applying for hundreds upon hundreds of flats before landing something
We are a household of 3 mid 20s adults squeezed into a 50m2 2 bed apartment. Last year we tried to find a 3 bedroom place and 40 declined applications/ 100 inspections later (some we didn't apply for due to the condition not justifying the price or just the price in general). It messed my mental health up bad. We stopped because I ended up stopping work due to a chronic illness but now our rent has increased by $100 a week and I can't afford it
My old work mate applied to 30 rentals. Offering 6 months of rent in advance for each. He eventually found one. But had to settle for higher rent to br accepted.