Easy to find housing in Vancouver?

[CL S.F.]

I was wondering if there is a lot of competition for finding housing (room share or apartment) in Vancouver?  I will be moving to Vancouver within a year and I wonder if it will be difficult to find housing. Are there many people are competing for the same room or apartment? I have seen the ads on Craigslist and wonder how tough it will be to get something.

[cchabert]

I don't know the answer but remember in 2010 Vancouver will host the Olympics, that means very little accommodations in my point of view.

[haver]

2010 Olimpic games Vancouver will last for 2 weeks only. It means if you come two months after the Games or later you don't have any problems with accomodations.

[rascojenkins]

2010 Olimpic games Vancouver will last for 2 weeks only. It means if you come two months after the Games or later you don't have any problems with accomodations.

If i had a house in Vancouver I'll rent it out during the Olimpics and make some quick bucks.

[CharlotteJ]

I ve been looking around on the Internet for any website and/or real estate sites, but sadly though, these websites aren't that user friendly. Any suggestions people of the World? tnx in advance

[Leon]

For real estate, I have used http://www.mls.ca/ before but they changed the look recently and I don't find it as easy to use as before.  For rent, you can check out a big rental agency called boardwalk.  They are not in every city but they do have apartments in Vancouver.  http://www.bwalk.com/  I know some people who rented from them in Edmonton and the advantage is that they do everything by the book.  If you rent from a private person, you can get lucky but you could also get unlucky.  I had a landlady in Edmonton who was horrible, they did nothing about noise complaints, turned down the heat on the building in winter to save money (because the heat was supposed to be included) and when I left, they tried to blame me for all kinds of damages that were already in the apartment when I moved in so they could keep my damage deposit.

[CharlotteJ]

good to read your response and learn lessons out of your experience. It means that we should be careful renting any property directly by a landlord/lady and perhaps it will be a good idea to check out the neighbourhood first, the neighbours themselves, the people themselves, get to know them first to see if there is a match and perhaps to make pictures from the property priot to inhabit it and move in as to have proof that no damage has been done during the time we rent it. Thanks a lot Leon for sharing your views.

[CharlotteJ]

is Surry and/or Coquitlam good neighbourhoods in Vancouver?

[Leon]

I've heard bad things about Surrey and yes, you should be careful with the landlord, make sure you have everything in writing, don't sign anything unless you are sure you understand it.  If there is a damage deposit, you should have a walk through and a walk through report you should get a copy of as well as you get a copy of your lease.  You need to make sure all damages to the apartment are listed on the walk through and document it yourself with photos as you move in.  When you move out, you should also do a walkthrough and if they try to blame you for something that is not your fault, do NOT sign it.  You should also get a copy of the walk through report.

If you have any problems in the apartment you need to complain to the landlord about, make sure you document when you complain and how they responded.  This will be good to have if they don't respond to your complaints and you need to take them to the tenants board.