Wanting to move to Newcastle!

[Skadi]

I have lived in Brisbane my whole life and have wanted to move away for ages. After visting Newcastle early last year i fell in love with it and have wanted to move there ever since. I'm hoping to make the move around mid-year provided finances permit.

I was hoping someone would be able to give me some insight into what the rental market is like down there? Up here it's crazy and pretty much impossible to get anything thanks to the population boom.
Just wondering would a young single mum with a clean record and good references stand a better chance of securing a rental property in a regional area?

Something else i am curious about is wether there is much in the way of young mother groups down there? If so what sort of age groups do they target? Up here they all tend to focus on the under 19's only.

Any info at all would be great!

[KyAjAdE]

hey.. young mum from newcastle here!! :wave:

the rental market is pretty crazy everywhere at the moment so ive heard.. ive been renting for about 3 years 3 different houses in that time and ive never had a problem finding a property... i guess it really depends on which suburb you wanted to move too.. domain.com.au is a good site to check out real estate!!

i dont know much about young mothers groups.. im pretty sure they do cater to under 21's...

sorry im not really much help, but if you do decide to move here and need a friend....... :thumbsup:

good luck :)

[cake]

We've just moved to the Newy area from Melbourne. We're actually nearer to Maitland, so about half an hour or so inland. We found it REALLY hard to get anywhere.

Firstly, because there are TONS of people looking at the moment- we found that there were at least 10 other people/couples that looked at the same time as us. Also they rarely let us look in a place on our own, rather they made us wait for over a week then made an open house appointment, which was frustrating as we were living with family in the meantime and desperate to get in a house soon. Also everyone has their applications ready, so you need to get an application form BEFORE going to the house and fill it out first, so you can give it (with your ID copies etc) to the agent before leaving the inspection, as it often is a case of first in first served, or at least considered.

The cost depends on what you want. For a standard 3 bed house there are heaps around at different prices. We needed a four bedroom house with air conditioning and ended up paying $340 a week for where we are now- it was impossible to get one for under $300.

We also found it hard to get accepted as I'm on a disability pension and my husband worked part time and got carers pension the rest of the time. Most of them wanted families with a full time job. So we ended up changing our details and my husband got a full time job, then we were accepted straight away. It didn't matter that we had a great track record with rentals (2.5yrs in last house, 4 yrs in the one before that and never paying late) or what our income was, they saw "Centrelink" and 4 kids and pretty much counted us out straight away. It took us 6 weeks of looking in 3-5 properties a week before we were approved somewhere, and that was only after my husband went back to fulltime work. So it was hard for us.

But if you are looking at a lower price range it might be easier to get accepted somewhere. I think with the higher rentals they want to know that the house will be really well looked after.

We're loving being up here, Newy is a great place to live! Good luck with your move, I hope it goes well for you!

x Kate

[Areca]

Just wanted to say good choice!!! We love living in Newcastle! Can't help you on the renting thing....we haven't rented for years and a lot has changed since then but I do know it is harder after Christmas and before March cause of new uni students so best to avoid that time.

[vanessamb]

Newcastle is a great place to live - I moved here 7 years ago and have never regretted it! Aparrently renting is very tight at the moment, but it might be different mid year? It's definitely harder earlier in the year because of students and there is also another, smaller influx of students mid year for second semester so might be worth avoiding that. They are often international students who don't mind sharing rooms and pay up front so are harder to compete with.

The city (Newcastle, Cooks Hill, The Hill) is more expensive although you can usually get a flat in the Hill for cheaper (but usually a bit noisy in that area). I have lived in the city the whole time, though - it has been worth paying more to be near the beach and public transport - though I haven't had a bub to look after (yet - couple weeks left!). A bit further away from the beach there's Hamilton, which is nice and good for transport though not particularly cheap, and then there's Mayfield, Tighes Hill, Islington and Wickham which are cheaper but can be a bit dodgy and a bit more isolated. There are also nice, cheap houses in Carrington but that is really isolated public transport wise.

If you're up for it, you might be able to find a
share house in the city or Cooks Hill, though not sure if the paper is the best place for it - the book shop on Darby St. (main cafe street in Cooks Hill) often has notices, but of course that requires being there in the first place...

Anyways, hope this helps - moving to Newcastle was the best thing I ever did - has a great community vibe, great weather, and I reckon it's also a great place to bring up a child...

Cheers, Vanessa

[belinda4879]

hi skadi,
I am moving back to newy after being away for 12 months, I am 23 and our first bub is due late May. We are intending on moving late june, I have rented in newy for a couple of years before DP bought a house, and as a student it wasnt too bad, but of course share living is cheaper. It will be easier to find a place there mid year because there will be less students. If your a single mum it might be easier to be in town, but out maitland way is gourgeous. I lived in a little flat right opposite the beach for a year it was $150 per week, but location was expensive, it just depends on what you want really.

Dowling the junction, dalton partners the junction and robinson property normally have a fair amount of rental properties.

Goodluck.:)