Renting a House

According to Parth, a good friend of mine, the following should be kept in mind.

On landing, one of the first major tasks is to look for a place to live. DON'T PANIC, this task has been done by thousands before you, but it is a task you should not take lightly.

University announcement boards are located near the Union offices or the cafeterias, they are easy to locate. You will find ads for roommates needed all the time.

Other options are to find a homestay. Homestay is where old couples or families let one room out
while charging you for it. Kind of like a paying-guest thing. These are advertised on the boards as
well. Homestay's are a bit costlier but you save on the time to cook and you get a room all for yourself.

Possibly the cheapest is to find a flat to rent in the suburb or near your university. For this, you need some effort. These are the steps you take.

1. Make a group of LIKE minded people ( this is very important guys.. make a group that you are comfortable with. I have seen many a cases where in students either run back home or waste time in changing homes due to differences with housemates. So it is important to make a group of like minded people. You have to be adjustable and be ready to adapt to any environment at any given time.) Students who are in your own class or the same university.
2. Decide on a suburb. List of suburbs to follow.
3. Buy a street directory. Last year's directories are cheap and available at most news stores. In
Melbourne these are called Melway, in Sydney - Sydway.
4. Look for a place on the internet. http://realestate.com.au or http://domain.com.au are good
places to start.
5. Decide on two three places to look at. They take time to look. Each place takes about 30min to
an hour to visit.
6. Leave early next day. The offices open at 9, so be there at 9 to avoid disappointment of not
getting keys. Saturdays they are open for only 2-3 hours. Closed on Sundays.
7. Take $50 for each place. This is refundable deposit you need to make to take the keys. Take
your passport along or any photo id as they don't give keys if you don't show Id. Don't forget
the street directory. Wear good shoes.
8. When deciding for a place make sure it is near to public transport. Check for frequencies of
trams. Trains run on the same timings in all suburbs.

These are the most important things that you need to keep in mind while booking a house for yourself.

You can rent a house for 6 months or one year.
It is usually recommended that you rent for 6 months. Especially for those who cannot adjust to a place quickly.
Else longer contracts are the best one, you spend less and life is more of a routine.
If you change houses frequently then it is obvious that the routine is disturbed and it becomes difficult to get back to track.

Think wise, look for benefits and financial benefits and then decide on the house.