Just finished an annual trip to Vancouver. It strikes me as though there are a lot of people (mainly the under 40 crowd like myself) here with no extra money or are living check to check (besides all the obviously Uber-rich). I have family that’s been in Van for 40+ years, so despite their modest jobs, they are millionaires via owning a house before the boom. The people I knew in high school who moved to Van are all working in bars/clubs/restaurants still from what I know. Whenever I come here, I am sucked in by all the hot little Asian girls walking around... but then I remember I make $150K salary where I live and have little to no job prospects in Vancouver. So I will continue to visit and at least have cash to blow when I’m here. Is it worth it to live out here for what it costs these days? Or is it really becoming a serfdom with few opportunities to enjoy the good life everyone wants here? I am speaking from an average persons perspective with average income.
Is living in Vancouver worth it?
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It's cheaper to stay out of Van, save a stack of cash, and blow it on fun in the big city.....that's what I do.
$150,000/yr is considered above average middle-class income across Canada (Google says it's $90k), but that might not be good enough for Vancouver. You could live very comfortable anywhere else in BC with that kind of money, except in the lower mainland. Even if you could hack it, I'm betting would be like struggling to live on minimum wage living in rundown apartment. (or I'm exaggerating).
Besides, I'd rather live cheap, and travel to Mexico, Bali, or Dominican Republic twice a year, instead of fitting into the big city life.
$150,000/yr is considered above average middle-class income across Canada (Google says it's $90k), but that might not be good enough for Vancouver. You could live very comfortable anywhere else in BC with that kind of money, except in the lower mainland. Even if you could hack it, I'm betting would be like struggling to live on minimum wage living in rundown apartment. (or I'm exaggerating).
Besides, I'd rather live cheap, and travel to Mexico, Bali, or Dominican Republic twice a year, instead of fitting into the big city life.
NO way.
Vancouver is a great place to visit, but a terrible place to live.
I've been here for 15 years, and live in a great neighbourhood in Kitsilano and can walk in to work, and even with the good "lifestyle" factors I still think living here is not that great. Imagine how much worse if I was living in the middle of Surrey and commuting 90 minutes to work each day.
I have relatives in Winnipeg, Saskatoon, Edmonton and Medicine Hat, and I can say that those are much better places fo normal people to live —and you can save so much money to be able to take an amazing vacation to a more glamorous place each year. My cousin has worked as a server at Moxies for at least 10 years. Yeah; winters are cold, but people there are nice. Everyone on the prairies are nice. She owns her condo and she takes a 3-week vacation to Paris every summer and 10 days to LA every winter. A Moxies waitress in Vancouver is not living that life.
Vancouver is a great place to visit, but a terrible place to live.
I've been here for 15 years, and live in a great neighbourhood in Kitsilano and can walk in to work, and even with the good "lifestyle" factors I still think living here is not that great. Imagine how much worse if I was living in the middle of Surrey and commuting 90 minutes to work each day.
I have relatives in Winnipeg, Saskatoon, Edmonton and Medicine Hat, and I can say that those are much better places fo normal people to live —and you can save so much money to be able to take an amazing vacation to a more glamorous place each year. My cousin has worked as a server at Moxies for at least 10 years. Yeah; winters are cold, but people there are nice. Everyone on the prairies are nice. She owns her condo and she takes a 3-week vacation to Paris every summer and 10 days to LA every winter. A Moxies waitress in Vancouver is not living that life.
You couldn't pay me enough to move out of Vancouver based on the climate and environment alone. But I'm fuck tired of the taxes and the undateable women here.
I grew up in Vancouver but left in 1980.
No way is the cost of living worth it unless you have a very good income.
Living on a tight budget with not much disposable income is stupid. You need a safety fund in case of emergency or job loss.
I live in Winnipeg suburbs, dirt cheap compared to Vancouver. Quiet, lots of room, deer in my yard, nature right outside my door. A lot better than a shitty apartment with a ten square foot balcony. Cost of living allows me to see any lady I like, buy anything I want, go anywhere I want. Mortgage paid off almost twenty years ago.
No way is the cost of living worth it unless you have a very good income.
Living on a tight budget with not much disposable income is stupid. You need a safety fund in case of emergency or job loss.
I live in Winnipeg suburbs, dirt cheap compared to Vancouver. Quiet, lots of room, deer in my yard, nature right outside my door. A lot better than a shitty apartment with a ten square foot balcony. Cost of living allows me to see any lady I like, buy anything I want, go anywhere I want. Mortgage paid off almost twenty years ago.
This is a tough one- i’m a Vancouverite but moved away some time ago for better opportunities. I come back 5-7 times a year to visit family and I still have a condo downtown that I own and can stay in so no worries. I’m lucky.
Now the biggest issue is that Vancouver is a soulless hole of materialism surrounded by wonderful natural beauty. Superficial reigns supreme and for so long no one dared care because of the ‘we’ve got ours’ real estate bubble. The cost is coming due now and what people are learning is you need all people, incomes socials classes and more to build culture. Vancouver is nothing more than a Petry dish experiment of trying to create it now after they drove it far far away.
I still like my home but it’s far from the joyous gateway to nature and fun it used to be.
Now the biggest issue is that Vancouver is a soulless hole of materialism surrounded by wonderful natural beauty. Superficial reigns supreme and for so long no one dared care because of the ‘we’ve got ours’ real estate bubble. The cost is coming due now and what people are learning is you need all people, incomes socials classes and more to build culture. Vancouver is nothing more than a Petry dish experiment of trying to create it now after they drove it far far away.
I still like my home but it’s far from the joyous gateway to nature and fun it used to be.
How are the youth of today going to survive? Are they going to live with mommy and daddy till 30-35? Are they going to wait till they die to inherit property? Wages are far behind housing costs. Vancouver has gone to shit and the future is bleak.
The family that I have in Van who are younger are all propped up by their parents wealth (from owning before the boom). In other words, they’re all working relatively menial jobs and almost totally financially dependent on mommy and daddy, even at 35, 45. It blows me away, because I was not raised at all like that, but it explains why they are still living here instead of moving.
sounds like a total dream...minus the dating/sp part which I am not into, but everything else sounds amazing!!!
Depends on the person. I used to work 2 to 3 jobs 7 days a week for a good number of years. Bought a 2 bedroom apartment mortgage free. Now I work only one job and as long as I budget well. I can still have fun.
Nope.
I love Vancouver. And Burnaby. And I'm on good terms with New Westminster. I lived in Vancouver almost all my adult life, first in the West End, then over a decade in East Van. I miss it every time I go back; it will probably always feel like home. Just the same, I couldn't consider moving back, on my meagre 6-figure income.
Vancouver is for rich people now, most of whom are recent immigrants. We're the only first world country that will let you waltz in the door with your money, and never ask you where it came from. As far as buying property is concerned, we may as well be the Cayman Islands, or Grenada, or Belize; that's how we're largely viewed throughout much of Asia, and rightfully so.
I can barely afford to live in Maple Ridge. I own an established business, employ a dozen people, and escorts are my only vice; I don't drink or gamble or do drugs. And I spend well under 10k a year at this, not nearly enough to seriously affect me financially. Bottom line: you bring your money here, you don't come here to earn it.
I've all but finished my paperwork to move south with my business. Looking at an acre with a nice house in Blaine near the water for 500k CAD. I wonder how many people like myself will have to take their businesses with the employment they create away before it offsets the value of those immigrating in the eyes of the provincial and federal government. It saddens me I won't be around to benefit, because I don't want to leave my home city, or my home country, but I can't allow my emotional attachment to my home to cause me to sacrifice my future anymore.
So ya, it's not worth it to me- I'm already gone.
I love Vancouver. And Burnaby. And I'm on good terms with New Westminster. I lived in Vancouver almost all my adult life, first in the West End, then over a decade in East Van. I miss it every time I go back; it will probably always feel like home. Just the same, I couldn't consider moving back, on my meagre 6-figure income.
Vancouver is for rich people now, most of whom are recent immigrants. We're the only first world country that will let you waltz in the door with your money, and never ask you where it came from. As far as buying property is concerned, we may as well be the Cayman Islands, or Grenada, or Belize; that's how we're largely viewed throughout much of Asia, and rightfully so.
I can barely afford to live in Maple Ridge. I own an established business, employ a dozen people, and escorts are my only vice; I don't drink or gamble or do drugs. And I spend well under 10k a year at this, not nearly enough to seriously affect me financially. Bottom line: you bring your money here, you don't come here to earn it.
I've all but finished my paperwork to move south with my business. Looking at an acre with a nice house in Blaine near the water for 500k CAD. I wonder how many people like myself will have to take their businesses with the employment they create away before it offsets the value of those immigrating in the eyes of the provincial and federal government. It saddens me I won't be around to benefit, because I don't want to leave my home city, or my home country, but I can't allow my emotional attachment to my home to cause me to sacrifice my future anymore.
So ya, it's not worth it to me- I'm already gone.
I have lived in both Vancouver and North Vancouver as well as Mission and Abbotsford and Chilliwack and the only place I would consider living would be Chilliwack.Last statistic I heard about Vancouver was that it cost people 86% of their after tax income for housing and this goes for owning a home.I dont consider that "living" as you have no chance of getting ahead at all.
The costs of home ownership are just off the charts in Vancouver and by that I mean the GVRD.When a house in Kitsilano that was built in 1920-1930 costs 4 MILLION because it has a decent sized lot but the house is considered a tear down because it is almost 100 years old and has substandard wiring it leaves you saying WTF!!!!!!!
I bought my half duplex in Calgary back in 2003 and got it paid of in 11 years.Yeah there have been booms and busts in Alberta during that time and we have 8 months till the next election that will see the accidental NDP Government kicked to the gutter where they belong and start to get back on track.
Truth be told you have to ride it out.Endure the bad times and prosper during the good times and dont squander the money when the streets seem like they are paved with gold.
SR
The costs of home ownership are just off the charts in Vancouver and by that I mean the GVRD.When a house in Kitsilano that was built in 1920-1930 costs 4 MILLION because it has a decent sized lot but the house is considered a tear down because it is almost 100 years old and has substandard wiring it leaves you saying WTF!!!!!!!
I bought my half duplex in Calgary back in 2003 and got it paid of in 11 years.Yeah there have been booms and busts in Alberta during that time and we have 8 months till the next election that will see the accidental NDP Government kicked to the gutter where they belong and start to get back on track.
Truth be told you have to ride it out.Endure the bad times and prosper during the good times and dont squander the money when the streets seem like they are paved with gold.
SR
Your future neighbours may have recently arrived from San Diego or Sai Kung ___ :wave:
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I think living in Vancouver is worth it, maybe not Vancouver proper but certainly the lower mainland. The secret is you have to live here like a real world city not like a small town. That means you live walking distance to a skytrain, don't drive everywhere and utilize your surroundings like living in London, or Paris, or Berlin, or Buenos Aires or NY. If you want to drive a ridiculous vehicle, live in a mini-fortress and drive everywhere, live in Calgary or Winnipeg. Also you have to have money to be here and there are no good jobs for unskilled labour. If you have a STEM degree or a trade you can live quite well here, if you have a Masters in Communication or a high school diploma only, you can only be a barista and since Vancouver doesn't have uber, you can't drive for uber here.
Living in Van is great if you can afford it. There are less expensive options in the outlying areas. And then there are places like Winnipeg and Calgary lol.
That would be a death sentence for me. Jackass talked about Shithole countries in Africa. We have some cities like that in Canada.
People aren't flocking to the US to live in Kansas. There are reasons why LA and SF are more desirable options even though it costs 10 times more to live there. Same applies to Van imo.
That would be a death sentence for me. Jackass talked about Shithole countries in Africa. We have some cities like that in Canada.
People aren't flocking to the US to live in Kansas. There are reasons why LA and SF are more desirable options even though it costs 10 times more to live there. Same applies to Van imo.
The thing about Van and LA, is there would be a whole lot less people flocking there if it wasn't for Asian and Mexican migration, respectively. For inter-provincial migration, who moves to Vancouver if they aren't going to work in a bar or some government-propped up entity like UBC? Moving to LA seems like something a wannabe actress/actor/film tech would do, not someone working in typical industries. Van and LA have scenic views, warm climates, but other than that I don't see what they have that you can't find elsewhere. What am I missing?
People underestimate fundamental differences in American and Canadian cultures.
In the US, where there is wide economic disparity, lackluster social welfare, expensive health insurance, and relatively lower tax rate, contribute to a population who enjoy more disposable income at the cost of a perpetual fear of their lives and survability. Therefore, the American culture is more cut-throat and rewards industriousness, creativity, vision, and hard work.
In Canada, where we have high tax clawback, large middle class, stable welfare and comprehensive healthcare, people are less likely to risk and adventure and prefer the comfort offered by their own personal free time and space. Canadians are therefore less aggressive, more accepting, and keep to their own business.
Vancouver offers you security. LA (Or, America in general) offers you opportunity.
Duz this sound familiar : )
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"A real estate brokerage near San Francisco is capitalizing on the mass exodus out of the Bay Area ....
Fuller says that the majority of his clientele are retirees looking to cash out and move to cheaper pastures..."
Fuller says that the majority of his clientele are retirees looking to cash out and move to cheaper pastures..."
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