tl;dr to follow
After trying to find a place in Montreal on my own with not much luck (the market is saturated with many places: some of which need to be condemned), I did some research on a real estate agent to contact to help me in my search for a home. Angela Langtry had many positive reviews so I figured it would be best to go with one of the best. I'm definitely not the only one who decided to the same thing as instead of Angela, I was directed to her team and Yaniv Sabbah was my agent. It makes sense that she would have a team and only work with bigger clients. He sent me links to places and things looked great.
I had a general idea of when I was going to visit Montreal but the exact days where not determined. I wasn't sure how many days were needed but in the end I settled for 6. Two days of travel, four full days to see places. I arrived on the Thursday, and was to leave on the following Tuesday.
Upon arrival, Yaniv told me that he has a full day of meetings and will try to schedule me in, but we'd probably meet on the Saturday to start looking. I was a little concerned that I would loose a day especially since he knew my days in advance. But I understood, and let it go.
On the Saturday he showed me one place that I felt was definitely not what I was looking for, nor was it what he had sent to me previously. The location wasn't horrible, albeit a little far from where I wanted to be it was manageable. The apartment itself needed attention. If the landlord couldn't be bothered to make it presentable for viewings, I knew that if I were to have any issues when I move in, they would not be accommodating or helpful. He told me that this was my best option unless I increased my budget. I said there was some wiggle room, but not that much. I also had to pay for parking leaving me around $1550 as my complete budget. He said OK and that he would schedule more.
I was a little taken aback that this was the only viewing he arranged. What was I supposed to do for the rest of the day? It wasn't a vacation, I came here to look for apartments as I am not from the region. The following day he then sent me 3 more links, but once I reviewed them, the price of them were around $1500 with parking being an additional $200. He sent another link but this place was far in the suburbs and I'd have to take a bus or two to get to the metro, and then spend 40min on the metro. I wasn't interested and told him so. Places require 24 hours heads up to notify the tenants that there will be a viewing. I feel like there wasn't any urgency, and nothing was booked. Now keep in mind this is now Monday, and I am to leave the following day. He wanted to arrange the second viewing on the day was to leave. Forget about the other 3 full days I was in town essentially left on my own. I expressed my worry that I didn't think I would find a place. He eventually said he was starting to worry as well. I struggle to find that true as he had just shown me one terrible place in the entirety of my visit and wanted to arrange for a second (one very far in the suburbs and requiring a transfer via bus) the day I left.
I found him to be a gross waste of my time.
It was time consuming finding places worth visiting on my own but I scheduled 6 viewings in the day and half I had left (I extended my stay for an extra day to view more apartments).
I have a feeling that Yaniv was only interested in showing me places he'd make a commission (very few apparently). I understand the need to make a living and focusing on which you can earn a revenue. However let me know and don't essentially waste my time and my money. I had to pay for meals and accommodation for what turned out to be more days than needed. Instead of spending a week in Montreal, 3 or four days would have been sufficient. I would just rather my realtor let me know so I can look myself and not waste a week of my time.
tl;dr
Yaniv Sabbah wasted my time and thus money making me spend a week in Montreal and showing me one terrible apartment for the entire week that I was there. I don't recommend using him unless you are buying, but even then he didn't have the courtesy to tell me he wasn't interested in helping me. How can you trust a realtor with purchasing when they do not have the decency to let you know they are uninterested.
tl;dr to follow After trying to find a place in Montreal on my own with not much luck (the market is saturated with many places: some of which need to be condemned), I did some research on a real estate agent to contact to help me in my search for a home. Angela Langtry had many positive reviews so I figured it would be best to go with one of the best. I'm definitely not the only one who decided to the same thing as instead of Angela, I was directed to her team and Yaniv Sabbah was my agent. It makes sense that she would have a team and only work with bigger clients. He sent me links to places and things looked great. I had a general idea of when I was going to visit Montreal but the exact days where not determined. I wasn't sure how many days were needed but in the end I settled for 6. Two days of travel, four full days to see places. I arrived on the Thursday, and was to leave on the following Tuesday. Upon arrival, Yaniv told me that he has a full day of meetings and will try to schedule me in, but we'd probably meet on the Saturday to start looking. I was a little concerned that I would loose a day especially since he knew my days in advance. But I understood, and let it go. On the Saturday he showed me one place that I felt was definitely not what I was looking for, nor was it what he had sent to me previously. The location wasn't horrible, albeit a little far from where I wanted to be it was manageable. The apartment itself needed attention. If the landlord couldn't be bothered to make it presentable for viewings, I knew that if I were to have any issues when I move in, they would not be accommodating or helpful. He told me that this was my best option unless I increased my budget. I said there was some wiggle room, but not that much. I also had to pay for parking leaving me around $1550 as my complete budget. He said OK and that he would schedule more. I was a little taken aback that this was the only viewing he arranged. What was I supposed to do for the rest of the day? It wasn't a vacation, I came here to look for apartments as I am not from the region. The following day he then sent me 3 more links, but once I reviewed them, the price of them were around $1500 with parking being an additional $200. He sent another link but this place was far in the suburbs and I'd have to take a bus or two to get to the metro, and then spend 40min on the metro. I wasn't interested and told him so. Places require 24 hours heads up to notify the tenants that there will be a viewing. I feel like there wasn't any urgency, and nothing was booked. Now keep in mind this is now Monday, and I am to leave the following day. He wanted to arrange the second viewing on the day was to leave. Forget about the other 3 full days I was in town essentially left on my own. I expressed my worry that I didn't think I would find a place. He eventually said he was starting to worry as well. I struggle to find that true as he had just shown me one terrible place in the entirety of my visit and wanted to arrange for a second (one very far in the suburbs and requiring a transfer via bus) the day I left. I found him to be a gross waste of my time. It was time consuming finding places worth visiting on my own but I scheduled 6 viewings in the day and half I had left (I extended my stay for an extra day to view more apartments). I have a feeling that Yaniv was only interested in showing me places he'd make a commission (very few apparently). I understand the need to make a living and focusing on which you can earn a revenue. However let me know and don't essentially waste my time and my money. I had to pay for meals and accommodation for what turned out to be more days than needed. Instead of spending a week in Montreal, 3 or four days would have been sufficient. I would just rather my realtor let me know so I can look myself and not waste a week of my time. tl;dr Yaniv Sabbah wasted my time and thus money making me spend a week in Montreal and showing me one terrible apartment for the entire week that I was there. I don't recommend using him unless you are buying, but even then he didn't have the courtesy to tell me he wasn't interested in helping me. How can you trust a realtor with purchasing when they do not have the decency to let you know they are uninterested.