Montreal questions (apartments, lofts, condos)

[j_rode]

I'm graduating from college in about a year or so, and I'm looking for cities that I would want to live in. I pretty much like it in the northern part of the country. I like it down south, but it's way too hot year round and the bugs would drive me crazy. I live in Wisconsin right now and I enjoy it here for the most part. I want a fairly big city to live in though. I have Milwaukee, Minneapolis and Denver as my main interests right now, as well as Pittsburgh, Philly or a city like Buffalo. I really don't know much about Montreal and was just looking for some more information.

My main questions are:

What kind of apartments or lofts can you find in the downtown area and are the prices reasonable? By reasonable I'm talking in the $700-$900 range, give or take.

Is there opportunity for jobs in Marketing?

How are the bugs? Specifically, what kind of spiders are in the area. Spiders just drive me crazy. I hate them, even the small ones. I don't have a problem with seeing them outside, but once they're inside, that's when I have a problem with them. Is it usually just the occasional house spider you have to worry about?

How's the weather there? I enjoy a nice summer, but I LOVE winter. I like a mix of all seasons really.

[cazelais]

You can easily find apts. in the 700.00 to 900.00 dollar range. Montreal has an ancient infrastructure and some apt. buildings are 80 to 100 years old. These places tend to have spiders especially in the warmer months.

There are many new condos as well if you want to avoid spidy.

The weather is mostly horrible year round. Last Winter wasn't too bad but there are always two months of horrible Winter weather where I declare this will be my last year I endure this hell. Summers are hot and humid which I hate more than Winter. It is a beautiful lush jungle in the summer with rain and thunder storms.

You should be bilingual as well. French/English. Spanish/English jobs exist as well in call centers dealing with the U.S. There are many telemarketing jobs where you can be just unilingual. Many unilingual people are self-employed here or still living at home well into their 40s and 50s.

There are mosquitoes outside the city. There are seasons here as well for June bugs and gadflys. You see cloud whirls of little flying bugs. There are lots of fat birds too. The bugs are not bothersome but there are bugs. The closer to water the more bugs there are. Montreal is an island surrounded with water. Hope this helps.