How to Find an Apartment in Toronto
Toronto is the largest city in Canada and has a wide selection of apartments on the market. Unlike New York or London, finding an affordable and suitable apartment in the centre of Toronto close to cultural venues, restaurants, and landmarks is very possible. Whether someone wants to live in alone in a bachelor pad in the centre of town or live with a group of students close to a university, the city of Toronto has real estate to suit every situation.
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Instructions
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Figure out a budget. Set aside enough for utilities, essentials like food, and non-essentials like restaurant money. Ideally housing costs should be around a third of your gross income, and no more than 40 percent.
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Decide if you want to share your apartment with a roommate. This will cut down on rent and ease the process if you're afraid of living alone for the first time. If you do decide to have a roommate, include them in all steps of finding an apartment.
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Start the apartment hunt well before moving out from where you currently live. Apartment hunting can be a long process, and if you run out of time, you may be forced to take a place that's less than ideal.
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Research neighborhoods in Toronto where you would like to live. If you enjoy fashion and art, Toronto has districts with many trendy clothing shops and art studios. If you're looking for an ethnic community, Toronto has a Chinatown, Little Italy, Little Ukraine, and many others. Check the Toronto Neighborhoods map under Resources to get a sense of the geography of the city.
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Locate rental ads online and in newspapers. Some sites with a wide variety of listings include Craigslist, The Toronto Star, Kijiji, and Yahoo! Canada.
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Ask many questions before going to see the apartment. This will mean less time wasted at apartments that will not suit your needs. If you want an apartment walking distance from something, ask how far this is. If you need certain kitchen appliances or parking, again, ask first.
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Visit the apartment. Take a friend or relative with you. They can occupy the realtor while you focus on the apartment, and they'll also be able to give you an unbiased opinion afterwards. Look over all details carefully, and note the condition of the apartment to get a sense of whether it will be well maintained.
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Put your application in right away when you find a good apartment. Real estate, especially in busy cities like Toronto, will go fast.
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References
Resources
- Photo Credit toronto harbour ferry image by Thilo Kierdorf from Fotolia.com
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Comments
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collegeneard21
Feb 09, 2011
Be careful with CL and Kijiji and make sure never send checks or money without seeing the place and meeting with the landlords. Try viewit and Urbanrenters. The listings in UR and Viewit are verified since the landlords need to spend small fees to list their ads. This is a good protection for renters.
