Hey guys, it's Solomon again from the BC Elite Real Estate Group and in this video, we're going to share with you the 4 places that I recommend if you're thinking about renting in Vancouver , Fraser Valley, or all the way to Chilliwack, so let's get right to it.
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So this video is really to tackle messages. I've been getting about helping you guys find rental properties. So in this province of British Columbia, I'm not licensed to handle rentals. So this video will address where to look for if you're thinking about moving out here and which websites I recommend.
So I called around some different rental management companies. And in fact a lot of them don't For the service where you could hire them to find you a rental. So this video is going to just tackle where to look what are my go-to recommendations and where to find the best deals and also stay to the end so I can show you guys which ones to avoid so you're not scammed into giving your security deposit through some scammers that are always lurking out there on these websites. So let's get right to it.
Craigslist
All right. So let's dive right into it. So the first website that I recommend that you visit if you're looking for rentals is Craigslist, so what you're going to Do is go to your search engines and typing Craig's List and I would put in Vancouver to start.
So for this example, we're going to look for a rental place in let's say New Westminster. So what you're going to do is find the category housing and there's apartments and housing field here. This is where you want to click. So there's a couple ways to find rentals here. So there is either searching it in the search bar the city that you're interested in and then pulls down the list of homes or you can search by map view.
So let's start with the map view and if you see this is where New Westminster is and you can zoom in and find a bunch of rentals here now New Westminster has predominantly a lot of condos. So if you're interested in getting houses you can Actually filter it by housing type and you can just put in a house here.
Let's say you're interested in a three-bedroom home then. You might be short of inventory, but there is still some places in the area. So here's one for 2,200. Mm and so on. So the other way to search is to just put in, for example, I want to move to Langley. So if I put it Langley here, I'm going to get a list of houses in Langley. So this is where you could find rentals and Click here. So here's one for 3700. You can definitely communicate with the owner that way or sometimes you gotta management company handling this. So yeah here you can actually see the pictures of the property.
Some descriptions of it. And to respond to them you could hit the reply button and either their phone number will show up our email. So in this case, there's an email address just have to reply by email or you could click one of these Gmail links to go directly to the button to respond to so this is how we do it and just inquire that way so Craigslist is the first website that I recommend.
Okay. So the next website that I recommend is Facebook, so if you go to Facebook, Is a section here called Marketplace. So that's one way to find stuff in Facebook or you could go to different rental groups. But right now let's just go to Marketplace and you can search property rentals on the categories here and here you'll find more rental properties.
Let's go look for something in Maple Ridge. And here you have rentals now the good thing about Facebook marketplaces that you are most of the time dealing directly with owners and you can just communicate with them by sending them a message. So there's less of a scam than you would find in Craigslist or scammers I should say. So this is one way to find rentals on Facebook Marketplace.
The other way is that you could just go and join different rental groups. So for example, there's a rental group Maple Ridge Pitt Meadows. You could join this group and you can talk to people directly here. So. All right, and that's it for Facebook Marketplace.
Zumper
The other website that I would recommend is called Zumper. So I'm going to put that zumper apartments for rent houses for rent. So now let's say I want to move to ah, let's go Vancouver. You're going to see a list of all these places on the numbers another cool map that map search here that you could search all the different neighborhoods in Vancouver Richmond Kitsilano, like everywhere Richmond. New West Surrey Delta. So it's I believe it covers all over the world this website zumper, so here let's go look at the when this thing here. So we got property here in Burnaby. So I haven't really used this much but I know you can get an account set up. You can see a lot of data about the rental market in the area walkability scores and other nearby rentals. So this is a really really good website that I was recommended to use from property management company.
Padmapper
Another website the final one that I would suggest you visit is called padmapper. Padmapper.com so very similar to zumper. So let's put a New Westminster again and you're gonna get all these different rentals here. So there's a lot of rentals actually available here.
The final bonus way website to search is you can just type in here Property Management. Let's just put in New Westminster yet. So you can actually go directly to different property management companies and see what their inventory looks like.
So let's look at this one ACDrealty.com. And here you've got different properties available exclusively from that brokerage. So this is one other way to search.
Residential Rental Scams
All right. So this part we're going to talk about the residential rental scams. So in Vancouver, the vacancy rates are very low under 1% So it is a tough Market out there for renters trying to find a place. So it's understandable where criminals can see this opportunity as a way for them to scam potential tenants that are desperate to find a place so I'm going to share with you guys some tips that will help you avoid any kind of scams.
Tips to Avoid Scams
So according to CTV News 43% of ads are fake. So this is something that's really eye-opening. So be careful out there and I'm going to share with you guys my tips. So here are some ways to identify rental scams. So first way to tell if an ad is fake is that the rents are way too low for the area. They might include all the utilities. They said well pets are allowed and worries for the area. It seems like it's way too low. So that's the first red flag.
Alright. So another thing is to make sure you check and analyze all the pictures. So if you notice that the pictures look very off like it's blurry or it just looks like it's been taken from maybe a real estate listing. Sometimes these scammers use an actual home that's for sale or was for sale while back and they're just taking the photos from there. So make sure that something that you want to analyze and there's no description in the ad is just pictures. So that's one red flag for you.
Another huge red flag is that they're saying, the scammers are saying that they're out of the country. So if you ever get a response back that they're out of the country and to funnel them some money cash or e transfer or wire transfer. There's another red flag. So be careful for that.
Okay, if they say that they want to leave the real estate management companies out of the picture or that they can trust the real estate agent. That's another red flag. All right, always, always, always ask to see the apartment. Don't be sending money without seeing the property first.
So I know a lot of people are desperate they just Want to secure something because you know, everything goes pretty fast here a lot of Apartments. Don't last too long. So make sure you just stay calm and just make sure you have the time to see the property without sending money. So I've had some people messaging me saying that they're coming from out of Province and that they want to have their place secure before they arrived. I suggest maybe just go rent the hotel for a bit. And then just when you land here just look at properties in person and meet the landlord's another tip is get the address of the property. Go to Google Maps and do a street view make sure that it even exists.
So whatever address they give you Google it look it up on the map view and make sure that it does exist. All right, and make sure when you go and see the property that you asked for identification from the person that's showing it to you and let them know that you know, you just want to be careful right down their license plate if they're arriving in a car, but yeah get their information check their ID. And then you can also go to the land title's office and ask for a copy of the title to verify that they are. Actual owners also be careful about giving too much information. So don't give me your sin numbers out. Don't give out your Visa cards. This is a perfect opportunity for scammers to take advantage and get all the information so they could do identity theft. So be careful for that now just go with your gut feeling if you find that the process was too easy.
They didn't do enough screening or reference checks. That's another red flag. So if they're just willing to give you the rental place without doing their homework, and they're asking In for the cash upfront and they're adamant to have the cash right away. That's another red flag.
So another thing to look out for is informality. So if they want to just do a handshake deal, they don't want to go through the paperwork do any leases. They just say well just wire me some money and it's yours. Then there you go. You better run fast and the way from this person. So yeah, so just be careful out there.
There's a lot of scammers as I mentioned some tips for you guys when you were looking at moving to Vancouver, Fraser Valley or Chilliwack, there are some people out there that are going to take advantage of you. So be careful out there and wish you all the luck.
Alright, so I hope you found this video very helpful again. I'm a local real estate agent,
and if you're thinking about buying or selling your home in the Vancouver Fraser Valley or Chilliwack area, don't hesitate to reach out to our team and I by contacting us at 778-655-7999 or visiting our website at searchbcealestate.com again, stay tuned to our next video and we'll catch you later.