Canada Rentals Blog » general

We got real listings!!!

david — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 21:43:47 +0000

My friend Dave at Rentvine has done it yet again by putting together some good tips for scammers in this really funny spoof!

Happy Thanksgiving Canada 2009

david — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 14:33:26 +0000

It came around again so fast! It seems like each year, the holidays come around even faster than the last! It’s been a good year for me, and for Canada Rentals. Our traffic has grown, which was really the only main goal and accomplishment for the year. I have a friend that asks me every year about this time what my goals are for the coming year, and I’d have to say that for next year, in terms of Canada Rentals, I’d like to try to roll out some new features, and make the site more automated and user friendly. Whether I will find time for that, who knows.
I am thankful to be able to do this kind of work, and to make a living off of it. Nothing beats getting up and working with a good cup of coffee, some good music playing, and being able to go for a run, or even take a nap during the day whenever I want to. It is my hope that I can keep this up indefinitely.
I hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving – and please, don’t work…or work too hard!
~ David

More Free Property Managment Tools From Pickrent!

david — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 20:02:54 +0000

Well, my friend Dave has done it again – He’s come up with another round of great property management tools and widgets for property managers and landlords. The one I really like is the Pickmap Widget. The PickRent Mapping Widget shows rental listings from you, the property manager in an interactive way.

Dave also offers a really great complete web site template that is very snazzy and interactive – it pulls in your listings from PickRent automatically so you never have to enter your properties twice.

I recommend to anyone interested in experiencing a rental listing website that has great architecture and design to look through all of Pickrent. Expect more great tools and widgets to come from Dave down the road!

Happy Halloween, but lower traffic today

david — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 21:45:57 +0000

Happy Halloween to all of the ghosts and goblins out there today. I am taking my 3 year old out today, dressed as “James” from the Thomas trains…If you have a small child, especially a boy, you know all about these.

Definitely seeing a little lower traffic today – probably because everyone is out getting wacky on sugar and candy.

That’s ok. Holidays happen. Happy Halloween!

Canadian Real Estate Market Cooling

david — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 13:09:18 +0000

I have been reading that the Canadian real estate market is starting to cool, and that the boom is over. A lot of new inventory on the market is causing home prices to fall, which is creating a lot of opportunity for the buyer.

What I want to know is how this might affect the rental market. I suppose you could argue that if people are having a harder time selling their home due to higher competition, then might these same people resort to renting their home out and wait for a better market? I live in a city where the real estate market is not great right now, and in the past year you just don’t see very many for sale signs out. The rental market is seeing a surge though.

I seem to remember reading that the Edmonton rental market is seeing a higher vacancy rate than they have seen in a long time. We’ll see how this all pans out! I predict that the vacancy rate for rentals will slowly start to rise over the coming year. The higher price of gas, and the resulting price of food and other items will make people want to put off any major investments for a while.

Advertise Short Term Housing

david — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 19:30:29 +0000

I have had a few different people who manage or own corporate housing or short-term rentals in Canada place a photo ad with me, and have incredible success. These folks paid for a full year, so they don’t have to worry about renewing every few months, and then I send them a reminder when their year is up. For a full year photo ad on Canadarentals.net it is only $108 CAD. That’s a pretty darn good deal considering that you get a google map, 5 photos, fraud detection info, and a custom mail form. The people who have done this have all gotten numerous inquiries from their ads. I am also developing a Corporate Housing section on the site that is starting to rank very well.

Detecting Renter Fraud

david — Thu, 15 May 2008 13:30:48 +0000

The most powerful thing at your disposal to help detect if a potential “renter” is a fraudster is their IP address. The IP address is basically the user’s online “signature” that can tell you where a user is from geographically. Of course, if the user is from Nigeria, or out of the country, you would want to be very careful with any transactions.

A typical IP address looks like this: 41.220.75.3

To track where a user is from, I like to use this tool:

www.ip-adress.com/ipaddresstolocation/

It usually gives you one lookup per day without having an account. I signed up for an account (it is free) and you get several lookups per day. It is a great tool that will provide you with a map of where the IP address is from, and other valuable information.

IF YOU DO suspect that a fraudster or scammer is contacting you, please send us (Canadarentals.net) the information (IP address) and we will block them from using the site.

To return to the main site click here

Advertise Summer Rentals In Canada

david — Thu, 15 May 2008 12:58:02 +0000

I had a really nice lady advertise her summer rental in Toronto with me recently. I asked her how she found my site, and she said she typed in “Best place to find a summer rental in Canada.” My site came up.

I think a lot of people don’t know that if they are going to be gone for several months during the summer for vacation, they can rent their house out while they are gone, and pay for a good part of their vacation. On the flip side, if you are going on vacation, finding a few week or few month rental home would probably be cheaper than staying in a hotel.

It’s a win-win on both sides. The biggest thing you would have to do is screen the potential renters so you don’t get ripped off.

At any rate, we welcome summer rental ads. You can post one with photos, a google map, and much more by using our ad submission form here.

Kanata Ontario Rentals

david — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 20:10:48 +0000

I finally added a page for Kanata, Ontario. I have been receiving enough listings for this area that I thought that it now deserves it’s own page. Until now, I just put them under Ottawa, since it is a close by major city. However, Kanata has almost 100,000 people, and is growing rapidly, so I thought, what the heck.

At any rate, the new page for Kanata rentals is here

The Rental Season Is Upon Us

david — Mon, 24 Mar 2008 23:54:26 +0000

I am sitting here writing this in a pair of shorts, and a t-shirt. It is March 24, and it is just downright balmy from where I sit. I imagine most folks across Canada are getting Spring Fever, and I know that many are planning on making a move to a different home or situation. The vacancy rate in Canada is still pretty low, especially in places like Edmonton and Calgary. However, you can still find a good rental if you are just persistent, and keep checking the site every day. For landlords and property managers, I recommend placing a photo ad for your rentals. I honestly am not saying that to make a quick buck – I know that photo ads get a lot more attention and will rent your place a lot quicker. Remember, I have added google mapping to my photo ads – a feature not all other rental sites have.

At any rate, happy spring! I hope everyone who is looking finds the perfect rental!