We signed the lease yesterday and picked up the keys. We’ll stay there tonight and then have a friend helping us pick up a bed, table, and fridge tomorrow!
Front entrance of the new place
Back room leading out to garden
Living room with fireplace that we are not allowed to use :(
So it seems we’re not the only ones who think that Sydney is the place to be. We thought that rugby was the vicious local sport, but as it turns out, securing an apartment in Sydney is just as competitive, requires similar intensity, and can leave you feeling pretty beat up! All the apartments in Balmain are leased through real estate agents, so the hunt begins on the domain.com.au website which thankfully consolidates all the real estate agents postings. But the market is turning over so fast that you can’t trust the info online and have to call the agents to see if a place that looks good is still available. Now here is where it gets really fun:
The way that agents show the apartments is to basically have open houses, which they do for a mere 15 minutes at a time, on wednesdays and saturdays. Many of them pick close to the same times, so you have to hope that the properties you want to see are near each other if you’re going to get to see more than a couple in one day. One apartment that I went to see had 30 people waiting outside 10 minutes before the start of the “inspection time” and there were probably more like 60 there when they opened the doors. Imagine all these people snaking through the apartment, trying to look at the place while bumping into all the other prospective renters. Then, if you decide you like the look of the place, you put in an application. Because there are a glut of potential renters, the landlords get leaf through all the applications and pick who they want to rent to.
After a couple of experiences with packed open houses and many calls to hear that posted apartments were already gone, and I was beginning to sweat. But as the expression goes, sometimes it is better to be lucky than be great (or something like that). There was one apartment that a real estate agent had shown just to me on wednesday (they only do this if the place isn’t currently rented and they’re trying to move it). It was in good shape, had lots of light, and a beautiful courtyard out back. I couldn’t believe it was still on the market, but apparently a couple of applications had fallen through. We put an application in on thursday, and since we were the only application on the place, they approved it friday. Mike went back with me this morning to see it. It got his stamp of approval, so we put down a deposit and will sign the lease monday and should be able to move in asap! And the first order to business will be buying or borrowing a fridge…because refrigerators don’t come with apartments in Sydney. Ovens do, but fridges, no. Bizarre!
Dining area of the kitchen
Back courtyard of the new place
Hi all,
We’ve made it safely to Sydney and had the best possible start: not being charged for overweight bags, getting lots of sleep on a smooth flight, and with all our luggage arriving! We even got an apparently rare landing path, which had us fly over the city and then turning around to land, which gave us our first glimpse of the Opera House and Harbor Bridge!
Our first few days we’ve been trying to get essentials like a bank account and cell phones set-up and been doing a bit of exploring. We’re staying with Oscar (friend from grad school) at the moment. He lives in Manly, which is probably the most popular northern beach. It’s got beautiful scenery and beautiful views, but it’s a ferry and train ride for Mike to get to Uni (the first bit of Australian slang that has made its way into our vocabulary). After a year and a half of Mike spending 2-3 hours a day commuting we’re hoping to find an apartment in a neighborhood closer in. Our favorite candidate neighborhood at the moment is Balmain, and I actually need to call some real estate agents there about rentals,
so I’m going to sign off for the moment…
P.S. I’m just learning the Word Press software for getting this blog going, so it’s going to take me awhile to settle on a ‘look’ for the blog, so don’t be surprised if the site looks different over the next few weeks. I figured it’s better to start posting now though than wait until I get it the way I want. Advice from blog aficionados is welcome!
A fine day in Manly Beach, though feels a bit cool to us coming from summer in DC