Where to live in Vancouver??

zolly786 · Nov 22, 2006

do you have a car or are you going to walk/bus it?

i'd live along the oak/cambie corridor. vgh is 12th and heather (between oak and cambie), so i'm sure there's lots of health care people between oak-cambie-broadway-49th area. kits wouldn't be too hard to get to. oakridge is the closest area to childrens. i don't know what shaughnessey rentals would be like. yaletown...you have to cross a bridge (you have three to choose from) to get to work. and i personally don't like kerrisdale (but i grew up in burnaby, so i'm the "suburbanite" kid), it's got a feel i'm not a fan of.

but i also a) haven't lived in vancouver in 5 years

b) am cheap, and i don't want to know what rent is like.

c) don't know what traffic is like with the rav line construction.

i doubt that helped but good luck!

dibleydale · Nov 22, 2006

Thanks for the advice. I considered living in Burnaby as it looked really nice and i'm not usually a big lover in living right in the middle of cities.

I looked at the new builds on Burnaby mountain at University Crescent, they are all lovely and really spacious and much cheaper than anywhere else i've looked at, but someone told me it would be a nightmare to get to Oak street every day.

I won't be driving i'll be using the transit system, what do you think? would it take ages?

Kate

zolly786 · Nov 22, 2006

from sfu to childrens on the bus?

no. don't even try. it's not worth your sanity. if you drove, it wouldn't be that bad. i had a friend who lived over by lougheed mall (kinda at the base of burnaby mountain) and worked at womens (sorry i'm switching back and forth on the names). she drove and it would take her about 30 minutes.

i'm trying to see how long it would take you. i love burnaby. i lived by deer lake and i miss waking up to the mountains every morning. if you leave sfu at 5:30, you'd take a bus, then a skytrain, then another bus. you'd then get off at kind ed and oak and walk down the street. it would take an hour.

ok. i'd just live in vancouver. or get a car.

Fiona59 · Nov 22, 2006

Zolly's right Kerrisdale is a love it or hate it area.

Kerrisdale used to be home to the blue rinse brigade. Lots of secretaries (my mum used to call them the fur coat and no knickers crowd) lived there for the "right" address and when the rents went through the roof so did the cries of outrage.

But as a nurse I'd drive before I'd bus just because of the hours we work and the fact that public transit isn't as safe as we like to think it is.

dibleydale · Nov 22, 2006

I'm going to be really lucky with my hours. I'll be working 3 days a week, 8am-8pm 2 days followed by a night shift of 8pm-8am, which seems pretty good to me!

Do you know by any chance whether the hospitals put your 3 days all together or do they tend to split them over the week? cos that would be a real pain if my days off were always split up so i've never got say 3 days off all at once!

Anyway, back to my original point, i'm kind of thinking of living near kitsilano as everyone tells me it's quite nice, but i suppose i'll just go for a wander around when I get to Vancouver and see if I see any places I like. Without meaning to sound awful, I don't want to end up only socialising with english people, I want to make some canadian friends or what would be the point of coming to Canada! (plus canadian men have sexy accents!)

If anyone knows of any good apartment buildings on the westside/kits area I would appreciate advice!

Thanks

Kate

x

zolly786 · Nov 22, 2006

sexy accents? ha ha ha. sorry. it's the whole "english accents are so neat" thing.

i don't like kits. but i'm anti trend, and kits is a very trendy place to live. little dogs and lululemon. rent's not cheap, but it's near the ocean, which i love. i like the area by vgh, and marpole, which is 70th and oak. i also like north burnaby (capital hill area). it all depends on what you're looking for.

sorry i don't know any apartments anymore. i moved up to prince george 5 years ago, and only get to go home 4-6 times a year. hopefully more that my rotation has changed any my new boss lets us take our ot in time, not just money.

i don't know how childrens works, but any hospital i've ever been at (and i did my schooling at douglas/langara), you work your set and get your days off. up here, a .74 position would be two days, one night, six off. i hope that's how it works for you.

adrienurse, LPN · Nov 23, 2006

$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

That's what I have to say. My family all started out in Vancouver and keep moving further and further into the outskirts. Now they're in Surrey and Mission where it's cheaper. Not as cheap as Winnipeg though. :)

I love visiting Vancouver though. Beautiful city.

zolly786 · Nov 23, 2006

if i were going to move back home, i'd live in mission and work at msa hospital. i can't justify 800 grand to live in the neighbourhood in which i grew up, when i know my parents paid 46 grand in 1971 for their house.

but i still miss my ocean and mountains.

*sigh* maybe someday, if i can convince hubby.

Fiona59 · Nov 23, 2006

That's just it Zolly. We wouldn't be moving "home" anymore. Vancouver has changed so much. It's not the city we grew up in anymore. The pace has changed, people are so much more materialistic, status driven. It's bizarre.

Whenever I do the road trip home the minute I enter the GVRD the change is so noticeable.

I never thought I'd admit to loving the big sky and open spaces of the prairies. I miss the ocean and mountains but I've learnt you can visit them....

zolly786 · Nov 23, 2006

i agree completely, fiona.

i get perma road rage when i hit hope, and it doesn't go away until i leave. i'm sick of people being up to their eyeballs in debt and not understanding why i live in a place where i can have a nice house and cars and only be in debt for 10 years. it's a foreign concept to them. i get moose, fox, bear and deer in my backyard, and i'm 2 blocks from a future shop.

i look outside and it's snowing and -10 and beautiful. if only i could remember to get my snow tires on, all would be right with my world.

Fiona59 · Nov 23, 2006

My snowies have been on for the last month!

But even tho it-17 its still a beautiful day!