We have been learning a lot about the
Australian rental market. Most of it we don't like. We miss dealing with
real people. In Montreal if we wanted to rent a house we would look at
ads, if we saw one we liked we would call and set up a viewing time. The
owner would be there to greet us and answer any questions and if we
liked the place we would be extra cheery and endearing and gush about
the place and cross our fingers that we were both one of the first to
say we want the place and that we were likable enough that even if we
weren't the first to express interest our chances were still good. And
then a day or so later they tell you if you got the place and you meet
and sign the standard lease purchased in the magazine section of the
pharmacy. Ok so this doesn't really sound that great. But it was a
straightforward enough process and everyone wanted to get it done as
quickly as possible.
Here it feels more like a team building exercise in communication. Except that one part of the team has decided that they're not part of your team. The majority of rentals are done through real estate agents. Each agent has a bunch of homes to rent out and lists them online. If a place strikes your fancy you can email the agent. They eventually get back to you letting you know that they will have an open viewing time set up as soon as they can. So you wait. A week later they post a viewing time for the following week. So you wait some more. Yes, this is one 15 minute session at any time of the day. If you can't make it you can email to schedule a separate viewing but unless they are desperate - in which case you likely shouldn't see the place anyhow - they generally ignore these emails. When you get there there is an agent who wordlessly unlocks the door and lets people walk around and take a look. If you have any questions about the place they generally can't answer and refer you to the sparse online ad. In one house we saw there was a huge hole in the bathroom ceiling. We asked what happened and if it would be fixed and the agent told us our questions were taking up her time and preventing others from getting to view the place and we should refer to the online ad. If you like what you see you can apply for the place. By apply I mean fill out an application that is lengthier and more difficult than most university applications. You must list all the jobs you've ever had, all the places you have ever lived, your landlords and their contact details, three pieces of photo ID, professional references, personal references, all your pets names and their birthdays, and so many other aggravating details that we nearly gave up the first time around. No wonder we haven't had time to do our taxes! And then you wait. Supposedly all the applications are sent to the owner who chooses from the lot. Realistically, it seems that there is some screening done as one agent offhandedly stated when we phoned that she didn't even bother sending our application. Some agents will text you to let you know if your application was unsuccessful while others won't and you have to resort to trying to get ahold of them by phone or checking to see if the place has been rented online. And so a few weeks later you are no better off than at the start and you are having bad dreams about real estate agents laughing maniacally. These lucky undeserving individuals claim 10% of the rental rate for themselves/their company.
After a couple of weeks of this we wisened up and decided to spread our net. We applied to 5 places all at once and crossed our fingers. We even applied to places we thought we might get that we didn't even like much. And our fingers got sore from staying crossed for so long. And we cursed our luck that at least three of the places all involved the same agent. The same agent who never returned calls. The same agent who doesn't even send our application to landlords. The same agent who doesn't even bother listing a place as rented when it has been. The same agent who has confirmed our dislike of real estate agents. And I really started to miss my old landlord who was really nice and would bring her children over to play.
Today we signed a lease on a place. It was truly an odd experience. We had questions and the real estate agent had no answers. In fact, she had never even been to the place. She had no idea what partly furnished would mean but assured us that they would have a list ready for when we picked up the keys to move in. It seemed like these details should be part of the lease but we kept quiet and just signed because really who cares? With that signature, we removed ourselves from the joke of a rental process - which had somehow become our new objective.
Here it feels more like a team building exercise in communication. Except that one part of the team has decided that they're not part of your team. The majority of rentals are done through real estate agents. Each agent has a bunch of homes to rent out and lists them online. If a place strikes your fancy you can email the agent. They eventually get back to you letting you know that they will have an open viewing time set up as soon as they can. So you wait. A week later they post a viewing time for the following week. So you wait some more. Yes, this is one 15 minute session at any time of the day. If you can't make it you can email to schedule a separate viewing but unless they are desperate - in which case you likely shouldn't see the place anyhow - they generally ignore these emails. When you get there there is an agent who wordlessly unlocks the door and lets people walk around and take a look. If you have any questions about the place they generally can't answer and refer you to the sparse online ad. In one house we saw there was a huge hole in the bathroom ceiling. We asked what happened and if it would be fixed and the agent told us our questions were taking up her time and preventing others from getting to view the place and we should refer to the online ad. If you like what you see you can apply for the place. By apply I mean fill out an application that is lengthier and more difficult than most university applications. You must list all the jobs you've ever had, all the places you have ever lived, your landlords and their contact details, three pieces of photo ID, professional references, personal references, all your pets names and their birthdays, and so many other aggravating details that we nearly gave up the first time around. No wonder we haven't had time to do our taxes! And then you wait. Supposedly all the applications are sent to the owner who chooses from the lot. Realistically, it seems that there is some screening done as one agent offhandedly stated when we phoned that she didn't even bother sending our application. Some agents will text you to let you know if your application was unsuccessful while others won't and you have to resort to trying to get ahold of them by phone or checking to see if the place has been rented online. And so a few weeks later you are no better off than at the start and you are having bad dreams about real estate agents laughing maniacally. These lucky undeserving individuals claim 10% of the rental rate for themselves/their company.
After a couple of weeks of this we wisened up and decided to spread our net. We applied to 5 places all at once and crossed our fingers. We even applied to places we thought we might get that we didn't even like much. And our fingers got sore from staying crossed for so long. And we cursed our luck that at least three of the places all involved the same agent. The same agent who never returned calls. The same agent who doesn't even send our application to landlords. The same agent who doesn't even bother listing a place as rented when it has been. The same agent who has confirmed our dislike of real estate agents. And I really started to miss my old landlord who was really nice and would bring her children over to play.
Today we signed a lease on a place. It was truly an odd experience. We had questions and the real estate agent had no answers. In fact, she had never even been to the place. She had no idea what partly furnished would mean but assured us that they would have a list ready for when we picked up the keys to move in. It seemed like these details should be part of the lease but we kept quiet and just signed because really who cares? With that signature, we removed ourselves from the joke of a rental process - which had somehow become our new objective.
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