Karl Stefanovic and Today financial guru Joel Gibson have come under fire for their ‘out of touch’ and ‘illegal’ advice to ns struggling to find a home to rent.
During a segment on the rental shortage on Thursday morning, Gibson shared advice for renters who want to stand out from the hordes of other applicants at an inspection.
‘It’s important to treat this like a military operation, treat it like a job interview,’ Gibson said.
‘When you go into that first inspection, you need to make an impression on that agent. Bring a printed version of your application, dress like it’s a job interview.
‘You can still offer more rent or money upfront in most states at the moment. Rent bidding is becoming illegal in Victoria in November. It’s illegal in Queensland.’
Specifically, Gibson recommended offering to pay more than the quoted amount, or to offer two to three months of rent upfront in advance.
In response to hearing the practice is illegal, or capped at a few weeks’ worth of rent, Karl said, ‘What about a little bit of a…’ and made a ‘backhander’ motion to suggest making a covert payment.
The segment drew widespread criticism at a time when many are struggling to find a rental, and even those who have are having difficulty paying very high rent prices.
‘Two to three months up front? Sure, everyone has $5,000 they can just fire off,’ one wrote.
‘Treat it like a job interview? What is wrong with these people? Why not: “practice your lowest bow and curtsy”,’ another said.
‘Who can afford three months of rent and bond in advance?’ another wrote.
‘Who needs a social life when you can pay to live in some random a***ole’s fifth investment property?’ another said.
On top of Gibson’s suggestion to treat rental inspections ‘like a job interview’, offer a higher rent or pay in advance, and pre-prepare an application – he called for prospective renters to call real estate agents within 24 hours to follow up their application and make a personal pitch.
He also said hikes in average rental prices appear to be slowing this year, having reached a tipping point that made them unaffordable for many prospective tenants.
‘Rents are up 43 per cent over five years, it’s added $10,000 to the average rent in the last five years,’ Gibson said, looking at the median price across five cities.
‘But we have seen in the last quarter the lowest increase since 2020 so there maybe is a glimmer of hope that the trend is kind of coming back down.
‘When you look at Sydney and Melbourne, they’ve actually gone up by only about 1.5 per cent in the past year, whereas other medium-sized capitals – Brisbane, Perth, Adelaide – they’re the ones that are still rising quite fast at around five per cent.
‘It looks like the really bad years of the last few years might be coming to an end for renters, so there is a bit of a glimmer of hope.’