Can someone please recommend some good apartments for new comers with family? I am looking for one in the catchment area of a good elementary school. Please help.
Apartments in and around Vancouver
- Thread starter abhattacharyacnd
- Start date
When it comes to the greater Vancouver area it will come down to your budget and what is available. The costs are high and vacancy rate is very low so unless you have a very healthy budget you have to take what is available and whatever competition you win. Expect that you and maybe 20 other families will be competing for a good rental.
Do you know where you are going to be working? You don't want to live too far away, otherwise it could be a long commute.
Thanks to everyone who responded so far. I will work at Richmond. I need a 2 BHK, budget is max CAD 2500 and need a place in the catchment area of a good elementary school. Please help, always grateful.
In Canada apartments are rented differently. If you are a couple with at least one child most landlords will prefer to only rent you a 2 bedroom apartment likely with a living room/ dining room kitchen inside the living/dining room area or in a separate room. Your budget will mean you will be competing with lots of other applicants without tons of rentals available. Most landlords will only rent to you when you arrive in Canada. At least you have a job which will give you an edge over new arrivals without a job but landlords won’t be able to do a credit check. Given the low availability you won’t be able to be super picky. Remember this is a rental. You can always move next year.
Your budget of $2,500 is in line of the Richmond rental market. Since you do not have Canadian credit history and reference, it can be difficult to rent from a private rental. I would suggest you engage a rental agency to assist you. Alternately, you can rent through Airbnb.
You can look at these:
http://www.vancouverrentalproperties.com/richmond/
https://rentitfurnished.com/vancouv...p=49.125491,-123.214935,49.204848,-123.092798
You can look at these:
http://www.vancouverrentalproperties.com/richmond/
https://rentitfurnished.com/vancouv...p=49.125491,-123.214935,49.204848,-123.092798
Maybe. Many landlords are not willing to compensate agents given the demand for rentals and that average price point. . It isn’t really tough to find tenants in greater Van. If units are foreign owned then an agent is likely to get paid. You will only see a portion of listings that way though.
You are right, OP will miss a lot of listing, however, beggar can’t be choosy. If OP wants to do the search himself, he would have to wait until he is in Canada. With a hot rental market and no credit history, it could take 2 to 3 months to find a place. At the mean time they will have to stay in a hotel. That could get expensive. By going through an agent, they is a chance he could have a place rented before setting foot in Canada.
I did a similar thing back in 2017. I found a west end condo rental listing. After a couple of phone calls to the listing agent, she was ready to sign the contract with me. I ended up not taking the condo, because the agent wanted a one year contract and I only want to rent for six months.
Still think it may be difficult to get a lease without the agent meeting you. I would also be concerned about signing a 1 year lease without seeing a unit, street, area, etc. Pictures only highlight the good parts of listings. Wish the person good luck. As I said before needing to be in the best school district is tough when competing for rentals in a tight market. Many of the Canadian schools are very similar in terms of quality. Depends more on teacher and other students. 1 year of elementary school does not make a huge difference for a child. A safe area is the one thing that is important.
Yes, I agree with you and think Airbnb must help someone to get them to rent. I take my first rent from Airbnb.