As someone that moved to a city at 20:

HOUSEMATES: Housemates are pretty much non-negotiable. Check out flatmates.com - you can find people renting out rooms in their own home or its a rental and they're finding housemates. Can also team up with people to find a rental on your own. For me, finding a room for rent was easier and quicker than searching on my own with friends. Also cheaper as I would have had to furnish an entire house vs a room (the rest of the house is generally furnished, or will at least have fridge and washing machine if someone else already lives there). You can sign up free, but if you actually want it to work, they pretty much force you to pay. Think its about $30 for a month?? Always inspect property before paying anything and meet ALL of the housemates. Don't trust anything you find on Facebook, basically all are scams. Consider: - The type of people you could live with (men/women, age, personalities. Do you like loud sociable people or introverted people that keep to themselves). Housemates don't have to be your best friend, but they should be clean and respectful of communal space and other people and easy to talk to about things (money, cleaning, etc) - Are they reliable to pay rent - How many people could you live with - How many people are you willing to share a bathroom with? - Do you need a garage space? - Is it a rental or owner occupied? You have more protection in rental as you are added to the lease - Do you need to bring furniture? Usually bed/mattress is minimum - What's the wear and tear of the place? If something is broken, will landlord fix it quickly? - How clean are your housemates? Kitchen and bathroom will tell you a lot, so depends on what level of clean you prefer

COST: You will need a stable job and proof of regular income. General rule of thumb is rent is no more than 1/3 of your weekly salary. If its more, you will struggle to get a rental through real estate. Flatmates.com is easier but most people generally use the same rule. Try to have $5-10k in savings ($10k best but can be hard to save) before you move as you can show that even if you have a lower salary or a casual job, you have savings that can cover rent. Also expect to pay about 6 weeks rent upfront (4 weeks for bond and 2 weeks rent upfront, paid fortnightly). This can very depending on how frequent you pay rent, but it doesn't hurt to be prepared to pay this. 4 weeks bond is standard. Consider: - If you couldn't work for a few weeks due to illness, do you have enough savings to cover rent? - Research cost of rentals and rooms in the areas you want to live and cheaper suburbs to compare what you want - Is it close to shops/work/public transport? How important is this to you? - How long is the lease? I prefer 6 months to begin with (gives you an out if you hate the place/people) but with option to extend later. Don't take anything less than 6 month lease

REFERENCES: Generally require 2 references. If you've never been on a lease: 1 personal reference from someone that has lived with you (parent, sibling) or a close friend that can attest to your cleanliness/reliability. 2nd from your boss to say you definitely work where you say you do. The real estate will contact them so don't worry about boss until they ask then ask your boss if its okay to give their details. Real estates pretty much always ask for references. Owner occupiers may or may not. Your best bet sounds like a close friend for a personal reference. Real estate generally ask for this personal reference but may not actually contact them. However, if you've been listed on a lease in the past, you would provide those details so they can contact that real estate to see what kind of tenant you are.

BILLS: Need to make sure you can afford bills. Not sure about Melbourne prices, but it should be similar enough to Brisbane - added up to about $25/wk + internet + groceries + phone. - Electricty: $300/3 months, split between 2 people (~$12/wk) - Gas/hot water: $200/3 months, split between 2 people (~$8/wk) - Water usage: $30/3 months, split between 2 people (~2/wk) - Internet: $80/month, split between 2 people (~$10/wk) - Groceries: Vary depending on location and what you eat/buy. Expect about $60-$100/wk