Place hunting in an unfamiliar city is a novel life experience for me. Unlike stints in Halifax, West Kelowna and Ottawa, I needed a place to stay for a year or more, and while I did mine my list of friends with Toronto contacts, in the end none of them were fruitful with regards to finding a place for me to stay. Thankfully though, because I had booked a month at New College at U of T, that meant I had some time to find that place.
So what did I take from the experience?
1. Find the technology.
How people find where to live has evolved significantly with the advent of sites such as Craigslist and Kijiji. I did not need to scour neighbourhoods that I wanted to live in, looking for "for rent" signs. However, these sites also presented an enormous information-management problem. If you have looked at a typical Craigslist listing, you will find incomplete information. The actual address is never on there, there is minimal contact info, and there is lots of filler to sift through. The other problem is that there are so many listings.
I tried multiple websites, some of which had helpful mapping and filtering technology. In the end, the website I found most helpful, by FAR, was www.padmapper.com (thanks Nicole!!!). This site, as I found about halfway through my search, actually pulls listings from Craigslist and Kijiji, puts them on a Google map, and allows you to filter results by price, type of residence, and listing recency. Hallelujah!! It also tells you how the rent compares to rent of similar properties nearby! Here is what it looks like:
2. Identify the location you want. Also, identify the neighbourhoods you do NOT want to live in.
Toronto is a very multicultural city. Gentrification is quite noticeable here. More importantly though, some neighbourhoods are safe and clean, have good supermarkets and restaurants, and are served well by public transit, whereas others are not. For me, location had always been at the forefront of my decision-making, and this served me well later on (to prevent me from making a bad decision).
I wanted a place that was as close as possible to a metro stop (because I am scared of Toronto winter) and with the other desirable characteristics I listed above. From talking to people from Toronto, I learned that some neighbourhoods I would like to live in were the Annex or Greektown. I also learned to avoid the Sherbourne area, the area directly east of St. Michael's Hospital, and the Jane and Finch area - not that I would never ever live in these places, but if you have a choice, and particularly since I am new and naive in town, why take the risk?
3. Know what to look for.
Key things to look for: type of residence (1-bedroom apartment, basement suite, bachelor, room in a shared apartment), price, what utilities are included in the rent, who is the property owner, air conditioning, furnished vs. unfurnished, laundry facilities, Internet availability, contact information - and of course location. In addition, it's important to look at the term (1 year? or just a summer sublet?) and what they're looking for. Often, people will put "female only" which rules me out of the listing.
Ultimately, I kept my eyes out for a listing in a desirable neighbourhood for a 1-bedroom apartment (in the realm of $700-1000 a month), a bachelor (maybe $600-$800), or a room ($500 to $700 max), with laundry facilities (I can not imagine lugging my laundry to a laundromat in the snow) and these prices reflecting all utilities included. To be honest, I really wanted a room because I did want to live with someone rather than be all by myself, and I really wanted to live in the Annex, because the area has lots of students there.
4. Information manage.
Even with padmapper's help, I still ended up with quite a few listings that I was interested in and responded to. I ended up creating an Excel document to list down the details I listed above.
5. Learn how to respond to listings.
This was a big growing pain. I screwed up some listings by emailing or texting the wrong thing to the wrong people (eg. forgetting to delete parts of an old email). So I learned to use that Excel file to copy down contact information (listing URL, email address, phone number, name). The second thing that I learned was that I should include information about myself, even if the listing doesn't ask for it. I initially made the mistake of including only minimal information; but in order to make me stand out, I have to tell them who I am and give them a reason to respond to me, rather than the millions of other responses. Another thing to include is my contact information, so that they can text or call me right away to set up a viewing.
The third thing is that the early bird does get the worm. It was very discouraging initially because I was applying to all these listings and getting few responses back. I then realized that the responses I was getting back were for the listings that had been posted recently - I mean, very recently, within the last 24 hours. As I mentioned, padmapper has a filter for recency of the listing, and so I began to only look at listings that have popped up in the last day, checking the website several times a day, and to target those aggressively. This means to book a viewing ASAP, which requires that you have a pretty flexible schedule. Thankfully, I had one.
6. Actually go to look at the place.
Obviously, it's important to physically go to check out the place, including the surrounding area.
My first viewing was at Dufferin and Bloor for a room in a shared house with other "students and working professionals." The room was inexpensive and had all utilities included, was next to a metro stop and was half a block away from Dufferin Mall (where I could have done all my shopping). However, the two rooms he showed me were in houses shared with 4 and 6 other people; the house looked a little cramped and a little dark, and the bathroom looked somewhat dirty. While I could have lived there, in a pinch, it was a good experience for me to learn what's out there and what I do NOT want to live in.
My second viewing was that same day (organized just 2 hours before) and was at Donlands and Danforth. This location looked excellent on Google Maps - it was literally 20 seconds away from the metro stop and was just on the edge of Greektown. However, when I arrived, I saw that the neighbourhood was mostly Ethiopian and Middle Eastern - not that I have anything against people of these cultures, but I don't eat that type of food. I also didn't find a supermarket close by. Thankfully, I didn't take the room, because the room itself was actually very attractive - hardwood floor, furnished, big bed and a large plasma TV in my room!
My third viewing was at St. Patrick and Dundas and was my eventual winner. The two guys I will be rooming with is having their third roommate move out to a condo. The apartment is the "penthouse" (top apartment) of a 12-storey apartment building, along a side street lined with many apartment buildings and 2 minutes away from the St. Patrick metro stop. The area is quite central, 1 block away from Chinatown and only 15-20 minutes walk from St. Mike's. The apartment itself is clean, the kitchen is big, there is a balcony, my room is quite large, and Jim, the roommate that I've met, seems to be very engaging and helpful. The only thing is that the room is unfurnished!
I also did a fourth viewing, also in a large apartment building, in the Yonge-St. Clair neighbourhood, which I also liked.
7. Don't forget that it's a two-way street.
In retrospect, me getting that room was not a sure thing at all. That's because I forgot - or didn't know - that what is a room viewing to me is a roommate interview for the other person. I didn't bother to try to tell Jim too much about myself, instead asking him questions about himself, the neighbourhood and the apartment. So if I was to do this again, I would try harder to connect to the other person, and not just focus on asking all the questions on my list. But I was lucky. Also, I think it helps (for once) that I'm a small Asian guy - I don't look intimidating, I'm clean shaven, I'm young, I have a job, I don't drink or smoke - the perfect roommate!
Photos will come soon once I have the key. Time for round 2: furniture shopping!
No comments:
Post a Comment