I do not know how it is possible that the time passes so quickly, but I am already starting the countdown of my official release from quarantine. It has been 11 days already! Wow! I will truly miss looking out on the people dealing with their everyday life. It feels a little like a computer game…
People would expect that self-isolation will be boring, but frankly I have not had one day yet when I felt truly bored. I guess it is all about how you prepare and entertain yourself. If you just joined reading the ILAC Quarantine Chronicles, go back to the previous days to see how I have been keeping busy and productive.
Yesterday, I started to look for a long-term apartment lease in Toronto. I do not feel any pressure since ILAC helped me with quarantine accommodation as well as post-quarantine accommodation in a one-bedroom apartment. I was able to see all my options of ILAC’s private apartments online. I will be staying there for two months before I find something more permanent. The rent prices have dropped due to the pandemic and I want to use this time to find the best option possible for myself. I sent around 12 emails yesterday and received prompt replies from 4 owners. All of the apartments were posted by original owners, not realtors. The process of renting with each is different, and I Googled things I didn’t understand. I referred to the following recommendations from the Government of Canada about renting your first apartment or house. The materials gave me a basic understanding and helped me with making plans.
As I followed the communication with some of the owners, the two I liked the most started to feel strange. Some information they shared did not add up, so I started to overanalyze. I googled the email address of one of the owners. He seemed like a person from the real estate industry, ok seems legit! Then he mentioned he processes payments via Airbnb, but his property was nowhere listed on the Airbnb app, so that was a red flag! When he sent me a reservation invoice from an email address that looked like an Airbnb email, I double-checked with Airbnb support. They responded that this person is a fraud as all payments go through the Airbnb system. The owner was asking me to make a bank transfer with the invoiced amount in order to secure the apartment, all before I personally visited the place and before an agreement was signed. A very similar scenario happened with the other owner. It is always good to double or even triple-check all the information before committing or paying. Follow the red flags and if something feels off always investigate!
I finally scheduled multiple apartment visits with ILAC’s partner Concierge Property Managers. They are reliable, amazingly helpful and very good at helping students find the right place to move in. And the owner is a former ILAC student so he knows what it is like to arrive in another country on your own!