Moving to Oz: Resources for Finding a Flat in Australia
In the last post on finding a place to stay in Australia (for more long-term endeavors), I talked about the lessons I learned involving the apartment market here in Sydney. This post is going to be just a little bit more specific and talk about the resources that can help you find a place to rest your head besides a hostel or a hotel.
The hunt for an apartment in Australia for a working holiday or extended holiday stay is best to start when you actually land. It just makes sense that anyone renting out a flat would want to deal with a person that is in the same location, especially since having an open unit costs so much money. After you arrive and begin your housing search, there are a number of top-notch Australian hostels to spend your time.
Search for a bed in Sydney hostels, Melbourne hostels or Cairns hostels.
An extremely popular resource for finding flats in Australia would be Gumtree. Gumtree is a free resource where apartment owners and those looking to rent out a spare room can place an ad without a charge, and it has reached levels of nationwide popularity Down Under. In addition to finding flats, you can use Gumtree to help you find additional apartment furnishing, find travel partners and even find a job.
For those looking to not wade through the garbage posts that might come up on Gumtree (it’s a free service, after all), then a paid flatmate finding website might be the way to go. With these websites, you can search for usually more long-term rentals and also get a better idea of the flatmate you are buying in with in advance.
Take to social media like Twitter and Facebook. Facebook has a marketplace where people can list accommodation along with several other kinds of things, and Twitter can put you in touch with someone looking to rent out a place just by sending out a quick tweet.
Hit message boards for travelers and expats, such as BootsnAll or Lonely Planet’s Thorn Tree. You can put yourself in touch with people who have been there and done that, people who have some great insights for you, or even people that have spare rooms for rent. Even if you don’t find a place through the boards, you might make some new friends.
Search the tack-up boards at hostels. Other travelers often use these as ways to sell campervans, find share rides and to find flatmates.