Finding a place to live in Victoria can be frustrating to say the least. Moving into a place only to find out that it’s a pest-infested or illegal suite is the last way a student wants to start her new year. Dealing with a 0.5 rental vacancy rate can be stressful on top of classes, jobs and other person matters, and caused one UVic student to take a break from her education altogether, reported CTV Vancouver Island in May. Luckily, there is still hope when it comes to finding a decent place to live! Below are a small collection of tips from my experience navigating the Victoria housing market.
1. Be Patient.
This seems simple enough but when you’ve been in an AirBnB for almost a month you can really start to lose faith. That’s what happened to me! However, I figured that paying for an AirBnB until I found a place that was perfect would be more beneficial than scrambling to find a half-decent place. It’s cheaper in the long run to find a nice, clean, safe place to live than to promptly move into a place only to have to move again three months later.
2. Be Open.
When I started my housing search, I was dead set on being alone. Finding a place for one person is incredibly difficult sometimes, especially since I wasn’t sure I’d want to live in someone’s basement. If I had continued to set up barriers for myself I never would have found a place. In the end, I decided to reach out to someone on the Victoria, BC Community House Network page and once we started searching together, it was much easier to get responses and set up viewings! I am super happy to say that we get along very well.
3. Know Your Limits.
This doesn’t just apply for monetary limits – it’s important to know what your deal-breakers are and what you can live with. Write them down. Sometimes we think we have all the answers in our head but when we’re visiting different rental spaces we might forget to consider our complete needs. It should go without saying that having too many limits can limit your housing search: do you really need to live in a specific neighbourhood or is anywhere 20-30 minutes away from campus alright for you?
4. Be Honest.
I have spoken to older friends who rent out their space and the primary thing they are nervous about is having a bad tenant. While your intentions may not be ill, you can come off as a bad tenant if you’re caught in a lie. Honesty is the best policy when it comes to housing rentals. Imagine if you were renting out a space to someone and they failed to mention that they had a pet or that they were a smoker – finding out might not be so nice. I tried to cover all the bases in my introduction email to potentially landlords: my profession (how I planned on making rent), my lifestyle (smoke free and active), and those who would be sharing the space with me. My current landlord actually thanked me for fully introducing myself to her via email!
5. Ask for Help.
If you’re as stubborn as me, this is something that can be extremely difficult to do. When you’re looking for a place, however, it is absolutely necessary for survival. When I could no longer keep extending my AirBnB booking, I had to ask friends if I could crash on their couch until I found another booking or space. Whether it’s borrowing damage deposit money from a family member or making a post on social media about rental spaces, asking for help is nothing to be ashamed of. It’s a sign of maturity and can take a lot of pressure off of you!
I hope these tips help you find an amazing place to live if you haven’t already. Best of luck!