Dear Diary

You would not believe it! After so many months of looking for a new rental, I just got off the phone with the real estate agent saying “ Your application has been approved. I will email you the paperwork!”

It was only after I followed the suggested strategies in Smart Her Change’s blog to help stand out in this highly competitive rental market, took their tips to heart and used it, that we have a new home.

• Before you start searching for a place to rent, calculate how much you can afford to pay. A good rule of thumb is that your rent shouldn’t exceed 30% of your weekly take-home pay. That’s 3* your income.
• Look for a property that is within your budget

I calculated the recommended rent I can comfortably pay is actually less than the rent I was looking for. The maximum rent I was looking for was 0.2* my income. Now when I search for my potential new home, I have increased the maximum rent in the filters to the rent that is below 0.3*my income but more than 0.2* of my income. An amount that I am comfortable with.

• move further out of your desired neighbourhood

I have included other suburbs that are further out from town but still close to the children’s school, my place of work, my family and my friends.

• rethink the type of home you want to live in.

I have also started searching for smaller properties that we can live comfortably in.

Adhering to these tips have increased substantially the number of potential rentals that I can look for. Yay!

• organise an early private inspection with the leasing agent immediately once the property is listed,

• submit applications as soon as possible after your inspection. Even before you drive off.

I have tried to organise an early private inspection as soon as possible whenever the leasing agent is available.

The other tip in Smart Her Change’s blogs that helped me get a foot in the door was

• Offer a longer lease, as this could also improve the chance of being approved

I offered a longer lease in the inspection on Saturday just passed and we will be shifting to our new home next week. The children and I were dancing our ‘happy’ jig since I heard the good news!

I am so glad that I adhered to the suggested strategies from Smart Her Change, now we have our own home, have my weekends back despite “rental crisis only going from bad to worse” Craig Francis wrote last week!

Ladies, let’s make “Smarther” Change together by increasing our financial knowledge and taking control of our finances

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