JulieDoire

After alot of job searching we'v seen that all over Canada there will be work for both me & the BF in areas that we are qualified ... next thing, accommodation, as someone who has never used Craigslist before, i was just wondering, (as it seems very popular for US & N.america) how reliable it is? like we have been looking at endless amounts of property websites.. and haven't been impressed by much, but some of the apartments & houses on Craigslist are amazing for the money... are they to good to be true?? It is a trusted website? Just wondering has anyone on here used it to get accommodation and it went well or was a disaster?

ExKiwilass

put it this way: craigslist is kind of a free for all. there is no one really monitoring it except other people using it. sometimes the scammers get called out by other users. if there's something that seems dodgy you can post the link here and we can tell you if it's legit or not.

JulieDoire

Yey was thinking that, will do. I noticed under your avatar there that your from Vancouver. Would you mind me asking what would be a normal/average rent for a 1bed apartment, nothing fancy within say 30mins of the city. Just something to get us started..

JonboyE

I am not sure where you are heading but Craig's List is the major classified website in Vancouver. Most advertisers are genuine but some are not. Too good to be true definitely does mean too good to be true.

Anyone who says they are overseas at the moment but if you send them the deposit they will send you the keys = run.

Anyone who asks you to send money via Western Union = run.

I would not rent anything sight unseen. Even genuine landlords can substantially overrate their properties. Photos can deceive as well as inform. Spend your first few days in a hotel and hit the streets.

JulieDoire

Aye, that would be the plan, Iv emailed a few asking more questions, some dont even list where in the city the apartment is. We would defs just geta hostel/hotel and do the rounds for a week. We'v been there before when we were looking at flats when at uni.. so wur no dosers lol some of the pics are slightly fuzzy, so it would make you think that the poster does not have the orginal..maybe copied of google..? Id like to think that at least some of them are real though.. some of these apartments are lovely! We havent picked a definate location yet, wana get some jobs applied for first and see who gets back to us

beckiwoo

You might want to read the section on Canadian job hunting on the wiki link on the blue bar - it's very different to UK/Ireland and they prefer phone/in person interaction rather than email and their style of resume is slightly different to a CV

JonboyE

If I can dive in here, it really depends. Downtown, Yaletown or Coal Harbour, you can easily spend $2,000 +++. Outside downtown somewhere between $1,000 and $1,500 depending on the area. Further out in the suburbs (30 + minutes) you can rent a basement suit for $650 and up.

Some of the best value is The West End. This is between downtown and Stanley Park. Mostly older rental units but very convenient. Probably $1,200 to $1,300 these days.

JulieDoire

Yey my BF has had to update his CV to the Canadian style template, will get mines done to. I read someone else saying that they got their job after just seeing a poster and the met the recruiter straight away, but anything iv looked at so far has had an option for email... See that's the best we can do atm because ..well we are still in Ireland lol A few of the engineering jobs my BF has applied for says that they can do Skype interviews for people overseas. But ill keep in mind your advice, Ill be looking for bar/cafe work too so id say i'd do that kinda job hunting when we'd arrive

JulieDoire

Hey, thanks for the figures, see we just have to go by what we see online, but dont know if thats good or ones are ripping the arse outa it! But thats good to know, cheers

Siouxie

I would use www.padmapper.com - you can configure the search and it shows photos, walkability factor etc.

JulieDoire

Thanks for the link, just on having a look at it now!

ultrarunner

Craiglist...beware, I mean if a guy can get killed for trying to sell his truck

magnumpi

KIJIJI is useful too

http://vancouver.kijiji.ca/f-real-es...s-W0QQCatIdZ37

http://toronto.kijiji.ca/f-real-esta...cationZ1700273

orly

found our first two apartments on kijiji. top site.

JulieDoire

oh dear.. never heard that. we'll be careful!