Wodonga's Tiffany Gough thought finding a rental would be difficult, but didn't expect it would take 172 applications.
The mum-of-two, who has worked at Mahony's Newsagency for 14 years, was searching for nearly four months and staying with friends before getting approval for a home through PJ Murphy Real Estate.
"Considering we're both working and we've got good income - I've got a high school friend who is moving in - I didn't think it would be that hard to find something, but sure enough it was," she said.
"I've actually come to know quite a few people in inspections that have been to every single one that I've been to.
"We'd met each other at seven different houses in one day or in a week, and you just get chatting about how many houses you'd applied for and how long you'd been looking."
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Ms Gough found out the good news on Friday that she'd been approved for a three-bedroom home in Wodonga, by a landlord keen to have a reliable tenant like her.
"It was actually my birthday and I was over the moon," she said.
"That day, I'd had two rejections and I also had five more yesterday.
"It's great; it's got a nice big backyard for Zed to kick the footy."
"We continually saw Tiff at properties, and she got so close so many times ... we were wanting to match her up with the best property for the kids," she said.
"So finally, we found this one, and before it was advertised after a tenant moved out, asked her to go and have a look at it.
"She always provides the right paperwork and is on time, and is a hard-working single mum, so we kept trying.
"It's disheartening for us as well when we see the same faces at inspections."
While winter is traditionally slow, PJ Murphy has been kept busy with 60-plus applications for every rental.
"We're coming across people from Melbourne and Sydney and we're taking some of them through on Zoom calls," she said.
"I had a couple from Melbourne drive down just for an inspection. They'd heard about the property through word-of-mouth.
"It's stretching out to places like Yackandandah.
"I'm heading on 30 years ... it's a very unique situation that I've never seen."
