unfortunately, i too had to go through the gruelling process of finding a new place last year in melbourne- it was a truly horrible experience. By the end of the whole thing, i had become used to getting my hopes up, only to have my heart broken on a weekly basis..

i came across so many houses that were dilapidated and dingy, smelly, 3 bedroom places which actually turned out to be 2 bedrooms and a cupboard, some places with such slanted floors that you'd have trouble standing up straight! the worst part of it all of course, was that the market was so bad, that even at the worst of the worst, you'd still get hoards of people showing up at the inspections. i remember at one particular property i counted 95 people coming through the door. ridiculous. not to mention the competitive nature of the application process, offering more money, getting applications in before you've even seen the place (technically illegal i believe) and having to deal with my mortal enemy in life- real estate agents..don't get me started.

my advice- keep at it, introduce yourself in person to the agents, write a cover letter to submit with your application, stay on the agents' backs if you don't hear anything. i now live in a beautiful place, but we only got it because we made a point of showing how eager we were.

chin up! you will find a place eventually- it just may take a LOT of patience, a bit of sucking up to that which embodies all that is wrong and evil in our world (the real estate agent) and perhaps a little bit of luck too..