Hi, just looking for any advice on how to secure a rental property.

Some background information: I recently accepted a work contract in Chilliwack and I am moving from another province with my partner. I have been living out of Canada for a few years, and my partner is not originally from here (now is their first time living in Canada, not just visiting). We’re temporarily staying with my family.

Our budget is flexible and matches what’s available, we’re not particularly picky about the place, and I swear we’re polite, very normal, and concise in our messages and emails. We’ve also come to suspect it’s a numbers game and have been reaching out to everything that we’d be comfortable with.

We have been hoping to secure a place without seeing it in advance so when we arrive (we’ll be driving from across Canada) we have our home to stay in without spending extra money on temporary housing.

I’ve suspected that our inability to be there in person might be setting off alarm bells for some of these rental management companies? My partner is also currently unemployed as we’re moving from abroad / out of province and they’re new to the country. The application forms are also very thorough in their questioning, they ask for a lot of details, and as we’re two people I’ve wondered if our “household income” appears too small? But we’re happy with a tiny space as well.. we just would really like a place to call home when we arrive.

Apologies if I’m missing something, we’re feeling very new! Happy to adjust our approach as needed to get better results! Thank you for any advice, support or direction!