E84:A Deep Dive into the Quebec Rental Market

Quebec is a unique area in Canada with distinct differences in culture that set it apart from other regions. Naturally, the rental market reflects these differences. Today on the Sync or Swim podcast, we are joined by Rentsync’s very own Quebec rental expert, Hudson Bytautas to take a deep dive into the Quebec rental market. Tuning in, you’ll hear about Hudson’s career journey, some surprising facts and trends in the Quebec rental market, how region-specific trends impact the market, key differences between the rental market in Quebec and other regions, and so much more! We delve into how the lower cost of living in Quebec impacts the culture before discussing the student population that needs to be catered to. We even talk about what other areas of Canada can learn from Quebec’s rental market. Finally, Hudson shares his predictions for this unique area’s future and shares advice for first-timers looking to rent property in Quebec. Thanks for listening in!

Key Points From This Episode:

• Introducing Hudson Bytautas and how he became a rental expert in Quebec. 
• Differences, trends, and surprising facts about the Quebec rental market. 
• Region-specific trends and how they impact the rental market overall. 
• How the rental market in Quebec compares to those in other provinces. 
• The importance of marketing and catering to an influx of students throughout the year. 
• How the lower cost of living in Quebec shapes the culture in general. 
• What lessons other areas across Canada can learn from Quebec’s rental market. 
• Where Hudson sees the rental market in Quebec over the next few years. 
• Hudson’s advice for someone looking to rent in Quebec for the first time.

Listen to the episode wherever you get your podcasts, Apple, Google Podcasts, or Spotify.

Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:

• Hudson Bytautas on LinkedIn
• Rentsync
• Sync or Swim Podcast
• Sync or Swim Email

EPISODE 84

HB: “In general, the majority of the new developments that we're seeing are mid-rises, and they're communities. It's very rare that I see just one building go up of 100 units. It's normally two or three, sometimes only up to six or seven that are being planned. They might come out in a few stages. But overall, we are avoiding – there seems to be this trend of not building the single tallest tower you can and building more of the community."

[INTRODUCTION]

[0:00:29] ANNOUNCER: Welcome to another episode of Sync or Swim, brought to you by Rentsync. From operational challenges to marketing mastery, we uncover the strategies, and technologies, and all things PropTech. Let's dive in as we explore the trends, tactics, and insights that define the future of multifamily investments. Sync or Swim starts now.

[EPISODE]

[0:00:51] GL: Hello, everyone, and welcome to another episode of Sync or Swim, the podcast where we navigate the currents of the rental housing industry. I'm your host, Giacomo Ladas. Today, I'm joined by my colleague, Hudson Bytautas, Rentsync's territory account manager in Quebec. Hudson, thanks for joining us today, my man. Appreciate you coming on.

[0:01:08] HB: Thank you, Giacamo. Pleasure to be on here.

[0:01:10] GL: Absolutely. So, as our expert on the rental market in Quebec, we felt that having you on today would complete kind of the entire Canadian landscape, giving our listeners some insights into a market that they might not know about. Frankly, a market that we haven't always talked about on the podcast. What better time than now to have you on? I think we'll kind of get right into it, and maybe discuss a little bit about your background. and how you kind of became this expert in the rental market in Quebec.

[0:01:35] HB: Yes, absolutely. First and foremost, born and raised Quebec. Born and raised Montreal, very, very familiar with the area. My background originally was politics. That's what I studied in. That's what I started working in. A couple by elections around Montreal area, eventually worked my way into Ottawa for a bit. But the closest issue to my heart was housing. I think I'm just part of the generation that kind of grew up seeing the looming housing issue, and that's what I kept coming back to. Talking with friends and co workers. That's just the one that connected to me the most.

Then, when COVID happened, everything kind of slowed down a little bit, took a step back, and kind of decided what I wanted to focus on for my future. That's when I came across Rentsync, and I had this great opportunity to get started with this company that was growing a lot. I was just really well-positioned in Canada and was really excited to be a part of it. So yes, joined the team about three years ago now. Since then, I've basically been the Quebec representative for Rent sync's Rentsync, and have learned a lot more about the industry being right at the heart of it all. Connected really well with a lot of clients, industry stakeholders. Got to learn a lot more about what I wanted to focus on. I'm very happy to have accomplished that. This podcast is just kind of the cherry on top. It's actually put some of this knowledge to use, get it out there to the public. It's all very exciting.

[0:02:54] GL: Three years already.

[0:02:56] HB: Yes, three years.

[0:02:57] GL: Wow. COVID has kind of made – I'm not sure how long time has been. We're kind of still in that low void of waking up from it, but three years already.

[0:03:05] HB: Timelines get a little vague when you're shuttered indoors for so long, but here we are.

[0:03:11] GL: Okay. For our listeners then, who maybe are a little bit more unfamiliar, maybe walk us through some of the opportunities that you've seen and maybe some challenges in the Quebec rental market that you've encountered in last three years. And maybe kind of complete that picture of what things that people might not even know about.

[0:03:27] HB: Yes, absolutely. You said it really well at the start, that Quebec is unique. It differs quite a bit from the rest of Canada. Of course, Quebec is very unique in terms of its province, so the French and everything, but the industry does stand apart as well from what you see in Ontario, what you see in Vancouver, out west, out east. One thing that we hear a lot in this industry is that the rental market is about five to 10 years behind what they're doing in the US. In general, I find that Quebec's going to be five to 10 years behind the rest of Canada. There's a lot different areas that have kind of lagged behind in the past. Just the adoption of technology and the type of buildings that have been constructed over the last couple of decades. A lot of that is catching up, and I'm sure we'll touch on that some more. But that has created some pretty large distinctions between just Canadian markets.

Some of the larger differences that you would see in Quebec, and what really help Quebec stand out a little bit more is in general, I'll just say, the type of rentals that you see around here. Montreal in particular has a history of walk-ups that we're really well known. Huge swaths in Montreal, in the Greater Montreal area. You see it in Quebec City and other like secondary markets in the province.

[0:04:36] GL: What are those? What's a walk-up?

[0:04:39] HB: Yes. They're two or three stories tall, just buildings stuck side by side, and they'll stretch streets or entire neighbourhoods. They're very well known for their exterior staircases that can be very dangerous in the winter, but they're very iconic. There's lots of reasons and histories for why these were built, but it's become a symbol of just Montreal and Quebec rentals. You look at Toronto that has just multiple, multiple cities and just swaths of high rises. You don't really have that in Quebec. We're very much known for the walk-ups, and we've historically been more of a renter market. We've always had. I'd say about 6% of residents in Montreal and Quebec have been renters, or renters currently. That all stems from the history of these walk-ups, and just the culture that we have here. We love that, and it's still reflected in the kind of construction that we're seeing today.

[0:05:35] GL: So, just like a complete different type of portfolio you're dealing with that.

[0:05:38] HB: Yes. 

[0:05:39] GL: It's just strictly unique to the province. 

[0:05:41] HB: Yes, very diverse portfolios too. So, lots of property managers, developers, and whatnot will still have hundreds of units that are broken up into these walk-ups and plexes across the province. It's not just a couple of mid to high-rise buildings. It's very unique in that sense, and it does present with different challenges as well. Just another distinction to Quebec is that being historically very renter-friendly, having this history of lots of rentals, we have very strong tenant rights and rent control as well. Montreal, especially has been very attractive to renters over the last several years of just being slightly lower cost than other major metropolitan cities in Canada. Of course, that's changing. In the last year, every city has been feeling the impact of rental increases. and just the changes in the housing market, but still, it reflects a little bit differently in this province than in many others.

[0:06:36] GL: Yes. There's something with the tenant rights and rent control, that there's a little more collaboration between when a landlord wants to change rents and then how they notify tenant, I believe. I think there's just a little bit more back and forth, where it's not so transparent in other areas of the country if I remember that correctly.

[0:06:52] HB: Yes. Slightly more flexible leases, and definitely stronger tenant rights here than most of the provinces.

[0:06:59] GL: Neat. Even I'm not always as familiar with that, so it's interesting. So, current trends then. What are we kind of seeing in Quebec that might be similar to what's going on across Canada? Because I'm sure, people are following along with the housing market in general, and the last couple of years have been today, the day of this recording that we've seen interest rates in Canada finally drop, and we’re going to see what happens because of that. But what are some trends that you're seeing in the Quebec market specifically?

[0:07:24] HB: Yes. So, we hit on this a little bit earlier, that Quebec is maybe five to 10 years behind the rest of the major markets of Canada. But we are finally seeing a boom of purpose-built rentals. What I love seeing, particularly, are these mid-rise communities that have been popping up. So, maybe a couple of phases, a couple of towers being built on the same corner. They all feature like a courtyard, and they'll share amenities. I think this comes a lot from the culture that we have in Montreal and Quebec. Very distinct burrows, each with their own charms. People love the idea of a 15-minute city in Montreal. They want to be able to walk to other communities. 

So, we're seeing lots of these purpose-built rentals that are trying to include this in the construction. So, lots of commercial spaces with necessities, so grocery stores, pharmacies, coffee shops, being built into the main floor of these buildings. It's a trend that I'm very excited to see, where it's creating the sprawl outside of just the heart of Downtown Montreal, just Gatineau, or Downtown Quebec City. It's allowing people to not just find a place to live, but to actually live and thrive in these communities that are being built from the ground up. So, we're seeing a lot more of that, and it's a trend that I'm very excited to see continue in the province. I do think that stems from just the uniqueness of the Quebec market.

[0:08:45] GL: Yes. Maybe you can touch on a little bit there. But for maybe those who haven't even visited Quebec, or even Montreal, for example, there are a lot of specific regions and cities within the province. Even within Montreal, for example, that are very unique, as you mentioned. But there are also different regions that are experiencing significant growth and also decline in rental demand. So, maybe to get those who have visited Quebec, they might have a little bit of an understanding already. So, maybe get into some of the different regions, and what are those specific trends that are happening, whether it's positive or negative?

[0:09:19] HB: Yes. Well, I definitely wouldn't say that there's a decline in rental demand in any market in Quebec over the last – I'd say in the last 20 years, we had the lowest vacancy rate that we've seen in the province. We're definitely feeling the impacts just like anywhere else. But nonetheless, Quebec has this history of being very renter-friendly and having lots of rentals, so we're definitely trying to grow on that. It's stretched out further than just like the core of downtown Montreal, downtown Gatineau, and downtown Quebec. These cities are starting to sprawl.

I think Toronto has been doing this for 30 years. There's all these smaller cities that are part of like the Greater Toronto metropolitan area. I'm sure, maybe you wouldn't agree that it's all necessarily Toronto, but Toronto is now massive. We're starting to see this reflected in Quebec as well. So. areas around the Island of Montreal, especially the South Shore has seen tremendous growth in the last just five years, and it's just going to continue exponentially.

Montreal opened up the REM, which is our new light rail system, the first line being from the South Shore into the Island of Montreal. From [inaudible 0:10:26] more or less wrapping up maybe five years ago to the new commercial center, shopping mall in the South Shore. Then, seeing all the new developments that have taken place around it has been really impressive. We’re seeing the same thing up north as well from the city. So, you go past the Island of Laval, and you get to Saint-Jérôme, Mascouche, which I've all been seeing new developments.

Same thing with Gatineau, more and more growth just heading more north of the city, and Quebec City as well, seeing like Levis, Sainte Foy with these new mid to even high-rise developments in parts that were traditionally more suburb parts of the city. They’ve just been really cool to see that it's not just downtown Montreal anymore. We're seeing new cities get new life with all these new developments taking place.

[0:11:11] GL: That's great to hear. I think we touched on this before when we were working on a lease up together. But, isn't there also some sort of regulation about how high buildings can be in certain areas. Is it either Montreal or the province? I can't remember exactly what it is, but I think when you were telling me earlier that it's pretty interesting that there's actually height regulations that are very different than other areas.

[0:11:30] HB: There is. In fact, some law in place in Montreal that limits the height of any buildings. It's not supposed to be taller than Mount Royal. I don't know how strongly enforced that is these days. We've seen a couple of new high rises go up downtown just the last couple of years that are probably pushing that a little bit, but it is needed. We obviously see more density, especially in downtown Montreal. In general, the majority of the new developments that we're seeing are mid-rises and their communities. It's very rare that I see just one building go up of 100 units. It's normally two or three, sometimes all the way up to six or seven that are being planned. They might come out in a few stages. But overall, we are avoiding – there seems to be this trend of not building. You have the single tallest tower you can and building more of a community.

[0:12:21] GL: Yes. Montreal's a beautiful place, and maybe they're just a little bit more of a weight put onto how esthetically pleasing building should be, right? Maybe, they want to be more in line with the uniformity, and they don't want things to just kind of tower over the rest. So, I kind of get that idea, especially because Montreal is so beautiful specifically. But we've kind of touched a lot about differences, but how does the rental market in Quebec compare to other provinces? It could be similar, it could be differences, but where are the comparisons we're seeing from other areas across the country?

[0:12:51] HB: Yes, again. Quebec is unique, and I think the biggest example of that would be our moving day. Everywhere else in the country, July 1st is Canada Day, and this year as well, but it's also known as moving day. The large majority of leases begins and end on July 1st, and that's when most moves are taking place. Just trying to rent a moving truck for that day, rates, obviously are very inflated. Streets get packed. Anyone who's familiar with Montreal, especially, will warn any like tourists or newcomers like, "Don't try to get around on July 1st, don't drive, because we have all these narrow streets." Again, it comes back to the walk-ups, these narrow streets that are just filled with apartments on either side, and they'll be blocked up by all these moving trucks all day long. You struggle to get an elevator reservation that will fit your schedule.

[0:13:42] GL: Why is that? Is it like a collective agreement that, "Hey, moving is a nuisance for not only the people moving, but like, for the communities as well. So, let's get it all done the same day." What is the purpose of this amalgamation of moving?

[0:13:57] HB: Yes. I don't think it was done purposefully. I think is just weather, it's makes it the best time the move is in the middle of summer. It's a long weekend, and obviously, Quebec, we have Saint-Jean-Baptiste that we celebrate, our national holiday. It's just the week prior. First of the month, it's a great time to start a lease. I think it's just kind of built up from there. If you continue doing that and reinforcing it for 30, 40, 50 years. Eventually, this happens at most leases, line up on July 1st. 

[0:14:24 GL: Interesting.

[0:14:25] HB: It does have a pretty large impact on the market, where most availability will be in the months leading up to July 1st. Then, it will tail off significantly after that. So, of course, you're looking for a rental. you're doing most of that in the spring, and just that whole dynamic is pretty unique here. I don't really hear – you don't really need to consider it in other provinces, but in Quebec, your entire marketing strategy is built around this day.

[0:14:49] GL: Would you recommend, then, somebody who maybe wants to move to Quebec or Montreal, that maybe if they can move different time of the year because maybe there's a break on not only moving, but maybe softening of rental rates around different times of year. Because, I mean, it sounds like this is the worst day to move because there's the most competition. Everyone's trying to sign a lease before that day. So, just anecdotally, for our listeners who are renters right now, is that the worst time to move?

[0:15:14] HB: You if can avoid it, it definitely helps. When I moved into my current place, I was fortunate that I was a little bit flexible on the moving date. So, my lease started July 1st, but I only moved in the week after, on July 7th, and I did it on purpose just to make all the logistics that much easier. So yes, definitely a good bit of advice to anybody who's going into the province who might not be familiar with it. Even just do it on the second or the third. Try not to do it on the first. But ultimately, that's when most of the availability is. When you're looking for a new place, most units are going to be available starting July 1st. If you're being pretty specific in what you want, either location or any amenities you look for in your building, your best odds are to find something that's available on that date.

[0:15:55] GL: Interesting. 

[0:15:56] HB: But Quebec, Quebec is unique in some other ways as well. Obviously, it's a French province. So, if you're moving into the province, you're not familiar with it, you'll have to learn a little bit of French to get around. Montreal is very bilingual, but French is a necessity to get around here. All our signage is in French. Usually, your leases will be in French. Your leasing agents, property managers, might all be French as well. So, having a little bit of French in your back pocket does help a lot as well. 

[0:16:22] GL: Isn't the – even like the notation of units different as well? I remember when I was in the client services side of things, even learning what a four and a half meant. The actual notations are different as well, right?

[0:16:33] HB: Yes. That, again, just comes from the history of Quebec. We notate our units based on the amount of rooms in the unit. So, something like four and a half would almost always be a two-bedroom, but it's essentially referring to there being four and a half room. So, you got your half of the bathroom, and you got two bedrooms, your living room, your kitchen. Five and a half would be a three-bedroom. Three and a half would be a one bedroom. But that is something that – if you're not from the province. you're looking on any listing site, most of the rentals will have that notation. It is very confusing at first, but it's pretty quick to get a handle on it.

[0:17:08] GL: Do you find that, provincially, it's a lot of students? Is it a majority of the renters that are coming to, even Montreal, specifically, you find that it's a real big student city? I know there's great education institutions there, but I would imagine maybe that the market caters a little bit more towards students, or you find that it's kind of the same across the country?

[0:17:28] HB: It absolutely does. Montreal specifically has several campuses, all just in Downtown Montreal, so Concordia, McGill, University of Quebec and Montreal. Sherbrooke University as well, is like a driving factor in the rental industry in Sherbrooke. You do have to market and cater to the influx of students every year. So, of course, July 1st is your number one date for moving in and out of the province, but a lot of property managers will also consider students. Know that students are coming in maybe after July 1st, like for rentals in September, or leaving midway through the year [inaudible 0:18:05] around January 1st. Basically, if you're not moving July 1st, you're probably a student. Property managers understand that. I'm wondering too, like the pull to go towards Quebec or Montreal.

[0:18:17] GL: You mentioned as well as that, as your rents are a little bit softer there than the national average. I believe the average rent based on the last rentals CBRN report, is just under $2,200 a month for one bedroom in Montreal. In Montreal, it sits around $1,700, $1,750 a month. I guess, even in general, as well, if you're a student who wants to go to any institution, you'll judge how much is rent going to cost. Well, actually, Montreal is quite less than the average we're seeing in other ways. So, maybe that could be a poll that entices not only students, but I guess maybe renters as well, who's listening is that it is a little bit of a softer asking rents in some of these other metropolitan areas with these universities.

[0:18:55] HB: Yes, in general, Quebec is a lower cost of living province than others, which I think helps a lot with the just the culture. We have this massive influx of students every year. Lots of people just want to move here for a year or two, even if they can, just to experience Montreal, has a very European vibe as well. The lower cost of living does help with that. But the housing market doesn't ignore Quebec.

I said at the start that, we do have the lowest vacancy rate that we've had in 20 years, and rental rates have been increasing. They're not at Toronto rates yet. They're not Vancouver rates yet, but we do see them increasing the last two years, especially. It feels like we might have peaked just in the last several months, but we'll see how much that holds. But it is nice, it is a slightly lower cost of living. People who are flexible, their work are flexible with their studies. Anywhere in Quebec is just a great place to be. People are always very, very friendly. If you can save a couple hundred dollars a month in rent, why not come here?

[0:19:58] GL: Why not? Yes.

[0:19:58] HB: Maybe that goes into the next question I wanted to ask you about, maybe some lessons that others across Canada can adopt from Quebec's rental market. I mean, it's easier said than done, saying, "Hey, maybe lower the cost of rent." But anything that you've seen in the Quebec market that really works well, that you think might worth other provinces adopting a little bit?

[0:20:17] HB: Yes. Well, I think there's two big parts to that. One of the main reasons that we have lower rents in Quebec is, we have more – I believe the CMHC calls elasticity, in terms of how much build or how much we're building compared to demand. Clearly, we haven't kept up within the last couple of years, and that's why our vacancy rate is dropping. But we have been one of the leaders in the country in terms of just being able to build more rental units. It's helped keep rates just a little bit lower than other mutual markets. 

The industry, I'd say, in the last three years has really started to boom because of that. But I would also say that one of the reasons, and I don't know if you'd put this as either the cause or the effect, but we are always building high rises in the middle of downtown. We've had a lot of the sprawl over the last couple of years, and it's been those mid-rise communities that I keep coming back to.

So, being able to build things in phases, to always have more availability open up almost every year for the next several years for a single project, and then building them around, maybe like a courtyard, or a park, and putting commercial spaces within them. It allows people to really live in that community, and they're willing to live a little bit more outside of Downtown Gatineau or Downtown Montreal, Downtown Quebec because of that. If you don't always need a car, if you can use public transit, and all of your essentials are going to be where you live, why don't you live there?

[0:21:43] GL: It makes sense. 

[0:21:44] HB: Yes. So, yes, constructing more of these, trying to build 15-minute cities within your community, seems to be working really well, is where I've seen some of our clients have the best success. I would love to see more cities stop that as well.

[0:21:57] GL: Yes. What it does for the renters kind of gives them more ownership, too, of the area that they're renting, right? They look at it more as not just a place where they sleep, but a community. It just gives a little more pride and ownership in their decision. So, that completely makes sense. Now, I know you don't have a crystal ball, but you are our territory expert, so I have no choice but to ask you. But if you did have to predict what the future of the rental market in Quebec looks like maybe over the next five years, 10 years, what do you see? What do you see as the future of the market? I know vacancy rates are what they are now, but do you see maybe an improvement in that to come, or just any general trends?

[0:22:35] HB: I'd like to think that because Quebec has kind of led the country in just that elasticity, that we can bounce back pretty well. I'd love to see us get closer to a 3% vacancy, and just continue constructing, and just building more and more. I think that's going to come with more of these 100 to 200-unit buildings. It might mean that we are going to break away from the history of the walk-ups, but we're seeing some of these cities, some of these smaller cities that traditionally were walk-ups or plexes, or maybe only three or four stories develop a lot more. [Inaudible 0:23:12] in Montreal comes to mind. It used to be an [inaudible 0:23:14] port, and now, it's filled with a couple of high rises, and office buildings, and large commercial centers.

I think as we continue to go this way, Quebec needs to catch up. If we keep saying that Quebec is five to 10 years behind Toronto, and Toronto is five to 10 years behind the US, well, we have an opportunity to catch up here.

[0:23:32] GL: Yes, for sure. But there's too many landlords, too many property managers out here that still do things on pen and paper. If you want to compete with the way your competitors are, not in other industries, but also in Quebec, you got to adopt some of this technology that's going to help streamline your operations. It takes having a website – if you're going to have, even if you're going to have all these older buildings, if you're going to have walk-ups, and plexes, and low rises, you've got to consolidate them somehow. You can't be doing all this on pen and paper, and expect to address your turnover and rent out your properties as quickly as your competitors are. 

I would love to not have to say that we're five to 10 years behind, and I think that's starting, and it's the way that we're building is going to lead us to that. I would love to see just more adoption of that technology out here. I guess that's what I would love to see out here.

[0:24:25] GL: You mentioned a little bit about the way we're building. Is there some sort of reusing of other areas or older buildings that's happening as well in the market?

[0:24:35] HB: I don't want to say that that's happening frequently enough to really call it a trend, but it's definitely repurposing underused markets, I'll almost say.

[0:24:44] GL: Because I know there's been a lot of office residential conversions happening across the country, and Alberta and Calgary seems to be leading the way of these vacant offices that are now starting to become residential. I wonder if Quebec has that kind of infrastructure and opportunity to do that as well because that seems a way to kind of get a quicker amount of supply into the market.

[0:25:01] HB: Yes. We definitely talk about it here as well. I don't think it's happening as quickly as it is in Alberta, and out west. I would love to see that happening, but I think it's more just repurposing the underutilized parts of our major markets. Montreal is a really easy example because there's just corners of this island that have just, as long as I can remember, always been just commercial spaces, not really a lot of residential. That's changing.

I'm just going to use myself as an anecdote here. I live in the triangle in Montreal, that 20 years ago, it was just commercial spaces. That's all it was. But, I'm in the middle of seven purpose-built rentals, eight, nine, ten. If I look at my window, I see three different cranes on new projects going up. Across the highway from where I live is the old Hippodrome, which closed down a few years ago, but the city's been talking about what they want to do with it, and they recently announced that it's going to be a residential project. It's going to be very inclusive to parks, and nature, and public transit.

[0:26:02] GL: That's awesome. 

[0:26:03] HB: There's a Royal Mount shopping center being built here. But we see this north of Montreal, we see this outside of Quebec City. We see this at Gatineau as well, where parts of the city that maybe haven't been touched in the last 20 years are finally getting enough communities built in. Again, if we're going to build these 15-minute walkable cities in these areas, people will come, they'll be able to live there.

[0:26:25] GL: No, that makes perfect sense. Maybe a good way to kind of wrap all this up then. If you were to give someone advice as who's looking to rent a property in Quebec for the first time, maybe two or three quick points that you know they take all this podcast, take all the knowledge that you give them, what would you tell them to do?

[0:26:42] HB: Don't move on July 1st.

[0:26:44] GL: Right. Yes.

[0:26:45] HB: Obviously, that's when all the availability is, but try to avoid it. That's just lesson number one. But otherwise, find a property manager that has a website, because as much as there are all these purpose-built rentals popping up in our major markets, there's a lot of rental properties that exist in Montreal, and Gatineau, in Quebec that aren't 500 units. It's not a high-rise downtown. That's really what we're known for, is we have so many of these, and there's great property managers out there that have huge collections of them, and they're harder to find. Find a property manager with a good website that has all their inventory on display, you'll be able to find something really unique, probably within budget. Definitely start with that.

[0:27:27] GL: That's great advice. If somebody wants to get a little bit more information to our listeners, who may want to get in touch with you, to learn more about any services that Rentsync offers, specifically in the Quebec market. What's the best way for them to do so?

[0:27:38] HB: Yes. I'm on LinkedIn, pretty easy to find otherwise. Otherwise, Rentsync website, you'll be able to be in touch with me really easily.

[0:27:46] GL: Perfect. Yes, we can get in touch with you. Easy to find. Hudson, thanks a lot for joining us today. I know you're a busy guy, but I think it's really insightful to kind of complete the full picture in Canada by getting your takes on Quebec. So, appreciate your time. I know you're busy, but it was really great having you on. I think our listeners will learn a lot about an area that's in our country, but they may not really know too much about, so I appreciate it a lot.

[0:28:07] HB: Thank you, Giacomo. A lot of fun being on here, and hopefully do it again.

[0:28:11] GL: You've got it. Well, to our listeners, thanks again for listening. Please rate and review the podcast wherever you listen. Until next time.

[END OF INTERVIEW]

[0:28:19] ANNOUNCER: Thank you for tuning in to another episode of Sync or Swim, brought to you by Rentsync. If you enjoyed today's show, make sure to visit www.rentsync.com/podcast for detailed show notes, key takeaways, and more. Thanks for listening. Brought to you by Rentsync. 

[END]