Where to live in Vancouver!

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I finally have everything in hand (work visa, etc) and my family and I are planning on moving up to Vancouver from Oregon. We are now looking for a place to live, and haven't been really thrilled with the places we've seen IN Vancouver so we are looking outside the city. We've found a couple of places and I'm looking at neighborhoods. One is in Queensborough, and one is in Surrey. I've heard things about Surrey and I was leery at first, but this is the very northern tip, right across from New Westminster, so I wasn't sure. With the price of gas what it is, and needing all our $'s to move, we can't waste trips up there!

Thanks for all input!

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I lived in New Westminster and Burnaby and liked both. I've never lived in Surrey.

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Living in Richmond means never having to say you're from Surrey...

Sorry, big bad saying from my youth.....

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Living in Richmond means never having to say you're from Surrey...

Sorry, big bad saying from my youth.....

If you're looking for a great big nice looking house, try looking into the Westwood Plateau in the far end of Coquitlam, for a bungalow in east van, you can buy a mansion in WWP in coquitlam. The con to that area is that its a long travel time to vancouver (~30 minutes in regular traffic).. but its pretty nice there lots of schools and I think Riverview hospital is around there?, also its on a HUGE hill so travel during winter might be a bit difficult.

Richmond is OK too, lots of good houses in certain areas, but In my opinion its just another New Orleans zone...

I would also stay clear of Surrey too.. the stereotype is that lots of east Indian street gang stuff happens there, but honestly it isnt really that much worse in other parts.. but probably not as good of an area for kids to grow up.

So.. coles notes here: West wood plateau!

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South Surrey would be a lot nicer, or North Delta. I think Queensborough is nicer than it used to be, but it's a neighborhood at the intersection of major highways. Nice community centre though. Do you already have a job in Vancouver? If not, the Fraser Valley is a lot less expensive and very nice. I grew up here and have lived all over. Feel free to pm me if you want :)

C

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Living in Richmond means never having to say you're from Surrey...

Hahahaha! I remember that! It was an ad by a Richmond realtor - I think the City of Surrey sued him? That is too funny :) I grew up in Ladner, so I get the Slurrey jokes! LOL

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I have a job at BC Womens, and would like to be able to commute on transit - that is one attraction of the New West and Surrey locations - it would be a relatively quick commute on skytrain and short bus. We have looked around in Coquitlam (my husband's cousin lives there) but it seems like a really long commute. We want to be close enough to the city to go in for things - we are urban people!

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Hey, I grew up in East Van back when my area was supposed to be rough and I wouldn't live in Surrey. Having said that, I didn't grow up in the downtown Eastside. My MIL lives in Surrey, we won't talk about her home invasion. My brother used to be in the Detachment there so I've heard about car thefts, etc. ad nauseum from him.

Having said that, there are nice areas there but I just wouldn't live there.

The thing about commuting to work on transit is this: What time does your shift start and will transit be on a decent schedule at that time of day? Skytrain doesn't run through the night, and for some reason I think it starts around 0530 (runs near my Mums' house, so I can hear the first train if sleeping in a certain bedroom at her place). You then have to transfer onto a bus to get to Women's (you would probably get off at Broadway and then have to transfer onto the Broadway bus and then again to get to Womens, plus there would be the issue of getting to a Surrey Skytrain station (OK you could get dropped off). There are some great commuter Express buses, but what time do they start running???

One of the main reason's I don't take public transit here to work is for an 0700 start, I have to leave at 0530 and I only live a 14 minute drive from my hospital.

Public transit at off time (and face it nursing involves a lot of off time starts/finishes) is the pits.

Have you considered car pooling? City of Vancouver used to have info on all the carpool outfits?

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Is Burnaby out of the question? Or East side Vancouver? There are some nice areas, but more expensive, I know.

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I guess it all depends on what YOU consider to be expensive, how much of a downpayment you have, what mortgage payments you can swing, how much you value your time at home as opposed to commuting?

Grandview/Woodlands, Renfrew, Champlain Heights were all working class when I grew up and for some reason I think they are starting off at $400K now. I mean you don't want to live to close to the Broadway Skytrain station (drugs, and bagsnatching according to my Mum). Down Commercial Drive is kind of trendy and has some nice older homes. Most elementary schools were within walking distances. Yellow schoolbusses in Vancouver aren't the norm. Burnaby along Boundary Road around Burnaby General used to be nice but I don't know about now.

Have you tried looking on REMAX.ca? Or what does your family up here say. Housing is difficult, trust me on this, my husband's employer gives us a five day trip to our new city to look at, decide upon and purchase a home. I spent a lot of time on the 'net and made my lists. But housing markets are pretty tight and you have to be flexible...

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mls.ca is good

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I guess it all depends on what YOU consider to be expensive, how much of a downpayment you have, what mortgage payments you can swing, how much you value your time at home as opposed to commuting?

Grandview/Woodlands, Renfrew, Champlain Heights were all working class when I grew up and for some reason I think they are starting off at $400K now. I mean you don't want to live to close to the Broadway Skytrain station (drugs, and bagsnatching according to my Mum). Down Commercial Drive is kind of trendy and has some nice older homes. Most elementary schools were within walking distances. Yellow schoolbusses in Vancouver aren't the norm. Burnaby along Boundary Road around Burnaby General used to be nice but I don't know about now.

Have you tried looking on REMAX.ca? Or what does your family up here say. Housing is difficult, trust me on this, my husband's employer gives us a five day trip to our new city to look at, decide upon and purchase a home. I spent a lot of time on the 'net and made my lists. But housing markets are pretty tight and you have to be flexible...

I guess I should have specified - we won't be buying a house, at least not yet. We will be renting. Since we are moving from the states, and I am on a work visa, we want to make sure we all like it as much as we think before that big a commitment. We have looked (online) at many rentals, and driven around in all sorts of neighborhoods when up there. It is just hard to get a real feeling for an area driving around. Rents for a whole house seem to be fairly comparable to the area we are now. Obviously we would love to have more for less, but we have 2 large-ish dogs which makes it harder. I have checked the "trip planner" on translink and both houses we have been considering in New Westminster and North Surrey are well-served at the times of day I would be travelling. Our daughter will be in 10th grade, so we are more interested in secondary schools than elementary schools.What our concerns are:CrimeNeighborhood atmosphere (we want friendly neighbors, being foreigners!)School quality/safetyGood area for dog walking/playing

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