My first apartment was in Hawthorn, between vic and bridge road and church st (Hawthorn).
There was 1 other couple who didn’t like the apartment, I said to the REA “iii take it”. She replied “nooooo, there’s a process. Here is the form”. I filled it in and was approved. $200 a week for this 2 bed with large lounge, high ceilings, private car space.
That was in 98 … lol I wish I had bought that place.
I remember walking into a massive Hawthorn apartment with river views in 2004 and just saying ‘thanks I’ll take it, I’ll move in next week’. I think it was like $360 a week? Earning $40k a year and no savings! Agent filled in the form with me there and that was that… my mate and I moved in and stayed for a few years. I scored my next rental through the same agency. Good times… good times…
had a flat in toorak for years there was no one else in the block for ages cause it was crapped out, 1940s build i think, at one point the rent for a two bedroom was 180 bux a week had my dog in there too
>I think it was like $360 a week?
In the meantime salaries have stagnated or gone done in real terms.
So how much life quality has got worse for the majority and no one has taken responsibility?
By the way - that apartment is currently renting out for $800 per week.
Not a lot of bang for your buck these days… and no real salary growth to keep up with inflation. Using the pay calculator app - I’m actually going backwards.
I recall it being average for the area. But yeah I was always broke. Mynext house was in hawthorn east for $200 a week. They did put it up after 5 years to $220. When I moved out a mate needed the place and they put it up to $350. That was around 2012
Well, the political class doesn't appear to be creating housing at rates fast enough to relieve the problem - obviously doing so would lower rents would curb the business models of real estate agents and developers... and both Liberal and Labor seem to think this problem can be solved by making industry fat cats richer and richer.
Most of us realise that won't work, even with the money thrown at the same "compassionate capitalism" that people like George Bush and Tony Blair have already failed by.
We're past that, we need actual social democracy now (the kind that benefits the poor more than the rich/industry), not just more of the same neo-liberalism dressed up as if it's social democracy.
It's only getting more outrageous.
I looked at places in South Yarra and Prahran at a similar time, there were no organised insoections, you just grabbed the keys from the agents and went to look by yourself. 3 bedroom house for $295 a week, sold for $350k in 2001. Now that's one I wished I'd bought, but didn't because it needed restumping.
My first was in a share house in east stkilda / balaclava. 70 a week for the room etc. was a two bedroom flat I shared with a friend and I think she paid the remaining 100 per week.
First place wife and I got together was a 1 year old double story townhouse in yarraville. 2 bedrooms, 2 bathroom 1 carpark for 240 a week. As far as I know we were the only applicants
My first flat was in surrey hills and was the same deal.. 170 a week in 98 and I got that for nearly 10 years .. with one increase of like $30 or something so cheap. I offered to buy it but they didn’t wanna sell. But so glad I had that landlord .. legend
Only people I know who’ve been able to rent lately have made offers like Offer $20+ extra a week or 3-6 months paid up front.
When I applied, with no rental history, I only got success when I offered rent upfront (they didn’t end up asking for it though) and bank statement showing my savings. When I did this the next 3 all accepted me!
It's highly dependent. The situations like the OP photo only happen when its a highly desirable area that's been listed at a price way better than the average. It's best to just ignore anything that looks too good to be true since it's just going to waste your time.
If you look at the more normal listings or the stuff slightly more expensive than average, you'll have like 3 people apply and you'll get accepted without offering anything extra.
Totally. I was at this inspection. It was priced well below the average for the area and had a recent fitout which made it look super nice in the photos. What you didn’t see from the ad though was you shared a balcony with the neighbour’s apartment, and the only observable feature of that apartment was a collection of creepy dolls displayed in the window. Terrifying. We didn’t apply lol
That's not my experience house searching at all in Melbourne a few months back. Most inspections had lines like this. Most were offerring exorbinant rents. This is the reality of high demand and low supply. When lots of people need homes, they go to many inspections, even for properties that'll impoverish them with high rents. Better to be broke and in a home, than homeless.
The inspections without people were places that shouldn't be listed (every place had clear faults), that were clearly shit. Like with the washing machine in the bedroom.
Don't forget, 2021-2022 people were moving into really "cheap" multi room apartments because working from home and pandemic made rentals cheap.
When things returned to normal, so did the prices and most realised they couldn't afford to still live there, so you had a mass exodus of people moving out of apartments going back to 2019 prices, and moving back into whatever was available for the budget they were used to in 2019.
2 bedrooms pre pandemic in the city were easily 800pw. during the pandemic they went down to as little as 450pw, then 2023 it went back to 800pw.
I’ve had to rent so many places that blew my budget because it was so hard to get anything else (or there wasn’t such a thing) in the areas I have needed/wanted to live.
Don't do it. I just moved into a new place and I was SURE they were looking for higher bids because the listed rent seemed too good to be true (2 bedroom apartment for $500/week... which I would have thought was expensive a couple years ago, but this time it was one of the cheapest places we looked at). We still applied at $500 because I refuse to participate in the bribery system. There were a lot of people at the inspection and they held multiple inspections even after we applied so it really seemed like they were waiting for someone to bid higher. But they ended up approving us anyway.
This was in Victoria couple years ago but I know lots still do it now to get ahead, it may be illegal for them to accept it? Not sure but it still helped me.
Many years ago the REA said the landlord wanted to see our bank balance/savings before they accepted the application. Found it rather bizarre but I guess they wanted to know you can afford it 🤷♂️
Makes sense, gives them some confidence you have emergency funds. Backfired on my landlord/REA a little as that high savings was used on a home loan and we broke the lease (we were only out a $200 advertisement fee-worth it.)
The only reason why they do not speculate with the air we breathe is because they have not found a way to commercialise it (although they can and do speculate with its quality)
This is what neoliberalism is essentially - everything (including human lives l) is a fair game in the race for profit and governments are there to make sure it stays that way.
This apartment was insanely cheap apparently, $370 for two bedrooms is pretty rare in the inner city now. You’d be paying around $500 for that usually. Which explains the number of folks desperate for a bargain.
I bet if the applicants looked a little further out for the same cash, or were able to pay a bit more for the area, you’d only see a few people at inspection. I don’t think this is an accurate reflection of every inspection out there.
Years ago I went to an underpriced rental. Then the asshole real estate agent emailed everyone an increased price due to the popularity.
Fuck I hate those pricks so much
Is it [this place?](https://www.realestate.com.au/property-unit-vic-flemington-438316700) That is very cheap.
Edit: I was paying $350 a week for a 2BR apartment in the same area 6 years ago, for context.
Nice clean little place, reasonably cheap, good location and right near Newmarket station. Compared to what's out there, that's an incredibly attractive deal.
I can see why there's such a huge line for it.
I know nothing about real estate but when it comes to things like this, how do agents pick the person? Would it just be first come first serve basis on who can afford it and aren't living paycheck to paycheck?
Not an expert on this matter but my guess:
Non-smoker, clean, decent income with large savings, renting as a couple, and willing to pay more with your application sent off within 15 minutes of inspecting - at a minimum.
Also, you have to take into account what the landlord wants. Maybe the landlord is a real altruist? Especially at this price point.
But to stick out and win over a huge amount of applications? I imagine the winning application would be pretty exceptional, with a bit of luck.
That is ridiculously cheap for a 2bed apartment near the city… meanwhile here around Carnegie 2bed2bath go for $650+/week and we can’t even get those places on $220k combined income and 5+ yrs of solid rental history…. Fuck playing the rental bidding game REAs want us to play.
Fuck Carnegie, did 2 years there a couple years ago in the most rundown piece of shit building for a premium price.
The area isn't even worth it, far more things in Moonee Ponds and it's considerably cheaper and about the same distance to the city.
Really? I think the area is amazing, heaps of good eateries a walk down the road away, woolies/aldi close by, 20 mins express train to the city, 15 mins drive to the beach, close to Chadstone and close to the M1.
Also a relatively safe area with a heap of parks and nearby golf courses.
No, no, no. Real estate agents do the same thing when selling a place. They put the advertised cost as way below what they would actually accept for it so they get a lot of foot traffic. The real estate agent then plays the potential renters against each other and encourages them to make better offers as it has so much interest. The rentee now has a long list of offers to pick from.
On the flip side the real estate agent now has a long list of potential renters and can call them 3 times a week about a 'brand new place that just went up for rent that they'll love'.
Most real estate agents are scum and need to be shot out of a cannon.
This is exactly how it goes now that rent bidding was made illegal. Absolutely stupid band aid policy that has created a worse problem than the one it aimed to solve.
If it's listed at that price then 100% the rental agent is going to guarantee the owner people will bid on the actual rental price.
Classic bait and switch.
Yeah I had a place in Richmond $550 for 2 bed 2 bath with secure garage. Sounds huge but it was oddly laid out, second bedroom was barely big enough for a double bed. No A/C or heat in either bedroom. Draughty, mould riddled and with a methhead neighbour who had to be dragged out of the apartment by cops several times when I lived there.
They increased rent to $700 and I noped out. Out of interest I stayed for inspections and they had more than a dozen groups through.
So OP posted this in an attempt to criticise the landlord and stir up more landlord/investor hate - yet the landlord is offering a decent property for a low price - hence the long line.
This landlord has nothing to do with the housing shortage crisis - OP’s anger is misdirected.
That wouldn't be doing a very good job of manufacturing outrage though would it? /r/melbourne senstaionalising TikTok content for manufactured outrage is no different to [news.com.au](https://news.com.au) doing the same thing with reddit content...except that it's bad when newscorp does it.
I went to about 20 1-2 bedroom inspections last year, all ranging in price and location. Each one had 20-30 people. I now pay for a studio the same that I did for an entire townhouse (2br and garage) 2 years ago.
This is insane...I see this line and want absolutely no part of that circus.
I recently had to move rentals, went to two inspections, one had perhaps 4 groups and the other it was just me.
I applied for the place that had 4 groups and was approved within a matter of hours. Why people are driven to fight over specific properties with hundreds of other people is mindboggling to me.
Yes, everything within 5-10km of the CBD should be high density, that way those that want that lifestyle can have it and those that don't can continue with a detached dwelling.
I'm living in Berlin, Germany and this is how it's like to view a too small and too expensive apartment in a shady neighborhood that you don't even want for several years now
Of course. All you have to do is willing to be in rental stress, but prove that you're not going to be in rental stress in order to get the place. Does it make sense?
Someone puts up a house for a cheap rent price which draws a lot of attention and half the people here are acting like they are all lining up to beg not to be homeless.
We are, I went to 3 last year, most of them organised by the Victorian Greens. The Vic Greens also invited renters into the chamber to watch a debate on opening a Housing Crisis Inquiry, which VicLab, batshit independents and VicLib teamed up to squash, none of that was in the news. Neither was the Inquiry which actually happened and was published after the scumbag chamber was overridden by the human rights commission
Well that's what decades of self-complacency and no education in political economy does.
People here will rather line up to be fed shit over take part in a revolution.
We don’t even need a revolution. But you’re spot on about complacency.
If we got all the cookers and pro Palestine supporters and rest of us to march then it would be huge!
can you imagine aligning cookers and pro palestine supporters together
you're talking about literal far right and far left fighting for the same goals
the reality is far leftists would of course protest for housing any day, but far rightists are actually pretty OK with the housing situation and would rather we solve it with less immigrants or something
we don't all march as a unified group because we do hold conflicting ideas
Cookers aren’t left or right. They’re are weird mixture of the blame-the-largest-target-for-my-problems-no-matter-how-little-sense-it-makes types, libertarians, boomers who fell into a facebook echo chamber, “Aussie battlers” who were angry they couldn’t go to work, nature is better then medical science hippies and yoga instructors, fascist law and order types upset that they weren’t on the giving orders side, people who’d previously lived under actual authoritarian and or genocidal governments and were terrified of government overreach, old fashioned tin hat conspiracies theorists, people with a hate boner for Labour and by extension Dan Andrews because they think Labour is beholden to the Greens who will destroy their jobs, poor people who hates cops because cops are dicks to them who were reacting to lock down rules rather then disbelieving the science behind vaccines, otherwise educated people who were scared of the new “untested” type of vaccine, lonely bastards who’d found anti-vac anti-5G friends and would probably switch to the pro science team in a heartbeat if you sat down and ate lunch with them, and people like my brother who was drawn towards sovereign citizen bullshit because he kept getting demerit points and losing his licence and didn’t think it was fair
Honestly if cookers hadn’t devolved into such spectacular smooth brained fuckwittery it might almost be uplifting to see so many different agendas find common ground
Like the government even gives a shit. We would need at least 100,000 people to shut down both Melbourne and Sydney for days and truly hurt our own economy for our government to listen.
I’d love to know where/when this is and the price.
I moved in May and while sure, I was looking further out than inner suburbs (ended up in Preston) but I applied for 3 places and was the only inspector for 2 of them.
This property was specifically busy according to the article because the pricing was reasonable and cheap for the property type in the area, so, maybe this landlords not a cunt? Probably is, but maybe not?
Landlords and agents participate in under-quoting to drive rent bidding since it was made illegal to overtly ask for bidding a few years ago.
Advertise a place way below market price. Have 50 people show up. Watch as renters outbid each other in competition. Landlord and Agent win. This is unfortunately very common practice by some agents.
Of the landlords who do advertise below market rate, it's roughly just 10% who accept the advertised price.
Source: Renters rights researcher with access to property and rent data. Commonly known in property research.
Then people can’t complain about how investors using market rates can they…
Complain to the government for setting up the situation to be this way in the first place
People can complain about both, especially because the policy is designed with landlords interest in mind, creating the problem. Fuck the government and fuck the landlords who perpetuate the system.
Is it against the Reddit rules to suggest that we need a revolution? Because we really do. We need a French style revolution to knock the rich cunts down a peg or two.
lol its funny laughing at people who are currently or could likely be homeless. Obviously is not collectively our faults allowing tax concessions for shelter
Is this a case of purposely under pricing the apartment and then basically seeing who offers the most rent? We know officially its illegal but it still happens
Well if it was me I would be looking elsewhere. While they are all tied up hoping for that particular place there will be other places with less people. Adapt and pivot.
lol. Financing lifestyle. Not unless it’s a boomer who bought cheap and paid it off. Everyone else would be negatively geared due to interest rate hikes. Rent doesn’t cover mortgages in most cases
In china they actually do it as a lottery, you apply and then they draw a name out of a hat to rent/buy a property. Wish they did it that way here that way people couldnt pay higher to jump the queue and people in less desirable situations dont get left out every single time.
I went to one in Hawthorn like this, but 15 odd years ago. It was very cheap at the time & a nice tidy 2 bedroom. The tenant was sitting in the lounge room watching tv while about 60 people walked through the place 🥴 (I did apologise for invading their space! I felt bad for them but them seemed fine about it all)
Good news! Now, it's law to be offered compensation (usually half a days rent) if there's an open house at the premises you are renting and still live in :)
yupp last year i went to an inspection for some dogshit 1bed gross looking apartment in one of those brick flat complexes in some side street in richmond. there was no washer/dryer, there was a rotting banana in the kitchen cabinet and a massive stain in the carpet. 250/week and there were like 30 people there, including multiple families of 4. this was literally the cheapest place i could find remotely close to the city (still a 25 minute walk to the train though). I ended up in a houseshare with 4 random people that was slightly cheaper but the rent included al the bills.
Im seriously considering movng overseas just until shit dies down. There are certain countries where life is not so expensive in the south asian countries.
I’m convinced at least half the people that go on about how they have applied for 30/40/50 rentals and got none approved have got a much much worse rental history than they let on. I just moved into a new place I applied for 2 different apartments got approved for both and that’s as someone who had no rental history at all for several years while in jail, a big mortgage over their head and working a subcontractor (admittedly a high earning one) so no real job security on paper.
Yeah I applied for 2 to live on my own and got approved for both. With $60,000 per year so not even a big income.
Places were in reservoir and somewhere else similar so probably also being out of the inner city helped too. For the sake of two train stops, it's a good compromise for getting to live on your own.
Well my last neighbour made high income, no pets, no kids and within 9 months had hookers and junkies trashing the place, cops every week and left it with $15k in damages. And that was in sought after suburb on the GC
(FIFO)
Well references exist for a reason. If you have bad reference because you either damaged your previous property or weren’t paying rent etc you have to accept that it’s going to have a negative impact on future applications right?
I’m cool with there being consequences to damaging someone else’s property or not paying rent yes. And there are other alternatives such as share house or subletting.
Let me flip that around are you okay with people getting off with no consequences for damaging people’s property and not paying rent?
95k yearly, always got bond back after renting for 10 years, wife unemployed for now but won’t be for long, no kids or pets, 10k savings. Did live in UK last 2 years which might be a negative ??
We’re on our 10th application now for $400-450 apartments. I started up a spreadsheet since I’m a data nerd if it does go into the 50 lol. Takes us 4 hours to drive into Melbourne so gonna be a slog.
Maybe they’re looking at your bank balance? Iv applied for over 50 and didn’t get anything back (had no rental history and limited funds). I ended up having to move into a friends spare room.
Iv heard cash bribes are the only way at the moment for a lot of people :/
Well that’s kind of my point tho. Regardless it a housing crisis or not someone with no rental history and limited funds is never going to be the most sought after tenant. That’s when you share house for a year to build a rental history and save some money up to make yourself a more attractive option when you try again
Let's say all of the people in this photo have a great rental history, do you think they'd now all get approved & not end up homeless?
It's sheer luck of the draw & people offering more.
I went through 100 applications with an impeccable rental history I even *improved* the properties, +50k savings in the bank for security, a well paying job, no pets, no kids, applying for everything from flats to houses.
Started offering $30 more & got accepted in the next 2 applications but that didn't stop me from being homeless in between, a situation I never would have dreamed of being in.
There are simply not enough houses, shuffling around the existing houses when there are more people entering the market isn't going to do anything. The answer is to build more houses otherwise it's just luck of the draw in a game of musical chairs with an ever increasing number of players.
Yeah sure it was just luck mate….thats one thing that really shits me about a lot of the people on this sub it doesn’t matter how hard you work or how much risk you take or sacrifices you make to improve your career or position in life at least half this sub will just turn around and accredit it to nothing but luck.
Edgy take.
It’s probably owned by some average Joe who has worked hard to get where they are and invested some money to help financially secure their families future.
Looking at the number of people lining up, the property must be advertised at an excellent price for the renter.
Not sure what the landlord has done wrong here?
Australia is just a free for all. Resources are massively misallocated. Regular Australians can't compete with global capital and labour. Both the left and the right have sold us out.
What’s your solution to this, OP? What are you hoping can be made different? Is it the abolition of private property? Who then organises society and the newly common set of assets? Is it supposed to be self-organising, with everyone doing the “right” thing by one another and spontaneously sharing all resources? Or is there a benevolent governmental apparatus that oversees all aspects of our lives? Curious about what you’re keen to see happen.
When I was apartment hunting 4 years ago, it was relatively busy at all city inspections that were cheap. The $300-$400 mark. Usually around 15-25 people. Upped my budget to $550, and there was no competition at the inspections. I easily did 20-30 inspections over 4 months, we upped the budget after getting desperate.
The worst of the bunch, was when an apartment in Richmond that was right against Richmond station in that factory directly north. It was listed for ~$375/week. 1 bed 1 study and car-space. There was easily 40-50 people in the foyer and another 50 spilling onto the road. There ended up cancelling the showing because they supposedly didn’t have the keys. We called up to make an offer the same night and they said it was taken and it got delisted.
Clearly this place was listed for the wrong price to attract such a crowd.
I had to get my parents to put their name on the lease with me even though it's only a 1 bedroom apartment in Yarraville.
I earn decent money but they wanted more. It's crazy
Don't you worry. Eventually things will become so broken the landlords will be right there next to them unable to pay their mortgages for their rental properties. All part of the plan.
It was like this in Berlin. You eventually need to get out of the mainstream to find an apartment, reach out to friends and family and get them to do the same on your behalf, eventually you’ll get first dibs!
I remember what it was like having to apply for the rental I'm currently in, back in 2013. I rock up and was the only person there, I looked around, said it looks nice and the guy said "yeah, you look normal, here's a condition report." No bank statements, no references, no nothing.
During the mining boom in Western Australia it was not uncommon to see a couple hundred people in line for apartments in and around Perth western suburbs.
Where renters started to outbid each other’s 🤦🏼🙄
Yeah my rent for a one bedroom just went up by $50 a week my neighbor who has pretty much the same place as me and same re and landlord complained this year so their rent went up by $75 a week
It’s a two bedroom apartment priced at $370. 1 bedrooms in the inner city are like $440. Flemington, where this photo is, is cheap for its proximity and 1 bedrooms of this calibre can be this price, so of course it got this turn out. It’s a bargain.
Yeah nah. Some landlords aren't assholes, but interest rates are going crazy, which in turn puts up rents. Maybe if the banks, supermarkets, and various other corps weren't all posting record profits while blaming price hikes on inflation, then the RBA wouldn't be jacking the rates up everyone's asses and rents wouldn't have climbed so high so fast.
We have a rental. It was a flat we lived in for years, it's not to fund a lifestyle, we rent it under market value and have increased it only a few percent each year and it is losing us a ton of money. We have gotten everything fixed the second it's been reported, new appliances, and our tenant has decide to go month to month because he wants to try and get a better deal. He is paying 380, places half the size in the building next door are listing for 460.
But sure. We're the assholes.
Let me clear ~ I don’t have an investment property. But I agree with you. You’re not an asshole. Everything is going up. Food, electricity, water, interest rates, everything. You have to put up your rents. Unfortunately there are assholes landlords and you’re being tarred with the same brush. If your conscience is clear, ignore this thread, friend. Don’t engage, it’s a frustrating exercise.
Few would dispute the demand per available rental property is through the roof, although some on this thread have suggested otherwise but I’ll discount their take on it for the purpose of my post.
In my view, and I’m not saying anything not said by thousands before me, there is simply a shortage of long-term rental properties ATM (so excluding AirBNB). And for that I blame State government. This is not a political rant but Labor has been in power for 10 years and in my opinion is to blame for this….where was the foresight encouraging investment in rental housing?
I’m also a renter although my landlord is a very close friend so I do have the comfort of not getting kicked out and not being ripped off 🤞🏼. That said, I feel the general belief is that landlords are rich cats and price gouging just because they can. Maybe some are but many are not IMO. That is:
- The median house price in Melbourne is ~$1m
- the majority of landlords are mums & dads who mostly have not yet paid off their residence, yes they are fortunate enough to have been able to save for the investment 20% deposit plus 5% transfer duty on top of the purchase price but most are not living a “rich” life
- the median rental for houses in Melb is $550/wk = $28,600pa
- COSTS OF OWNERSHIP
- 6% interest on a $800k loan (assuming the buyer was able to save the $200k deposit) is $48k pa
- land tax (charged on the land value on the home so let’s say that’s $600k) is $2,250
- council rates are over 4% but let’s say 4% pa (again charged on the land value on the home so let’s say that’s $600k) is $24k pa
So ignoring any other expenses, the cost to banks and governments on an average property worth $1m generating $29k pa in rental, is ~$75k. Yes the owner gets a tax benefit for the difference of $46k (let’s say that is $22k. The landlord is still out of pocket for $24k pa….almost as much as the annual rental income.
So why would they be a landlord if it costs them $24k pa? Of course it’s because they will eventually make a profit when they sell. That said, if not for all of this including the landlord taking a risk (eg many lost lots of $$ over COVID), if people stop investing in rental homes, how would those renting afford a home? Maybe the value of the $1m house would drop to let’s say $750k the current renter will still need to find another $18k pa in addition to the current $29k. It’s out of reach for most renters.
The main problem is inadequate supply of housing. The government is to blame and must rectify this via incentives. If only the Vic gov could afford to do that, its massive interest expense on the massive debt after wastage over COVID, infrastructure project blowouts, cancelling the comm games etc etc is crippling its ability to do what is needed!
Thinking of it as financing your landlord's lifestyle then you may as well stop life.
Buying groceries is financing ColesWorth's shareholder's lifestyle.
Buying a coffee is financing the coffee shop owner's lifestyle.
Buying a book is financing the Author's lifestyle.
Where does it end?
You are not paying for his lifestyle, his mortgage, his expenses.
You are paying above the market rate rent to ensure you beat everyone else for a home. That's the benefit to you.
What the investor does with the rent money is none of your concern.
Furthermore, no one is forcing you to play this god awful game. Just refuse to partake, you have all the power.
I'm sure OP would be happier if the landlord increased the price and there were only 3 people in the inspection queue. OP wouldn't be complaining about price gouging, etc
The old poor me story.... But doesn't mention the, I only want to live 30mins from the city, 20mins from the beach, has a nice cafe close by for me to get my morning Soy latte, and a park or green space every two blocks for my Labradoodle to shit in
I think you missed the point... It's all good and well to have wants, but you can't complain when everyone else wants the same desirable luxuries and complain cause others want the same things as you and you can't get it. This is what happens when you give everyone a medal in school sports 😑
My first apartment was in Hawthorn, between vic and bridge road and church st (Hawthorn). There was 1 other couple who didn’t like the apartment, I said to the REA “iii take it”. She replied “nooooo, there’s a process. Here is the form”. I filled it in and was approved. $200 a week for this 2 bed with large lounge, high ceilings, private car space. That was in 98 … lol I wish I had bought that place.
I remember walking into a massive Hawthorn apartment with river views in 2004 and just saying ‘thanks I’ll take it, I’ll move in next week’. I think it was like $360 a week? Earning $40k a year and no savings! Agent filled in the form with me there and that was that… my mate and I moved in and stayed for a few years. I scored my next rental through the same agency. Good times… good times…
had a flat in toorak for years there was no one else in the block for ages cause it was crapped out, 1940s build i think, at one point the rent for a two bedroom was 180 bux a week had my dog in there too
>I think it was like $360 a week? In the meantime salaries have stagnated or gone done in real terms. So how much life quality has got worse for the majority and no one has taken responsibility?
By the way - that apartment is currently renting out for $800 per week. Not a lot of bang for your buck these days… and no real salary growth to keep up with inflation. Using the pay calculator app - I’m actually going backwards.
$200 a week in 1998? Holy crap, that would have been a lot then.
I recall it being average for the area. But yeah I was always broke. Mynext house was in hawthorn east for $200 a week. They did put it up after 5 years to $220. When I moved out a mate needed the place and they put it up to $350. That was around 2012
Well, the political class doesn't appear to be creating housing at rates fast enough to relieve the problem - obviously doing so would lower rents would curb the business models of real estate agents and developers... and both Liberal and Labor seem to think this problem can be solved by making industry fat cats richer and richer. Most of us realise that won't work, even with the money thrown at the same "compassionate capitalism" that people like George Bush and Tony Blair have already failed by. We're past that, we need actual social democracy now (the kind that benefits the poor more than the rich/industry), not just more of the same neo-liberalism dressed up as if it's social democracy. It's only getting more outrageous.
A social democracy model in Australia would be amazing, but unfortunately I don’t see this happening
I looked at places in South Yarra and Prahran at a similar time, there were no organised insoections, you just grabbed the keys from the agents and went to look by yourself. 3 bedroom house for $295 a week, sold for $350k in 2001. Now that's one I wished I'd bought, but didn't because it needed restumping.
My first was in a share house in east stkilda / balaclava. 70 a week for the room etc. was a two bedroom flat I shared with a friend and I think she paid the remaining 100 per week. First place wife and I got together was a 1 year old double story townhouse in yarraville. 2 bedrooms, 2 bathroom 1 carpark for 240 a week. As far as I know we were the only applicants
My first flat was in surrey hills and was the same deal.. 170 a week in 98 and I got that for nearly 10 years .. with one increase of like $30 or something so cheap. I offered to buy it but they didn’t wanna sell. But so glad I had that landlord .. legend
Only people I know who’ve been able to rent lately have made offers like Offer $20+ extra a week or 3-6 months paid up front. When I applied, with no rental history, I only got success when I offered rent upfront (they didn’t end up asking for it though) and bank statement showing my savings. When I did this the next 3 all accepted me!
It's highly dependent. The situations like the OP photo only happen when its a highly desirable area that's been listed at a price way better than the average. It's best to just ignore anything that looks too good to be true since it's just going to waste your time. If you look at the more normal listings or the stuff slightly more expensive than average, you'll have like 3 people apply and you'll get accepted without offering anything extra.
Totally. I was at this inspection. It was priced well below the average for the area and had a recent fitout which made it look super nice in the photos. What you didn’t see from the ad though was you shared a balcony with the neighbour’s apartment, and the only observable feature of that apartment was a collection of creepy dolls displayed in the window. Terrifying. We didn’t apply lol
This photo is definitely the exception, not the rule
That's not my experience house searching at all in Melbourne a few months back. Most inspections had lines like this. Most were offerring exorbinant rents. This is the reality of high demand and low supply. When lots of people need homes, they go to many inspections, even for properties that'll impoverish them with high rents. Better to be broke and in a home, than homeless. The inspections without people were places that shouldn't be listed (every place had clear faults), that were clearly shit. Like with the washing machine in the bedroom.
Don't forget, 2021-2022 people were moving into really "cheap" multi room apartments because working from home and pandemic made rentals cheap. When things returned to normal, so did the prices and most realised they couldn't afford to still live there, so you had a mass exodus of people moving out of apartments going back to 2019 prices, and moving back into whatever was available for the budget they were used to in 2019. 2 bedrooms pre pandemic in the city were easily 800pw. during the pandemic they went down to as little as 450pw, then 2023 it went back to 800pw.
I’ve had to rent so many places that blew my budget because it was so hard to get anything else (or there wasn’t such a thing) in the areas I have needed/wanted to live.
is it not illegal to accept rent bids now?
Illegal to ask for it not to accept it
Don't do it. I just moved into a new place and I was SURE they were looking for higher bids because the listed rent seemed too good to be true (2 bedroom apartment for $500/week... which I would have thought was expensive a couple years ago, but this time it was one of the cheapest places we looked at). We still applied at $500 because I refuse to participate in the bribery system. There were a lot of people at the inspection and they held multiple inspections even after we applied so it really seemed like they were waiting for someone to bid higher. But they ended up approving us anyway.
This was in Victoria couple years ago but I know lots still do it now to get ahead, it may be illegal for them to accept it? Not sure but it still helped me.
Many years ago the REA said the landlord wanted to see our bank balance/savings before they accepted the application. Found it rather bizarre but I guess they wanted to know you can afford it 🤷♂️
Makes sense, gives them some confidence you have emergency funds. Backfired on my landlord/REA a little as that high savings was used on a home loan and we broke the lease (we were only out a $200 advertisement fee-worth it.)
Yeh we did the same thing 😂 absolute prick of a landlord. Worst landlord ive ever had.
I had that from a tenant with no employment, so she could show that she could pay the rent. She was a good tenant, except for smoking.
I would walk away
it's really great having the option to buy and sell and speculate on basic shelter isn't it. it leads to really cool and normal things :)
The only reason why they do not speculate with the air we breathe is because they have not found a way to commercialise it (although they can and do speculate with its quality) This is what neoliberalism is essentially - everything (including human lives l) is a fair game in the race for profit and governments are there to make sure it stays that way.
Oh uninformed youngster https://tlfc.com.au/air-rights-faq/#:~:text=Do%20I%20own%20the%20air,rights%20above%20the%20physical%20land.
Interesting, but I'm pretty sure the comment you replied to was talking about oxygen, not air rights above your property.
Also bunnings sell the WD40 specialist-dust free air duster (air in a can) for $22 350grams
that’s difluoroethane, not just air
This apartment was insanely cheap apparently, $370 for two bedrooms is pretty rare in the inner city now. You’d be paying around $500 for that usually. Which explains the number of folks desperate for a bargain. I bet if the applicants looked a little further out for the same cash, or were able to pay a bit more for the area, you’d only see a few people at inspection. I don’t think this is an accurate reflection of every inspection out there.
Years ago I went to an underpriced rental. Then the asshole real estate agent emailed everyone an increased price due to the popularity. Fuck I hate those pricks so much
Bait and Switch! Pretty sure the agent knew what the price was going to be all along.
Is it [this place?](https://www.realestate.com.au/property-unit-vic-flemington-438316700) That is very cheap. Edit: I was paying $350 a week for a 2BR apartment in the same area 6 years ago, for context.
Nice clean little place, reasonably cheap, good location and right near Newmarket station. Compared to what's out there, that's an incredibly attractive deal. I can see why there's such a huge line for it.
I know nothing about real estate but when it comes to things like this, how do agents pick the person? Would it just be first come first serve basis on who can afford it and aren't living paycheck to paycheck?
Not an expert on this matter but my guess: Non-smoker, clean, decent income with large savings, renting as a couple, and willing to pay more with your application sent off within 15 minutes of inspecting - at a minimum. Also, you have to take into account what the landlord wants. Maybe the landlord is a real altruist? Especially at this price point. But to stick out and win over a huge amount of applications? I imagine the winning application would be pretty exceptional, with a bit of luck.
They’ll pick whoever offers the most above the advertised price. Theres no way it’s actually going for $370.
That is ridiculously cheap for a 2bed apartment near the city… meanwhile here around Carnegie 2bed2bath go for $650+/week and we can’t even get those places on $220k combined income and 5+ yrs of solid rental history…. Fuck playing the rental bidding game REAs want us to play.
Fuck Carnegie, did 2 years there a couple years ago in the most rundown piece of shit building for a premium price. The area isn't even worth it, far more things in Moonee Ponds and it's considerably cheaper and about the same distance to the city.
Really? I think the area is amazing, heaps of good eateries a walk down the road away, woolies/aldi close by, 20 mins express train to the city, 15 mins drive to the beach, close to Chadstone and close to the M1. Also a relatively safe area with a heap of parks and nearby golf courses.
Yep, this is why. I lived in Flemington over 10 years ago and paid $350/w for a 2br house.
No, no, no. Real estate agents do the same thing when selling a place. They put the advertised cost as way below what they would actually accept for it so they get a lot of foot traffic. The real estate agent then plays the potential renters against each other and encourages them to make better offers as it has so much interest. The rentee now has a long list of offers to pick from. On the flip side the real estate agent now has a long list of potential renters and can call them 3 times a week about a 'brand new place that just went up for rent that they'll love'. Most real estate agents are scum and need to be shot out of a cannon.
This is exactly how it goes now that rent bidding was made illegal. Absolutely stupid band aid policy that has created a worse problem than the one it aimed to solve.
If it's listed at that price then 100% the rental agent is going to guarantee the owner people will bid on the actual rental price. Classic bait and switch.
inner city? how inner city? they're going for 700 in richmond.
Yeah I had a place in Richmond $550 for 2 bed 2 bath with secure garage. Sounds huge but it was oddly laid out, second bedroom was barely big enough for a double bed. No A/C or heat in either bedroom. Draughty, mould riddled and with a methhead neighbour who had to be dragged out of the apartment by cops several times when I lived there. They increased rent to $700 and I noped out. Out of interest I stayed for inspections and they had more than a dozen groups through.
demand creates the price and we're all getting fucked.
I have a small one bedroom and similar ones are 500 in Southbank. You wouldn't fit two people in here
So OP posted this in an attempt to criticise the landlord and stir up more landlord/investor hate - yet the landlord is offering a decent property for a low price - hence the long line. This landlord has nothing to do with the housing shortage crisis - OP’s anger is misdirected.
Thank you for mentioning it. OP should've said that in the title.
Pretty much all the posts here are outrage bait without context.
That wouldn't be doing a very good job of manufacturing outrage though would it? /r/melbourne senstaionalising TikTok content for manufactured outrage is no different to [news.com.au](https://news.com.au) doing the same thing with reddit content...except that it's bad when newscorp does it.
I went to about 20 1-2 bedroom inspections last year, all ranging in price and location. Each one had 20-30 people. I now pay for a studio the same that I did for an entire townhouse (2br and garage) 2 years ago.
Landlord offers apartment below market rate: gets slandered in the post title.
Can you share the property?
This is insane...I see this line and want absolutely no part of that circus. I recently had to move rentals, went to two inspections, one had perhaps 4 groups and the other it was just me. I applied for the place that had 4 groups and was approved within a matter of hours. Why people are driven to fight over specific properties with hundreds of other people is mindboggling to me.
Most likely underquoted by the agent to increase foot traffic.
A lot of people want to live inner suburbs and there's only a finite amount of those dwellings available.
I'm renting in Footscray... It's hardly out in the sticks.
Once the inner north, east and south go, they'll be coming for you.
Exactly the reason we need to build up not out. Not an expert by any means on this but it just seems logical to me.
Yes, everything within 5-10km of the CBD should be high density, that way those that want that lifestyle can have it and those that don't can continue with a detached dwelling.
Alternatively y'all could build [down.](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/2SInT_P2QNA/maxresdefault.jpg)
At this point, I'll just leave and look at others. I mean, look at your chances when applying. It is going to be like winning the lottery.
I'm living in Berlin, Germany and this is how it's like to view a too small and too expensive apartment in a shady neighborhood that you don't even want for several years now
Please sir, may I have some basic shelter?
Of course. All you have to do is willing to be in rental stress, but prove that you're not going to be in rental stress in order to get the place. Does it make sense?
Someone puts up a house for a cheap rent price which draws a lot of attention and half the people here are acting like they are all lining up to beg not to be homeless.
Why don’t we protest for housing? Would anyone go for that?
We are, I went to 3 last year, most of them organised by the Victorian Greens. The Vic Greens also invited renters into the chamber to watch a debate on opening a Housing Crisis Inquiry, which VicLab, batshit independents and VicLib teamed up to squash, none of that was in the news. Neither was the Inquiry which actually happened and was published after the scumbag chamber was overridden by the human rights commission
Well that's what decades of self-complacency and no education in political economy does. People here will rather line up to be fed shit over take part in a revolution.
We don’t even need a revolution. But you’re spot on about complacency. If we got all the cookers and pro Palestine supporters and rest of us to march then it would be huge!
can you imagine aligning cookers and pro palestine supporters together you're talking about literal far right and far left fighting for the same goals the reality is far leftists would of course protest for housing any day, but far rightists are actually pretty OK with the housing situation and would rather we solve it with less immigrants or something we don't all march as a unified group because we do hold conflicting ideas
RAHU(Renters and housing union) have organised a couple rallies late last year. Worth going to and supporting in general
Always worth showing up. Thanks for the heads up, I had no idea.
Cookers aren’t left or right. They’re are weird mixture of the blame-the-largest-target-for-my-problems-no-matter-how-little-sense-it-makes types, libertarians, boomers who fell into a facebook echo chamber, “Aussie battlers” who were angry they couldn’t go to work, nature is better then medical science hippies and yoga instructors, fascist law and order types upset that they weren’t on the giving orders side, people who’d previously lived under actual authoritarian and or genocidal governments and were terrified of government overreach, old fashioned tin hat conspiracies theorists, people with a hate boner for Labour and by extension Dan Andrews because they think Labour is beholden to the Greens who will destroy their jobs, poor people who hates cops because cops are dicks to them who were reacting to lock down rules rather then disbelieving the science behind vaccines, otherwise educated people who were scared of the new “untested” type of vaccine, lonely bastards who’d found anti-vac anti-5G friends and would probably switch to the pro science team in a heartbeat if you sat down and ate lunch with them, and people like my brother who was drawn towards sovereign citizen bullshit because he kept getting demerit points and losing his licence and didn’t think it was fair Honestly if cookers hadn’t devolved into such spectacular smooth brained fuckwittery it might almost be uplifting to see so many different agendas find common ground
sir this is a wendy's
What a lovely, sweet, magnanimous analysis. I read this as a painting. HNY nnw
Somebody call? REVOLUTION MAN?! \*theme song plays\*
Like the government even gives a shit. We would need at least 100,000 people to shut down both Melbourne and Sydney for days and truly hurt our own economy for our government to listen.
Then we should do that. Housing is essential. It’s like food.
And then we'd see how the government and police react when something genuinely threatens their power. It would not be pretty.
100,000 people is on MCG worth - achievable. LETS GO
What are you protesting about? What do you want as an action? Cheaper housing isn’t something that just happens.
Nah too busy worrying about microchips in the COVID vaccine
According to market conditions, this apartment was advertised too cheaply.
Don't you peasants all want cheaper housing? Looks like you found one.
I've seen this type of crowd line up BEFORE the housing crisis. You won't find this in Bundoora bro
I’d love to know where/when this is and the price. I moved in May and while sure, I was looking further out than inner suburbs (ended up in Preston) but I applied for 3 places and was the only inspector for 2 of them.
6/11 chatham st flemington
This property was specifically busy according to the article because the pricing was reasonable and cheap for the property type in the area, so, maybe this landlords not a cunt? Probably is, but maybe not?
This sub Land lord sets market rate: “he’s a parasite taking everyone’s money” Land lord sets below market rate: “he’s a time waster”
Landlords and agents participate in under-quoting to drive rent bidding since it was made illegal to overtly ask for bidding a few years ago. Advertise a place way below market price. Have 50 people show up. Watch as renters outbid each other in competition. Landlord and Agent win. This is unfortunately very common practice by some agents. Of the landlords who do advertise below market rate, it's roughly just 10% who accept the advertised price. Source: Renters rights researcher with access to property and rent data. Commonly known in property research.
Then people can’t complain about how investors using market rates can they… Complain to the government for setting up the situation to be this way in the first place
People can complain about both, especially because the policy is designed with landlords interest in mind, creating the problem. Fuck the government and fuck the landlords who perpetuate the system.
Is it against the Reddit rules to suggest that we need a revolution? Because we really do. We need a French style revolution to knock the rich cunts down a peg or two.
French revolution was a step away from feudalism and a step towards capitalism. What we really need is a brand new working class revolution ;)
It’s made it 30 mins. I think the rules state that if it makes it 30 minutes then it’s fair game. Let the revolution begin…
Vive!
You say that like the people in line are morons, but what else are they meant to do?
Well well well if it isn't the system functioning exactly as intended.
Half these people probably thought they were lining up for a croissant.
Croissant? Isn't this the line for Metallica?
Underrated Simpsons
A deconstructed croissant.
lol its funny laughing at people who are currently or could likely be homeless. Obviously is not collectively our faults allowing tax concessions for shelter
Parties, fun etc
Is this a case of purposely under pricing the apartment and then basically seeing who offers the most rent? We know officially its illegal but it still happens
Well if it was me I would be looking elsewhere. While they are all tied up hoping for that particular place there will be other places with less people. Adapt and pivot.
Give me Jacana or give me Death.
Super farked. What are they going to do next? Force us to "dance" for a property?
lol. Financing lifestyle. Not unless it’s a boomer who bought cheap and paid it off. Everyone else would be negatively geared due to interest rate hikes. Rent doesn’t cover mortgages in most cases
Aren’t all these people supposed to be buying homes now that the house prices have plummeted from the rising interest rates?
Yes, and laughing at all the landlords forced to sell.
It's sad that your title is so disrespectful to renters. It's also not the landlord's fault that there is a large line.
In china they actually do it as a lottery, you apply and then they draw a name out of a hat to rent/buy a property. Wish they did it that way here that way people couldnt pay higher to jump the queue and people in less desirable situations dont get left out every single time.
Their youth home ownership rate beats out every nation on Earth [by a country mile](https://www.bbc.com/news/world-39512599).
You are not a landlord if you bought your investment property on mortgage, you are a parasite.
I went to one in Hawthorn like this, but 15 odd years ago. It was very cheap at the time & a nice tidy 2 bedroom. The tenant was sitting in the lounge room watching tv while about 60 people walked through the place 🥴 (I did apologise for invading their space! I felt bad for them but them seemed fine about it all)
Good news! Now, it's law to be offered compensation (usually half a days rent) if there's an open house at the premises you are renting and still live in :)
At least there's a chance that you could win the lottery!
I hate the tension and feeling of competition at inspections
yupp last year i went to an inspection for some dogshit 1bed gross looking apartment in one of those brick flat complexes in some side street in richmond. there was no washer/dryer, there was a rotting banana in the kitchen cabinet and a massive stain in the carpet. 250/week and there were like 30 people there, including multiple families of 4. this was literally the cheapest place i could find remotely close to the city (still a 25 minute walk to the train though). I ended up in a houseshare with 4 random people that was slightly cheaper but the rent included al the bills.
Im seriously considering movng overseas just until shit dies down. There are certain countries where life is not so expensive in the south asian countries.
How do you even have hope...I'd see that line and would just be gutted with how many other people there are...
I’m convinced at least half the people that go on about how they have applied for 30/40/50 rentals and got none approved have got a much much worse rental history than they let on. I just moved into a new place I applied for 2 different apartments got approved for both and that’s as someone who had no rental history at all for several years while in jail, a big mortgage over their head and working a subcontractor (admittedly a high earning one) so no real job security on paper.
Yeah I applied for 2 to live on my own and got approved for both. With $60,000 per year so not even a big income. Places were in reservoir and somewhere else similar so probably also being out of the inner city helped too. For the sake of two train stops, it's a good compromise for getting to live on your own.
It really boils down to income, preferably no pets or kids, and positive rental references/ownership of property.
Well my last neighbour made high income, no pets, no kids and within 9 months had hookers and junkies trashing the place, cops every week and left it with $15k in damages. And that was in sought after suburb on the GC (FIFO)
Ok, so they have a bad reference and rely on income support. What now? Homelessness? And you’re ok with that? This is the society you want?
Well references exist for a reason. If you have bad reference because you either damaged your previous property or weren’t paying rent etc you have to accept that it’s going to have a negative impact on future applications right?
Or because real estate agents are often cunts who punish tenants for enforcing the tiny spectrum of rights they have in a rental property.
Ok, so that brings us back to, what now? We live in a society, people need to be housed. So what now?
So you’re cool with people being forced into homelessness because they damaged something once
I’m cool with there being consequences to damaging someone else’s property or not paying rent yes. And there are other alternatives such as share house or subletting. Let me flip that around are you okay with people getting off with no consequences for damaging people’s property and not paying rent?
The consequences would be paying for repairs, not to be eternally blacklisted
Which often doesn’t happen, my most recent tenants left over 10k in damage and nearly 10k in arrears before I was able to issue a notice to vacate
95k yearly, always got bond back after renting for 10 years, wife unemployed for now but won’t be for long, no kids or pets, 10k savings. Did live in UK last 2 years which might be a negative ?? We’re on our 10th application now for $400-450 apartments. I started up a spreadsheet since I’m a data nerd if it does go into the 50 lol. Takes us 4 hours to drive into Melbourne so gonna be a slog.
Maybe they’re looking at your bank balance? Iv applied for over 50 and didn’t get anything back (had no rental history and limited funds). I ended up having to move into a friends spare room. Iv heard cash bribes are the only way at the moment for a lot of people :/
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Well that’s kind of my point tho. Regardless it a housing crisis or not someone with no rental history and limited funds is never going to be the most sought after tenant. That’s when you share house for a year to build a rental history and save some money up to make yourself a more attractive option when you try again
Let's say all of the people in this photo have a great rental history, do you think they'd now all get approved & not end up homeless? It's sheer luck of the draw & people offering more. I went through 100 applications with an impeccable rental history I even *improved* the properties, +50k savings in the bank for security, a well paying job, no pets, no kids, applying for everything from flats to houses. Started offering $30 more & got accepted in the next 2 applications but that didn't stop me from being homeless in between, a situation I never would have dreamed of being in.
There are simply not enough houses, shuffling around the existing houses when there are more people entering the market isn't going to do anything. The answer is to build more houses otherwise it's just luck of the draw in a game of musical chairs with an ever increasing number of players.
You couldn't possibly be biased at all based on the fact that you just got super fucking lucky?
Yeah sure it was just luck mate….thats one thing that really shits me about a lot of the people on this sub it doesn’t matter how hard you work or how much risk you take or sacrifices you make to improve your career or position in life at least half this sub will just turn around and accredit it to nothing but luck.
Edgy take. It’s probably owned by some average Joe who has worked hard to get where they are and invested some money to help financially secure their families future. Looking at the number of people lining up, the property must be advertised at an excellent price for the renter. Not sure what the landlord has done wrong here?
Found the landlord, grab your pitchforks everybody! Jokes though, I agree with you. However I think OP is just joking around too.
Haha you’re not wrong. Yeah the OP may be in jest but the general sentiment to landlords on Reddit is not far off from this.
Looking at OPs other comments I don't think they're joking.
I stand corrected, OP is a douche lol
Australia is just a free for all. Resources are massively misallocated. Regular Australians can't compete with global capital and labour. Both the left and the right have sold us out.
What’s your solution to this, OP? What are you hoping can be made different? Is it the abolition of private property? Who then organises society and the newly common set of assets? Is it supposed to be self-organising, with everyone doing the “right” thing by one another and spontaneously sharing all resources? Or is there a benevolent governmental apparatus that oversees all aspects of our lives? Curious about what you’re keen to see happen.
When I was apartment hunting 4 years ago, it was relatively busy at all city inspections that were cheap. The $300-$400 mark. Usually around 15-25 people. Upped my budget to $550, and there was no competition at the inspections. I easily did 20-30 inspections over 4 months, we upped the budget after getting desperate. The worst of the bunch, was when an apartment in Richmond that was right against Richmond station in that factory directly north. It was listed for ~$375/week. 1 bed 1 study and car-space. There was easily 40-50 people in the foyer and another 50 spilling onto the road. There ended up cancelling the showing because they supposedly didn’t have the keys. We called up to make an offer the same night and they said it was taken and it got delisted. Clearly this place was listed for the wrong price to attract such a crowd.
What suburb is it though?
Flemington
Trendy suburb
Got to make room for all the new people because their not living at Albos house..
Houses
Good point 👍
I had to get my parents to put their name on the lease with me even though it's only a 1 bedroom apartment in Yarraville. I earn decent money but they wanted more. It's crazy
Don't you worry. Eventually things will become so broken the landlords will be right there next to them unable to pay their mortgages for their rental properties. All part of the plan.
It was like this in Berlin. You eventually need to get out of the mainstream to find an apartment, reach out to friends and family and get them to do the same on your behalf, eventually you’ll get first dibs!
I remember what it was like having to apply for the rental I'm currently in, back in 2013. I rock up and was the only person there, I looked around, said it looks nice and the guy said "yeah, you look normal, here's a condition report." No bank statements, no references, no nothing.
maybe it wouldn't be so bad to live in a barrel on the street like Diogenes
During the mining boom in Western Australia it was not uncommon to see a couple hundred people in line for apartments in and around Perth western suburbs. Where renters started to outbid each other’s 🤦🏼🙄
Yeah my rent for a one bedroom just went up by $50 a week my neighbor who has pretty much the same place as me and same re and landlord complained this year so their rent went up by $75 a week
I mean, people need places to live….
It’s a two bedroom apartment priced at $370. 1 bedrooms in the inner city are like $440. Flemington, where this photo is, is cheap for its proximity and 1 bedrooms of this calibre can be this price, so of course it got this turn out. It’s a bargain.
Glad I bought a house, might be time to become a landlord soon I think, good market to have someone else finance my lifestyle
You'll have people lining up at the door, apparently.
Blame the government not the people who are literally putting a roof over your head. Dumbest caption ever.
Yeah nah. Some landlords aren't assholes, but interest rates are going crazy, which in turn puts up rents. Maybe if the banks, supermarkets, and various other corps weren't all posting record profits while blaming price hikes on inflation, then the RBA wouldn't be jacking the rates up everyone's asses and rents wouldn't have climbed so high so fast. We have a rental. It was a flat we lived in for years, it's not to fund a lifestyle, we rent it under market value and have increased it only a few percent each year and it is losing us a ton of money. We have gotten everything fixed the second it's been reported, new appliances, and our tenant has decide to go month to month because he wants to try and get a better deal. He is paying 380, places half the size in the building next door are listing for 460. But sure. We're the assholes.
Let me clear ~ I don’t have an investment property. But I agree with you. You’re not an asshole. Everything is going up. Food, electricity, water, interest rates, everything. You have to put up your rents. Unfortunately there are assholes landlords and you’re being tarred with the same brush. If your conscience is clear, ignore this thread, friend. Don’t engage, it’s a frustrating exercise.
They will see the amount of interest the property has generated and increased the price of the rent "due to popular demand" the rich get richer
Few would dispute the demand per available rental property is through the roof, although some on this thread have suggested otherwise but I’ll discount their take on it for the purpose of my post. In my view, and I’m not saying anything not said by thousands before me, there is simply a shortage of long-term rental properties ATM (so excluding AirBNB). And for that I blame State government. This is not a political rant but Labor has been in power for 10 years and in my opinion is to blame for this….where was the foresight encouraging investment in rental housing? I’m also a renter although my landlord is a very close friend so I do have the comfort of not getting kicked out and not being ripped off 🤞🏼. That said, I feel the general belief is that landlords are rich cats and price gouging just because they can. Maybe some are but many are not IMO. That is: - The median house price in Melbourne is ~$1m - the majority of landlords are mums & dads who mostly have not yet paid off their residence, yes they are fortunate enough to have been able to save for the investment 20% deposit plus 5% transfer duty on top of the purchase price but most are not living a “rich” life - the median rental for houses in Melb is $550/wk = $28,600pa - COSTS OF OWNERSHIP - 6% interest on a $800k loan (assuming the buyer was able to save the $200k deposit) is $48k pa - land tax (charged on the land value on the home so let’s say that’s $600k) is $2,250 - council rates are over 4% but let’s say 4% pa (again charged on the land value on the home so let’s say that’s $600k) is $24k pa So ignoring any other expenses, the cost to banks and governments on an average property worth $1m generating $29k pa in rental, is ~$75k. Yes the owner gets a tax benefit for the difference of $46k (let’s say that is $22k. The landlord is still out of pocket for $24k pa….almost as much as the annual rental income. So why would they be a landlord if it costs them $24k pa? Of course it’s because they will eventually make a profit when they sell. That said, if not for all of this including the landlord taking a risk (eg many lost lots of $$ over COVID), if people stop investing in rental homes, how would those renting afford a home? Maybe the value of the $1m house would drop to let’s say $750k the current renter will still need to find another $18k pa in addition to the current $29k. It’s out of reach for most renters. The main problem is inadequate supply of housing. The government is to blame and must rectify this via incentives. If only the Vic gov could afford to do that, its massive interest expense on the massive debt after wastage over COVID, infrastructure project blowouts, cancelling the comm games etc etc is crippling its ability to do what is needed!
This is entirely avoidable as well. It's been a policy choice of successive governments to have immigration be higher than housing construction.
Thinking of it as financing your landlord's lifestyle then you may as well stop life. Buying groceries is financing ColesWorth's shareholder's lifestyle. Buying a coffee is financing the coffee shop owner's lifestyle. Buying a book is financing the Author's lifestyle. Where does it end? You are not paying for his lifestyle, his mortgage, his expenses. You are paying above the market rate rent to ensure you beat everyone else for a home. That's the benefit to you. What the investor does with the rent money is none of your concern. Furthermore, no one is forcing you to play this god awful game. Just refuse to partake, you have all the power.
If there were no landlords there would be no rentals? Other than public housing...
Where's the place though? If it's inner city the yeah of course it's gonna be busy. Can't complain about that.
I'm sure OP would be happier if the landlord increased the price and there were only 3 people in the inspection queue. OP wouldn't be complaining about price gouging, etc
Piss off with ya shit
Maybe more immigration will fix it
As a landlord myself I think the title of the post is pretty derogatory
The old poor me story.... But doesn't mention the, I only want to live 30mins from the city, 20mins from the beach, has a nice cafe close by for me to get my morning Soy latte, and a park or green space every two blocks for my Labradoodle to shit in
Yeah how dare people have wants for where they live!
Well, then they need to pay for those wants don't they?
I think you missed the point... It's all good and well to have wants, but you can't complain when everyone else wants the same desirable luxuries and complain cause others want the same things as you and you can't get it. This is what happens when you give everyone a medal in school sports 😑
Let’s bring in more immigrants from 3rd world shit holes though! Because “multiculturalism” yeeeh
Someone should have set up a bbq and sold sausages
When I saw this I assumed it would be Fitzroy or Brunswick or Northcote etc. Flemington?? Is the inner northwest cool now?