A Note About the "Popular Site" Trade-Off
The best of the apartment hunting websites are used by a lot of landlords, but also by a lot of potential renters. That means good places can go fast so you'll need to act fast if you see something that interests you. On the other hand, the less popular websites may have fewer listings, but if that's the only place where the rental appears you've probably got a better chance of getting it.
• Consider a strategy that combines high traffic and lower traffic websites to improve your all around chances.
Toronto's Best Apartment Hunting Websites
Guide's Top Pick: ViewIt.ca
Deriving its name from the photo-heavy listings, View It can give you a very good idea of what an apartment is like and save you wasting time going to see something that isn't right for you. There are always plenty of listings, but it's easy to refine your search to find apartments with the right number of bedrooms that are within your price range. You can sign up to save your searches and to have email notifications sent to you, all for free. If you decide to look for an apartment on foot, keep an eye out for ViewIt lawn signs that provide a ViT number you can use to quickly find the listing online.
• Pros: Ample listings, multiple photos, easy search
• Cons: No local-level map navigation is available
• Searching Tip: Etobicoke, North York, Scarborough and Toronto are listed as individual cities.
Toronto Craigslist
Craigslist remains, as always, the wild west of online ads. There are always lots of listings to choose from, but it's hit or miss on how much information a listing will have. There's also no way to sort listings confidently. On the other hand, Craigslist Toronto apartment listings include some of the best deals, posted by landlords who just want to rent quickly and easily without paying for the listing. If you're apartment-hunting savvy, are familiar with Toronto, know a good price when you see it, and have time to scour through the existing ads and watch for updates, Craigslist may be the way to go.
• Pros: Numerous listings daily, some good deals
• Cons: No standards, no good way to refine search
Realtor.ca
Formerly MLS.ca
An official website of the Canadian Real Estate Association, Realtor.ca is a great place to browse if you're thinking about buying. They also include rentals, but of course these are only rental properties where an agent is involved, which isn't the case with many Toronto apartments. Still, there are a lot of listings on the site and although it's hard to specify the neighbourhood you want if you don't know the code realtors use, once you zoom in on the map it's easy to browse and refine your search.
• Pros: Agent = increased chance of professionalism, easy to refine by price/bedrooms, some listings have numerous photos
• Cons: Neighbourhood (map) based navigation is troublesome, limited rental listings
• Searching Tip: Skip the map altogether by clicking on "Advanced Search" in the top navigation bar.
TorontoRentals.net
Focused on apartment buildings, TorontoRentals.net uses a simple search to provide a list of area buildings. Many of the listings include a virtual tour of individual apartments that include a floor plan, often with measurements (of course the photos won't necessarily be of the exact unit available for rent). The site also lists co-op buildings.
• Pros: Simple search, virtual tours with floor plan
• Cons: Limited to apartment buildings, no neighbourhood mapping feature.
More Online Apartment Hunting Options
RentersNews.ca
aka HomeTrader.ca rentals section
Although not technically limited to apartment buildings, that's what you'll primarily find listed here.
• Pros: Properties are mapped, plenty of options to refine search
• Cons: Generally limited to apartment buildings, many listings only include external photos
MyHood.ca
MyHood.ca is a great idea based on including rental listings, user-submitted apartment reviews, and neighbourhood information all in one place. Unfortunately in using the site I came across several mistakes, such as linking postings from Craigslist to incorrect places on the navigation map. This website is a good place to browse apartment reviews and get a sense of a neighbourhood that interests you, but scrutinize details and listings carefully.
• Pros: Neighbourhood profiles, user reviews.
• Cons: Some inaccuracies.
24/7apartments.com
You can browse this site as a guest, but to see the contact information related to any of the listed apartments you'll have to sign up and pay a fee. The idea here is that you pay $19.95 to register for 30 days, set up an automated search of what you're looking for, and the system emails you new results Monday to Friday. The listings may include apartment reviews (if anyone's added one for the building you're interested in), which you can also view as a guest.
• Pros: Listings emailed to you
• Cons: Fee
• Searching Tip: Email/phone numbers are hidden unless you've signed up, but the street address of each building is visible to guests.
