Want to Reduce My Rent, Where in Melbourne Should I Move?

sweepy on 10/07/2020 - 13:13

Hey OzBargainers.

I'm renting in Hawthorn currently. I pay $2,280 per month. It has 2 bathrooms (one in an en-suite), 2 bedrooms plus a separate dining (which I use as a study), living room, kitchen and sep laundry.

My situation has changed and I'm looking to reduce my cost of living, rent happens to be the biggest monthly cost of course!

Just finished my lease in Hawthorn so I'm thinking about moving to a new suburb, a little further out of Melbourne in order to reduce my rent.

The new place needs to:
- Have at least 2 bedrooms (a 3rd would be very useful as my and my partner will both be working from home)
- 1 bathroom is OK
- Small backyard would be good as we're also looking to get a dog
- Be nearish to a train station so my partner can get into the CBD when she starts to return. Don't mind if it's not a super quick train ride as she'll likely continue to WFH 2-3 days per week
- If I could save 300-500 per month that would be amazing (500 is probably unlikely)
- Would be nice if there were cafes/restaurants in the area but not critical. The whole point is I'm looking to cut my costs of living so happy to compromise

Looking for recommendations on affordable & safe suburbs.

Anyone moved to a new suburb recently that they could recommend?

Home & Garden

Comments

  • Hybroid on 10/07/2020 - 13:15
    +5

    Have you asked landlord/agent for a potential rent decrease? Some are quite accepting and willing to negotiate.

    • sweepy on 10/07/2020 - 13:16

      I did think about this but have yet to ask. I will definitely do so. Still looking at other options as well.

      • sweepy on 10/07/2020 - 13:41
        +4

        Just sent email to agent!

  • CyberMurning on 10/07/2020 - 13:23

    geelong.
    rent is cheap there and train is fast to city with free wifi, i heard

    • 87percent on 10/07/2020 - 13:32
      +1

      and home of the best fried chicken I've had in Victoria (Hot Chicken Project)

      • o53djz7qTPY4der on 10/07/2020 - 13:49

        ^This. HCP is amazing.

        Geelong is great - best decision we made.

        • CyberMurning on 10/07/2020 - 14:27

          how is the safety living in geelong? the north side is a bit rough, is it true?

          • o53djz7qTPY4der on 10/07/2020 - 14:33

            @CyberMurning: It's fine. I would say safer than Melb. But yeah, Geelong West, Belmont and the Bellarine (Excluding Wittington) are safer than Corio/Norlane.

            • sweepy on 10/07/2020 - 14:35

              @o53djz7qTPY4der: thanks, ill def poke around and check out Geelong. I'd have to convince my partner but I've heard good things from other friends who live there.

  • Frankenbeanie on 10/07/2020 - 13:29
    -1

    look in the western suburbs.

    in tarneit you could easily get a 3br brand new house / near new house for rent in 1450 - 1600$ range. Tarneit has its own down sides so please research if you decide to move but commute to the city is terrible (vline train, no parking at the station etc) and the train station in the morning is almost like mumbai central (over crowded).

    • [Deactivated] on 10/07/2020 - 15:17
      +2

      +1 for the west, tarneit kinda far out tho

  • frondono on 10/07/2020 - 13:29

    Werribee would probably tick all the boxes.

    • [Deactivated] on 10/07/2020 - 14:17
      +11

      He said Melbourne buddy, not some country town that we pump all our shit out to.

  • MS Paint on 10/07/2020 - 13:33

    Tottenham

  • Hardlyworkin on 10/07/2020 - 13:34

    I suggest any areas that are usually popular with students. Less demand means you may be able to bargain more. If you use an app like the realestate.com then you can track price changes to properties and gauge the market better.

    Factoring in somewhere suitable for a dog does limit the optionss. Not sure how far ahead you will be once you factor in pet ownership though there is obviously more to it than $$$.

    • sweepy on 10/07/2020 - 13:44

      yep cheers. Dog could be something we put off for 12 months as well. I've looked at Realestate but I find I end up mindlessly browsing and not getting anywhere. I feel it would more more effective if there were some sort of strategy before searching. I'll check out the change in properly prices though.

      • ykwon10 on 10/07/2020 - 14:57
        +1

        Trace the suburbs along train lines?

  • jimbobaus on 10/07/2020 - 13:50
    -5

    You are better off going outer south east than west if you value your safety

    • midoxii on 10/07/2020 - 14:09
      +1

      lmao…

    • Zachary on 13/07/2020 - 14:30

      Man, that sounded like you came back from a zombie apocalypse…or an active war zone and experienced it.

      • jimbobaus on 13/07/2020 - 14:32
        +2

        I have an investment property in the Western Suburbs… i am speaking from experience

        I may be downvoted but its probably from westies who want to justify their choices :)

  • victorngel on 10/07/2020 - 13:53

    I think there are quite a few vacancies in the CBD now which means it's a renter's market out there. you might be able to get one near a park for dog walking.

    • sweepy on 10/07/2020 - 14:37

      not opposed to it. problem is the apartments are all so small. we could sell one of our two cars as well which is also another saving. But I just havent found anything that isnt tiny.

      • Hardlyworkin on 10/07/2020 - 17:31

        You need to look at buildings more than 10 years old. The newer ones are dog boxes where you pay to have a fancy foyer.

  • Ocker on 10/07/2020 - 14:13

    You can rent a 2br unit (not apt) jut down the road in Camberwell for $1,800-$1,900 pm easily

    • [Deactivated] on 10/07/2020 - 14:17

      This is the best option. All the other suburbs in this thread are a massive step down from Hawthorn. Camberwell is pretty similar, but a bit cheaper.

      • sweepy on 10/07/2020 - 14:38

        i looked at camberwell but will probably do some more digging. surrey hills similar. but you're right would be a small unit which i think is okay.

  • midoxii on 10/07/2020 - 14:14
    -1

    Check out Ardeer and Albion, never had any problems when i lived there for 5 years (rent was 1500 decent sized house with 3 bedrooms).

  • kanmen on 10/07/2020 - 14:24
    +2

    Try the next set of outer suburbs like the Carnegie/Caulfield/Oakleigh area, the Brighton/Bentleigh area or the Ashwood/Mount Waverley area. Probably about 20-30 mins of a commute into the city via train.

    • [Deactivated] on 11/07/2020 - 11:37

      Depending on where you live in Caulfield it is no further out than Hawthorn, they are both in line with Glenferrie Rd.

  • pharkurnell on 10/07/2020 - 14:28
    +2

    Where do you NOT want to live, what are your boundaries?

    How about out towards Drouin etc Fresh air, larger blocks/rentals.

  • serpserpserp on 10/07/2020 - 14:41

    Melton

  • WreckTangle on 10/07/2020 - 14:47
    +1

    Mitchell shire

  • nomoneynoproblems on 10/07/2020 - 15:43
    +5

    Mate how long is a piece of string? You live in an A tier, blue ribbon suburb. You can easily reduce cost of living by moving anywhere else. I'd start off by drawing the line where you DON'T want to live or max distance from from the cbd then go from there. Melbourne is pretty big and plenty of places already mentioned in this thread fit your criteria.

    • kanmen on 10/07/2020 - 17:44

      Yeah I was thinking the exact same thing, until I saw they said 'a little further out.' Wasn't sure if they meant like 30 mins out or 60 mins out though

  • dasher86 on 10/07/2020 - 18:24
    +1

    Don't cross the bridge lol.

  • Trying2SaveABuck on 10/07/2020 - 19:22

    $2,280 per month you could buy a place and pay less in mortgage repayments in some outer suburbs like Melton….

    However Hawthorne is a nice place to live so it depends on what kind of life style you are after…thus i couldnt answer your question becuz simply put there are too many options with the variables you have given

    You need to give info on

    Where you work and how far your willing to commute
    What you want in an area ie near - public transport, beach, good public schools, etc etc
    Marital status ie if you married you might want a quiter area if your single probably a place with a bit more life style ie Tuesday night cheers at the on glenferrie road great place to pick up a lass etc

    It wouldnt be hard to find a 2 bedroom place in a load of areas for around ~400 per week but just depends on what you want if you wanna live near the city i would suggest Footscray as it is close to the city and has a younger vib due to the uni being around there but becuz it has a bit of a reputation of being well Footscray it isnt too expensive

    • [Deactivated] on 11/07/2020 - 11:35

      There's a reason why Footscray isn't expensive. Also calling Melton a suburb is a stretch. The huge gaps of countryside between Melbourne and Melton make it seem like a small town where all the bikies have their headquarters, rather than a suburb. And it's Hawthorn and because.

    • String name on 15/07/2020 - 14:25

      Rent: 12 month commitment
      Buy: 30 year commitment

      Not really the same ballpark for OP

  • lainey13 on 10/07/2020 - 20:03

    Choose a train line and go from there. What is the maximum train time you want to travel and cut off stops after this. Cross off dodgy stations and see what's at stations you do like. Unsafe stations are not nice to use twice a day esp if you have to wait. Visit to see the area.
    I mean Mitcham is fine, boring but fine but you might think that's too far out. So hard to advise areas if we don't know your limit.
    Just avoid Alamein line if you can coz that's pants for trains.
    Also Ashwood has a lot of housing commission which is why it's cheaper than Mount Waverley even though its closer to the city. You won't find a lot of housing around Holmesglen for example.

  • MontyMacaw on 11/07/2020 - 11:31
    +4

    Ok here is what I did. I went on Airbnb and searched for places that had availability for 2 months - not those that advertise month long stays or longer because that will filter out a lot. Then when you see the ones that have no bookings for the next 2 months you look for any that have hosts with multiple properties. These people are bleeding right now and will be almost in panic mode. Contact them through the Airbnb website but put your contact details in code or the website will delete your contact details as you are obviously trying to beat the system. I had people falling over themselves to rent me places. My needs were simple but I do have pets but that wasn’t a problem despite them saying no pets. I have a place with everything included and quite close to the Cbd for the price I would pay in the suburbs without utilities and wifi. I committed to 3 months then went to month to month after that. For me this is perfect.
    NB There are Airbnb’s in most suburbs so the rationale is the same even if you want to move outwards from the central city zone.

  • OzRolla on 12/07/2020 - 21:30

    Brunswick, Moonee Ponds, Essendon & Parkville. All relatively safe, close to CBD and has a good coffee culture.

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