I need to Move! [a sick of roomates/want to live on my own thread]

SmallLady

I'm Sick and Tired of my current roommates who i have to remind constantly to pay bills and rent and are using every dish in the house and not washing any.

Anyways. So i've now decided that I want my own place. for the first time since i moved out of my mothers house when i was 19. (i'm now 27)


the problem i've encountered so far is that i'm having a hard time finding a bacherlor suite or 1br that's under $700 a month

i've been checking the paper cassifeds, the university housing off campus listings, and craigslist (which is kinda a joke as people are listing their places WAY above market)

anyways, I was wondering if anybody had any ideas or thoughs to improve my search.

Thanks

vonPoonBurGer

$700/mo.? For a solo rental? In BC? I hate to say it, but... you're looking at pretty long odds there. Victoria and Vancouver have had wickedly expensive housing prices for quite a while now, and the cost of housing affects the cost of renting. The housing market is starting to cool though, what with the economic downturn. That could eventually lead to more people buying, which means less people renting, and lower demand for rentals will create lower rental prices. It could take quite a while for all this to trickle down though.

A quick perusal of the classifieds of the Victoria Times-Colonist show that the average rental price for a studio/bachelor or 1-bedroom place is way over $700. There are a few at $700 and under, but don't be surprised if most of those are in crap locations, are poorly maintained, or have something else wrong with them. Still, it's worth picking up the phone and asking to check out the ones you can afford, maybe one of them is a hidden gem or something. If nothing else, it might provide the motivation you need to find new roommates instead of new rooms.

If you do find a place that you can afford and like, be ready to rent it on the spot. I don't know if Victoria is as bad now as Vancouver was when we were living there, but Vancouver was pretty brutal for competition a few years ago. My girlfriend and I scored a number of really nice places during our years there by following these rules:

• Always bring copies of anything the landlord might as to see: bank statements, pay stubs, letters of reference from previous landlords. Bring extra copies so you can give them a copy of whichever bits of paper they want/need to have right then and there, with no need to hand over originals or run around trying to find a photocopier.
• Always bring at least two blank checks, so you can write out checks for first and last month's rent (or first month & security deposit, whichever it is) on the spot. We even brought cash once, because nothing will sway a landlord like a fat wad of bills.
• Always, always be there first. If the landlord is going to be there from 8:30am onward, be there at 8:15am. If at all possible, be the first one to see the inside of the place. If you like it, whip out your papers and tell them you're willing to write checks and sign the lease on the spot. At least two of the places we rented, my girlfriend and I were signing the papers as later-arriving prospective tenants were just showing up. I'm not normally one to gloat, but in such a competitive housing market, watching others groan, mutter and shake their tiny tiny fists in impotent rage was deeply satisfying.

Seriously, we had to be like rental ninjas or some crap to get better places. Victoria may not be as bad now, but I guarantee you, a solo rental that doesn't suck and is well under the market average will be a sought-after commodity.

Kris

Yeah, sorry to bum you out, but even in Edmonton here, single bedroom places have went up so much that they usually start closer to $800 a month, and that's for some of the crappier places. But best of luck to you! I really hope you find a cheap place!!

SmallLady

ya, i knew gettins omething $700 and under would be a long shot. i'm actually going to see a place for $750 tomorrow that i found on the UVIC housing site.

wish me luck!

and Thanks vonPoonBurGer for the advice to bring pay stubs and such. Great idea!

Corvus

I lived in Victoria for seven years or so until the early 2000s. I think your odds of finding a place that isn't a complete shit hole for that budget are pretty low.

Unless you want to move to East Sooke or somewhere equally remote or a sketchy part of Esquimalt. Is Monday Magazine still around? I used to rent rooms out in my place and I advertised in there as the prices to put an add in the TC were pretty expensive.

One thing I will tell you about the rental market in Victoria, which you're probably already aware of, is its much easier to find a new place in April or later when all the UVic and Camosun students are leaving the island. If you could stick it out for a few more months, you might have a much larger pool of potential places.

SmallLady

yea i may end up doing that anyways, waiting that is. sadly i also need to find a place that's close to UVic as that's where I work.

oh well.

witch_ie

Not sure if this is they way it works in Canada, but in the US, I've usually found places that are privately owned and managed to be cheaper as compared to those rented out by a management company. They also have less of a need to or budget to advertise, so I think frequently checking sites like craigslist will be of help to you.