!!!

[morsla]

My chances of living in Carlton next year are looking pretty slim. My bank balance would be even slimmer, if I did.

I love this part of Melbourne. I've spent five years here; pinned down a base of operations for my view of the world. Lived and loved and lost, grown up a lot along the way. I've been adopted by cats in all the neighbouring streets and laneways; claimed the parks and gardens as my own. It's a small house, but I treat the parts of the world that touch it as a surrogate backyard - somewhere to feel comfortable. Somewhere I can navigate with my eyes closed.

As some of you know, I'm moving out next year. I don't really feel like I fit in here anymore, and I'd like to live with aeliel. Thesis needs finishing before I can seriously start house hunting, but I picked up a rental properties listing on my way home, just to see what things were like. I still want to live in this part of the world, if I can manage it.

Things have changed an awful lot since I last went looking for houses. There are still plenty of 2-bedroom places in nearby suburbs, but they are starting at $280 p/w - many, many miles out of my price range, and half as much again on top of what I've been paying here. I'm really not sure what to do, now.

Comments

[bishi-wannabe.livejournal.com]

>>There are still plenty of 2-bedroom places in nearby suburbs, but they are starting at $280 p/w - many, many miles out of my price range, and half as much again on top of what I've been paying here.<<

I could have told you that.

Now, I suspect it's quite possible to actually negotiate down, but the problem is that unlike most other rental properties, places on top of the Uni can rely on substantial demand.

One of the reasons why our place, at $250pw, is not somewhere I'm likely to let go in a hurry, unless, you know, Kerry wins the election and Becka and I move to the US :)

[morsla.livejournal.com]

It's a shame, though - we pay $275 for a two storey, three bedroom place at the moment. Paying more money for a smaller, older place seems bizarre.

[sugar-plum-fair.livejournal.com]

hehe, you're inredibly lucky to not be paying more than what you are. What you're paying isn't just a steal, it's enviable! Almost enough to kill for...

[morsla.livejournal.com]

End result of a month of searching, and holding onto the lease for five years. Prices jump a lot more dramatically while houses are empty - if you've stayed put, they only go up by a little each year.

[kikilon.livejournal.com]

If you're willing to move a little further north, prices drop quickly quite dramatically.

I pay $170/week for my place, so somewhere between your place and mine, you should be able to find a good price range, I reckon.

Plus, of course,t he more time you're willing to invest in house hunting, the better the place you'll find will be.
Mid-November to mid-December should be good around uni, when the overseas students move back home.

Good luck!

[sugar-plum-fair.livejournal.com]

My friend jess pays $300-$350 for her place on bouverie street. So expensive to be in the city.

[morsla.livejournal.com]

We'll definitely be looking up there, too. Most of the near-city types that I know are in North Melbourne and Carlton, so those are the first preferences - but anywhere that I can (theoretically) walk to the city is good.

Don't know where either of us will be working, though (well, I'll be in Clayton and Highett until June) so I'd like to stay out of the traffic bottlenecks that hem in some parts of the city.

[vorex.livejournal.com]

Whilst I would love to say we could perhaps find a place together, I have met two (perhaps three) people *ever* that I felt I could actually live with on a long term basis, and one of them doesn't even live on the same continent. Plus which, when my flood damage actually gets repaired the last of the reservations I had about my place will be well and truly gone.

[vorex.livejournal.com]

There should be a 'but' in there, after the first comma, yet I can't edit my post to insert it.

[morsla.livejournal.com]

Hopefully your house will be put back together soon...

At the moment we're just planning to find a place for the two of us. I don't have anything against sharing houses with people (six and a half years in sharehouses, so far), but I thought it was time for a change.

[futurelegend.livejournal.com]

Thompson is the uber-expensive. The Age, whichever day listings come out is good - may find something private = cheaper..

..how is Abbotsford these days? not as pretty. Hmm, Brunswick? ..it's tough

[morsla.livejournal.com]

Yep, I don't think we'll go through them if we can manage it. Their rental listings are more pricey than pretty much anywhere else, and their *ahem* service hasn't been all that remarkable. 11 months to get a lease renewed...

Once I finish writing, I'll be able to look around properly.

[kashiichan.livejournal.com]

I know exactly what you mean with the whole moving slash housing thing. I have the same problem at the moment, but mine's more serious because at the end of the year I'll be virtually homeless if I can't find somewhere.
By 'virtually' I mean that I'll have to leave my life up here on the Coast behind and go back to Melbourne to live.
I'm not actually sure how I feel about that.