Short term accommodation Calgary

[happymamma2]

Hi everyone.
I’ll me landing in Calgary April 09th this year and I was looking at short term accommodation on AirBnb.Thought I might rent for 3weeks but since I need enough space for 3adults and 3kids,I find it quite expensive.The 64$/night bevomes 111$/night with all of us,thus the total for 3weeks comes to about 2700-2900$!
As for long term accommodation,At first I looked at capitol Hill,Hillhurst,Varsity etc but recently we changed our minds for Huntington Hills/Thorncliffe area since it has plenty of activities for our 3boys.I will be studying at SAIT and need regular check ups in Children’s Hospital (my youngest has a heart condition).
My questions are:
Q
1.Would 3 weeks be enough for long term accommodation hunting ? Or should we book 2 weeks short term accommodation and extend it afterwards if we cannot find long term rent?We won’t have jobs,or if we will,most likely they will be survival jos the first few months (I am a doctor-need to go back to school;my husband is a transport/logistics/warehouse manager-he’ll look for HGVDriver positions until he makes enough connections to start looking for something higher)
2.what are the chances to find long term 3bdr house for us,without jobs?We will have proof of funds to show that we have enough to support ouf family for 6/8months without any jobs-which won’t be the case as we are willing to work anything in the beginning
3.what areas would be best? Around sait/Children’s Hospital or Huntington Hills/Thorncliffe?We have 3 boys,aged 2,4,6.
4.Are there any tips regarding increasing our chances of finding long term accommodation without jobs?Anything to make us look better and convince the landlord that we are really decent tenants?We will come with avery good reference from our landlord here in Ireland-6years in the same house,no issues ever.
Thank you in advance .Any input will be much appreciated

 

[avro1959]

Hello happymama2, I see you posted this early February so I'm not sure that you got the answers to your questions. Have you figured out what you're doing for accommodation?

Typically landlords are looking to see that you have a stable income to be able to pay your rent. So having even a survival job here can be good proof of income. Alternatively, if you're sitting on some cash, you'd be able to show that as proof that you're able to pay rent. References will be very helpful. Unfortunately, the requirements vary from landlord to landlord, so all you can do is talk to a few of them, explain your situation and comment on the evidence that you're able to provide (i.e. references and bank statements showing cash). You could also offer to give them post-dated cheques as I know that helped my case with one of my previous landlords.

A good starter place to rent is with Boardwalk properties. When we immigrated, we stayed at a short-term rental for 1 month and then started a one year lease at one of the Boardwalk properties called Varsity Place Apartments, before moving on to a more suitable place. It gave us a year to explore Calgary and figure out which neighbourhood we wanted to live in. Varsity Place Apartments is in Varsity, right opposite Market mall, about a 2 minute drive from Alberta Children's Hospital, and fairly close to SAIT (should take 15-20 mins by bus/train or 7 mins by car).

Regarding how much time you need to find places to live, you don't need a lot, but it's all about timing. Typically contracts run from the first of the month, so for places to rent from April 1st, people would have given their notice on March 1st to vacate. That's when the listings show up, on a website like RentFaster for example. In any case, Calgary is currently a renter's market and there are a lot of choices available, so you shouldn't have to be too worried about timing.