Help me choose where to move (apartments, rentals, crime rate)

[ttyrawa]

I live about 70 miles outside of Chicago. I am looking to move to Montreal by spring of 2011. I will be 19 by the time i plan to move. I am a looking for an active and lively area in downtown Montreal. I want to rent either 1 or 2 bedroom apt in an area with a lot of culture going on. Somewhere fun and always going on. I really like art, music, night life that kind of stuff. I need something cheap and in a decent neighborhood. I plan on saving over the next few months to move out there and find a job out there. So somewhere that has low un-employment rate. Any help would be appreciated thank you hopefully soon to be fellow residence of Montreal.

[cazelais]

A one or two bedroom in and around downtown will run about 1200. There is nothing cheap in rentals unless you go furthur away from the the center. Then expect to pay about 600-800 depending on what condition the place is. If you are perfectly bilingual than you will enjoy the "low un-employment" rate.
You could split a place or go live in areas like Verdun though rents are going up, up and up. Work in
telemarketing. Check apts. on line to see the rates.

[jambo101]

Do some research on the McGill Ghetto area. You may want to consider room mates as downtown isnt cheap.
Surrounding downtown communities such as Pointe Ste Charles,St Henri,Ville Emard and Verdun are just a subway station or two away from downtown and are much cheaper rent wise//...
As for jobs? hows your French?

[ladyaugusta]

It sounds as if you'd be happy either in the Plateau area of Montreal. Rents are a fortune there. I lived for a time there way back when, on Ste. Famille St. near Sherbrooke...for free! Don't ask...I worked out of the apartment, so I had free rent.

I ran and organized a business from the lower flat. Lord knows what that would rent for now.

Second choice, I think, if you can't afford the Plateau, would be NDG. Lodgings there can be high, but it is a great part of town for a youngt person...

Stay away from the seedy apartments located near the Vendome Metro station, though, and don't go looking in NDG below Sherbrooke Street.

God, I made the mistake of renting a one-room apartment near the Vendome station. I woke up in the morning, no word of a lie, made my coffee, and while stirring the cream into it, a roach was happily playing in it. That did it for me, those roaches.

I deposited the rent money immediately at Regie des Rentes, not paying the landlord a penny in rent over that. There were party-goers slamming the doors across the hall, too. CRASH! BANG!

No, I am not Value Added Worker, and I didn't complain about the banging, screaming and drug dealing. I just complained about the copious amount of cockroaches.

Oh, I won my case. Need a good lawyer, let me know. He does not charge until he wins his case and that happens all the time.

I went after another seedy landlord and won that case, too, thanks to the lawyer.

Stay well away from the south-west area of Montreal, areas like Ville-Emard, Cote St. Paul. St-Henri and Pointe St. Charles, Griffintown.

I got beaten up in Ville-Emard once by a scummy landlord. He was Vietmanese, younger than I was at the time, and my former boyfriend didn't pay the rent. Ex left town and I had to take the beating in lieu of the ex...I was put in hospital due to the beating, suffering a concussion, bleeding from a blow on the noggin, etc.

Lord Augusta was horrified when he heard of it. He confronted the former owner's father and demanded to know why I had to take the beating.

"It wasn't supposed to happen that way," he said.

This old guy carried a walking cane that concealed the sharpest sword that you'd ever see.

His son, the one who put the hounds after me, was murdered a year or two later. Can't say that I am sorry about it.

The dopy son tried to pull the same garbage on a basement tenant as he did with me, but the tenant fought back and ensuantly the landlord paid with his life.

I could tell you all sorts of stories about this area. Stay the hell out of Ville Emard, it's very rough.

[jambo101]

Originally Posted by ladyaugusta

Stay away from the seedy apartments located near the Vendome Metro station, though, and don't go looking in NDG below Sherbrooke Street.
Stay well away from the south-west area of Montreal, areas like Ville-Emard, Cote St. Paul. St-Henri and Pointe St. Charles, Griffintown. .

Over the years i've lived in all these places and while there are some rougher areas of the towns i've never had any problems.

[jlbroc]

@LadyAugusta: I live close to Vendome metro, and you might have lived in the area a long time ago, because the apartments there are by no means seedy. I have heard they were kind of run down years ago, I'm talking about the late 90s or so, the area is fine now, as is this whole part of NDG.

[barneyg]

Originally Posted by ladyaugusta

It sounds as if you'd be happy either in the Plateau area of Montreal. Rents are a fortune there. I lived for a time there way back when, on Ste. Famille St. near Sherbrooke...for free! Don't ask...I worked out of the apartment, so I had free rent.

Not a Montreal native, but I always considered Ste-Famille as part of the McGill ghetto (and one of its nicest streets at that), and definitely not part of the Plateau. Am I wrong?

[ladyaugusta]

Originally Posted by jlbroc

@LadyAugusta: I live close to Vendome metro, and you might have lived in the area a long time ago, because the apartments there are by no means seedy. I have heard they were kind of run down years ago, I'm talking about the late 90s or so, the area is fine now, as is this whole part of NDG.

I lived there in the mid-80s. Maybe it was just bad luck that we happened to find that building.

[sunnysam77]

I am looking for 2 bedroom & 2 bathroom in Westmount or anything close to Vendhome metro. I am digging the net for 2 weeks & the rent for 2 bathrooms are hilarious & very rare to find it. If anyone come across 2 bathroom please lemme know,..

[El_Pablo]

You could move near a metro station in Laval or Longueuil. These are Montreal boroughs. You won't be close to downtown montreal, but the subway system is quite efficient. The rents are low and crime rate also. This will also help you to learn french since there are less english speaking in these cities.

HTH