apartment rental help please
 

So I may need to find a place somewhere in the lower mainland and I'm wondering if anyone can recommend any good property management companies or websites to search on.

Also, if say I found something through the newspaper, kijiji or craigslist how do I protect myself from the rental scams that happen?

Thank you in advance to everyone for their help :)

i use the term "good" loosely....really to each their own.

to name a few:

Gateway Property Management
Cap Reit
Bayside Property
Baywest Property
Crosby Property Management
Vancouver Management Ltd.

Craigslist is your best bet. To avoid being scammed...don't be an idiot. dont had over cash right away with no contract. make sure the person showing the unit is actually the manager...know your rights (read the RTA).

if it is too good to be true...probably is.

Also check out the bed bug registry site to get a good idea of where not to rent.
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Or if you do put a money for a unit get that person DL number. Make sure they show it to you clearly, best if they give you a 2nd piece of ID so you can compare the names on each ID.

Craigslist is the best. Ask for government photo ID and really check if the person has the authority to rent out the suite. Only hand over deposit after that even if you're just applying.

padmapper.com

and how do i validify the person has the authority if i just get off of craigslist and not through a pm company?

thanks to everyone for the info so far, it's a lot different down there with having to worry about stuff I wouldn't normally up here

I find it doesn't list nearly 1/2 the ads on CL and gave up on it.

Try rentbc.com

unless ur looking to rent in some shady-ass area, craigslist will be fine. if the ad does not have a phone number assume its a scam. if they askfor payment right away its clearly a scam. apart from that if u can reach them by phone and they show u the apartment and follow the normal procedures itll be fine. scammers are obvious...
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craigslist is good, I would think %99 of posters are legit, but there are scams out there so just make sure you see some photo ID (and take a a picture of it) before you hand over a damage deposit.

I have had great experience with Rancho management, they are very professional and even pay you interest on your damage deposit when they give it back to you.

If it's the manager, you can ask for the company name and verify with them.

If it's the tenant/suite owner then you could ask for the manager's name and phone number and verify with that person.

Most big buildings (not house) would be managed by a company with info on the interwebs so you should check with the company if the provided manager's info is legit. The company might not know about which owner renting out which suite but they would know if the name and phone number of the manager is legit.

Sounds long but doesn't take long to do it.

When I asked, the owner of the suite sent me a scan of her DL right away so I have a copy, provided the manager info and company info and told me she would meet in person when I see the suite. It's not an uncommon thing and most legit landlord will be cool with it because they're aware of all the scams too.

thanks all for all your help :)

I was offered informally a job friday and just got a call that I start orientation sunday. Still waiting to hear on the job I really want, but I figure I'll take this one for now and if I don't get the other one i'll take on another job if need be and continue to look... Starting over from the ground up again it looks like, lol

I don't know how to tell people to avoid scams. And no, the scammers aren't easily apparent.

We just rented to a woman that met with a guy, he looked legit, had keys and so on. Goes to collect the keys, and no one knows who she is.

I'd have no problem showing my id to someone that asked. I have never been asked.

In fact, one of our buildings, the rental process is "supposed" to be as follows:

We show. They say yes. They fill out an application, a lease and in cash, 1/2 month rent which is not the security deposit. A security deposit implies a lease. If your application is not approved, then the 1/2 month is refunded to you.

Now, I ask you this, who goes and looks for apartments with a wad of cash in their pocket?

In fact, I get nervous when people are like, "here's cash, I'll take it now".

We refuse to do the lease process the way they want them done. We get the application and the lease filled out-sign nothing and send it to the office. If they ar e approved, then we take the money. The girls in the office got mad at first, but I'm thinking they are all eastern european and just "do" angry.

In fact, people ask "what causes an application to not be approved" and for that building, I can't answer. No one has ever told me, "this is the cut off. Some people have blemishes on their credit report, but are otherwise great tenants, and I have no way of telling the office that. At all of our other buildings, the decisions are left with us, with the office providing the credit report to either confirm, or deny our original thoughts.

Oh, and not to dispute my lovely girlfriend, but, I'm going to dispute my lovely girlfriend. ;)

Gateway is so-so-probably fine if you are the self sufficient type that just wants to be left alone.

Vancouver Management sucks.

Stay away from Transglobe! Not so much posted from here, but people in Toronto have bombed the internet with complaints.

They may suck...but they are legit.

If I may ask, is there something special about the building where your office makes the call on whether to rent to a tenant, instead of you?

Just a bit curious.

Something special? Its kind of short bus special. It's a hole. If it didn't pay well, it would have been dumped ages ago.

Its just a place where the property manager tries to justify his paycheck by controlling the flow of info and decisions. He said to me once that it wasn't my place to confront a tenant, that it would have to be him-which he never did.

Honestly, its kind of the politics of the job. I do his job for 1 1/2 buildings and dinosaur does it for 2 1/2 buildings-so there is a level of conflict, where we are relative equals, but not.

I stay quite happy doing more for the buildings where my efforts are appreciated by a) paying me ;) and b) leaving me alone to do my job
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try the newspaper and craigslist.

yeah one of the mods from here is going to be my roommate so fortunately he'll know where to look while we try and find a two bdrm for oct 1 that will allow my indoor kitty :) I move tomorrow so luckily we'll be able to view together.

thanks again to all for your help. It's a big change and I have to think of stuff I never would've thought of up here

Where's the office and how do you want to commute? ie. do you mind public transportation?

Just trying to get an idea of where might be good for you to look. Downtown/suburbs, big/small place, cost factor, distance to work, etc...

we both work in langley and i'm not opposed to taking the transit, but prob looking at surrey, langley or abby (off sumas way area)... I would love clayton heights or anything around 188th and 68a in surrey but so far im not finding much