Preparing your Landing II - Where to Stay

First thing you have to think about is where to stay temporarily and afterwards permanently; so as we are now talking about settling in Ontario (the province), probably the best city to live around is Toronto (GTA - Greater Toronto Area).

Toronto City is the largest of Canada's vibrant urban centres. It is the hub of the nation's commercial, financial, industrial, and cultural life, and is the capital of the Province of Ontario. That means a JOB to you.

Well, getting back to "where to live", I believe that living in Mississauga, which is located just beside Toronto, is a smart strategic move because Mississauga is a newer city, cheaper rent, has great services, and still you have quick access to Toronto; so you can live in Mississauga City and work in Toronto City.

Related Posts:

1. Information Sources
2. Where To Stay
3. What To Take With You To Canada
4. MONEY
5. Cost of Living in Canada
6. Cost of Living - From Readers
7. How to Bring Money to Canada
8. Documents You Should Bring With You
9. Currency Exchange
   

However, this actually depends on being you a family or individual:

1 - If you are an individual then it's much easier for you to find a place, you have several options: find a homestay room, which is a fully furnished room in a family town house where they serve meals as well as the stay, you can look for one in this great website, that has thousands of host families available for you, HomeStay Finder. Also you can find a short term rent or maybe a roommate, here is a best Canadian Local Classifieds website to find suitable rent: Kijiji.

2- If you are a family (like in my case, we were family of three) then you will probably need a furnished place to stay in, at least for the first month till you discover the city and places where you can buy furniture. So in my case I decided to go for Studio 6 extended stay hotels which offer the affordable comfort of furnished studios, it's the cheapest furnished option with high quality service, only $1500 per month. That decision came after LOTS of international calls and very deep research.

Now in both cases whether you are individual or a family, after a while you need to settle in an apartment and furnish it. So one important thing you need to know is that in most cases you need to sign a ONE year contract with the landlord and pay the first and the last month rent; moreover you need to show the ability to pay the rent for the complete year in order for the landlord to accept to sign that contract with you. That's why Canadian Government tells you to bring good amount of money for the first 6 months when you first come to Canada.

I will write a more detailed post about Housing in "Just Landed" Section; but for now that's what you need to know to plan your housing before you come to Canada :).

[Update] Here is a very nice report on Mississauga City and its Mayor "Hazel McCallion":