[01:08] <arnd> a friend of mine is moving to Melbourne in october and is looking for a room in a shared flat
[01:08] <arnd> any ideas where to search or who to ask?
[01:20] <mikey> arnd: the new guys at the office here is from melbourne. He said try http://www.realestate.com.au
[01:21] <mikey> he said there was nothing really stood out as the best site for melbourne
[01:22] <arnd> thanks mikey
[01:34] <mikey> arnd: also http://www.domain.com.au/ is not bad
[01:35] <arnd> what would be a reasonable price for a student room?
[01:43] <arnd> it seems very hard to find a room for less than 100$ per week, I wonder if that only means I need to look harder, or that 100$ would be dirt cheap in Melbourne
[01:44] <arnd> it's roughly what I paid for my first room at university -- per month
[01:46] <mark> arnd: where abouts in melbourne are you looking - inner city or suburbia?
[01:47] <arnd> mark: anywhere, I believe she will be at unimelb and not have a car, so it shouldn't be too far
[01:48] <mark> arnd: I'd say that for something in the city (or surrounding suburbs) $100 would be a pretty good find but I've only ever looked for one bedroom apartments
[01:49] <arnd> ok, good to know
[01:50] <mark> arnd: if it's anything to go buy studio apartments in the city centre seemed to start at about $170 and one bedroom places started at about $220 or so
[01:51] <dk> i've only been to melbourne once, and that was 4 years ago, but I seem to remember things in walking distance from unimelb being fairly condo/townhome and not so much 'apartment' area
[01:51] <dk> but since i'm a 'merkin I probably completely misunderstood the properties there :)
[01:52] <dk> I stayed at a YHA hostel marked by this arrow: http://maps.google.com.au/maps?f=q&hl=en&q=elizabeth+st+%26+queensberry,+melbourne+au&sll=-25.335448,135.745076&sspn=44.168076,48.955078&ie=UTF8&ll=-37.801375,144.961424&spn=0.019226,0.023904&z=15&om=1
[01:52] <dk> south of the uni there seemed like it would have been more affordable than the burb that is east of the uni
[01:52] <dk> (CarltoN)
[01:52] <arnd> are the college dorms usually cheaper than shared flats?
[01:53] <mark> i think the colleges are actually really expensive
[01:53] <mark> because they provide in-house tutors and computer labs and the like
[01:55] <mark> most people from interstate stay in the dorms for first year and then move out to a share house because it's just too expensive
[01:56] <arnd> ah, I see. she's only there for half a year I think, so that's not an option ;-)
[01:58] <arnd> is it common for shared houses to be furnished? there's not much point buying furniture I guess
[01:59] <mark> that's true... most of them are furnished
[01:59] <arnd> ah, good
[02:00] <mark> if she's around melbourne uni at the moment there are a noticeboards all over the faculties that usually have a fair few adds for rooms that are within walking distance from uni
[02:00] <arnd> mark: no, she'll arrive in october and need something right away
[02:01] <mark> arnd: damn...
[02:02] --> rusty has joined this channel (^rusty@203.213.241.221).
[02:05] <arnd> mark: is it right that australian rooms are usually rented out by a company, so the lodger applies there, instead of talking to the potential flatmates first?
[02:07] <arnd> that would at least make it easier to get a room at all. In Germany, it's near impossible to quickly get into a shared flat as a foreigner coming into the country
[02:07] <mark> arnd: yeah - I've not heard complaints about it
[02:08] <mark> and like you say - it speeds up the process a lot
[02:10] <mark> arnd: you may have already seen it but here's a link from uni melb: http://www.services.unimelb.edu.au/housing/options/share.html
[02:11] <arnd> mark: no, haven't seen it yet -- looks very helpful
[02:12] <mark> arnd: oh good - glad to help