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Curious what part of BC you are in? My wife and I had dreams to move to Vancouver one day but seems impossible given that we just had a baby, and housing price

by tostitos1979 10y ago

Curious what part of BC you are in? My wife and I had dreams to move to Vancouver one day but seems impossible given that we just had a baby, and housing prices. We looked at Surry but seems a bit gritty and at the border of affordability. We're sick of Toronto. The traffic, the cost of houses and the weather all suck (TO has fantastic ethnic diversity and all our family lives there). We have friends buying run-down semidetached houses for a million dollars in Toronto ... we're saying no to that.

stanmancan 10y ago
Real close to Surrey actually, a few blocks from the border. Anywhere in the Lower Mainland is a really beautiful place to live, and lots to do outdoors if you're into that. Surrey had a bad reputation but it's mostly deserved. As usual, the vast majority of people are totally normal citizens, but there's plenty of gang violence. Last I read there had been 36 gang shootings in 2016 alone (Here's a map: http://bc.ctvnews.ca/2016-surrey-shootings http://bc.ctvnews.ca/2016-surrey-shootings). It's not somewhere I would ever want to live personally, but I know many people who have spent their whole lives there without any incidence. If you're trying to escape expensive house prices though, you're looking in the wrong place. Housing prices have been on the rise for years now. I love the weather here, but you have to be prepared for lots of rain and grey winters. Traffic can be pretty terrible too depending on where you're going and when. Because of the geography of the area, there's lots of bridges that people like to get in accidents on during rush hour. If you can avoid having to cross a bridge in rush hour, or drive in the downtown core, you'll be fine. FWIW I grew up in Victoria, spent a year in TO, and have been in the lower mainland for the last 5 years and it's been my favourite place to live by far.
- escape_plan 10y ago
  My wife spent 10 years in Surrey before moving in with me. We are thinking of moving to Canada, currently living in Bay Area, myself a developer for last 5+ years, earning decently but just tired of the Silicon-Valley rat race (commute, real-estate ownership and long term family settlement) and the weird systems here (immigration [being affected] + general political sentiment[long term, not currently affected]), and not able to decide whether to go to Vancouver or TO or any other option? Most likely, I will be working remotely for the same company and making trips every month or two when I move. Do you mind if you share any advice you might have? Thanks!
  - stanmancan 10y ago
    Both can be great cities and have different things to offer. I would try to visit both and see which one you enjoy more. TO is like a racial mixing pot, you get people from all over the world, so it has a pretty unique culture, but it's a pretty big city. Not a lot of outdoors, I didn't find people to be the friendliest. If you like living in a big city it might be worth it. Vancouver is big, but more spread out. The downtown core isn't huge. It's in the Fraser Valley so it's beautiful pretty much no matter were you are. You have these bit mountains in the north and east. Not quite as multicultural, it's predominantly white/Asian(/Indian). I live in Delta which is a 35 minute drive from downtown with no traffic or closer to an hour wirh traffic. There is lots to do, especially if you like the outdoors. Weather is pretty drastically different. TO has hot hot summers and cold cold winters. Expect a bit of snow but mostly it's just freaking cold. However, it's typically still nice sunny blue skies in the winter. Vancouvers winters are much more mild; we didn't get any snow last year where I live. It will get close to 0, but we play outdoor soccer year round so it's certainly bearable. Winters can feel long when it's just grey skies and rain though; part of living in a valley. Summer's are beautiful, hot and humid. Luckily there's no shortage is beaches and lakes to go cool down in. Looking for anything in specific or does that help?
    - escape_plan 10y ago
      That's very good info, thanks a lot!!!. I am also thinking in terms of my wife's career because she has an economics degree and which city would be better for children to grow up in because we will be starting a family as well. I really appreciate the advice you gave. So do you go watch whitecaps games?
  - tostitos1979 10y ago
    Are you guys Canadian citizens? If not, be aware the PR process is really slow (probably slower if you have to do a spousal sponsorship). The tax treaty between US and Canada makes the prospect of working in the US not that bad ... you need a good/expensive accountant to help you sort through the various complexities. Air Canada will make you suffer if you have to fly back for business meetings. If there is any way to avoid remote work, I'd suggest you take it. We had to do this for various reasons and it led to a lot of personal sacrifices and suffering. In addition, I think Bay area real-estate is a far better deal than TO or YYZ real-estate. The key reason is that you can get a 20-30 year fixed mortgage in the US while you will you only get a 5 year in Canada. The -average- detached house in Toronto is 1.2 million bucks. Absolutely out of whack with incomes. In the Bay area, prices are high but so are incomes.

stanmancan 10y ago

Real close to Surrey actually, a few blocks from the border. Anywhere in the Lower Mainland is a really beautiful place to live, and lots to do outdoors if you're into that. Surrey had a bad reputation but it's mostly deserved. As usual, the vast majority of people are totally normal citizens, but there's plenty of gang violence. Last I read there had been 36 gang shootings in 2016 alone (Here's a map: http://bc.ctvnews.ca/2016-surrey-shootings http://bc.ctvnews.ca/2016-surrey-shootings). It's not somewhere I would ever want to live personally, but I know many people who have spent their whole lives there without any incidence. If you're trying to escape expensive house prices though, you're looking in the wrong place. Housing prices have been on the rise for years now. I love the weather here, but you have to be prepared for lots of rain and grey winters. Traffic can be pretty terrible too depending on where you're going and when. Because of the geography of the area, there's lots of bridges that people like to get in accidents on during rush hour. If you can avoid having to cross a bridge in rush hour, or drive in the downtown core, you'll be fine. FWIW I grew up in Victoria, spent a year in TO, and have been in the lower mainland for the last 5 years and it's been my favourite place to live by far.

escape_plan 10y ago
My wife spent 10 years in Surrey before moving in with me. We are thinking of moving to Canada, currently living in Bay Area, myself a developer for last 5+ years, earning decently but just tired of the Silicon-Valley rat race (commute, real-estate ownership and long term family settlement) and the weird systems here (immigration [being affected] + general political sentiment[long term, not currently affected]), and not able to decide whether to go to Vancouver or TO or any other option? Most likely, I will be working remotely for the same company and making trips every month or two when I move. Do you mind if you share any advice you might have? Thanks!
- stanmancan 10y ago
  Both can be great cities and have different things to offer. I would try to visit both and see which one you enjoy more. TO is like a racial mixing pot, you get people from all over the world, so it has a pretty unique culture, but it's a pretty big city. Not a lot of outdoors, I didn't find people to be the friendliest. If you like living in a big city it might be worth it. Vancouver is big, but more spread out. The downtown core isn't huge. It's in the Fraser Valley so it's beautiful pretty much no matter were you are. You have these bit mountains in the north and east. Not quite as multicultural, it's predominantly white/Asian(/Indian). I live in Delta which is a 35 minute drive from downtown with no traffic or closer to an hour wirh traffic. There is lots to do, especially if you like the outdoors. Weather is pretty drastically different. TO has hot hot summers and cold cold winters. Expect a bit of snow but mostly it's just freaking cold. However, it's typically still nice sunny blue skies in the winter. Vancouvers winters are much more mild; we didn't get any snow last year where I live. It will get close to 0, but we play outdoor soccer year round so it's certainly bearable. Winters can feel long when it's just grey skies and rain though; part of living in a valley. Summer's are beautiful, hot and humid. Luckily there's no shortage is beaches and lakes to go cool down in. Looking for anything in specific or does that help?
  - escape_plan 10y ago
    That's very good info, thanks a lot!!!. I am also thinking in terms of my wife's career because she has an economics degree and which city would be better for children to grow up in because we will be starting a family as well. I really appreciate the advice you gave. So do you go watch whitecaps games?
- tostitos1979 10y ago
  Are you guys Canadian citizens? If not, be aware the PR process is really slow (probably slower if you have to do a spousal sponsorship). The tax treaty between US and Canada makes the prospect of working in the US not that bad ... you need a good/expensive accountant to help you sort through the various complexities. Air Canada will make you suffer if you have to fly back for business meetings. If there is any way to avoid remote work, I'd suggest you take it. We had to do this for various reasons and it led to a lot of personal sacrifices and suffering. In addition, I think Bay area real-estate is a far better deal than TO or YYZ real-estate. The key reason is that you can get a 20-30 year fixed mortgage in the US while you will you only get a 5 year in Canada. The -average- detached house in Toronto is 1.2 million bucks. Absolutely out of whack with incomes. In the Bay area, prices are high but so are incomes.