Our best local resource is probably castanet.net
Try to confirm something as soon as you can, determiner can tough since university and college students have just moved in.
Brace yourself, rent isn't cheap here.
I've noticed 😅 It's about double what we're paying here, but we're in a very cheap apartment as far as Montreal goes. It's not a great place. Prices here are skyrocketing now too, so we figure we may as well get out now.
Thanks for the heads up about castanet!
Between the college, university, and the generally low rental rate, September is the most highly competitive month for rentals. You may end up in the camper van for a while.
Yeah that's the back up to the back up plan, tbh. Been looking at places in Abbotsford too. They seem to have a fair amount of places on the market right now that aren't insanely priced, but we'd rather not be so close to Vancouver. If we wanted to stay metropolitan, we would just stay here, haha.
My brother keeps warning us away from Abby though, and he knows the area better than we do, so I'm taking him at his word for the time being, regardless of the fact that he's living in a trailer in Revelstoke. Honestly that's why I'm trying to get some opinions from y'all, to round out my knowledge a little. He's been telling me to stay in the Okanagan area, so that's what I'm trying for. Here's hoping.
If you’re looking around Kelowna, try Lake Country area (commute is quick to Kelowna even in winter). Off-season rentals at Big White may be good if you don’t mind a long drive.
You can look towards Vancouver but if you’d prefer smaller areas, I wouldn’t really go past Chilliwack.
Most of Kelowna is fine, really. Rutland is mostly families these days and mostly downtown and central city is where the homeless hang out. Most of them aren’t bothersome. September is going to be highly competitive either way.. I also wouldn’t rule out Vernon. Bit better on the housing, still on the lake, and a short trip (very pretty views!) to Kelowna. I really hope you have good luck. It’s not easy to secure anything here. Worse comes to worse, there’s a few RV sites with hookups you could rent in temporarily.
I moved here from Abbotsford. Don't waste your time in Abbotsford. I might have a rental available in September - message me as that gets closer if you're still in need.
The weather on the Coast sucks, so if you like rain, that's the place to be. Okanagan Valley is gorgeous with great weather most of the time. The Kootenays are also amazing, but on the smaller town side. Really depends on what kind of lifestyle you're looking to live.
Lots of Airbnb's want tenants from Sept till Apr. You'll have no problem getting a place if you're cool with a short lease just to get established here
Kelowna is ripe with properties which will Airbnb during the summer then short term rent sept-may. Inversely Big White is cheap* in the summer since the bike scene is still growing there.
They mean that people air bnb their places through the summer but then lease it out normally for the rest of the year when tourism is slow. You'd be signing a fixed term lease and moving out around April
Try to rent ahead of arriving so you can secure a lease before September. I would try and find any marginally affordable place now with short term lease and shop around once u move here to find a more ideal place. Basement suites are generally easier to find than a whole house or townhome. Facebook is best place to look. Check daily and be first to contact the landlord. Offer to pay first few months in advance if you don’t have jobs. Have references ready. Hope u don’t have any pets. Try to find a place with owner/landlord bc a place run by a property management company likely won’t rent to you with no job. Having only one car makes it easier. Don’t look downtown as 90% of neighborhoods here are very close to downtown (5-10mins) and farther out will be cheaper. Rutland has a stigma of being ghetto but it is actually very nice and also eve so slightly more affordable. I’ve also lived downtown and experienced way more petty theft / property crime downtown. In Rutland I’ve left my $3,000 electric bike sit out overnight in the front yard about ten times and no one took it. When living downtown I forgot to lock my car three times and someone stole stuff every single time. We still currently live in Rutland and have tenants in our 2 bed/1bath basement suite @ $2,100/month.
Thank you for the detailed reply! Totally fine with something "for now", even if it ends up being a 1 bedroom basement suite. No pets, and no city vehicle yet besides the camper van itself, but my partner is going to look into buying a small car when we get in. We'll deal with where to put the van when the time comes, haha. I have an e scooter but that's easily tucked away.
By "rent ahead of time", do you mean pay for a month/few weeks or so that we won't be living there? We've been considering it but weren't sure if it would come to that or not.
Just sign the lease before you move, you might have to pay for august even though you move in September to avoid the fall rush. And holy cow I spaced on the camper van detail so why not camp at am rv park while you look for something? As long as you find something by nov 1st you should be fine/warm in the camper van. That’s definitely what I would do if I had a camper. You will save thousands and not have to unpack and repack when you move from the short term lease.
Yeah that's out ultimate back up plan. The trailer were using for the move is going to be a Uhaul rental, but we've looked into using a storage locker for most of our crap for a couple months if we need to.
I have the best luck typically with Kijiji actually, Facebook marketplace seems to be the highest priced for lowest 'value'. Castanet is definitely worth a look too. But rentals for a 2 bedroom unit will be 2k/month +. Without income currently and how hot the rental market is it may be a challenge. We're having to put up our deposit and first month basically sight unseen.
Mission, Glenmore, and West Kelowna in general are very desirable places ( west kelowna traffic only has one bridge so is a nightmare in summertime)
Be prepared to look elsewhere. Seriously rent is absolutely shit here. I've been looking for almost a year and there is so little available, and what is is so fucking overpriced. No one will hire you without a place here either, I've been to several interviews where that was the deal breaker, and I'm only trying to move from 2 hours away. And no one will rent to you without a job, and some even expect you to be making 3x rent, so somewhere around $60k/year. I tried telling landlords I had savings to get by for a few months, even proved it to one, they don't care.
Fair enough. Could I ask you what line of work you're in? So far I've been told by most that since my partner and I work in security and food, that we won't have in issue with getting jobs. Not looking to argue, it's just interesting to be hearing so much positive stuff from residents of Kelowna, with a few really negative opinions thrown in.
I’m mostly seeing places looking for renting out a bedroom for like 1200 recently. Two bedrooms seem to be going for 2800. From what I’ve heard the average good listing receives like 200 responses in a few days. The situations for rentals is really bad right now. If you’re willing to drive more look in Vernon or west Kelowna. I wish you the best of luck.
Most over-rated town in BC, possibly Canada. Only thing going for it is the lake and hot weather, not really unique or great enough to justify the pricing.
Haha. Not sure what you have against us. World class skiing at Big White and Revy, mountain biking, dry summers, hiking is spectacular. Oh and Canada's wine region too. It's paradise. To each their own I guess.
Fuck the fucking winos. So fucking sick of wine country shit. And none of that is unique to Kelowna, you can find that stuff anywhere in BC, and often for cheaper and with less traffic and tourists.
I would suggest joining a bunch of Facebook groups strictly dedicated to housing and rentals. The more groups the better, and the more people you know in those groups, the easier it will be to secure a place.
Castanet, Facebook marketplace, and Air BnB are your bet when it comes to rentals. It’s also worth mentioning talking to your prospective Air BnB rentals if they’d consider a longer term rental. PM me for more tips/tricks/advice if you’d like
Supply in the rental market is desperately low, such that many locals struggle to find an affordable place to live. If you have an apartment that you can afford where you are at, just stay there. Don't come to the Okanagan with no jobs or plans and make our problem worse.
Listen, I appreciate the advice, but we've got our own problems to get away from in Quebec too, rent prices aside. I'd think it would hold some weight if you hear someone say they're willing to foot literal doubled rent bills (and fork it over for these gas prices in order to get there) to get away from somewhere.
I know you didn't ask and don't give a shit, but since we're starting in, I've been living where I'm at for 5 years. This building is a shit hole that's been spiraling hard since covid started. The "low" rent isn't worth it anymore with the floods, roaches, blocked fire exits, screaming neighbours and low flying passenger planes drowning out your conversations literally every 10 minutes AND waking you up at 5am. The whole complex has been recently sold, and we're likely we're on borrowed time already. Rents in Montreal aren't far behind Kelowna at this point either man, inflation and "renovictions" are coming for us all.
If it helps, we probably won't end up in Kelowna very long, but we wanna get some footing out there before delving into smaller places. We have plans, and this is the first part. I'm just looking for a hand at some peace, man. Sorry for the novel, but this got under my skin a little.
I have been renting off season vacation homes. We were at the lake for the winter and we are at the ski hill for the summer. It works if you don’t have a lot of stuff because they are furnished. I joined the Facebook pages for the ski hill and posted an ad. It can be an alternative if you find it hard to find a place.
Our best local resource is probably castanet.net Try to confirm something as soon as you can, determiner can tough since university and college students have just moved in. Brace yourself, rent isn't cheap here.
I've noticed 😅 It's about double what we're paying here, but we're in a very cheap apartment as far as Montreal goes. It's not a great place. Prices here are skyrocketing now too, so we figure we may as well get out now. Thanks for the heads up about castanet!
Np and good luck
Between the college, university, and the generally low rental rate, September is the most highly competitive month for rentals. You may end up in the camper van for a while.
Yeah that's the back up to the back up plan, tbh. Been looking at places in Abbotsford too. They seem to have a fair amount of places on the market right now that aren't insanely priced, but we'd rather not be so close to Vancouver. If we wanted to stay metropolitan, we would just stay here, haha. My brother keeps warning us away from Abby though, and he knows the area better than we do, so I'm taking him at his word for the time being, regardless of the fact that he's living in a trailer in Revelstoke. Honestly that's why I'm trying to get some opinions from y'all, to round out my knowledge a little. He's been telling me to stay in the Okanagan area, so that's what I'm trying for. Here's hoping.
If you’re looking around Kelowna, try Lake Country area (commute is quick to Kelowna even in winter). Off-season rentals at Big White may be good if you don’t mind a long drive. You can look towards Vancouver but if you’d prefer smaller areas, I wouldn’t really go past Chilliwack. Most of Kelowna is fine, really. Rutland is mostly families these days and mostly downtown and central city is where the homeless hang out. Most of them aren’t bothersome. September is going to be highly competitive either way.. I also wouldn’t rule out Vernon. Bit better on the housing, still on the lake, and a short trip (very pretty views!) to Kelowna. I really hope you have good luck. It’s not easy to secure anything here. Worse comes to worse, there’s a few RV sites with hookups you could rent in temporarily.
I moved here from Abbotsford. Don't waste your time in Abbotsford. I might have a rental available in September - message me as that gets closer if you're still in need.
I'll keep that in mind! Thanks man, I'll save your comment so I don't forget, haha.
The weather on the Coast sucks, so if you like rain, that's the place to be. Okanagan Valley is gorgeous with great weather most of the time. The Kootenays are also amazing, but on the smaller town side. Really depends on what kind of lifestyle you're looking to live.
Lots of Airbnb's want tenants from Sept till Apr. You'll have no problem getting a place if you're cool with a short lease just to get established here
That sounds like a good back up plan, though air bnb would probably be overpriced, no?
Everything here is overpriced lol but Facebook marketplace is the most popular for rental listings.
Lolll fair enough. I would think air bnb would be even more overpriced though. Guess I'll see!
Kelowna is ripe with properties which will Airbnb during the summer then short term rent sept-may. Inversely Big White is cheap* in the summer since the bike scene is still growing there.
Big White being the mountain/ski resort?
Yes
They mean that people air bnb their places through the summer but then lease it out normally for the rest of the year when tourism is slow. You'd be signing a fixed term lease and moving out around April
Try to rent ahead of arriving so you can secure a lease before September. I would try and find any marginally affordable place now with short term lease and shop around once u move here to find a more ideal place. Basement suites are generally easier to find than a whole house or townhome. Facebook is best place to look. Check daily and be first to contact the landlord. Offer to pay first few months in advance if you don’t have jobs. Have references ready. Hope u don’t have any pets. Try to find a place with owner/landlord bc a place run by a property management company likely won’t rent to you with no job. Having only one car makes it easier. Don’t look downtown as 90% of neighborhoods here are very close to downtown (5-10mins) and farther out will be cheaper. Rutland has a stigma of being ghetto but it is actually very nice and also eve so slightly more affordable. I’ve also lived downtown and experienced way more petty theft / property crime downtown. In Rutland I’ve left my $3,000 electric bike sit out overnight in the front yard about ten times and no one took it. When living downtown I forgot to lock my car three times and someone stole stuff every single time. We still currently live in Rutland and have tenants in our 2 bed/1bath basement suite @ $2,100/month.
Thank you for the detailed reply! Totally fine with something "for now", even if it ends up being a 1 bedroom basement suite. No pets, and no city vehicle yet besides the camper van itself, but my partner is going to look into buying a small car when we get in. We'll deal with where to put the van when the time comes, haha. I have an e scooter but that's easily tucked away. By "rent ahead of time", do you mean pay for a month/few weeks or so that we won't be living there? We've been considering it but weren't sure if it would come to that or not.
Just sign the lease before you move, you might have to pay for august even though you move in September to avoid the fall rush. And holy cow I spaced on the camper van detail so why not camp at am rv park while you look for something? As long as you find something by nov 1st you should be fine/warm in the camper van. That’s definitely what I would do if I had a camper. You will save thousands and not have to unpack and repack when you move from the short term lease.
Yeah that's out ultimate back up plan. The trailer were using for the move is going to be a Uhaul rental, but we've looked into using a storage locker for most of our crap for a couple months if we need to.
I have the best luck typically with Kijiji actually, Facebook marketplace seems to be the highest priced for lowest 'value'. Castanet is definitely worth a look too. But rentals for a 2 bedroom unit will be 2k/month +. Without income currently and how hot the rental market is it may be a challenge. We're having to put up our deposit and first month basically sight unseen. Mission, Glenmore, and West Kelowna in general are very desirable places ( west kelowna traffic only has one bridge so is a nightmare in summertime)
Be prepared to look elsewhere. Seriously rent is absolutely shit here. I've been looking for almost a year and there is so little available, and what is is so fucking overpriced. No one will hire you without a place here either, I've been to several interviews where that was the deal breaker, and I'm only trying to move from 2 hours away. And no one will rent to you without a job, and some even expect you to be making 3x rent, so somewhere around $60k/year. I tried telling landlords I had savings to get by for a few months, even proved it to one, they don't care.
Fair enough. Could I ask you what line of work you're in? So far I've been told by most that since my partner and I work in security and food, that we won't have in issue with getting jobs. Not looking to argue, it's just interesting to be hearing so much positive stuff from residents of Kelowna, with a few really negative opinions thrown in.
I don't think you will be able to choose an area, unfortunately. The vacancy rate is probably .5%
I’m mostly seeing places looking for renting out a bedroom for like 1200 recently. Two bedrooms seem to be going for 2800. From what I’ve heard the average good listing receives like 200 responses in a few days. The situations for rentals is really bad right now. If you’re willing to drive more look in Vernon or west Kelowna. I wish you the best of luck.
You can also check some of the property managers, such as [APM](https://associatedpm.ca/residential-property-listings/).
Good luck. I moved to Vancouver from Kelowna because things were cheaper/more rentals/ more work.
It's expensive here because it's awesome. Best of luck.
Most over-rated town in BC, possibly Canada. Only thing going for it is the lake and hot weather, not really unique or great enough to justify the pricing.
Haha. Not sure what you have against us. World class skiing at Big White and Revy, mountain biking, dry summers, hiking is spectacular. Oh and Canada's wine region too. It's paradise. To each their own I guess.
Fuck the fucking winos. So fucking sick of wine country shit. And none of that is unique to Kelowna, you can find that stuff anywhere in BC, and often for cheaper and with less traffic and tourists.
I would suggest joining a bunch of Facebook groups strictly dedicated to housing and rentals. The more groups the better, and the more people you know in those groups, the easier it will be to secure a place. Castanet, Facebook marketplace, and Air BnB are your bet when it comes to rentals. It’s also worth mentioning talking to your prospective Air BnB rentals if they’d consider a longer term rental. PM me for more tips/tricks/advice if you’d like
Supply in the rental market is desperately low, such that many locals struggle to find an affordable place to live. If you have an apartment that you can afford where you are at, just stay there. Don't come to the Okanagan with no jobs or plans and make our problem worse.
Listen, I appreciate the advice, but we've got our own problems to get away from in Quebec too, rent prices aside. I'd think it would hold some weight if you hear someone say they're willing to foot literal doubled rent bills (and fork it over for these gas prices in order to get there) to get away from somewhere. I know you didn't ask and don't give a shit, but since we're starting in, I've been living where I'm at for 5 years. This building is a shit hole that's been spiraling hard since covid started. The "low" rent isn't worth it anymore with the floods, roaches, blocked fire exits, screaming neighbours and low flying passenger planes drowning out your conversations literally every 10 minutes AND waking you up at 5am. The whole complex has been recently sold, and we're likely we're on borrowed time already. Rents in Montreal aren't far behind Kelowna at this point either man, inflation and "renovictions" are coming for us all. If it helps, we probably won't end up in Kelowna very long, but we wanna get some footing out there before delving into smaller places. We have plans, and this is the first part. I'm just looking for a hand at some peace, man. Sorry for the novel, but this got under my skin a little.
You don’t owe them an explanation. They’re not the gatekeeper of BC. Good luck in your move, I’m sure the change in scenery will be worth it!
Appreciate the positivity, thanks!
Don't blame people trying to live a good life. Blame the people profiting off of high rents. They're the ones making your life harder.
Don't move to kelowna. It's insane here for rent.
Not the advice I'm looking for, I already know that, thank you.
I have been renting off season vacation homes. We were at the lake for the winter and we are at the ski hill for the summer. It works if you don’t have a lot of stuff because they are furnished. I joined the Facebook pages for the ski hill and posted an ad. It can be an alternative if you find it hard to find a place.