Where to live in Brisbane?

colman1212

Hey Folks,
I will be arriving in brisbane next week with my girlfriend and will be hoping to live and work there for the next four months before heading to the world cup in nz and then home.

Where is a nice area to live in brisbane relatively close to the city centre with good transport links? Any good websites to use for looking for accomodation? We were thinking gumtree as we are looking for accomodation just for the 4 months?

Vorsprung

Good transport links to where?

How much do you want to pay ($ per week)?

Do you want furnished or non furnished?

Have you seen anything that might be suitable?

Paige Turner

I was looking for accommodation in Brisbane up to last month and here are a few of my experiences, that may help. I lived in Brisbane when I was younger, and was hoping to go back there, I stayed with family for 7 weeks while trying to find suitable accommodation, in the end we decided to head back to Melbourne as we found we could get better value for money:

Some areas close to cbd: Toowang, Indooroopilly, Auchenflower, South Bank, Milton, West End, New Farm.
(These areas can be reached by city cat or bus)

Thing to remeber though is that a lot of the apartments/houses, went under in the flood, and though they may be refurbished, we still found there to be musty smells and damp. Also, due to the amount of people that were affected by the floods, short term accommodation is hard enough to find, as people are renting while repairing there own properties.

Apartments close to the cbd we found to be around $250+ per week, mostly studios, but some one bedrooms. Most properties were unfurnished.
The main estate agent is Ray White, and you will see loads of their offices around - most of their rentals will be a minimum of 6 months though.
There are a good few serviced apartments around Brisbane though, that may be another option, depending on budget.

Good luck with the hunt, and enjoy your travels.

colman1212

Vorsprung wrote: »

Good transport links to where?

How much do you want to pay ($ per week)?

Do you want furnished or non furnished?

Have you seen anything that might be suitable?

Good transport links to the city centre. Basically we dont know brisbane at all but were told it's a good city to move to at this time of year as there is good weather compared to sydney and melbourne and its a nice city. We are currently looking for work and both have 4+ years experience in IT. In dublin I was living in a 2 bedroom apartment which was 1220 euros a month but I suppose it all depends on what jobs we get.

From the above post it looks like brisbane may not be the best city to move to at the moment with all the flood damage etc??!

Is there anywhere specific you can look for temporary accomodation?!

ballooba

I think people often have a negative attitude to house hunting and don't appreciate that you have to put in some work to gain the lasting benefits, be they short, medium or long term. It usually takes a bit of work unless you want to pay a premium and get a short term place.

As for flood damage, I would assume that the effect of the floods on the rental market have been exaggerated (you have to look at whose interests are served by creating a perception one way or the other) but if you're looking in flood affected areas like the ones mentioned then of course there will be flood affected properties. There are vast swathes of the city that were completely unaffected and many are in the more reasonable end of the market.

kevrr

I don't really know all of Brisbane that well, but am living in Banyo and the moment and can vouch for that area.

It's a nice quiet leafy neighbourhood. It's got some supermarkers/shops/takeaways/basic services etc..... and also a train station which can get you to the city in 20 minutes.

Paige Turner

colman1212 wrote: »

From the above post it looks like brisbane may not be the best city to move to at the moment with all the flood damage etc??!

Don't get me wrong, Brisbane is a brilliant city. I lived there as a child, and after I moved to Ireland I went back to visit family on school holidays each year. The info on the floods was just something to bear in mind, as I did not think it would have had the effect it did when we were looking for property in the cbd. However, it was prob not a great time for us to be looking, as the floods had occurred not long before we started looking.

The weather is better at this time of year, than other cities. You also have easy access to the Gold Coast, Sunshine Coast and Stradbrook Island, which are lovely places to visit. Gold coast beaches are very easy to get to by train.

There are many properties further out of the cbd, that will not have been affected, and will still have transport to the city. Transport is very good in Brisbane with the option of Train, bus and citycat.
This year I stayed with family in RiverHills in Brisbane, which while a good bit out of the cbd, it did have a bus service that ran until 12am weekdays and later at weekends. There are many other areas, as mentioned in the post above, that are outside of the cbd and have not been flood affected. It just depends on how long ye want to commute each day.

Poly

Hey, I'm travelling to Brisbane myself on about the 21st May on a recce visit with a view to starting a biz over there. Anyone like to meet up for a beer?

ballooba

Paige Turner wrote: »

There are many properties further out of the cbd, that will not have been affected, and will still have transport to the city.

You don't have to go far from the CBD to find suburbs completely unaffected by the floods. Spring Hill being a prime example. It's practically in the CBD and by virtue of the fact that it is on a hill, completely unaffected.

Then you have Paddington, which would rank up with New Farm as one of the most popular suburbs for Dindys. The former unaffected, the latter effected. These two suburbs are reputed to have the highest proportion of denizens who walk to work, thereby close to the CBD.

Close by to Paddington you have Red Hill, again a hill so unaffected.

There was lots and lots of spin about the 'positive' effect of the floods on the rental market for landlords because there are people who make their living from real estate. There isn't much incentive to tell people that there are stockpiles of properties around the city that won't sell and that many are available for rent.

Poly wrote: »

Hey, I'm travelling to Brisbane myself on about the 21st May on a recce visit with a view to starting a biz over there. Anyone like to meet up for a beer?

What kind of business?

Gregsor

I can't say too much on Brisbane from experience as i didn't hang around long enough when i was over there but my family and i had aimed to set up in Sydney but never made it out of the Goldcoast,loved it.
Went to Sydney to collect our containers belongings and drove straight back.
Could be an alternative residence for thought and Brissy is just a short spin on the train too.
For me i had enough of the city life and do my best to stay away from it at all costs .

ballooba

I've been told that there are parts of the Gold Coast that are much nicer than Surfer's but proximity to that hell hole would put me off the whole place. I was doing my boat licence in Bundall a few months back and the instructor was salivating over how it's becoming like LA. It seems way too built up and busy for me. Perhaps others see appeal that I don't. I much prefer the coastal areas north of Brisbane.

Commuting by car from the Gold Coast would be a nightmare but by train it may be manageable. I'm not sure what work there is down there either.

Gregsor

ballooba wrote: »

I've been told that there are parts of the Gold Coast that are much nicer than Surfer's but proximity to that hell hole would put me off the whole place. I was doing my boat licence in Bundall a few months back and the instructor was salivating over how it's becoming like LA. It seems way too built up and busy for me. Perhaps others see appeal that I don't. I much prefer the coastal areas north of Brisbane.

Commuting by car from the Gold Coast would be a nightmare but by train it may be manageable. I'm not sure what work there is down there either.

Hellhole seriously

I lived in Pacific Pines which is just off the Tambourine mountain and it gave welcoming breezes in the Summer time so all was good for an Irish man there.

Never ventured much in to Surfers myself other than The Spit for a nice car drive on a Sunday or for a Guinness on that special occassion.

The Goldcoast has many districts and plenty away from the tourist side,

Workwise i never saw a problem.

It is also close to the gateway of the NSW border and Byron Bay and Lennox Head which are all great camping/visiting spots.

ballooba

Obviously it's only an opinion, but yes Surfers is my idea of hell. I'm open to being enlightened on the Gold Coast but I haven't had that epiphany yet.:D

I can very much understand the appeal of Tamborine and the Hinterland though.:)

It seems like Brisbane would have more opportunities work wise given it's scale. We have two banks, numerous credit unions, some of Australia's biggest insurers, lots of mining companies, lots of government departments, an airline etc.

Poly

ballooba wrote: »

What kind of business?

I do industrial coatings.

ballooba

Poly wrote: »

I do industrial coatings.

Interesting, I'd factor a potential economic downturn into your plans if I were you. Start ups can be more nimble in those circumstances but keeping it lean might be key.

Poly

ballooba wrote: »

Interesting, I'd factor a potential economic downturn into your plans if I were you. Start ups can be more nimble in those circumstances but keeping it lean might be key.

Yeah, I think Carbon Tax if it ever comes off will hurt hard too. Property related downturn maybe, Mining still going strong?

ballooba

Poly wrote: »

Yeah, I think Carbon Tax if it ever comes off will hurt hard too. Property related downturn maybe, Mining still going strong?

We're quite far removed from the coalface in Brisbane but it seems to be. It's not enough to prop up the economy though. It's not as big an earner as property for instance.

Poly

ballooba wrote: »

We're quite far removed from the coalface in Brisbane but it seems to be.

Still quite a bit of mining related engineering goes on in Brisbane.
Yes, a property slump, but unlike Ireland, "The fundamentals are strong"
I hear the Australians fretting over a $4Bn deficit!

ballooba

Yep, there are quite a few mining companies and jobs here but we're a fair distance from the actual mines.

They told us the fundamentals were strong in Ireland too.;) I personally think Australia will have a big shock when the property money dries up, the economy needs a good kick up the arse.

Diamondmaker

Do not let talk of the floods detract you in any way from any prior plans to move here. Mostly everything is back as it was as far as you would see, even the ferry service is back up and running apart from west end.

I live in Toowong right on the river next to the regatta and while my local 1st choice bottle shop is still closed and the regatta operating out of the 1st floor while the GF is renovated it is pretty much exactly as it was prior to the floods.

The flood no longer has any impact on our day to day activities.

Good areas, as suggested I agree are Auchenflower and Toowong esp if you want to rely on public tarnsport. The upside of these 2 apart from being nice clean and safe, with good amenities is that they are near Regatta ferry, close to Coro drive and Milton Rd main bus routes, both have train station. You can also walk to he the CBD on a nice sunn morning on the river side cycle way or take your bike, 20 mins cycle or 50 by foot.

Milton is good to but there is far less accommodation there and its a good bit more pricey. Nearest shops apart from a local IGA ( expensive SPar type place ) are in Toowong any way. Milton is popular for corporate fully furnished lets.
We stayed in Milton off Park rd for a year in a FF. Moved to a better complex with bigger pool and better faciliites just 5 mins further in Toowong for much less $$, even allowing we are now using our own furniture.

Last of all a 4 month let will be tricky to get and your best bet may just be an add on Gumtree and getting a house share, expect to pay 175 - 250 for this and you will find some great accommodations and get to know people lease free this way.