So, yesterday I made the trip to Hamilton to hopefully secure an apartment for the upcoming school year. If you remember my previous thread, my first apartment hunt was unsuccessful.

I went to view 6 places. 4 of them being in the direct area of Mac, within walking distance to campus, 1 being in Dundas, a 10-minute bus ride, and one being past the 403, before the Fortinos/McDonalds plaza.

I was actually really disappointed in the houses I looked at. Not all, but most of them were in very poor condition. One apartment I went to look at on Sanders was a basement apartment, and for the most part the ceilings were lower than my height. I'm only 5'4. Most of the other places smelt so strongly of mould. Some had holes in the ceilings, had really brown walls and tubs. It was just horrible. A couple were not too bad, and these were all places in the $400+ per month mark, so they wern't low priced rentals.

I then went to see a private basement apartment in Dundas. It's about a 10-minute bus ride to Mac, but the apartment is in a brand new house, very clean, newly built basement apartment. It's just beautiful.

I felt it'd be best for me to sacrifice being able to walk to school, for a clean and safe apartment that i'd have to take a bus to get to school.

So does anyone have any horror stories from apartment hunting? Share

This past end-of-year house hunting season, we looked at a few lemons. One house clearly had rat droppings in the kitchen cabinets (and in a couple of the bedrooms!), and it was obvious one of the basement rooms was being used for hotboxing.

Another house had carpet that smelled like urine. All 5 of us looking at the house immediately whiffed the stuff, and we didn't even look at the rest of the house.

The house we ended up getting was actually one that we loved the previous year but it was already leased to someone else. Meant to be much? hehe

Yeah definitely choose the better living conditions than a quick walk to school. Considering that the HSR is free, you will be spending 8 months in there so you might as well like it.

I've given up on basements haha. I went to look at a few the first time I came to Mac, and again for second year, no good. Low ceilings, dirty, strange smells, and overpriced. What's the point? Anyone is better off living in an apartment for themselves or with roommates.

I looked at a basement apartment near Mac, on Haddon. It was 600 inclusive, and so I thought it was a good deal. I mean, it is the whole basement to myself and all the other basements in the area were reaching the 700-800 dollar mark. So I went, and it was a student renting it out.

Anyway, so it was nice except, he didn't clean it up at all so it put me off at first glance. It was all one room with low ceilings basically, just partitioned by a desk to separate the bedroom and the "office" area, and one stair to separate the office area from the kitchen and bathroom. The kitchen had a hot plate and didn't even have... I forget what it was, but it was missing something vital. Might've been the fridge. The bathroom was basically a stall and a toilet, not very appealing.

We noticed that there was like two or three mattresses on the bed. I asked if I could take them out and use my own, and he's like "Oh it's too much hassle to switch the mattresses so you'd have to use those." Hello, that's disgusting, I don't know what the people there before did on that bed. Yikes.

I didn't call him back, but he called me and I had to painfully turn him down. No one is going to pay 600 for that dump.

Indeed. Always choose a nicer place over convenience.

To a point I guess, though. You don't want to be living in Zone 9 if you don't have to.

And now I need to start looking...eight month leases are apparently more difficult to find close to campus in a small house (less than 5 bedrooms) than you'd think.

I have friends who left house hunting until the last minute and ended up renting on the mountain because they just couldn't find anything remotely clean or safe close to Mac. Thankfully I didn't have to go as far as the mountain. My apartment is just one 10-minute bus ride straight to Mac!

When I walked into some of the places I could smell mold and see how dirty it was from the door, but I didn't want to be rude so I just quickly looked around the place and left! hahaha. Funny thing is I had my mom with me as well, and she had the worst facial expression when we were going through these "houses". Hillarious.

I looked at a few places back when I was house/apartment hunting. I ended up living where I do now... it's an entire basement apartment with utilities included for $350 per month. Talk about a steal! I've been living here for what's going into my third straight year.

And it's a nice place, with a great landlord. It's also a 15 minute walk from Mac... not too far, but far enough away that I never have to deal with rowdy partying/drunk students!

It's still a basement though... it's dark and the ceilings are low in some places, but I don't really care. Its been a great place for me to live!

So yeah... moral of the story... basement apartments are not always that bad!

After looking for a few weeks I made the 3 hour trip down to Hamilton to check out an apartment I was pretty set on leasing. It was in the Camelot Towers just past the 403 access ramp. I met the landlord and the building was pretty clean and I was ready to sign the lease when I was told that I couldnt have the place because I was a 2nd year Mac student...apparently its their policy not to rent to 1st or 2nd year Mac students. So 6 hours of driving later...im still homeless.

Back in February, some friends and I started to look for a house for the next school year. We found a place we liked and some of us got together to sign for it. We were probably rushing too much because after this, some of the other guys flopped out on us so we were stuck with a few empty rooms that had to be filled. We've been looking for people since and now the school year is about to start and there's still one room to fill. I'm not really sure what we're going to do. So if you're looking for a house with some friends, make sure everyone is completely down with it.

Originally Posted by dsteph

After looking for a few weeks I made the 3 hour trip down to Hamilton to check out an apartment I was pretty set on leasing. It was in the Camelot Towers just past the 403 access ramp. I met the landlord and the building was pretty clean and I was ready to sign the lease when I was told that I couldnt have the place because I was a 2nd year Mac student...apparently its their policy not to rent to 1st or 2nd year Mac students. So 6 hours of driving later...im still homeless.

That's brutal! They didn't tell you that before making the trip down? You should've just said your a 3rd year LOL, do they ask for some sort of proof?

Originally Posted by stevennn

Back in February, some friends and I started to look for a house for the next school year. We found a place we liked and some of us got together to sign for it. We were probably rushing too much because after this, some of the other guys flopped out on us so we were stuck with a few empty rooms that had to be filled. We've been looking for people since and now the school year is about to start and there's still one room to fill. I'm not really sure what we're going to do. So if you're looking for a house with some friends, make sure everyone is completely down with it.

If you already havn't done so, put it on kijiji, or craigslist, with pictures and tons of info. A lot of people are last-minute house hunting now so hopefully you'll fill it up fast. Also, if you go on kijiji, click on the "wanted" section. You'll see a bunch of students posting that they're looking for a room, e-mail all of them, your bound to get a few come through.

Originally Posted by dsteph

After looking for a few weeks I made the 3 hour trip down to Hamilton to check out an apartment I was pretty set on leasing. It was in the Camelot Towers just past the 403 access ramp. I met the landlord and the building was pretty clean and I was ready to sign the lease when I was told that I couldnt have the place because I was a 2nd year Mac student...apparently its their policy not to rent to 1st or 2nd year Mac students. So 6 hours of driving later...im still homeless.

That's terrible! I didn't know they did that!

What gives though, that policy is sort of ridiculous.

Originally Posted by feonateresa

That's terrible! I didn't know they did that!

What gives though, that policy is sort of ridiculous.

1st and 2nd year students are far more likely to party and get rowdy, since they're newer at "being free". It wouldnt surprise me if he/she used to allow 1st and 2nd years to live there, but probably had some trouble with parties or w/e and then changed the policy.

Originally Posted by Taunton

1st and 2nd year students are far more likely to party and get rowdy, since they're newer at "being free". It wouldnt surprise me if he/she used to allow 1st and 2nd years to live there, but probably had some trouble with parties or w/e and then changed the policy.

That's a good point I guess. Just strange to me, all the landlords I've encountered are really nice about me being a student - I don't know if it's because they think they can take advantage of me or because it's a "Oh cool you're a kid that made it to university" thing.

I'm a first year and secured my pad down at Norfolk. Living in Toronto with NO CAR (yes, I had to take that Go train just to look at apartments), I was practically walking everywhere.

Here's a great hint from a fourth year named Jenny:
+ forget the online, check the office for off campus. The wall bulletin updates faster than you can see (if you check on Mondays), and i got a place for 450, inclusive, basement, with maintenance done and cleaning products included!
+ ask around if people need roomies. I know its kinda odd, but from upper year students that Ive spoken to, they would rather be with someone they arent BFFL with, so its civilized and better for studying.
+ DO NOT GO ON EMERSON. OR at least check out the place at least 2 times. All the places I saw were disgusting, dirty, and dingy.

good luck!

I'm pretty sure that the house I lived in last year is still open. If you can get 3 more people together to live with you, it would be a great place to be. It's on King Street near Metro, so it's a bit of a walk but it's great to have the grocery store so close.

The layout is really cool, and the landlords are awesome.

PM me if you're interested and I'll give you the landlord's contact info.