Tired of spending your Saturday mornings inspecting rental properties, only to find they're the size of a postage stamp?
You're not alone.
As housing prices become increasingly unaffordable, it's no longer uncommon for people to find themselves looking at grim, inner-city apartments with 50 other desperate people.
So what do you do when you find something you like?
That's where we come in. We're Hard Bargain, a new podcast from the Fairfax Media newsroom.
Ebony Bowden, Bhakthi Puvanenthiran and Liam Mannix helm this weekly six-part series which explores topics including the true cost of a good bottle of wine and how to negotiate car salesmen into giving you a better deal.
The first episode explores tricks of the rental trade and the major mistakes many people make when applying for their perfect property.
Lying about not having a pet? Thanks to Facebook, there's now a good chance you'll be caught out.
Rental brokers Jade Costello and Simone Fleming from Melbourne Rental Search say agents use Google and trawl applicants' social media profiles to check for red flags.
"Once you find a property you like and say you submit an application, the first thing that the agent will do before they've even looked at your references, your employment, is they're actually going to do a Google search of you and a Facebook stalk of you," Costello says.
"People don't realise. They'd be shocked to know that."
With interests in business, economics and pop culture, Bhakthi, Liam and Ebony hope to bring a fresh and entertaining look at how the world around us works.
How to listen to us:
- From a desktop or laptop, you can listen to us by hitting the big play button on the link above.
- You can subscribe to the Hard Bargain series on iTunes by clicking on this link.
- On your iPhone or iPad, open the pre-loaded Podcasts app on your phone and search for Hard Bargain. Click subscribe to have new episodes delivered to your phone each week.
If you like what your hear, please rate us on iTunes.
Please also get in touch with us via email or on Twitter.
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