Housing Help

[ciczum]

Hello Members
We are a family of three and are planning to move to Canada from US in March and I was looking for some accommodation options. My husband's office will be in University Avenue , Toronto and the train station is pretty close to his office. We are looking for housing with max travel time close to 1 hr and where the train station is near to the apartments. The budget is 1500-1800.
Additionally , I also came to know that getting an apartment is difficult if there is no credit history . We have credit history in US but not sure if that will be helpful or not. If we are not able to get an apartment , basements are our second option as per what my friends suggested .
Since my daughter is just 6 months old , we want to look for long term leases because moving will be difficult.
Please guide us on places near to GO/ TTC station that have 1 hr commute and which are safe and if we should look for apartments or basements in the first place. Also , how do I find apartments in these cities . Are there any reliable sites that I can look at .
Thanks a lot for the help.

 

[Aditya99]

Davisville Yonge in midtown is a good area that you can look into. Multiple residential apartments (77, 225 Davisville etc.) that are close to the subway and are safe. You can check rent on their website and commute time with subway is around 30 to 40 min generally. With job offer letter your husband should not have any major issues for rental. Would not suggest basement with 6 month old.

 

[APPNOV2014NY]

If one of you already has job offer then rental condo/apt won't be an issue. Also, most landlords accept US credit history. Use credit karma as proof of US credit score. We have a US to CAN group, send me a private message if you want to be added to that group.

 

[canuck78]

Half of Toronto might fit into you 1 hr commute time. Would look up the website viewit.ca. Many of the apartment buildings are listed on the website.

 

[APPNOV2014NY]

I recently rented a condo in Mississauga and used realtor.ca, zoocasa.ca and condos.ca for my condo search. I found a realtor through realtor.ca and then he did all the leg work to find condos that meet my criterion. Realtors do not charge tenants as they get their comission from landlords. I used statistics available in condos.ca to negotiate rent based on past trends of my building and area.

viewit.ca is popular in this forum but I found it's UI too crappy to use. Also, in most cases viewit.ca won't give exact location of the property.

 

[canuck78]

I recently rented a condo in Mississauga and used realtor.ca, zoocasa.ca and condos.ca for my condo search. I found a realtor through realtor.ca and then he did all the leg work to find condos that meet my criterion. Realtors do not charge tenants as they get their comission from landlords. I used statistics available in condos.ca to negotiate rent based on past trends of my building and area.

viewit.ca is popular in this forum but I found it's UI too crappy to use. Also, in most cases viewit.ca won't give exact location of the property.

The budget seems too be low for a condo.

 

[ciczum]

Thanks Aditya99 , APPNOV2014NY and canuck78 .

 

[ciczum]

The budget seems too be low for a condo.

@canuck78 - How much should we be shelling out for a 2 bedroom for a suburb in Toronto ? We don't want to live in downtown since its expensive there and we'll have a car so need parking place too.

 

[ciczum]

I recently rented a condo in Mississauga and used realtor.ca, zoocasa.ca and condos.ca for my condo search. I found a realtor through realtor.ca and then he did all the leg work to find condos that meet my criterion. Realtors do not charge tenants as they get their comission from landlords. I used statistics available in condos.ca to negotiate rent based on past trends of my building and area.

viewit.ca is popular in this forum but I found it's UI too crappy to use. Also, in most cases viewit.ca won't give exact location of the property.

@APPNOV2014NY - Please add me to the group . Thanks for letting me know about these sites , thats helpful.

 

[APPNOV2014NY]

@APPNOV2014NY - Please add me to the group . Thanks for letting me know about these sites , thats helpful.

It's a whatsapp group. Send me your phone no. through private message.

 

[canuck78]

@canuck78 - How much should we be shelling out for a 2 bedroom for a suburb in Toronto ? We don't want to live in downtown since its expensive there and we'll have a car so need parking place too.

Really depends. If you want to make it downtown in an hour you likely have to live very close to a GO station or close to a subway stop like Kipling as an option. 1 hour from many of the suburbs isn't possible. Also depends on where your husband works. If he works next to union station then GO would be better and you wouldn't need to pay 2 fares. The cost of transportation really has to be factored into your housing decision.

 

[ciczum]

Really depends. If you want to make it downtown in an hour you likely have to live very close to a GO station or close to a subway stop like Kipling as an option. 1 hour from many of the suburbs isn't possible. Also depends on where your husband works. If he works next to union station then GO would be better and you wouldn't need to pay 2 fares. The cost of transportation really has to be factored into your housing decision.

Thanks canuck78 . I think its pretty close to Union Station so GO would be better.

 

[canuck78]

Thanks canuck78 . I think its pretty close to Union Station so GO would be better.

Yes if you want to live in the suburbs. You will have to factor the cost of GO 10 times a week since that isn't cheap and look for housing pretty close to a station. Cost of housing closer to stations increase because others are also looking for easy ways to commute.

 

[ciczum]

I've been looking at some of the apartments and basements on the suggested websites. So , I saw there were a few good basements but wasn't sure if its okay to rent basements with a six-month old. Can someone please give me inputs what would be better option specifically when we have a baby - basements/condos/townhouses .
Thanks for the help.

 

[canuck78]

I've been looking at some of the apartments and basements on the suggested websites. So , I saw there were a few good basements but wasn't sure if its okay to rent basements with a six-month old. Can someone please give me inputs what would be better option specifically when we have a baby - basements/condos/townhouses .
Thanks for the help.

Would imagine your budget will dictate your options. Basements are usually the least expensive. Many may not want to rent a basement to a family with a young child because of potential noise.