So the second year of university started, that means we’re no longer in the residence (between us, that was a disaster… we don’t recommend it), which means that we moved to our own apartment!
When To Start Looking ?
When you start looking for your apartment, you need to be ready to sign. Don’t start looking 3 months before, it’s useless, especially if you want it for the 15th of July (funny story, that’s what we did, haha). At the end of February, we started looking at options, to see what existed, what we could get for our budget. Then, in the last two weeks of April we were actively searching (and studying like crazy for the finals, not easy…). When we left for vacations by the 2nd of May, our apartment was reserved for the 15th of July!
You may want to be ready to pay half or one month in advance (in our case maybe we paid since we were leaving), but just be prepared.
How To Search ?
To search for your apartment, you have multiple options, there’s Kijiji where individuals post their room or apartment to rent and then there’s the other big firms like CIF or CAPREIT (we’re sure there are much more, but it’s the main ones we used).
What To Look For ?
More like where to look? To be honest, after looking all over town, we ended up at the edge of Westmount and NDG.
In Montreal, but at the border NDG and Westmount. Fairly good deal! We are 5 minutes away from Metro Vendome and 5 minutes away from the shops on Sherbrooke West (in Westmount), 10 minutes away from downtown, biking. It’s a really good deal.
We looked in the McGill Ghetto (Durocher, University, Milton, etc…), but nothing interesting, meaning it was too expensive for what it was. After that, we moved to the NDG side, there it was right away more affordable. So we looked at Westmount – NDG – Snowdon area. Of course everywhere we looked, was close to a metro in case we couldn’t bike to school one day (also, everywhere we looked was biking distance from school).
How To Furnish ?
That’s an easy question, IKEA of course! You need to know though, if you order online, the delivery is more expensive than if you go to the store. If you go to the store, there’s a trick. Have your order ready before 12pm in the store and you can have your furniture delivered the same day or the next day. Faster than online and cheaper! Good trick to save a few bucks.
BE CAREFUL…
Some apartments have electricity and heating included, but others do not. Consider this in the rent price, it’s very important because heating and electricity can increase your rent by a lot!!
In a way we hope this post can help you answer questions you may have regarding apartment hunting.