Second time lucky - worried sick!

[Guest Dave & Gill]

Hi all, we are Gill (44), Dave (47), Scott (20), Daniel (16) and Samantha (8), we are aiming to come to Perth late January/early February 2013. We have been to Perth before in 2009 and lived there for 6 weeks, but had a massive panic attack and moved back to England even before our container landed in Oz. We have decided to try again for the last time and are determined to make it work for our children's sake. I have a load of questions going round in my mind and cannot sleep at night worrying about absolutely everything. My hubby works in the Council at the moment in the Highways department and I am an audio typist. Can anyone assist in answering a few questions to begin with? (1) How do you go about renting accommodation (probably Secret Harbour, Rockingham), from this end? Is it best to get a furnished holiday let first? We are hoping to coincide us landing there with our furniture not long behind, but wouldn't like to rent a property via the net in case we hated the look of it when we got there. (2) Also, when we get off the plane, do we hire a car from the airport or what? We'll need a big one with the 5 of us and all our luggage. Do we wait till we get there to do that, or can you book it from this end? (3) Is there anyone else heading out to this area around that time also? I will await any replies before I ask more questions as there are loads I can think of! Thank you in advance!

 

Gill & Dave

[fifi69]

Hello and Wow. Ive only been here 8 weeks and can totally understand the panic thing, at least you kinda know what to expect this time round. We are a family more or less the same ages as you, with kids the same age too. Is there something in particular thats making you want to leave the UK? Or is it a now or never thing (thats what it was with us). I dont know what the rental market was like back in 2009 but it can be a difficult to secure one now, so many people going after the same property so i would give yourself plenty of time to find one. Stayz.com seem to get a lot of mention on here. What area were you in before?.

My kids 16, 18 and 20 are all loving it and managed to get jobs real easy. On the work front i cant say about your OH but i would hope you would get work ok....but saying that ive got nearly 30 years of admin experience and have yet to find work, im applying for loads every day but not getting anywhere, as for the agengys they have been useless and unprofessional (never hear back from them) imo. Im not trying to put you off cos i know of people who have managed to find work straight from the plane. I hate saying it but i am beginning to wonder if its an age thing in my case.

I love Perth as a city, its got so much going for it and know if/when i get a job i will settle quite easily. Plus the weather is hotting up now so even better.

My advice would be to do as much as you can from the UK ie sorting your rental car out beforehand. Research your suburbs as getting it right will make a big difference to you settling. A suburb that may be great for your youngest may not have the amenties or closeness to the action for the older ones. Your area of work could mean your working in the CBD so you might want to make sure you are served well by public transport. I hope this helps, ive only just woken up, not had my caffine intake yet:unsure:

[JAK]

Hi, look on a aussiemove.com or ozhouserental.com for a furnished rental, then look for full time rental once you have arrived. Keep looking on seek.com for jobs or google your profession (thats what we did for OH and he got a job from it). I think I have seen bayswatercarrental mentioned on here as a good company. Good luck.

Edited September 22, 2012 by JAK

[ali]

Remember that January early Feb are the school holidays here so holiday rental prices will be more expensive.

[verystormy]

Dont lock yourself in too long in the first rental. A couple on another forum have had big issues as they signed on for 6 months at $1000 a week and are now broke. I would say only ask for a month as that will give plenty of time to find a long term rental.

 

Cars can be booked well in advance with all the major rental companies. A company called "no birds" are the cheapest, but i am not sure what size cars they do as i have only used them for small cars.

[elfie]

hi mr stormy any ideas where we can rent a transit van near mandurah or rockingham please have to get johns tools to welshpool and im afraid our little car wont take the weight

thanks

mary

[Jen_PFR]

Good advice, verystormy. Also, check with your short term accommodation provider as to how amenable they are to cut your stay short. For example, we always do a fixed term lease with our tenants, but if they find a long term rental early, we are usually more than happy for them to move out early. As an example we have a young couple with a couple of kids who were in one of our properties until 20 October, but they will be moving out on 6 October as they've found somewhere. All they did was send an email asking us if it was possible, and we agreed - easy!

 

I personally think it's so hard at the moment for anyone to find a rental, the least that short term accomm providers can do is be a bit flexible, particularly when you're talking about people who have just moved from half the world away.

 

In terms of your question about hating the property, is there anyone you know in Perth? The reason I ask, is because we come across this quite often. We're more than happy to show our properties to friends/relatives etc on your behalf, that way you can get a 'report back' from someone you trust. I would imagine most short term accomm providers would be similarly helpful if asked. One less thing to worry about then!

 

Regards

Jen

[fifi69]

hi mr stormy any ideas where we can rent a transit van near mandurah or rockingham please have to get johns tools to welshpool and im afraid our little car wont take the weight

thanks

mary

 

Hehe Mr Stormy!!

Mary i know its not quite in the area you are looking at hiring but its not too far (and easy to find) just follow Stock Road. Myaree car and van rental. Weve used them and theyve been fine.

[Guest Dave & Gill]

Thanks for all your advice. Fifi69, yes it is now or never for us, it feels that way anyway, the kids are at that age where they are saying they want to come with us one minute and then the next minute they don't. We want a better life for them to grow up in and have a family in and our 8 year old is at the right age to still make new friends. What suburb are you in? We were in Secret Harbour in 2009 and would love to go back to the same area as we loved it. We got a rental no problem last time. We stayed with a friend of a friend who didn't know us from Adam and they welcomed us into their home for two weeks whilst we found the rental house. They lent us some furniture and everyone they knew helped us out with some things as well. It was July when we came and it took us by surprise how cold the house was, we just couldn't get warm! What did you do when you first arrived 8 weeks ago? Did you have a rental sorted before you arrived? Love to hear back from you or anyone who has had a similar experience!

 

Dave & Gill

[fifi69]

Hiya

I think we all feel its a case of we best do it otherwise we might end up regretting not coming!. Slightly different for us as OH was offered a sponsored job and everything moved really fast. We knew where he would be working so basically looked in that area so that he wasnt having to spend hours travelling, as you know Perth is a large sprawled out area. We were lucky in that we managed to secure a long term let while still in the UK. We are SOR in Melville, ive been to Secret Harbour a few times and i agree it does seem really nice, are you still in touch with anybody from before who may be able to help you again?.

We left the UK in July and i know what you mean about freezing, i couldnt get over how cold it was, not what i was expecting at all. Our house has a pool, but its been too cold to go in it yet, although i have been in the sea at Cottlesloe.

I think even with you being here before you may still get a shock with the price of everything. What were you paying for your last rental. We pay £650pw but it is a huge house with great transport links. As soon as the kids move out though im moving to nice little apartment lol. Secret Harbour you would def get cheaper than that.

As for my kids they too were unsure about coming but agreed to try it for a year to see. They seem to be enjoying it. My eldest daughter deferred her place at uni in the uk so still not sure what will happen there.

Im still in the settling in period, but apart from the job issue which aswell as financially i need for my sanity it should work. Theres a lot worser places to be at the moment.

Anything else you want to know just ask. Take care

[Levi]

Keep us updated of your progress. Guess you already have visa and PR from 2009, right?

 

My sister's + family experience: arrived end of January this year in Perth. First couple of weeks lived in holiday rental, then in long term rental, and this month they moved into their own house. In the beginning they rented a car, but bought 2 pretty soon. Made friends with the landlord quickly, to this day they keep in touch. Kids in kindergarten, all sorted : ) My brother-in-law found a job fast, started work the second (perhaps third) week there (CNC machine operator). Yes, money went in and out in the blink of an eye, but having a job seems to keep the stress away.

 

Cheers