Who is renting in Vancouver?wherelse can you advertise besides Craigslist?
Who is renting in Vancouver and where to advertise?
I have recently encounter many Korean and Middle Eastern rental agents working in the rental market looking for property on behalf of their clients. Their clients include students and relocation professionals. Due to the language barrier, the potential tenant always feel more comfortable working with people who can speak their own language. The rental agent will then explain everything to them in their own language to make sure they understand the local rules and regulations. However, the rental agents that I have come across are not licensed. What they have is a connection with these people from their home country. They will ask for one month rent from the Landlord as finder's fee.
In the downtown area, we always see a lot of International students coming to Vancouver to study English, then later on they try to get into UBC or Simon Fraser University or any other technical institutions. Most of the students will look for the unfurnished apartment to fit into their budget. However, since last year, there are more and more students coming from Saudi Arabia. They will look for furnished apartment to rent and will commit to at least one year lease because of the course they have enrolled in.
Things to be aware of if you rent your property to these new comers:
In most cases, these potential tenants do not have any credit in Canada. Credit check companies are able to do searches for some countries but it could be a challenge to do it for some Asian countries. If that's the case, the best you can do is to ask for the following documents:
1) copy of the passport
2) copy of their Visa, for student Visa, it's usually between 9 months and 12 months each time. They have to renew the Visa annually or working Visa
3) a letter from the bank
4) a copy of the school acceptance letter
5) tenant application form
6) employment letter
Whether you manage your own rental property or you hire a professional property manager to look after your investment, instead of doing the traditional way by advertising in newspapers which cost more for limited write up space and no photos, I'd strongly recommend Landlord to advertise their properties on line with as many photos as possible. It's FREE or at very minimal cost such as $25 per month. There are more and more of these rental websites available and here are some popular sites for your information:
http://apartmentguide.ca/index
