Finding an apartment

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We found out we actually had a real estate agent included in our relocation package so we thought we'd try her services and see what she could come up with. Thank goodness we did because we weren't getting a single call back from anyone and weren't finding much in the area we wanted. 

Our agent took us to view the available apartments near the areas we wanted to live and then gave us her opinion on what she could get the landlords to negotiate on.

People just spend an enormous percentage of their salary on housing here. In the end we had to make our budget a little bigger and our agent had to negotiate the rent down to that amount which she was successful in doing. 

Our agent also helped us with the almost ceremonial process of drawing up a lease agreement. There were several mysterious steps, with three cheques involved. First there was a meeting with the landlord to negotiate the rent and set the terms for the lease. When the landlord agreed to the terms a few days later we submitted a letter of intent with a cheque equal to a month's rent. Then the agent and the landlord dickered over small legal clauses in the lease for a week. Then the lease was signed and couriered with another cheque to the agent who gave the package to the landlord. A third cheque was paid for our actual rent after that. A standard lease is TWO YEARS. No wonder these serviced apartment places do so well here. A basic, one bedroom suite in a serviced building might be 8,000+ a month but it's month to month. It's pretty much your only option if you're here for a year on business.