Guest ninjamissi Posted May 19, 2006 Report Share Posted May 19, 2006 So I just accepted Queens' offer of admission and Im so excited for september!! but - Im not very familiar enough with the city to know where to begin looking for apartments. Personally, I would prefer an apartment than residence, and would like to share an apartment with one other medical student. Is anyone else out there looking for a roommate? Or does anyone have an ideas about places to begin looking? Thanks so much and congrats to all meds 2010! I cant wait to meet you in September!:rollin ninjamissi Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Wheels2010 Posted May 19, 2006 Report Share Posted May 19, 2006 Hi! My wife and I are currently searching as well (sorry I can't help you on the roommate front). We found www.apartmentinfo.ca/apar...ngston.htm quite helpful This has links to a bunch of different companies with buildings in the area. From what I've heard, Homestead Land Holdings has a decent reputation (others can correct me if I'm wrong). We're seeing a bunch of their places this weekend. It's hard to get one of theirs near the hospital, though, if that's important to you. Good luck! Wheels Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest ninjamissi Posted May 20, 2006 Report Share Posted May 20, 2006 hey, thanks alot - the website is quite useful, I just emailed the people from Homestead to check on their availability. Would you be able to put a post here when you return from checking out the apartments and let me know what was your impression? Thanks alot and congrats on your acceptance!! ninjamissi:D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest irit Posted May 20, 2006 Report Share Posted May 20, 2006 Hi to all that got in... congrats!!! I'm a "significant other" of a meds '09 student. Here is my advice for apartment searching since I've done my fair share of it!!! 1. Homestead has a great reputation (no company is flawless, but they are wonderful). My partner and I are moving out of our current place to live in a Homestead for the next three years. They have 6 buildings in the downtown area, all close enough to both hospitals. Keystone is another company. I haven't heard too many good things about them, and because they are property managers (which means they don't actually own most of the places), they charge quite a bit for rent. 2. I'll break down the three type of areas you can live in when you move to Kingston (go to google maps to see what I'm talking about): A) Anything including or South of Queen/Princess Street, and East of Albert Street (all the way to Ontario St) is considered the down-town Queen's area, and in good walking distance to Queen's. North of Queen and West of Albert is in walking distance, but not ideal whatsoever. Within the down-town Queen's area (explained above), there are two sections. The "student ghetto" (more parties, loud, younger crowd, etc) and the more quiet/mature area. Most undergrad students live in the student ghetto, whereas the med-students, graduate students, etc live in the quieter area. Basically, Division street is the dividing line. So most med-students live on or East of Division Street, and the undergrads West of it. [This point is KEY!!!] C) North of Princess street can get pretty sketchy. You have to be careful which area you live in. There are some pretty "dirty" areas with some sketchy locals. I don't know the exact parameters, but just be aware that some streets are fine and some aren't. D)Princess Street is "THE" down-town. So if you plan to live on it, be aware that you will have noise coming from the street and ppl hanging out. If you don't mind the noise, there are some pretty cute places above stores. E) And lastly, there is the rest of Kingston. Anything not mentioned in the above A-D points can be quite a bit of a walk to school/hospitals. 3. Some heritage/old Houses have centipedes (a.k.a. "Kingston Bugs). If you've never seen them, they are disgusting creatures that move a mile a minute. If you don't care about bugs, ignore this point. If you're like me, try to find out from the current tenants if the house has this problem!!! I hope these points help. I'm pretty anal about where I live, so I've done my research, and living here for one year has helped me figure out where it's good to live in kingston. Good luck with your searching!!! I'll log on to see if anyone has any further questions. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest irit Posted May 20, 2006 Report Share Posted May 20, 2006 Also, here is a link that might help: www.notes.queensu.ca/ALSWeb.nsf This site has postings for apartments for Queen's students. It's pretty good! Make sure to check out the location of the place before calling the landlord — the site has "area" numbers that represent the proximity to Queen's. (you can check out the "Faculty" section in the "accommodation by type" menu as well. They often have some descent apts in that section and the landlords usually don't mind renting out to med students as well. The only problem is, the rent for some of those places can be pretty high!) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest ninjamissi Posted May 21, 2006 Report Share Posted May 21, 2006 Irit, Thanks so much fior that very helpful post. Im planning to go to Kingston in June...and check out the places personally. Do you know when alot of these apts fill up (or do they fill up?) as Ive notived some sites say "click here to add yourself to our waiting list". I think I would be interested in the homestead apartments, so I guess I should get on that asap ah?? Thanks and I will post my findings from kingston too, for others benefit. ninjamissi:p Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest irit Posted May 22, 2006 Report Share Posted May 22, 2006 ninjamissi, If you want to get a homestead, you should fill in your application as soon as possible. It takes them a few days to approve it (references and all), and then once they have approved it, you begin your calls!!! Meaning.... if you want an apartment for August, start calling the Homestead office each and every day starting in June, if you want it in September, start calling every day mid to end of June (basically, 2 or more months ahead of when you want to move in). Homestead is extremely popular in the down-town area. The apartments fill up quickly. As soon as one frees up, it gets taken. That's why people call every day to ask for availabilities. Unfortunately, Homestead does not have a waiting list, so you have to actually call every day. The nice thing is, once they have approved you, and an apartment frees up, they will hold it for you for a couple of days until you have viewed it. Having said that, there are many more apartments down-town to look at, some are great and some are pretty @#%$. You just have to shop around. I hope this helps. Good luck and I'll keep checking for any further questions you or someone may have. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Wheels2010 Posted May 23, 2006 Report Share Posted May 23, 2006 Hey! So we saw 3 Homestead buildings on our trip last weekend. All were in the general area of the Kingston Centre (i.e. not right near KGH, but with easy access to buses, groceries, and other amenities). All of the buildings we saw were well-maintained, with friendly supers, quiet halls, and a good mix of tenants (students, seniors, families, etc). I think we saw a total of 5 apartments (between the three buildings), and 4 of them belonged to individuals working at the hospital (med students, nurses, maintenance people, etc.), which says a lot too. As for the individual buildings, the Forsythe (Leroy Grant Drive) and Portsmouth Place East (290 Bath Rd.) were a bit older (maybe 20-25 years), but still nice, with some great views and cheaper prices (plus, heat and hydro are included). I think all of the balconies at the Forsythe are joined with one apartment next door, with just a rail separating the two, and this bothered us a bit since we like our privacy. The other buildings we saw had relatively private balconies. Portsmouth Place East also has an indoor pool, which is kinda neat! Finally, Portsmouth Place Centre (310 Bath Rd.) was super-nice, shiny and clean. The building is only about 2 years old, so everything is fresh. However, rent there is more expensive than in either of the Homestead buildings beside it (Portsmouth East and West), and doesn't include hydro (which the super of another building said could be quite a problem in the summer). We figure that it would cost us about $2000-$3000 extra per year to live there, so you have to be willing to pay for the newness. Anyhow, there's my report. We're definitely going to take a Homestead place after what we've seen and heard. It's now just a matter of which one. Cheers, Wheels Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest irit Posted May 25, 2006 Report Share Posted May 25, 2006 hey, to those of you reading this thread: There is a lot of talk about Homestead. They are wonderful, I live in one. But I just wanted to let ppl know that there are really beautiful and wonderful places in the down-town area outside of Homestead. You just have to do your shopping. I just thought I would mention that so people don't feel that Homestead is the only way to go. Good luck! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest little endian Posted May 26, 2006 Report Share Posted May 26, 2006 I got my place off the queen's housing message board www.notes.queensu.ca/alsweb.nsf Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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