Let the search begin: We began by driving to many of the communities around Victoria to get an idea of where we might like to live and quickly ruled out several places based on location, traffic, or type of housing. Looking for a rental with nice views, or ocean nearby, or in downtown Victoria that is pet friendly may be a challenge.
3 weeks of endless searching on the internet and we have had few options, even though I had placed wanted ads on several sites. We are finding that a lot of listings are gone in hours and the market is very competitive. We really like Sidney and mostly concentrated our search to that area, but it is expensive and with few rentals. So, we started looking at listings in Nanaimo and Qualicum Beach (which is where we really want to buy a house eventually).
Finally! a couple listings came up and we got a viewing in Qualicum Beach. The other listing was a guy that responded to my ad, but his property manager is on vacation and we will have to wait to see it. We drove the 2.5 hours (one way) to see a cute little carriage house and again came away a little discouraged after the owner said she was interviewing 12 people for the rental. But! she called us a few hours later and said we had been short listed and she really thought we would be a good fit.
YAY! After 2 days of emails and phone calls, the place is ours to rent as of May 1st. It was meant to be I guess since that is the town we really want to buy a house later on. A short walk to the sea, not too pricey, and a nearby golf course. Perfect……..