glasvegas77

Hi everyone,

My wife and I are in our mid 30's and have been 3 months living in Vancouver after immigrating from Glasgow, Scotland. Would be interested in meeting people in the city who may be in a similar situation or have already settled and are keen to share their experiences.
Cheers

taylor2kay

Hi there,

My partner and I are heading out to Vancouver on the 16th Dec, as he has a job offer and after 17weeks of waiting we finally got he call last week to say we got accepted.
What area are you living?
We are looking for an appartment on Cambie st, close to city square where my partner will be working, do you know of any good places to rent? Else we'll be sleeping on the beach lol.
It's going to be real strange spending xmas wihout any friends or family.
We are also in our mid 30's so it would be cool to share our experiences and of course celebrate.

helcat12

I hope you have very deep pockets, then. Property rentals around that area are high.
Rental moves fast in Vancouver area and craigslist is the place most things are advertised, so you should get geared up with a laptop and internet connection that can be up and running asap so that you can see what comes on and race to view it.
I believe that some posters here have also found rentals through seeing signs on buildings which clearly involves legwork round your target area but it might be worth a go.

Have you got any idea what rental in Canada involves? If not, picking up the rental forms and the property check forms here might be useful to you.
Take a check form to any property you are viewing, just in case the landlord doesn't have one. If you like it, then you can seal the deal right there and then!
This site has good info for first time renters in BC.

http://www.tenants.bc.ca/main/?tenancyagreement

http://www.rto.gov.bc.ca/documents/RTB-1.pdf
http://www.rto.gov.bc.ca/documents/RTB-27.pdf

I don't expect I need to say this, but just in case - beware of handing over money in advance as a deposit t secure somewhere prior to arriving. There are lots of scammers and con artists who are very good at stinging new immigrants in this way.

Hope some of this is useful to you.

glasvegas77

Hi,
We know the agony of that wait for paperwork etc. We are staying in English Bay on Cardero St which seems to be a nice spot. The process of getting our place to rent was unfortunately not all that straight forward. Most places are not available until the 1st of the month so you could be looking at temp accommodation for a few weeks. Some places are the 15th of the month but the majority are the 1st. I can definitely go into more detail which would prepare you both for the renting carry on. If I can work out how to send you a private message we can chat more on that. Cheers for now

helcat12

Did you have problems?
That is a shame.

For the OP - with my husband both renting his "bachelor" suite when he first arrived and later renting our current proper home together, the process was fast and fairly easy.

The site I have mentioned was very helpful in preparing him for the possible pitfalls and getting a handle on the laws and paperwork required here.

The only issues he encountered were;
1) craigslist moving so fast that anything he saw advertised and liked had gone if he couldn't get to see it within hours. He had no car, so was relying on public transport.
Having a laptop and mobile is essential to see and respond to adverts (which can be posted at odd times of day) and of course, the transport to get there fast.

2) Misdescription of some properties - because craigslist is not regulated by anyone, both misleading description and out-and-out scamming happens (although don't be scared of that, just aware).
IMHO renting without viewing is a complete no-no.

Otherwise, I think it is just as well regulated as the UK and maybe better.

el_richo

Think of it as saving time and money on commuting, and the convenience of having all your amenities on your doorstep

taylor2kay

Thanks everyone for great info on the renting, try us to be coming out on the 16th, we will have missed all the start dates for renting, guess it will be a cardbaord box on English Bay that we will call home!!!
Is this what they call living the dream!!!!!

Can't believe how expensive renting is compared to the UK and why are sooooooo many places unfurnished grrrrrrrrrrrrrrr, I know I normally pack everything except the kitchen sink but this is crazy.

Glasvegas I will inbox you soon as we can communicate..

el_richo

What's your budget? It'll probably be a push but try and get something for 1st December if possible.

Otherwise looks for a holiday rental of some kind for a few weeks and have one start 1st Jan.

As for furnishing, there are tons of places you can grab stuff from very easily. Homesense, BestBuy, Canadian Tire, all within a few minutes away from the area. Then there's a crap load of stuff down South Granville and an Ikea down the road in Richmond.

You really need to pull your finger out and sort something asap though in my opinion. Buses are very frequent down Cambie as well so you could also try looking further downtown or up towards 41st ish near Oakridge. The latter has the Canada Line nearby which gets you downtown quickly and also near City Square in minutes.

helcat12

Renting isn't expensive compared to the UK at all.

The issue for you is where you want to live.
You could hardly have chosen a more expensive location in North America if you had tried.

Further out of town the rentals are actually quite a lot less like for like compared to salary than in the uK.

We rent a large house in Fraser Valley and it would be impossible for us to afford this location and property in the UK.

You might have everything on your doorstep living in the Cambie Street area, like el_richo says, but you are going to have to shell out a lot for it.

The other option is to commute and so choose a location along the Skytrain route.

Also furnished properties are extremely rare - 99% of rentals are unfurnished.

I don't envy you arriving so close to Christmas.
Maybe you could find a place to rent just for a month or so to tide you over Christmas until you have had chance to look round and find somewhere suitable. My OH got a basement room in a BE's house but at that time of year lots of people are having relatives to visit.

Maybe someone who is going to be out of town for the season would have you "house sit" until they come back in the New year?

helcat12

Don't forget jysk for cheap and cheerful furniture and home items.
I really like this shop for all the things like bath mat, shower curtain, table mats, bedding and such for not a lot of money.
Nicer than Ikea in my opinion.
You can also get furniture there but I brought all mine with me, so I haven't tried it for the bigger stuff.

http://www.jysk.ca/

ExKiwilass

Agreed

ExKiwilass

Yeah, but the commute from the Fraser Valley to Cambie blows. That's why the FV is so much cheaper - the commute sucks, so a lot of people would rather pay more $$ in rent to not have to deal with that. Of course if you're working somewhere else (the Ridge, Pitt, in Surrey somewhere) it's a different story. The nice thing about renting close to Cambie is that you can spend time exploring the city etc. instead of packed like a sardine on the skytrain etc.

Boy d

Not much to add really. I lived arounnd Cambie square for about 7 years, and certainly would not say it was a pricey area compared to other areas downtown. Great access to downtown now with the sky train...check out basement suites for rent around the cambie village..

Basement suites in houses are a good, cheaper way to get shorter term rentals that wont hold u to a lease.

Lots of options really working at City Square...Kits is easy by a short bus/bike ride/ good walk...although rentals are a higher around there. Fairview is another option as is the West End.

Bear in mind that rent here includes principal bills (heat and hotwater, grabage removal, water rates etc) and there are no council taxes to endure.

Rent for a half decent, older one bed in the West End would be around 1100 ...you can find less and most certainly higher rents. Great area, lots to do and near transit etc Rent is not that bad here really....hydro cost me around 25 bucks every two months.

Be careful on Craig list as there are some scams. If a place is vacant they will usually let you have it right away...but good, well priced rentals go very fast. I would suggest coming out and getting a cheaper motel with fridge and microwave for about 90 bucks a night and you will be much better placed for getting a rental while on the ground. As noted, wandering the west end and knocking on doors is the norm there.

JonboyE

As I have nothing better to do I just looked at the Craig's List rental listings posted today for less than $1,000 a month. I have filtered out the obvious scams and a couple that must mean per week.

Anyway, by 10.30 am on a wet November Sunday there are already three possibilities:

1) 600 sf 1 bed basement in East Van at $850.
2) 800 sf 1 bed in "The Heights" N Burnaby $795.
3) 2 bed basement around Knight and 57th for $890.

Push the budget up to $1,100 and you can get a 3 bedroom 1.5 bath on Main and 60th.

taylor2kay

OOH, Thank you sooo much everyone, I really appreciate your support and help, it's a great help.

When I manage to find somewhere and make it out there, we will have to meet up if you live close that is, I'd really like to thank you all in person over a Kool Beer or two

My partner has a laid back attitude and left to him we would defo be camping on the beach

We have to be close to City square as my partner is working at Steve Nash Fitness World AND has some crazy start times like being there at 4.30am
So for him he just wants to roll out of bed into work and same at nite leave work and fall straight into bed

I'll be checking out those great appartments, thank you so much.
I am concerned about handing over any money for apartments while still in the UK coz of the scams, so maybe the cheap motels is an option!

Much appreciated everyone