It’s not easy to find a condo to rent in Toronto, especially at a price that a normal person could afford. That’s not surprising since the vacancy rate in the Greater Toronto Area or GTA has been less than two percent for the last number of years. But finding condos should be getting easier, right? There’s tons of them around. In fact, condos account for almost all of the new rental housing supply in Toronto. And at least a quarter of all new condos are rented or leased. So, there are many condos, but price is another issue.

Far too many condos are listed at the top end of the rental scale, making them unaffordable except for a handful of buyers. Then, there’s the question of where to rent or lease. Downtown has the most condos and may be the most convenient. But there are lots of choices outside of the core that offer more space and a cheaper monthly payment. It’s a difficult set of choices to consider and may not make finding the right condo any easier.

There will be times in our lives when we just don’t want the hassle and expense of owning our own furniture. And there are times when the furniture we already have just isn’t enough. It may be during our student days when both money and space are at a premium. Or it could be that we are in between jobs or even cities and it makes more sense to rent furniture than buy it. Plus, if we are in transition we would only have to find a place to store all that furniture as we studied or travelled.

The winter months are slowly approaching, with the sun setting earlier and rising later. Sometimes, the only way to survive a bleak, dark winter is to hibernate through it in the space of comfort, warmth, and safety. Or perhaps, after a long week at work or a tiring dinner with the inlaws, all you want to do is go home to your bedroom and have a nice, long recovery. Coming home to blank walls and a space resembling a hotel room is not exactly the epitome of a cozy bedroom.