This summer, two of my good friends and I began searching for off-campus housing together.
Many emails, screenshots, and showings later, we have now secured an apartment for the next year. 🥳
Here’s a few things I learned along the way.
How Can U of T Help You Find Off-Campus Housing? An Interview with Student Life Officer Katrina Persad
Last week, I sat down and chatted with Katrina Persad, Student Life Officer, Housing Education & Outreach. Katrina’s job is to provide students with information while they navigate Toronto’s rental market. Even though I love living off-campus, it can also…
How Living Off-Campus Changed the Game For Me
After one year of living in residence at Victoria College, I moved into an apartment for my second year of university. Though finding a place was challenging, living off-campus was the best thing I could have done. It changed the…
Nine truths: Finding Off-Campus Housing
When I chose to study in the metropolis of Toronto, I knew housing wouldn’t be easy. The application process to live in residence was simple and I ended up with a best friend as a roommate. But when second semester…
Students On The Hunt: Off-Campus Housing
“Beautiful 1 bedroom, perfect for a tidy, respectful young couple”
This was the title of the Craigslist ad I responded to last April with high hopes.
Two weeks later I was out of $1300, apartment-less and feeling like the world’s biggest idiot. I had become a victim of the “I’m a [insert very respectful job that only a wonderful person does here] and I am out of the country with my family to work in Europe for the next five years and I need someone really great who will take over my second apartment” scam.
The thing with people who scam for a living is that like most people who are career crime-sters, they are really good at it. If you are unsuspecting (which I completely was) or even worse, a Toronto newbie who has never rented before (hey, I was both) your scammer comes off as a really nice person who is willing to phone you at 3am “England time” to explain to you in great detail about how to money transfer your first and last month of rent. Your scammer will do almost anything to make it easier for you to hand over your money — but once that money has been removed from your bank account, your really nice doctor/engineer/teacher family-man landlord gives you literally nothing but radio silence. When I say nothing I am definitely implying that yes; you for sure are not getting that “Beautiful 1 bedroom, perfect for a tidy, respectful young couple”.
Que the tears and the calls to the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre.
The best way to avoid being scammed is to be realistic about the rental places you find on the internet. Websites like Craigslist, Kijiji, Apartmint, Padmapper, etc can be great resources for a student on the hunt BUT it’s so important to keep in mind the old adage: “if it’s seems too good to be true, it probably is.” Absolutely no one is going to rent out their 1000 square foot, fully furnished King West loft for seven hundred dollars a month. If you do decide to use these websites, here are some things to keep in mind:
My Off-Campus Housing Assumptions
It was around this time last year when I was in first year, that my friends and I began thinking about where we wanted to live next year. We had all lived in residence during first year and although we…
A How to House Hunt Post
About this time in first year, I started thinking about where I was going to live in September. I had decided to move out of New College residence, to the great dismay of my stomach, but I just really wanted…