Opinion: What it took to finally find a family rental home in Metro Vancouver

Rachel Thexton and her family in Burnaby, BC

Written for Daily Hive Urbanized by Rachel Thexton, president of Thexton PR.

Some of you are familiar with our struggle as we learned that the home we were renting in North Burnaby would no longer be available to us due to the owner’s change in plans for the property. We had resided in the home for almost two years and planned to stay for at least two more.

As we started our frantic search for a new family home to accommodate five people, including our three young children and our two aging animals, it was clear that we were facing a challenging market. We found high-priced homes in poor condition, shared spaces with no privacy or soundproofing, and basement suites presented as garden suites to hide the true nature of the unit.

We saw bugs and met owners and property managers who didn’t have the home clean or presentable. We were also restricted by many homes that wouldn’t allow animals, and we were not even considering carpeted homes as it’s our kids who couldn’t keep a carpet clean!

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Last week we viewed a three-bedroom home in our North Burnaby area and we could feel from the first viewing that it was the home for us. We signed the lease with no issues this week. Here are some tips on finding a suitable family rental, based on our experience spending many hours scanning online rental sites, making phone calls and dealing with challenging homeowners.

The homeowner is one of the most important parts of your rental experience

When I first started renting, I thought of the homeowner simply as the person we paid monthly. I quickly learned that the personality, decency and honesty of the homeowner mean everything. It changes your living experience, your peace, stability in the home and overall happiness.

We have had homeowners rent to us without the proper licence, do ineffective repairs on vital elements of the home, and do anything possible to not provide our damage deposit back in full. When we move out of a property, we have it professionally cleaned, any damage we inflict is repaired professionally, and we go the extra mile to give the home back as we received it, and sometimes in better condition.

Although we have minimal experience with our new homeowner, we can tell that he is different. Once he saw income proof, met our family and knew that we always pay rent, he quickly agreed to rent to us, without the hassle previous owners put us through. The new owner is responsive, has been fair regarding issues we discuss, and seems to have respect for our family, telling us that he simply wants to be paid on time and have the house well cared for. We are happy to do that!

When considering the price, consider the age of the home and utility fees

Although we had to go above our original max rental budget for our new home, our rent includes utilities (minus cable/internet). Many homes being rented are old and some are not well maintained, meaning that poor insulation, thin windows and old, less efficient appliances result in sky-high utility bills. We paid hundreds a month on gas and electricity due to old and neglected homes.

Shared space works if done properly

I cringed at the idea of sharing our home with another tenant unit because we are a family with young children and although we encourage our children to behave, kids play, cry and make noise sometimes. We lived above a basement tenant once and they complained often that they could hear our kids. That is part of why we moved from that home.

Our new home has one other tenant: a single person who lives in the side unit of a large two-storey home. The majority of our living space is upstairs so we are neither directly above him nor beside him. We have different entrances, safe separation and the use of both the front and backyards belongs only to us. This works and respects us as primary tenants.

Be yourself and share details about your family and your needs

When we viewed the home and saw its location, layout and features, we had a discussion right then and there about how much we wanted to stay in the area. We asked the owner if there was anything particular that he wanted in an applicant. Later that day we sent a detailed email on who we are, our history and why we wanted to rent the home. We gave him a detailed idea of who we are as a family. He texted the next day offering us the rental. Relationships mean a lot and knowing more about your tenant matters to a decent homeowner.

Check daily listings often as owners want to secure the rental quickly

Listings for new homes are posted daily and often owners want to rent ASAP so that the home does not sit empty, losing potential income. As soon as we saw this listing, we arranged the soonest possible viewing. The owner showed his reasonable personality and flexibility by allowing us a May 15 move-in, instead of May 1 as we wanted to provide 30 days’ notice to our current homeowner, out of respect for his planning.

It’s not easy or cheap but I hope that these tips help in your search for the perfect rental home. Good luck!