Life Update: Condo Searching

Hi Guys,

I’m sorry I have been M.I.A. for a while, and that I have not been posting as much as I would have liked to, but this past month has been so crazy and busy (to say the least).

These past few weeks, I was actively hunting for a place to live while in medical school. Let’s just say that the Toronto condo market, for rentals, is very competitive. I was in the city looking for places almost every day, and when I saw something I liked, there were always multiple offers I was competing against. Let’s just say that my stress levels were through the roof.

Before I rant about the last three weeks, let’s rewind to May.

May 9th, 2017 was easily one of the proudest moments of my life. I woke up that morning to the news I had been dreaming of for as long as I could remember; I got accepted to medical school. Not only was my dream of getting into medical school granted to me, but I was going to get to live in one of my favourite cities – Toronto! Almost instantly, I started to organize what needed to be accomplished before school commenced, one of those things being finding a condo. I contacted one of my friends who lives in the city to ask if she knew of any good places to live. Since she just moved into a new building, she connected me with her realtor who helped her find her dream condo. That’s how I met by fairy godmother of a realtor.

By the end of May, my realtor had arranged for me to check out a few places so that I could get an idea of what was on the market, where I wanted to live, and the rent prices of the units. I was so happy with what I saw, and knew that I would be in good shape for the end of August.

Maybe I was a little too optimistic back then.

Unfortunately, I told myself to wait a little bit longer before securing a place because the August 1st move in dates were not yet available and I didn’t want to pay for an extra month or two of rent. My realtor supported my decision and we decided to wait until the first week of July before we began to look more seriously.

That brings us back to the last few weeks of craziness I experienced. Remember all those places I loved before? Well, they completely fell off the edge of the universe. None of those buildings had any listings pop up on the market, so I constantly felt torn. Do I settle for something I don’t completely love, or do I wait it out?

Days would pass by and I would constantly check to see if there were any new listings. As soon as I saw something I liked, I would contact my realtor to schedule a viewing for the next day. Sometimes I was quick enough to go see them before they leased, other times the units would go in less than 24 hours since they first appeared on the market. The better the location to the school, the faster the units would vanish. There were times that more than three units I was scheduled to go see were gone before I got downtown. The market was very competitive.

Finally, I would find something that I liked enough to make an offer on it, and then I would lose the unit to another renter who was willing to pay well over the asking monthly rental price. I never heard of potential tenants having bidding wars over the rent! It was insane. It wasn’t as though the units weren’t expensive enough to begin with, but having to bid well over the asking rent price seemed ridiculous to me. I lost out on two different places over the time span of a week. My stress levels soared.

I constantly jumped from neighbourhood to neighbourhood, my wish-list changed, and I worried that I wouldn’t find a place before school. I really wanted an August 1st move-in date and a condo located nearby the school. As we approached mid-July, my realtor and I panicked that those two conditions wouldn’t be met. Each night I received an email of the newest listings on the market, and as a frantically scanned through all of the options, I was disappointed with either the quality of the condo or the location from the school.

Then, my fairy godmother/realtor hooked me up big time. She saw that I was in a slightly panicked state about my situation. My timeline to find a place was getting shorter and shorter, and nothing on the market was pleasing me. Luckily, she had a friend who was looking for a tenant for their beautiful unit that was close to the school. She recommended me, and the rest was history! I got the place!

I am now in the process of finding cute condo-sized furniture and decor, as I will be moving in less than 10 days (yes, my excitement levels are through the roof). I am so excited to share the rest of my journey with you all. I also cannot wait to show you my condo’s decor transformation.

Please let me know of any stores that have cute decor and furniture, and if you have any first-time moving tips!

XOXO,

The Girly MD (to be)