Home Hunting for Work and Holiday Travellers

I have to admit, the last couple of days in Townsville really tested my perseverance. I was very close to calling it quits as I almost always ended up with teary eyes whenever I called home. When my Airbnb booking was coming to an end, I knew I had to make a decision. It was either I go home or it was home hunting time all over again.

It was my mum who convinced me to soldier on. And soldier on I did.

She suggested that I go up to Cairns and give myself a chance to see how the place is like as I have travelled so far and it was a “might as well” sort of thing. The most comforting phrase that drove me was “You can always come home whenever you want”.

With that, I bought a bus ticket, searched for accommodations (almost got scammed, more about this later) and booked 3 nights at a hostel. I gave myself that time frame to decide if I was gonna stay or leave.

Hello Cairns

Being someone who prioritised privacy, I booked a single room for those 3 nights where I would scour the world wide web for potential share houses. I am not someone who is keen on the idea of sharing rooms unless I was left with no choice.

The room I was checked into was right in front of the swimming pool and thankfully on the ground floor. The hostel itself is very central and relatively clean which was good enough for me.

By day, I roamed the city keeping my eyes peeled for job ads and notices on room for rents. By night, I trawled the world wide web for pretty much the same thing. Home hunting was so important but man, it was hard.

Okay so! Remember the part where I almost got scammed? I was looking for share houses while still in Townsville and came across one that really caught my attention. I messaged but was met with no reply until 2 days later. As I was running out of time, I asked for the person’s mobile and rang up hoping to secure a room as soon as I can. 

Now this is where each and everyone of you needs to be smart and trust your sixth sense.

The red flags:

1. The person who answered my call was a male despite the female name on the online ad – Minor red flag (Minor because it can be a friend borrowing an account)
2. He asked for my intended duration of stay (no rule about this on the ad). When I mentioned 2 weeks (plans can change right?), he quoted a higher price. The advertised price was different.
3. I was then told that there are a couple of rooms left and 1 of it was just snapped up by a couple who was paying the advertised price and was only staying for 10 days. – Red Flag (Why quote me a higher price when I was staying longer than them?)
4. His reasoning to the above was : he will kick them out if I am willing to pay the higher price (Wtf?!) – MAJOR Red Flag
5. He told me to cancel my reservation to the hostel if I wanted the room. (Excuse me?!)

At that point, my heart told me to bail but I had earlier mentioned I wanted to secure an inspection first. So, I told him that my hostel had a no refund policy but I will drop by to inspect the rooms first.

Now you might be thinking, if I was desperate (which I was), I should just agree to the higher price, move in and have 2 weeks to sort my life out. But the call just gave me a shitload of heebie-jeebies. Home hunting was beginning to feel even harder then.

ANYWAYS! I finally secured myself a nice place to stay on my 2nd night. Thank god! Because I had 2 failed attempts as 1 of the property I viewed looked like an animal house!!

Where to start with home hunting?

1. When looking for shared accommodations, you can use sites like Gumtree, Flatmates.com.au and Facebook. I found all of mine on Gumtree.
2. Suss out the ad – more often than not, these ads will be posted on a few sites hoping to get more traffic.
3. Go for ads that have provided a variety of photos and have also listed details about the rent. These include details on the bond, minimum stay requirement and if the rent includes utilities or not).

Some tips:

1. For shared accommodations, you will come across a term called “bond”. It is essentially a deposit which the landlord/primary tenant will hold onto. Why? Just in case someone decides that they are gonna break something in the house. The bond can be equivalent to 1 week or 1 month’s rent depending on the owner.
2. There is also something called “minimum stay”, which is also at the discretion of the owner (it can be from 1 week to 6 months). Try to avoid places that will require you to commit at least 1 month (especially if you’re new to the city) because plans can change.
3.  Most places I know match the period of minimum stay to the notice period. So, if you’re required to stay 1 month, you will have to let the owner know a month before your intended leaving date. Of course, it really depends on each owner as well.
4. Try to fit as many inspections as you can into one day. The more options you cover, the faster your decision making will be.
5. During inspections, ask other tenants how they feel about living there. This is your opportunity to see who and how your housemates are. I was fortunate that most of the tenants were out in the common area during my inspection. They were super friendly and I instantaneously knew that was the place I was going to move into.

Home hunting success

The share house that I lived in had really great tenants (save for the crazy ones that came in every now and then) and I made life long friends there. The owner was really nice but his wife was just…….a handful. Location was pretty central too.

It will take a few inspections to find the right place to stay but don’t let it stop you from finding a place that you know you will be comfortable in. Because who knows? You might end up living there much longer than expected (like I did! Haha!).