How to Find an Apartment as a Single in the City

There’s a good reason why I’ve been MIA for a minute.  Last episode, I was on the verge of a breakdown for fear of being homeless.  Rest assured I DID find an apartment.

It was a serious hail mary, clutch scenario.

The owners of the unit agreed to meet me the day before the lease would start and we came to an agreement.  I was so happy, relieved, excited… mostly relieved that I started crying.  I hugged them.  Seriously they are such a sweet couple and I’m so grateful that the universe/me combined powers for us to cross paths because I could not have imagined a better living situation than where Gannicus and I are now.

It continues to surprise me with new things to make me smile as time goes on.  Also…  Though I haven’t had the time or energy to spare yet, LOTS of cute dudes here.  I’ll share more about my apartment, neighbourhood, explorations later – the point of this post is to share some of the things I’ve learned through this previously stressful and anxiety loaded time when I was searching for an apartment in Toronto as a single lady.

Keep your head up.

While it may feel like the universe is committed to giving you nothing but a big bag full of small dicks during this time – stay strong.  Yes, you need to yell and cry it out BUT remember that you STILL need to find a place to live.  The more time and energy you spend on wallowing means less time and energy to find your home.  So cut that shit out.  Now.

Find an agent that works for you.  Don’t be afraid to leave one that doesn’t.

I was lucky enough to find my previous apartment quickly and on my own.  That set me up for unrealistic expectations when searching for my new space but we’ll get to that in the next point.  I started looking on all the usual sites (Kijiji, Craigslist, Realtor.ca/MLS etc.) and then enlisted the help of an agent.

The first agent I worked with, while I know meant well, crushed my dreams and made me feel like I would not get an apartment without a roommate/partner to share the financial burden of rent (note my previous post for more details).  Broken, I continued to search the sites on my own and ended up responding to an ad that had been listed by an agent.  While the apartment in the ad had just rented, he let me know that he was willing to help me find another.  I explained to him my current financial situation and my previous three rejections on the other apartments.

He let me know that at the end of the day, ‘any deal can close‘

and that he would do his best to help me.   I trusted him and it was well worth it.  He went back and forth with the listing agent of my new apartment for days and eventually convinced him to have me meet the homeowners.  I think I lost those other apartments so I could cross paths with this agent and be where I am now.  I would and do recommend him to anyone looking for a place in Toronto/GTA – drop me a message if you would like his contact info.

Be clear about your wants, needs and expectations.

I’ve also drank the Kool-aid; you can have everything you want.  The words between those lines?

‘There is always a trade off’.

My must haves: lots of natural light, an outdoor space, parking, private laundry.  The trade off is, I’m just outside the downtown core – but that’s something I was perfectly happy to give up.  Before I was able to walk to work in 10 mins, now I drive 10-15 minutes depending on traffic.

Like I said, I walked into this apartment search with the expectation that it would be as cut and dry as finding my first solo apartment.  My agent and I had a serious conversation about what it would take to close this lease.  To show good faith I agreed to provide four months rent upfront…  Now pick your mouth up off the floor.  I know this is not sustainable for everyone, fuck this was one of the hardest decisions I’ve ever had to make but in the end I knew this was the best decision for me.  You need to make the best decision for you (not your mom, not your best friend, not your significant other).  I live my life with no regrets.  For this balcony, for all of these windows and to be this close to the water (and everything else I will share later) – yeah man, I’m cool with it.

Once it’s all done and you find your space, enjoy it.  Take it all in and smile to yourself.  Savour the pleasure of knowing that all the shit that just went down is what brought you here.  Home.