The apartment hunting game’s changed—here’s how to find a quality home in Montreal

Apartment hunting in Montreal just isn’t what it used to be.

True, there remain some outliers and remnants of that past, but they’re far and few between. The pandemic’s acceleration of technology in our everyday lives, have pushed almost everything online and into a sea of sites promising listings.

But is that a good thing?

“Five or six years back, people weren’t listing their apartments on all kinds of sites. Now, every agent in the city is using them, even Facebook Marketplace,” explains Brandon Amara, President of the individualized apartment hunting service KeyDay, which uses channels like Facebook Marketplace in addition Rentsync and its building management software Building Stack.

“In some ways, this is a good way to window shop for tenants and a good way for landlords to directly reach potential tenants, but at the same time, it’s a source of high-volume activity in a stressful and time-consuming part of people’s lives.”

As leasing agents can overpromise on renovations and services to make a sale go through, it’s not always the landlords' fault, Amara says, and that leaves the landlord and the new tenant starting out on a bad foot. It’s an imperfect situation, one that’s been exacerbated by less inventory on the market while rents continue to rise.

We’re heavily focused on reducing vacancy and accelerating leasing for landlords while finding apartments for people.

Enter the apartment matchmaker

That’s made services like KeyDay essential: A leasing agency that specializes in apartment rentals, it’s a full-service offering that brings together and works with landlords and tenants to ensure there’s a smooth and transparent transaction taking place.

Focusing on multi-family, multi-residential rental properties across the island of Montreal, “we’re heavily focused on reducing vacancy and accelerating leasing for landlords while finding apartments for people,” Amara says.

KeyDay, he says, works with all types of tenants—newcomers, students, people on work visas, refugees—to find a home.

“We don’t discriminate based on financial status or citizenship,” he explains. “We ensure the right documentation is provided and submit applications right away. We also provide virtual tours for newcomers to find an apartment and finalize a lease before their arrival.”

Not only that, but KeyDay will take all kinds of aspects of tenants’ needs into consideration, whether that’s the neighbourhood they want to live in and their price point to what their neighbours will be like, if they can have dogs, or noise limits if they make music.

“We always ask questions around what rent is possible and match their needs, and from there we can schedule visits and provide detailed tours, and if it doesn’t suit them, we’ll provide alternatives that match what they’re looking for.”

We’re selective, so we have a lot of great clients, both corporate and private landlords with experience in real estate.

On the flip side, they’ll also take landlords’ needs into consideration: They don’t just need to make sure their properties have tenants, but that they’ll have quality tenants who will respect the space they provide.

“We’re selective, so we have a lot of great clients, both corporate and private landlords with experience in real estate,” Amara explains.

“That way, they know the business inside-out, and can supply the infrastructure with good services needs like maintenance, cleaning, and administrative staff to ensure a better experience.”

With in-depth interviews and application reviews with potential tenants as well as credit checks, they’re able to complete the lease and supervise the signing process to make sure everybody’s on the same level.

Tenants are ensured that they’re receiving what’s presented to them on paper, and landlords can rest easy knowing that tenants have been vetted and pre-qualified.

Once everything’s been coordinated, the tenant is able to move into their new home.

My agents and I try to be the leasing agents we would want if we were looking for an apartment.

Boutique solutions for city-wide issues

An apartment renting situation like Montreal’s has changed and grown to become more than complicated in recent years, and that’s made leasing agents more important than ever.

KeyDay works with companies of all sizes: Its approach is based in a small-scale boutique and service-based approach where all parties are provided far more service than a renter or landlord will experience if they go it alone.

“My agents and I try to be the leasing agents we would want if we were looking for an apartment: We’re friendly, we’re of service to everyday people looking for a place to live, trustworthy, and we hustle—hunting for a new place to live or a new tenant to rent to is a time-sensitive situation.”

But while Brandon launched KeyDay with the drive to solve the practical issue of finding tenants for landlords and finding homes for renters, it comes from a place of wanting to have a real and positive impact on people’s lives.

“I got started in the business by acting as the right-hand man for a landlord focused on asset optimization—buying older properties that need a lot of love and improving them—by taking care of the leasing, the management, negotiating leases with tenants.”

"I like leasing because you're dealing directly with people, both landlords and tenants. With my experience in sales and property management, I knew I could help people find their ideal place to live. That was a part of real estate where I could make a difference."