The Apartment Search - Day 1

Ibis Hotel
334 Murray Street
Perth WA 6000, Australia
(08) 9322 2844

One of the biggest unknowns when arriving in Perth was where to live? After grabbing our baggage in the Perth airport, after roughly 30 hours of travel, Steph spotted a counter that made shuttle and hotel bookings. The lady at the counter was extremely friendly and helpful. We told her where we were coming from and our general reasons for visiting. She was able to book us a hotel room (Hotel Ibis) at a discounted rate (nearly 50%). However, before we set off on our way, she left us with a comment that would haunt us for the rest of the day: “It’s not that easy to find an apartment for rent. It takes time – there’s a process.”

Consequently, the shuttle ride to the hotel consisted of strategizing a plan to find an apartment as quickly as possible. The basic gist of the plan was after checking into the hotel Steph would immediately start looking real estate companies in the yellow pages and make as many phone calls as humanly possible before the end of the business day (it was nearly 14:30 at the time we arrived at the hotel). This part of the plan proved futile. I, on the other hand, had fortunately sent out a few e-mails to prospective realtors the night before in a last minute effort to schedule viewings (this was not a display of procrastination, but merely shrewd behaviour). My job would be to check to see if I had any responses. I did. All of the realtors had replied. Some informed me that the properties had already been leased while others were willing to set up an appointment within the next day. I responded quickly and was able to confirm 4 viewings for the next day.