# Advice on where to live please..



## kerrylg (Mar 25, 2011)

Hi,
We are relocating to the Vancouver area in a few months and despite research are still really confused about which areas would be best to live in. My husband has a job based in Burnaby and wants a relatively short commute but we can compromise on this. We have a toddler and are planning more children so being near good schools, parks and in a safe area with other families to get to know is important to us. We are planning on renting until we are sure of the area we want to buy in but any advice is gratefully received


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## gringotim (Jan 5, 2011)

kerrylg said:


> Hi,
> We are relocating to the Vancouver area in a few months and despite research are still really confused about which areas would be best to live in. My husband has a job based in Burnaby and wants a relatively short commute but we can compromise on this. We have a toddler and are planning more children so being near good schools, parks and in a safe area with other families to get to know is important to us. We are planning on renting until we are sure of the area we want to buy in but any advice is gratefully received


Are you saying you don't want to live in Burnaby? Whats your rental budget?, do you want to rent a house, townhouse, condo/apartment, will your husband be driving or using the bus or Skytrain or wanting to walk to work..you may want to temporarily rent near work, then look around on weekends etc, because what one person likes, may be opposite of what you like. Are you looking for public or private schools, by parks do you mean a small nieghbourhood playground type park, or a big open area with trees and ponds etc like Stanley Park. I don't think you should live anywhere based just on what strangers tell you. until you check it out for yourself, ex:, some people may say they love living in Surrey, despite Surrey being on the news almost daily for crime and violence. You should decide for yourself after you get here, based on your likes/dislikes, lifestyle, budget, etc. Its a big move, so don't jump in too fast,. The cost of housing on the mainland is very high, so your budget may determine where you live.


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## Jaynedm73 (Mar 24, 2011)

Hello
We are in the same position we are hoping to move next year and also have young children I put a plea for help and haven't as yet recieved any usefull information regarding what areas are deamed desirable for faimilies with young children even to be given a few heads up of areas so we can check them out ourselves when we are visiting in the Autumn would be helpful and at least give us a starting point otherwise it is a needle in a haystack situation. We will also be looking to rent I would advice you to look at craiglist for rental options that may give you a few ideas on area from what I have managed to gather so far north and west vancouver are the very expensive areas and I would avoid surrey I hope this helps and if I get any info I shall pass it on


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## gringotim (Jan 5, 2011)

Jaynedm73 said:


> Hello
> We are in the same position we are hoping to move next year and also have young children I put a plea for help and haven't as yet recieved any usefull information regarding what areas are deamed desirable for faimilies with young children even to be given a few heads up of areas so we can check them out ourselves when we are visiting in the Autumn would be helpful and at least give us a starting point otherwise it is a needle in a haystack situation. We will also be looking to rent I would advice you to look at craiglist for rental options that may give you a few ideas on area from what I have managed to gather so far north and west vancouver are the very expensive areas and I would avoid surrey I hope this helps and if I get any info I shall pass it on


I think that what everyone asking about the best places to live should realize is its like asking whats the best car to buy, one persons best is another persons worst. Without mentioning a budget for renting or buying it is really hard for anyone to even suggest anywhere. To some, the entire Vancouver, Lower Mainland area is very expensive to both rent and buy. In some cases, but not always, the more you pay for rent, the better the nieghbourhood, but if your budget is only $1000 month and you expect to rent a house for that, good luck! For rentals (or sales), besides Craigslist, you can also try, usedeverywhere.com, scroll down and click on Canada, then find the area's you are interested in, of course, if you are moving to Vancouver, I assume that by now you have all looked at a map of BC so know the names of all the cities around Vancouver where you could also consider living and just commute, like, West or North Vancouver,Surrey, Richmond,Burnaby, New Westminster, Coquitlam, Delta, Maple Ridge, Chilliwack, Abbotsford, White Rock etc. Most of these places will have lower housing costs than Vancouver which is why thousands of people live in them and commute to work in Vancouver. :car:


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## Jaynedm73 (Mar 24, 2011)

gringotim said:


> I think that what everyone asking about the best places to live should realize is its like asking whats the best car to buy, one persons best is another persons worst. Without mentioning a budget for renting or buying it is really hard for anyone to even suggest anywhere. To some, the entire Vancouver, Lower Mainland area is very expensive to both rent and buy. In some cases, but not always, the more you pay for rent, the better the nieghbourhood, but if your budget is only $1000 month and you expect to rent a house for that, good luck! For rentals (or sales), besides Craigslist, you can also try, usedeverywhere.com, scroll down and click on Canada, then find the area's you are interested in, of course, if you are moving to Vancouver, I assume that by now you have all looked at a map of BC so know the names of all the cities around Vancouver where you could also consider living and just commute, like, West or North Vancouver,Surrey, Richmond,Burnaby, New Westminster, Coquitlam, Delta, Maple Ridge, Chilliwack, Abbotsford, White Rock etc. Most of these places will have lower housing costs than Vancouver which is why thousands of people live in them and commute to work in Vancouver. :car:


Hi Yes I have looked at the maps but even that is a mine field I know to avoid surrey. I've been told White rock is a nice area. What I need to do now is find out where the acute hospitals are located in the area surronding vancouver with decent size Intensive care unit which is my speciality or an intresting A&E we haven't submitted our visa application yet but I need to do the research now so we can target area's on our return in the autumn which will then enable us to look at the elementary schools in those area's where we will need to live to be in catchment for the school that we want there is so much to consider it really is begining to be quite overwhelming which I why i am relying heaviliy on you guys. I don't know our budet as I don't know what my hourly wage will be if there are any nurses out there I qualified in 1996 I am degree level trained in critical and specialist care, I don't know how the wage is worked out? I was asked to give a breakdown on the number of hours I'd worked since I qualiied no mean feat! Any how I've rambled on for long enough!


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## carlb (Feb 11, 2011)

Jaynedm73 said:


> Hi Yes I have looked at the maps but even that is a mine field I know to avoid surrey. I've been told White rock is a nice area. What I need to do now is find out where the acute hospitals are located in the area surronding vancouver with decent size Intensive care unit which is my speciality or an intresting A&E we haven't submitted our visa application yet but I need to do the research now so we can target area's on our return in the autumn which will then enable us to look at the elementary schools in those area's where we will need to live to be in catchment for the school that we want there is so much to consider it really is begining to be quite overwhelming which I why i am relying heaviliy on you guys. I don't know our budet as I don't know what my hourly wage will be if there are any nurses out there I qualified in 1996 I am degree level trained in critical and specialist care, I don't know how the wage is worked out? I was asked to give a breakdown on the number of hours I'd worked since I qualiied no mean feat! Any how I've rambled on for long enough!


 I have been reading this Canada forum for about 5-6 months, and posting for about 3, and I may be wrong, and I don't want to sound negative, but I think you will find that most people won't waste their time posting replies to your type of questions when you haven't even applied for, or recieved a visas that will allow you to come to Canada, and appear to know nothing about what your income will be, or what your housing budget will be etc etc. Lets face it, you may never come, so to some, answerring your type of questions may be a waste of time, unlike answerring them for someone who already has obtained their visas, and know when they are coming and where they will be going and what their budget will be. Vancouver area is the most expensive area to live in all of BC, and without knowing what your income will be, how can you seriously think of moving to the Vancouver area. And why Vancouver? There are lots of other places in BC and Canada that are less expensive to live. In BC, there have been alot of cuts to healthcare over the last ten or so years, so even if you got a visas, you may not be able to find a job in Vancouver, I think you need to find a job first, and then think about asking about housing, schooling etc. because you may have to make alot of compromises depending on where/if you can find a job, White Rock is nice, to most that live there, but not to all, the same for Surrey and every other area. Just because one person likes an area, doesn't mean you will, just like millions of people love the U.K, but yet some want to move to Canada, and millions of people love Canada, but some, like me me, want to leave. But whatever you do, good luck!


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## gringotim (Jan 5, 2011)

carlb said:


> I have been reading this Canada forum for about 5-6 months, and posting for about 3, and I may be wrong, and I don't want to sound negative, but I think you will find that most people won't waste their time posting replies to your type of questions when you haven't even applied for, or recieved a visas that will allow you to come to Canada, and appear to know nothing about what your income will be, or what your housing budget will be etc etc. Lets face it, you may never come, so to some, answerring your type of questions may be a waste of time, unlike answerring them for someone who already has obtained their visas, and know when they are coming and where they will be going and what their budget will be. Vancouver area is the most expensive area to live in all of BC, and without knowing what your income will be, how can you seriously think of moving to the Vancouver area. And why Vancouver? There are lots of other places in BC and Canada that are less expensive to live. In BC, there have been alot of cuts to healthcare over the last ten or so years, so even if you got a visas, you may not be able to find a job in Vancouver, I think you need to find a job first, and then think about asking about housing, schooling etc. because you may have to make alot of compromises depending on where/if you can find a job, White Rock is nice, to most that live there, but not to all, the same for Surrey and every other area. Just because one person likes an area, doesn't mean you will, just like millions of people love the U.K, but yet some want to move to Canada, and millions of people love Canada, but some, like me me, want to leave. But whatever you do, good luck!


Thank you for saying what alot of us are probably thinking, there seems to be alot of people posting on this forum who want to have us do all their homework for them, I don't mind taking the time to answer questions if I feel the person is serious about coming to Canada, but when applications haven't even been submitted, let alone approved, and they have no idea of how much they will be earning or can spend on housing, why waste time trying to find those answers for them. It doesn't matter where the best school is, if you can't afford to live there or can't get a job there, then its pointless. If you never actually apply for a visas, or do and are denied, then all the time spent answerring questions about cost of housing, best schools, parks, commute times etc etc is just a waste of time. Sometimes I get the feeling that some people who say they want to move to Canada, couldn't even find it on map, and have no idea about how different the west is from the east, or that Vancouver is just a small part of BC, or Toronto is a small part of Ontario etc . To me , the ones that already know they are eligable, and / or the people that have actually come here for a visit and still decide to try and immigrate are to me the serious ones, but the ones who don't even know if they are eligable to come here, should answer that question first, then ask themselves why do they want to move to Canada, and then start asking about places to live, work, etc. Remember, Not all information given on this forum applies to all parts of the country. And someone saying they want to move to either Vancouver, Toronto or Montreal is not serious, its like comparing an apple, and orange and a banana. I have a dream of going into space, but I know it will never happen, so I don't waste time trying to find out about becoming an astronaunt.


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## Jaynedm73 (Mar 24, 2011)

*Serious about the move*



gringotim said:


> Thank you for saying what alot of us are probably thinking, there seems to be alot of people posting on this forum who want to have us do all their homework for them, I don't mind taking the time to answer questions if I feel the person is serious about coming to Canada, but when applications haven't even been submitted, let alone approved, and they have no idea of how much they will be earning or can spend on housing, why waste time trying to find those answers for them. It doesn't matter where the best school is, if you can't afford to live there or can't get a job there, then its pointless. If you never actually apply for a visas, or do and are denied, then all the time spent answerring questions about cost of housing, best schools, parks, commute times etc etc is just a waste of time. Sometimes I get the feeling that some people who say they want to move to Canada, couldn't even find it on map, and have no idea about how different the west is from the east, or that Vancouver is just a small part of BC, or Toronto is a small part of Ontario etc . To me , the ones that already know they are eligable, and / or the people that have actually come here for a visit and still decide to try and immigrate are to me the serious ones, but the ones who don't even know if they are eligable to come here, should answer that question first, then ask themselves why do they want to move to Canada, and then start asking about places to live, work, etc. Remember, Not all information given on this forum applies to all parts of the country. And someone saying they want to move to either Vancouver, Toronto or Montreal is not serious, its like comparing an apple, and orange and a banana. I have a dream of going into space, but I know it will never happen, so I don't waste time trying to find out about becoming an astronaunt.


Thank you both for your observations and comments we are however very serious about moving to Canada we were looking initially at Vancouvr Island as that is where friends of ours moved to 3 yrs ago and it made sence to be relatively close to them but I was blown away by Vancouver when we spent time there last year when I sat the SEC and the Island for me didn't come close. But your both right we need to have our visa's and I need a job offer which will allow us to condence our search. As I am the only wage earner from all of the comments I have recieved and read on other peoples threads it would appear that the Vancouver area probably isn't a realistic option to live in but one to visit on a regular basis. I appologise if you feel I have been wasting your time but for me your comments have allowed me to put this all in perspective and realise that Rome wasn't built in a day! Thank you for your honesty I shall be in touch again when we have been granted our visa's


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## Jaynedm73 (Mar 24, 2011)

sorry kerry for hijaking your thread!


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## gringotim (Jan 5, 2011)

Jaynedm73 said:


> Thank you both for your observations and comments we are however very serious about moving to Canada we were looking initially at Vancouvr Island as that is where friends of ours moved to 3 yrs ago and it made sence to be relatively close to them but I was blown away by Vancouver when we spent time there last year when I sat the SEC and the Island for me didn't come close. But your both right we need to have our visa's and I need a job offer which will allow us to condence our search. As I am the only wage earner from all of the comments I have recieved and read on other peoples threads it would appear that the Vancouver area probably isn't a realistic option to live in but one to visit on a regular basis. I appologise if you feel I have been wasting your time but for me your comments have allowed me to put this all in perspective and realise that Rome wasn't built in a day! Thank you for your honesty I shall be in touch again when we have been granted our visa's


I hope you didn't get the wrong impression, its just that alot of people post questions, but never seem to come back and check for answers or acknowledge anyone that took the time to reply. Quite often in trying to give answers, I will spend time on Google etc, but then realize that the person asking the question is the one who should be doing that, not me. As far as Vancouver Island, where were you? its a big island, I live there, and wouldn't choose anywhere else in Canada, especially not the Vancouver area, but then thats me. Anyways, good luck, and lookforward to maybe answerring some of your questions when you know if/when you are coming.


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## Jaynedm73 (Mar 24, 2011)

gringotim said:


> I hope you didn't get the wrong impression, its just that alot of people post questions, but never seem to come back and check for answers or acknowledge anyone that took the time to reply. Quite often in trying to give answers, I will spend time on Google etc, but then realize that the person asking the question is the one who should be doing that, not me. As far as Vancouver Island, where were you? its a big island, I live there, and wouldn't choose anywhere else in Canada, especially not the Vancouver area, but then thats me. Anyways, good luck, and lookforward to maybe answerring some of your questions when you know if/when you are coming.


No I didn't get the wrong impression I can see you answer alot of the posts. Our friends live in Souke she is a SCBU nurse working at Vic Gen so we have visited that area a couple of times. I am an ITU (intensive care) nurse by trade, I have been to look around Vic gen, the hospital in Duncan and also up in Naniamo. When we were thinking of moving to the Island we focused our attention on mill bay and cobble hill areas as is was comutable to both Vic gen and duncan and at a push Naniam. I wasn't keen on duncan but admitedly we didn't go into the town, I did like the pool and the fact that the ice rink was only next to it but I think being told it was known as Drunkan Duncan put me of! I think to be honest it was stanley park that did it for me and the fact that st pauls has a 19 bed ITU. Bt realitiy has hit home I don't think we will be able to afford to live in the Vancouver area at the end of the day where we live will ulitimately depend on where the jobs are I have registered on healthmatch.bc and there seems to nothing. I have been told that our visa application can take up to 9 months so we need to get that underway and we are returning in the autumn for me to do these 2 workshops that I need to do to get registered with the nursing body in BC and will have to see what happens. I like the sound of Kewlona so we may go and explore that area. Thank you for your time and reponces just out of intrest where do you live?


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## kerrylg (Mar 25, 2011)

gringotim said:


> Are you saying you don't want to live in Burnaby? Whats your rental budget?, do you want to rent a house, townhouse, condo/apartment, will your husband be driving or using the bus or Skytrain or wanting to walk to work..you may want to temporarily rent near work, then look around on weekends etc, because what one person likes, may be opposite of what you like. Are you looking for public or private schools, by parks do you mean a small nieghbourhood playground type park, or a big open area with trees and ponds etc like Stanley Park. I don't think you should live anywhere based just on what strangers tell you. until you check it out for yourself, ex:, some people may say they love living in Surrey, despite Surrey being on the news almost daily for crime and violence. You should decide for yourself after you get here, based on your likes/dislikes, lifestyle, budget, etc. Its a big move, so don't jump in too fast,. The cost of housing on the mainland is very high, so your budget may determine where you live.


Hi, thanks for taking the time to reply.

We haven't ruled out Burnaby but don't know enough about it yet. I get the impression from it's location (which might be wrong) that it may be a bit too built up and 'city-like' for us. The rental budget we are looking at is approx $1500-2000 for a 2 bed place and we definitely do not want to live in a tower block. My husband can drive or take public transport so that is not really an issue.

I appreciate that you can't go solely on people's personal views but it is still helpful to get the opinion of people who know the area. We are arriving 2 weeks before my husband starts his job which doesn't leave a huge amount of time to find somewhere so we will probably have to start with a short-term rental whilst we look around.

The areas we have been looking at are Burnaby (in the short 
-term), North Vancouver, Coquitlam and Maple Ridge. Any views on those? Our ideal in the long-term is to live somewhere that has a reasonable commute to Burnaby but doesn't feel like you're in a city - is there such a place??

We have family on Vancouver Island and were initially looking to move there but the job my husband wanted and has now accepted is in Burnaby. Hence, on previous visits to Vancouver we've only really viewed it from the tourist mindset. We love the area but obviously living there permanently is a lot different to just visiting!

Thanks again!


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## kerrylg (Mar 25, 2011)

Jaynedm73 said:


> sorry kerry for hijaking your thread!


No problem


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## gringotim (Jan 5, 2011)

kerrylg said:


> Hi, thanks for taking the time to reply.
> 
> We haven't ruled out Burnaby but don't know enough about it yet. I get the impression from it's location (which might be wrong) that it may be a bit too built up and 'city-like' for us. The rental budget we are looking at is approx $1500-2000 for a 2 bed place and we definitely do not want to live in a tower block. My husband can drive or take public transport so that is not really an issue.
> 
> ...


You will probably find lower rental and purchase cost in Coquitlam or Port Coquitlam and Maple Ridge, than in North Van. I have a relative in Maple Ridge, who just loves it, but the house is on a quiet road, nice private treed lot with a creek and is worth about $700k. But then like anything, alot depends on your wants, you may find the perfect place right in Burnaby. Commute times anywhere on the lower mainland can be determined by the time of day and day of week, if he is working the normal mon-fri, with start times of around 8-9am and finish around 4-5pm, he will have the longest commute, espacially if he's driving. So the farther away you live the longer the commute. Where are you staying for the first 2 weeks? If you choose to stay in a low budget hotel, you may wish you hadn't due to the kind of clientel they attract. You may have to rent an apartment for the first few months, to give yourself time to look around, but remember, most places will require 30 days advance termination notice, so you will probably get stuck with at least a 2 month rental, and you may have to take the first empty one you find, but would recommend you use a rental agency to find a short term rental that won't require a lease. If you can, try watching the morning news online from a Vancouver TV station, like globaltvbc.com they always give traffic reports, and show live traffic cameras so you may find out some traffic info that could help you decide on where to live, its on mon-fri 5:30am-9:00am Pacific Daylight Time. You should be able to view live traffic webcams from the Vancouver area online to see what its like at certain times of day. There are so many areas that have problems with gangs, drugs etc, that you should check around any area you are thinking of for signs of possible issues, like unkept yards/ houses/buildings, lots of graffiti etc. At least the weather is warming up for you, but should still expect rain.


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## gringotim (Jan 5, 2011)

Jaynedm73 said:


> No I didn't get the wrong impression I can see you answer alot of the posts. Our friends live in Souke she is a SCBU nurse working at Vic Gen so we have visited that area a couple of times. I am an ITU (intensive care) nurse by trade, I have been to look around Vic gen, the hospital in Duncan and also up in Naniamo. When we were thinking of moving to the Island we focused our attention on mill bay and cobble hill areas as is was comutable to both Vic gen and duncan and at a push Naniam. I wasn't keen on duncan but admitedly we didn't go into the town, I did like the pool and the fact that the ice rink was only next to it but I think being told it was known as Drunkan Duncan put me of! I think to be honest it was stanley park that did it for me and the fact that st pauls has a 19 bed ITU. Bt realitiy has hit home I don't think we will be able to afford to live in the Vancouver area at the end of the day where we live will ulitimately depend on where the jobs are I have registered on healthmatch.bc and there seems to nothing. I have been told that our visa application can take up to 9 months so we need to get that underway and we are returning in the autumn for me to do these 2 workshops that I need to do to get registered with the nursing body in BC and will have to see what happens. I like the sound of Kewlona so we may go and explore that area. Thank you for your time and reponces just out of intrest where do you live?


I hadn't heard the term "Drunken Duncan" in probably 15 years. It was used decades ago when there were 2 bars across the street from each other and another about 1/4 mile away, so there were always drunks around, and having a small city area, they were always noticable, but there is only one bar in the downtown area now, so probably less drunks per capita in town now than in most larger cities, and if anyone uses that term now its probably just the oldtimers who can't let go of the past. Duncan's official nickname is "City of Totems".


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## Jaynedm73 (Mar 24, 2011)

gringotim said:


> I hadn't heard the term "Drunken Duncan" in probably 15 years. It was used decades ago when there were 2 bars across the street from each other and another about 1/4 mile away, so there were always drunks around, and having a small city area, they were always noticable, but there is only one bar in the downtown area now, so probably less drunks per capita in town now than in most larger cities, and if anyone uses that term now its probably just the oldtimers who can't let go of the past. Duncan's official nickname is "City of Totems".


The lady I was talking to was on the ferry going on to the island she had missed the Naniamo crossing she had been born and raised in Duncan and said she couldn't wait to get out so she left after she graduated from high school she returns with her children to visit Grandparents. 
As you've said before one persons elderado is anothers nightmare


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