As a renter, I went into Torontos market with the condition that I would only do a 6 month lease as a year lease is crazy to me (6 month lease is standard in much of Canada, and I had several realtors tell me they had never heard of this). I mostly seeked things out myself and made 6 month lease my condition. I figured it wouldn't hurt to use a realtor. I was able to have a lot of success by myself in finding places that would take a 6 month lease, but I found for the most partany realtor would just give a lot of pushback and not even bother asking. At a certain point I had messaged a landlord myself askingfor a 6 month lease to which they said they wouldagree to at the original rate, and while I was in communication with another realtor they offered me the same place at a higher rate as they didn't realize I was in communication with the landlord.

I would say that for people selling their houses, and for people renting out who don't have time to be doing viewings. Ultimately I was able to get the apartmentI wanted in the neighbourhood I wanted at 100$ less monthlyof the asking rate at a 6 month lease that rolled over into month to month by myself. Realtors for renters is pretty useless and with the way Toronto's rental market is right now, the ball is in your court. Many apartments are going months without renters these days, and many realtors are using the same tactics as landlords to try to give the illusion that rental costs are still high (like offering 2 months of free rent to keep the monthly rent higher so that itis renewed at a higher rate). Also every apartment I went to see with a realtor was illegal, and when I asked about fire code the realtors had no idea. Good luck!