Vancouer Living

[swaterfall]

If I was going to live in Vancouver, BC what areas of the city are good/bad and what are the typical rental prices for a 1 bdm apt or a room in a house? Haven't had much luck with all of the real estate company sponsored web sites. THX

[Dru]

1) good = Hastings and Main or Davie St no really it depends if you want to live downtown or in the suburbs and what your price range is.

 

2) its super expensive to live downtown or in the west end. vacancy rates are low and there is a lot of competition for rentals to the point where if you put a for rent sign on the street it will be gone the same day in many cases. you might have better luck in a suburb like burnaby or whatever. maybe you should make the trip to check it out before you move.

[swaterfall]

Thanks Dru. I really don't care to live downtown... not opposed to it either. Just somewhere that's got access to food stores, restaurants and a gym (climbing gym is ideal). I just want to get a feel for the city prior to going there. I plan on spending a good ammount of time looking.

[Dru]

vancouver has the densest urban population of just about any north american city. new yawk included. more like seoul on the global level.

 

everybody wants to live downtown cause its hip to be urban

 

seriously tho vancouver also has more distinct neighbourhoods than any other city in n america supposedly. its hard to describe you better live here a week and check it out before you make a move or even before you decide to move.

[EWolfe]

Thanks Dru. I really don't care to live downtown... not opposed to it either. Just somewhere that's got access to food stores, restaurants and a gym (climbing gym is ideal). I just want to get a feel for the city prior to going there. I plan on spending a good ammount of time looking.

 

If you don't live downtown, be careful where you choose to live. Vancouver traffic is some of the worst going during rush hour(s). The only setback, IMO.

 

E

[snoboy]

Traffic can be hell, but the skytrain rocks. Unfortunately, neighbourhoods near the stations also tend to be higher crime areas.

[Dru]

if you work from home you never have to drive during rush hour

[Thinker]

my 2 cents would be to live somewhere where it's easier to escape to Squamish rather than harder, i.e. north over south.

[sverdina]

N. or W. Van...close to The Edge and Lighthouse Park & easy access to Rte.1

[stinkyclimber]

Living in the nice areas of Vancouver is pricey ($800-$1000+/month min. for a decent 1brm). But it is worth it. Unless you enjoy suburb living, forget it - live where the action is and you can avoid using a car at all. Traffic is only bad if you need to use a car - and there is no need in a compact urban area like Vancouver.

 

Check out the recently released "Cascade Scorecard" at www.northwestwatch.org. It essentially says the PNW is a great place to live, but actually, the reason the PNW numbers look so good is because BC pulls up the scores in almost every catagory. This ain't America (mostly)!

 

Burnaby is ugly and you will be forced to drive everywhere. Richmond is the same. Surrey is a no go zone. All the 'burbs, really. Just stick with the actual City of Vancouver area and you can't go wrong (well, there are a few areas that are iffy, but they are pretty obvious (i.e. they rent rooms by the 15-minute increment, etc.).

 

Plus, Squamish is less than an hour from the city, but more from the suburbs.

 

And don't even think about Chilliwackoff - Dru lives there.

[willstrickland]

E. Hastings brah. Get a place over the MP Bookstore or Blunt Bros.

[Dru]

actually burnaby is pretty nice if you live near skytrain or in north burnaby along the hastings/sfu corridor. you can go to anton's for dinner and get enough leftovers to feed you for a week --->

 

since i am from west van originally i can only say ---> living in west van is for millionaire yuppies. but it sure was nice living walking distance from lighthouse park and cypress falls bouldering. living in chilliwack i have to drive 30kms to the nearest developed rock.

 

don't live in surrey. end of story. surrey is a hole.

[JoshK]

seriously tho vancouver also has more distinct neighbourhoods than any other city in n america supposedly. its hard to describe you better live here a week and check it out before you make a move or even before you decide to move.

 

Heh. Vancouver rocks, but I'd call bullshit on this. Fram what I've seen of both, Vancouver doesn't touch NYC when it comes to distinct and diverse. Who knows what they are actually comparing tho.

[Dru]

seriously tho vancouver also has more distinct neighbourhoods than any other city in n america supposedly. its hard to describe you better live here a week and check it out before you make a move or even before you decide to move.

 

Heh. Vancouver rocks, but I'd call bullshit on this. Fram what I've seen of both, Vancouver doesn't touch NYC when it comes to distinct and diverse. Who knows what they are actually comparing tho.

 

There are a lot of grad school geographers at UBC who came from other parts of the world specifically to study why Vancouver has such a high urban diversity. It was one of them who told me the stat above. Yes, Van apparently beats out New yawk for numbe of "distinct neighbourhoods". I have no idea how exactly they measure it though.

[snoboy]

I lived for 3 or 4 years in Vancouver, and never owned a car, or even had a lisence. Never felt too limited by this.

 

Even Squamish trips were no big deal, as the hitchiking at Horshoe Bay was good in those days.

[stinkyclimber]

seriously tho vancouver also has more distinct neighbourhoods than any other city in n america supposedly. its hard to describe you better live here a week and check it out before you make a move or even before you decide to move.

 

Heh. Vancouver rocks, but I'd call bullshit on this. Fram what I've seen of both, Vancouver doesn't touch NYC when it comes to distinct and diverse. Who knows what they are actually comparing tho.

 

Check out the "Cascade Scorecard" at www.northwestwatch.org - I think it talks about stuff like that, and provides detailed methodology for how they got their stats.

 

Having said that, I would doubt it too. Toronto is much more culturally diverse and feels like it has way more "neighbourhoods" than Vancouver...to be honest, until recently, Vancouver has felt kind of "small-town" to me compared to Toronto and Montreal. Never been to NYC.