How to Find A Place to Live in Vancouver

I’ve been thinking of writing a short guide for a few years now, but this August was our first time signing a lease and having to fill out a tenancy application. Hopefully this guide will help students and new-grads in their search for a place to call home away from home. The guide is based on Vancouver but is relevant elsewhere and is organized in 5 sections:

1. Determining your Needs
2. Classified Ads
3. Contacting the Property
4. Viewing the Property
5. Sealing the Deal

We’ll walk-through thinking about what’s important in the place you live, the process of finding that place, checking it out to make sure it isn’t too sketchy, and finally sealing the deal. So, let’s get started.

1. Determining your Needs

What is important to you? What will you prioritize and what can you do without? My standard is a Clean, Quiet, and Convenient Place. These 3 are my top priority. I prioritize cleanliness both for my dust allergies and hayfever, and because I find it disgusting to live somewhere dirty. Most of all, it’s uncomfortable and you won’t want to spend time at your own home. I have dust allergies and hayfever so it is all the more important to have a clean place. Also, you’ve heard that you’re influenced by your environment. If you have a dirty place you’ll be dirty but if you have a clean place you’ll want to keep it up.

A quiet place depends mostly on how deep you sleep. I lived in a place where an ambulance went wailing by every night and the noise from the buses kept me up. If you’re a light sleeper, look for somewhere that’s not going to have outside traffic nor neighbours noise.

How much time are you willing to spend on transit? Sometimes it pays to be closer to where you’ll be every day such as school or work and sometimes its better to be closer to the action, where you spend your friday nights and weekends. Usually I base this on my average night time bus ride home. If I’m going to be studying late at UBC I don’t want to bus an hour at 10pm to get home. Once you’ve decided which area to live (UBC, downtown, Metrotown, etc..), think about how far away from the bus you’re willing to be and how frequent it comes. When I studied my busing, I found that a significant portion of my trip was waiting for the buses at transfers. Having to bus, then skytrain, then bus again can be a pain. Also, how close is the nearest supermarket? Having to go a long way every week to get groceries sucks and you’ll end up carrying less home and not eating as well. To summarize,

• How clean of a place is it?
• How quiet will it be?
• How close to transit will it be and how long will my transit be?
• Is there a supermarket nearby?

Once you’ve determined which area of the city fits for you and how clean, quiet, and convenient of a place you’d like, you can start looking at other details such as these:

• Cost (how much is your budget and will you spend more to get a better place?)
• Internet & Utilities included? (Internet is about 60$/month and Utilities range 25–50$/month)
• Laundry (coin/card/insuite usually doesn’t matter as long as it’s onsite)
• Furnished? (Usually shared accommodations are, but renting a flat isn’t)
• Security (how safe is the neighbourhood?)
• Contract (Usually shared is month to month and paid in cash, renting a flat requires a lease and a lot of paperwork to prove you can pay the bill)
• Is it a new building? (Allergy wise, a new building is cleaner. It also has better natural lighting, more wall plugs, and is quieter)
• Natural light (This is important for staying happy)

Special Needs. If you have hayfever check what trees are outside. What flowers and bushes are around.

2. Classified Ads

Newspapers are a little old these days and almost everything is online. Places like craigslist are extremely abundant with good and bad properties, and of all price ranges. You can also look on Kijiji, rentbc.com, and gottarent.com among others less suited to our purpose.

Craigslist is the by far the most populous and I’ve used it extensively on a number of occasions. There can be hundreds of posts per day which can be daunting to look through but the new map view makes it easier to view by location, which brings us to filtering. As we talked about before, it is important to have an idea how close to major transit lines you’d like to be as well as how long you’re willing to commute.

This leads us to my favourite, PadMapper, which uses google maps to place pins on all the listings posted to Craigslist, Kijiji, and Padmapper. After you apply filters for price, number of bedrooms, and lease vs shared, you will see a google map with many pins. You have to manually filter by distance from a location but then comes the real fun. When you click on a pin, it marks it as having been seen. Then, if it’s too expensive or too shifty, you can hide it from the map thus clearing up space. If it looks good, there’s a link directly to craigslist or Kijiji and you can favourite it in Padmapper as well as save a note to it, such as “emailed, ask about hydro”. Padmapper also shows how long ago it was added which is valuable because listings often aren’t removed after they’re filled.



Sometimes finding a good place can be luck of the draw. With hundreds of listings a day, it is important to continuously monitor craigslist or Padmapper as there’s a lot of other people looking for listings and properties can be taken within a day or two. It’s not uncommon to book a viewing time in the next few days and find out a few hours before arriving that it’s already taken.

3. Contacting the Properties

As you make your way through the classified ads you’ll start to see properties that fit your requirements outlined above. Now’s the time to start contacting them. Usually shared accommodations don’t show up until the end of the month, something to do with the student procrastination and so the last week of any month or so become very frantic. Lease-based properties usually show up a month in advance but can be held instantaneously.

Usually the more descriptive a place is the better it is, but that’s not always true. Places with pictures give a pretty good feel for what the property will be like but should also be taken with a grain of salt. If you’re looking for immediate relocation for the end of the month, it is best to call and arrange a meeting time. Remember to smile into the phone and be polite asking about tomorrow afternoon or what their availability is. Usually my phone call goes something like this:

“Hi, could I speak to Gary please?”

“Speaking”

“Hi, my name’s Keenan and I’m inquiring about a one bedroom apartment for rent on craigslist. Would it be possible to get a viewing tomorrow afternoon or Wednesday?”

Unless it’s already taken, they’ll probably say yes. Before you hang up, get their name and phone number so that you can confirm the appointment prior to arriving.

If there’s no given phone number, send them an email inquiring. Include a little about yourself, with questions if you have any, and your contact information. Lastly, don’t forget to include a link to the posting so that you can refer back to it later as you’ll probably be emailing quite a few properties.

“Hi,

I saw your craigslist add for a shared bedroom near Sasamat. My name’s Keenan and I’m a clean and quiet, non-smoking, non-partying engineering student going to UBC. Would you be available to to meet tomorrow or Wednesday for a viewing? Also, are utilities and internet included?

Thanks,

Keenan Ngo.

phone number

email address.”

If you’re looking in more than one neighbourhood, try to schedule one for one day and the other for the next. There’s no point running all over town if you don’t need to.

4. Viewing the Property

Before getting there, be sure to call at least half an hour before your appointment to confirm that you can still come. You don’t want to wait around between viewings only to find out that the next one has already been taken or the guy isn’t around.

When you show up, be sure to introduce yourself as if it were a job interview. Be polite, courteous, and appear mature. Owners want to see someone who they can trust and won’t destroy the place. It also helps to wear something nice, like jeans and a dress shirt rather than shorts and a t-shirt. I also take along a page that has the details from the craigslist add, questions I have about the property that weren’t detailed in the ad, and a general checklist of questions to ask about. It looks like this:

• How is the landlord? Are the honest, reasonable, helpful?
• Is it clean? Have the carpets been regularly steam cleaned?
• Stop near the window. Is it single pane or double pane? Is there street noise?
• What about natural light? how much light is coming in?
• What plants are outside? Will I have allergies? Is there mold on the windows?
• Heaters? will they keep the place warm?
• Does the place smell?
• Are there any previous damages?

Questions to ask:

• Hydro & Internet included?
• Coin laundry?
• Over night guest policy? (for shared properties)
• Parking? (if not for you, for guests)
• Covered bike storage? (you don’t want a wet seat when it rains)
• Move in fees? (for new, luxury developments)

As I’m looking through the place, I try to keep up a conversation with the landlord. I want to know how much they care about their property to know if it’s well kept. You can also get hints through what they say if they’re just greedy to make money or if they care about how their tenants are living. You also get a sense of how reasonable they’ll be in problems arise and on the flip side, they’ll get to know your character and start to like you more. The good owners are the ones that also want to get to know something about you as that will give them peace of mind and reduce the potential for problems down the road.

You can also take pictures which help to compare places after viewing them. It also helped when we were looking at 4 places in the same building that had been recently renovated and we thought one might be slightly larger.

When you leave, be polite and give the owner a date that you’ll let them know if you want it or not. Usually this is 3–5 days as it probably won’t be on the market much longer and you’re probably under pressure to find a place anyways. When you leave, find a place down the block where you can write some notes on what you thought of the place and the pros and cons.

Finally, if something feels off and you have a bad feeling, get out of there. Trust your gut and your instinct to detect problems now or that could arise. This is most likely an untrustworthy or unreasonable owner which makes the conversation with them that much more important.

5. Sealing the Deal

Sometimes you’ll decide upon a place while you’re viewing it. In this case, it’s good to have a chequebook or cash on hand to pay the damage deposit. This effectively reserves the room until you move in and pay the month’s rent. If you decide later on a place, even after just walking out the door, call them as soon as you can to reserve it. Then, if it’s still available, organize a time when you can give them a damage deposit. Sooner is better in this game. Don’t forget to get a receipt that’s clearly written and includes all the necessary information (your name, owner’s name, date, amount, reason). This applies for monthly rents in the future as well.

For 1-year leases, you’ll probably need a tenancy application and they’ll hold the unit for you. Our application was harder than getting a job and required a lot of phone calls for references.

• Current and previous employment
• Current and previous housing
• Banking and credit reference
• Do you have tenant insurance?
• Two references and two emergency contacts

The last apartment required a 1-year lease and we talked extensively with the owners. Because we’re new grads and haven’t started work yet, they wanted a employment contacts to confirm that we did have a job and a credit check to confirm that we would be able to pay the rent now and down the road. After making phone calls and emails for references for a day, we were able to complete the application form. Although it wasn’t requested, we supplied the last 3 months e-statements for our savings account and credit cards to show good standing as well as our resumes. To our surprise, they accepted our application within hours.

When you do get the lease, be sure to read it completely. Also, if you have any questions ask them because a landlord you’re not comfortable talking with will be harder to deal with later.

Last Notes

It is important that where ever you sleep at night you feel both safe and comfortable. Be sure to clearly outline your requirements (clean, quiet, convenience) and what you’re willing to compromise. When looking for housing on craigslist or Padmapper, keep and open mind to all possibilities. When you show up at a property, treat it like a job interview and present the best of yourself. Talk with the owner to get a sense of who they are and so they know what you’re like. Tell them about how you keep a clean place and go through your checklist as you walk through the room. Before leaving, check your list of questions and maybe take some photos too. When you find a place to live, give the owner a deposit as soon as you can and don’t forget to get a receipt. Congratulations! You’ve found a place to live.



Got any tips or suggestions to share? Leave them in the comments with a great story on how you found a place to live.