I try to keep tabs on the rental market here especially lately since my lease is up and I cannot stand the unit/building I live in. It's been a bit since I've been extremely active in checking, but it feels so bipolar it's very confusing and I'm wondering if anyone has general advice on when to look. I currently pay around $1650 for a one bedroom in an older tower and they are raising to almost $1700. At the time I thought $1650 was too much, I had came from renting a 3bdrm 2 bath for $1800 in Edmonton close to downtown so the value proposition already seemed absurd but I flew out for a job offer and had a temporary room situation and things started feeling... not ideal let's say so I just needed to get a place quick and $1700 it's still better than what I paid when I lived in Vancouver so whatever. Everytime I checked afterwards and even recently I was seeing older 1 bedrooms and even some nicer ones for around $1650-$1750, units sitting up for a while, prices looking like they were going down on average. Now that I want to move out, I don't know if it's bad timing or all the deals were scooped up but I'm seeing even more insane pricing. I don't know how my current building figures this place should cost more, some of what's out there is just as insane though. I was considering downsizing to a studio to save more since I work around 70 hours a week and not home much, the average new-ish studio is asking close to what I'm currently paying for a 600 sq ft. 1 bed with full balcony but for 300 sq. ft false "Juliette" balcony... thank god they all have sliding balcony doors leading to a straight drop because those prices might just make me use them LOL. Does anyone have the low-down on those "reduced rent, 13th month free spread of the lease" offers? I wonder how it works out because my obvious reaction is that if you are going to renew me for $300 more a month after it ends then I obviously just move out before then... it sound too easy. Do the pull some bs where if you try and leave for the 13th month they expect the "REAL" rent price back-paid? I don't trust it. My lease is over and that freedom is nice for me, I want out of here but I'm not in a huge rush and I'm not going to sign a lease that fucks me over so any advice on best times to look or insights into what's going on right now would be appreciated. FOR ANY LANDLORDS READING I have educated myself a lot more on the landlord's side than the many tenants would. I pay attention to markets, I invest and understand that side, I pay attention to landlord communities and what they have to say or complain about with tenants. That being said, the expectations are absurd. I am in the top 15% percent of earners in the province with raises still coming and if I were to have a partner with even moderate income we would be above top 10%. As a single earner you would think developments are targeting people in careers like mine, and yet the math makes zero sense. I don't know how insulated real estate people are from the rest of the world, but the job market and economy is spiraling and not just here. Things people took for granted are changing instantly. People who never struggled to find work are struggling. I know countless people replaced, or soon-to-be replaced by AI even in top level corporate management. Carney is for cutting government jobs and we now have conservative leaders in BC who traditionally prefer cutting government jobs. I know countless trades workers even who are without work. I myself was pursuing a degree in an industry that got completely dismantled before I even finished the degree and got extremely lucky to accidentally end up in the right place, right trade, right time and started building a recession proof stable career by chance. Things we took for granted or believed because others told us so are falling apart, and it is a luxury to be receiving a recurring dividend on an investment and be able to sue someone if they can't make those payments, low risk payouts right now are not normal. I understand your motives but as someone who has spent more than a down payment in rent over my adulthood and actually can afford these flashy new apartments, I'm telling you right now (and I hope others are here with me) I would rather live in a van and pocket more savings than burn away that big a percentage of the income that I am paying with my knees, back, lungs, body, and mind than secure an investor's "low risk return". I am more than willing and able to pay for and be a good tenant in a unit that isn't asking more than 30% of my income as a worker that helps build this country, and of course I make too much to qualify for those subsidized housing situations and if I don't want to pay that much I can only imagine others need it more anyways. Hopefully more like this exist here but if reasonable rentals don't start popping up soon I genuinely feel like exiting the market however I can and waiting till prices actually correct or better yet, investors are forced to sell at extreme losses and I will scoop one up while grinning in their face knowing I will actually treat it like a home.   submitted by   /u/Express-Temperature5   to   r/VictoriaBC [link]   [comments]