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Old Posted May 25, 2015, 10:42 PM
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Advice for moving to MTL?

Greetings MTL forumers!

I was hoping to get a bit of advice:

I am moving to Montreal for a Masters program at McGill in the fall this year. McGill is a great school for my program and my times in Montreal previously have been incredible, it is such an interesting and vibrant place. I can't wait to explore the city in greater detail for the next few years. I am particularly excited to build some more experience with French (taking classes at McGill) and being immersed in a different culture for a while.

My problem: I don't know where to live and much about the various areas of the city. There is many, many areas that seem really interesting, but it is hard to gauge without walking around and experiencing it for myself. As I am some 4,000km away, this is a difficult task

Some of my interests:
  • I am a professional in my late 20s. (i.e. I am not a poor student, but living in cheaper, younger/student areas are perfectly fine)
  • I like to walk / cycle as much as possible (preferably reasonably close to McGill). Metro access is good too.
  • Enjoy cafes/pubs & music nearby. Patios and street life are great to be near to.

My very limited set of requirements means that there are many areas to rent in that could fit what I am looking. There is so many apartment/roommate ads all over the city that I don't know how to filter them down to something more reasonable to deal with.

Any advice from locals? Any details about certain areas that I should check out? General tips on moving there will be appreciated!

Merci!
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  #2  
Old Posted May 26, 2015, 12:24 AM
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Hi,

I don't study at McGill but I also study downtown and know the area well. There is good student housing around the university (Sherbrooke Street), on-campus residences or in the Milton-Park area nearby which are affordable for students. Around there you would be close to McGill Metro station. Lots of cafés around, and not far from the nightlife area (Peel/Crescent/Bishop Streets). So pretty much the area you should look for is between McGill College Avenue and Park Avenue, just South of the Mount Royal.

One thing also, if you are worried about limited french knowledge, please don't. Everybody in downtown is bilingual, so you will get around easily.

Hope I helped!
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Old Posted May 26, 2015, 3:13 PM
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Originally Posted by SkahHigh View Post
Hi,

I don't study at McGill but I also study downtown and know the area well. There is good student housing around the university (Sherbrooke Street), on-campus residences or in the Milton-Park area nearby which are affordable for students. Around there you would be close to McGill Metro station. Lots of cafés around, and not far from the nightlife area (Peel/Crescent/Bishop Streets). So pretty much the area you should look for is between McGill College Avenue and Park Avenue, just South of the Mount Royal.

One thing also, if you are worried about limited french knowledge, please don't. Everybody in downtown is bilingual, so you will get around easily.

Hope I helped!
Thanks for the advice! It was one area I had stumbled upon already, looks like it would be a good fit. I'll focus my efforts centred around there for my apartment searching. And thanks for the note on languages, I was aware that the city centre was largely bilingual; still will be nice to get some better exposure to French (easier than out West at least )

I appreciate the help!
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Old Posted May 26, 2015, 8:01 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by MasterG View Post
Greetings MTL forumers!

I was hoping to get a bit of advice:

I am moving to Montreal for a Masters program at McGill in the fall this year. McGill is a great school for my program and my times in Montreal previously have been incredible, it is such an interesting and vibrant place. I can't wait to explore the city in greater detail for the next few years. I am particularly excited to build some more experience with French (taking classes at McGill) and being immersed in a different culture for a while.

My problem: I don't know where to live and much about the various areas of the city. There is many, many areas that seem really interesting, but it is hard to gauge without walking around and experiencing it for myself. As I am some 4,000km away, this is a difficult task

Some of my interests:
  • I am a professional in my late 20s. (i.e. I am not a poor student, but living in cheaper, younger/student areas are perfectly fine)
  • I like to walk / cycle as much as possible (preferably reasonably close to McGill). Metro access is good too.
  • Enjoy cafes/pubs & music nearby. Patios and street life are great to be near to.

My very limited set of requirements means that there are many areas to rent in that could fit what I am looking. There is so many apartment/roommate ads all over the city that I don't know how to filter them down to something more reasonable to deal with.

Any advice from locals? Any details about certain areas that I should check out? General tips on moving there will be appreciated!

Merci!
Welcome!

I'd recommend to try and use Padmapper to narrow down your apartment search. It will be pretty easy to find an apartment here. Are you coming a few weeks before your program starts? Moving day in Montreal is July 1st; that's when most leases expire and renew, but there are always apartments available throughout the year.

I'm sure you'll enjoy your time here. Let us know if you have more (specific) questions and we can all help out.
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  #5  
Old Posted May 26, 2015, 9:47 PM
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Originally Posted by MexiQuebecois View Post
Welcome!

I'd recommend to try and use Padmapper to narrow down your apartment search. It will be pretty easy to find an apartment here. Are you coming a few weeks before your program starts? Moving day in Montreal is July 1st; that's when most leases expire and renew, but there are always apartments available throughout the year.

I'm sure you'll enjoy your time here. Let us know if you have more (specific) questions and we can all help out.
Thanks! I was unfamiliar with this site, this looks brilliant, I'll poke around.

I plan to come early either late July or mid-August (program starts September). I have heard of this July 1st moving day; so far it seems there is plenty of availability regardless (benefit of such a big city I guess). How does that work?

Cost isn't such a concern for me (benefit of going back to school as a professional), so I don't mind paying a month of extra rent for July even if I am not there, if that is required to secure a good spot. But I won't if I don't have to. Any thoughts? If I look in July for an August lease is that a feasible thing to do?

Appreciate the feedback, can't wait to get there!
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Old Posted May 26, 2015, 10:36 PM
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i went to mcgill too, even did an m.a. there, and my niece will be starting undergrad there in the fall. you made a good move heading up there, have a pint of cream ale at thomson house for me!

anyway, here's where you want to live. basically, you should hunt for a place between sherbrooke and rachel, and between parc lafontaine and parc avenue. that square will have your sweet spot combination of youth, affordability, proximity to mcgill, walkability, restaurants and bars, and it's smack in the middle of interesting montreal (north you have mount royal avenue, the mile-end, rosemont, villeray, parc ex, jean-talon and all the rest, south you have all the downtown hoods, east is the park and eastern plateau and west you have mcgill and the rest of downtown neighborhoods). you can't go wrong with a place near square saint louis.
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  #7  
Old Posted May 27, 2015, 12:55 AM
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Originally Posted by MasterG View Post
But I won't if I don't have to. Any thoughts? If I look in July for an August lease is that a feasible thing to do?
At this point, it's certainly feasible.

We're so late in the lease renewal season that landlords are generally kinda starting to worry that they've "missed the boat" for the year on their non-renewed-but-still-not-leased-to-someone-else units. Most will be delighted to have someone show up for August!

That might not be as 100% true in downtown Montreal as it is in my home market (I happen to be the landlord to a bunch of downtown Sherbrooke buildings) but I'm pretty confident it's still true. In my case on the few units I still have left I'd be very glad to sign someone up for August.

One thing is for sure, you should DEFINITELY try, with ANY apartment that you find that is currently still available for July 1st, to say "well, I only need it starting in August..."

At this time of year, landlords of yet-unrented-for-July-1st units are going to be pretty flexible, that's all but guaranteed.
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Old Posted May 28, 2015, 3:44 PM
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Originally Posted by a very long weekend View Post
i went to mcgill too, even did an m.a. there, and my niece will be starting undergrad there in the fall. you made a good move heading up there, have a pint of cream ale at thomson house for me!

anyway, here's where you want to live. basically, you should hunt for a place between sherbrooke and rachel, and between parc lafontaine and parc avenue. that square will have your sweet spot combination of youth, affordability, proximity to mcgill, walkability, restaurants and bars, and it's smack in the middle of interesting montreal (north you have mount royal avenue, the mile-end, rosemont, villeray, parc ex, jean-talon and all the rest, south you have all the downtown hoods, east is the park and eastern plateau and west you have mcgill and the rest of downtown neighborhoods). you can't go wrong with a place near square saint louis.
Thanks, this is the kind of advice I needed. I am narrowing in on a few potential spots right in that box you described, should work perfectly for me. I'll look into the Thomson cream ale business you suggested upon my arrival
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Old Posted May 28, 2015, 3:45 PM
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Originally Posted by lio45 View Post
At this point, it's certainly feasible.

We're so late in the lease renewal season that landlords are generally kinda starting to worry that they've "missed the boat" for the year on their non-renewed-but-still-not-leased-to-someone-else units. Most will be delighted to have someone show up for August!

That might not be as 100% true in downtown Montreal as it is in my home market (I happen to be the landlord to a bunch of downtown Sherbrooke buildings) but I'm pretty confident it's still true. In my case on the few units I still have left I'd be very glad to sign someone up for August.

One thing is for sure, you should DEFINITELY try, with ANY apartment that you find that is currently still available for July 1st, to say "well, I only need it starting in August..."

At this time of year, landlords of yet-unrented-for-July-1st units are going to be pretty flexible, that's all but guaranteed.
Great advice. Already seeing what you mean through dealing with several land-lords. You may have just saved me a month of rent

Thanks!
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  #10  
Old Posted May 29, 2015, 5:39 PM
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Great advice. Already seeing what you mean through dealing with several land-lords. You may have just saved me a month of rent

Thanks!
You're welcome! Giving "great advice" on this forum every time I have an opportunity to do so is something I like to do

(Just a little inside joke that I know no one in this thread will get, but I just had to say it.)



Hope everything goes well for you when you move later this summer and that you'll enjoy your time over there!
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  #11  
Old Posted Jun 6, 2015, 1:57 PM
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Padmapper is a good site but in my experience it does not pull in ads from Kijiji, just Craigslist and a few others. Check out Kijiji.

Another great area to live is St Henri in the Sud-Ouest (in the area centered on Atwater Ave). I lived there myself for 7 years and would love to go back. It doesn't have the hum of student life on the plateau to be sure but if you can't find a nice place near McGill then check it out.

Be wary of mold in units that have no ventilation in the bathroom, especially in smaller buildings if their ventilation is a shaft up to the roof. I hope you can actually take some time to come here (like for a weekend say) and see some places before you sign a contract. Either way...best of luck finding a good place. :-)

They won't teach you the French that the local's speak so it'll be good to make as many bilingual friends as possible and watch local news like RDI (the CBC's French arm) and local shows like Tout le Monde En Parle, Penelope McQuade (both RDI) and Belle Et Bum for music on Tele-Quebec.

When you're at a restaurant, even if the waiter switches to English because of your accent, keep pushing on in French as much as you can. A lot of people will switch to English because of your accent, your fluency or because they want to practice their English so if you want to practice French you could be out of luck. :-)

Places to check out while here (if you haven't done so already)

Lachine Rapids: I have known people who have lived here decades and have never seen these. Out of the way...oh yeah but well worth the trip. This is part of a major series of parks streching from Verdun (south of downtown) to Pointe Claire in the West Island, and as far as I know, all with bike trails. :-)

Lachine Canal: Old industrial canal now refurbished into a park with bike and walking trails. There are places to rent kayaks, and small boats as well. At the western end of this canal in Lachine is Parc Rene Levesque, well worth a visit. There is a little ferry there too, one takes you to Lachine across the small bay and one to Châteauguay across the lake. As I heard one local who had just discovered it remark: It's a cute way to play tourist in your own city for an afternoon. :-)

Since you'll be here for a while feel free to contact me if you have questions/want suggestions.

Good luck with the move. :-)
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  #12  
Old Posted Jun 16, 2015, 8:01 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Jringe01 View Post
Padmapper is a good site but in my experience it does not pull in ads from Kijiji, just Craigslist and a few others. Check out Kijiji.

Another great area to live is St Henri in the Sud-Ouest (in the area centered on Atwater Ave). I lived there myself for 7 years and would love to go back. It doesn't have the hum of student life on the plateau to be sure but if you can't find a nice place near McGill then check it out.

Be wary of mold in units that have no ventilation in the bathroom, especially in smaller buildings if their ventilation is a shaft up to the roof. I hope you can actually take some time to come here (like for a weekend say) and see some places before you sign a contract. Either way...best of luck finding a good place. :-)

They won't teach you the French that the local's speak so it'll be good to make as many bilingual friends as possible and watch local news like RDI (the CBC's French arm) and local shows like Tout le Monde En Parle, Penelope McQuade (both RDI) and Belle Et Bum for music on Tele-Quebec.

When you're at a restaurant, even if the waiter switches to English because of your accent, keep pushing on in French as much as you can. A lot of people will switch to English because of your accent, your fluency or because they want to practice their English so if you want to practice French you could be out of luck. :-)

Places to check out while here (if you haven't done so already)

Lachine Rapids: I have known people who have lived here decades and have never seen these. Out of the way...oh yeah but well worth the trip. This is part of a major series of parks streching from Verdun (south of downtown) to Pointe Claire in the West Island, and as far as I know, all with bike trails. :-)

Lachine Canal: Old industrial canal now refurbished into a park with bike and walking trails. There are places to rent kayaks, and small boats as well. At the western end of this canal in Lachine is Parc Rene Levesque, well worth a visit. There is a little ferry there too, one takes you to Lachine across the small bay and one to Châteauguay across the lake. As I heard one local who had just discovered it remark: It's a cute way to play tourist in your own city for an afternoon. :-)

Since you'll be here for a while feel free to contact me if you have questions/want suggestions.

Good luck with the move. :-)
Awesome suggestions, Thanks! I have visited some of these areas and will have plenty of time to visit others when I arrive. Looks like I am narrowing in on a few strong Plateau / Mile End candidates that seems to be my speed. Looking forward to it (and becoming a MTL SSPer )
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  #13  
Old Posted Jun 16, 2015, 9:45 PM
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Originally Posted by MasterG View Post
Awesome suggestions, Thanks! I have visited some of these areas and will have plenty of time to visit others when I arrive. Looks like I am narrowing in on a few strong Plateau / Mile End candidates that seems to be my speed. Looking forward to it (and becoming a MTL SSPer )
Sign up to mtlurb if you feel like it! The members are mostly bilingual and you can see all the Montreal projects.
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