Moving to Kamloops!

The wifey has been accepted to Thompson River's University and we will be moving there for September.

We are still unsure at this time on whether to buy or rent. Any parts of town to avoid?

How is the bus system? My wife would love to not have to drive to school.

Can anybody PM me a decent realtor?

I have always liked Kamloops and I'm looking forward to the change.

this thread is of great relevance to me.
once Im done with my HD mechanic preapp, ill be looking up there for work and living.

this thread is of great relevance to me.
once Im done with my HD mechanic preapp, ill be looking up there for work and living.

I'm a HD mech myself.

bus system is not very good.
everyone in loops drives because the area is pretty spread out.

I'm an HD apprentice. wuddup.

Bus system is awesome… you can take them from near the river to the top of Aberdeen, then rip down on your bike.

That is a dream move right there if you are into mountain bike, snow ride, dirt bike in comparison to Etown.
I cant say i have been on the transit system since i was a kid, but im sure the routes to TRU will be adequate. Unless you live on the south side of the Thompson river, you will be traveling a long way to get there with at least one transfer.
I would say think of Sahali or lower Aberdeen to keep it to one trip with out a transfer. Downtown could be OK too. If has its rough pockets for sure. I probably would not live where i grew up, in the North Shore. There was no crack When i lived there though…it is a different scene from what i hear now.
Good luck, im sure you will enjoy the outdoor pursuits the loops has to offer.

the bus system licks nuts. non scheduled, multiple transfers from any where out side the zone you live in. I used to live on the north shore and it took me two transfers and an hour and a half to get to the university. provided it was not a weekend. very little holiday service. get ready to drive a lot. every thing people like about kamloops is at least an hour out side of town. the whole town is an urban planning nightmare.

the mountain biking is the only thing that kamloops has going for it. and even that…

Live in Sahali, Aberdeen, or parts of downtown, and transit to TRU should be easy enough. Sahali and Aberdeen are decent areas to live. You probably want to avoid the North Shore. Pick the right area and it can be quick and easy to get around the city, wayyyy better than Kelowna, for example. House prices seem kind of expensive, but obviously much cheaper than the lower mainland.

Loops is alright, used to be a haven for mullets and moustaches back in the day but times are a changing.

He's coming from Edmonton…this'll be PARADISE

Live in Sahali, Aberdeen, or parts of downtown, and transit to TRU should be easy enough. Sahali and Aberdeen are decent areas to live. You probably want to avoid the North Shore. Pick the right area and it can be quick and easy to get around the city, wayyyy better than Kelowna, for example. House prices seem kind of expensive, but obviously much cheaper than the lower mainland.

Loops is alright, used to be a haven for mullets and moustaches back in the day but times are a changing.

I am a little surprised at the house prices in Kamloops. Granted they are cheaper than Edmonton.

Have there been a rise in recent foreclosures like there has been in Kelowna?

And as far a mullets I would probably feel a little homesick if I moved to a totally mullet free town.

I am a little surprised at the house prices in Kamloops. Granted they are cheaper than Edmonton.

Have there been a rise in recent foreclosures like there has been in Kelowna?

And as far a mullets I would probably feel a little homesick if I moved to a totally mullet free town.

Dude, this is BC. That means Bring Cash. Housing no matter where you are in this province is priced higher than equivalents in the rest of the country.

So…. Edomonton to Kampoops…..hmmmmm….

Pros…

1/ The weather is nice
2/ It's 3 hours away from Vancouver and a couple hours from the Okanagan
3/ Lots of things to do recreationally

Cons…

1/ The people here are arrogant and clicky. A lot of the locals have the "been everywhere/done everything" attitude but haven't left this dusty little valley in years except to get on a plane to fly somewhere else for a vacation. It however is fun to challege people when they spout off about how they know eveything. People here are truly sheltered…

2/ People drive SLOW and clueless. This is one of my biggest beefs with this place. Expect people to slow to 50kph and drive down the center of a 2 lane freeway as soon as the lines on the road are covered with the smallest amount of snow. They simply do not read road conditions. It will snow slightly and all you will here is sirens all day long. The next day when the snow is gone people are still driving 50kph??? They are just clueless. Coming from Edmonton you WILL notice this.

3/ The air quality is extremelly poor IMO… especially in the spring and summer. I have actually took pictures of the of the inversion/pollution this valley has. Thankfully we live down the valley and away from the pollution. People here also light their yard waste on fire in the spring (usually at night so bylaws doesn't see it) simply because they are too cheap and lazy to take it to the dump or composting station. I can look off of my deck on any weekend in the spring or summer and see a dozen plumes of smoke…. I live semi-rural and the TNRD has shit for bylaws regarding burning. Smoke from forest fires pools in this valley if it is a bad fire season also.

4/ People here are poor. I don't care what stats Canada says about average wages here etc… People just don't have much money to play with. Most people are house poor and can only afford to do a single hobby (if even that)… even then it's on a budget. You WILL notice this coming from Alberta. If you do have toys expect Southern B.C. attitude from everyone when you bring them out and play with them. I kind of miss the days of hanging out on my buddies boats and in return taking them off roading, dirtbiking, or doing one of our other hobbies. People here have the "HMMMPH!!! Must be nice!" attitude, whereas other places I've lived people simply enjoyed sharing each others activities they were fortunate enough to have.

I found it interesting how my g/f summed up how it is here. She said…. "Up North when you were in a bar and bought someone you knew a drink they would track you down later that evening and return the favor by buying you a drink and talking for a while….. here they simply look at you like "Why are you buying me a drink?"… and then walk off thinking to themselves "Sucker!". This is SO true of here… People are simply opportunistic and greedy…. I fucking hate that… It's a respect thing…

5/ Housing prices are retarded for what you get…. expect to pay 500K on a 300K house. We've been watching the market here quite closely and it has topped out and is starting to fall slightly. I've heard to expect a 4 or 5 percent drop in the next 48 months.

6/ The industrial sector here also moves very slow. I have no idea what you do for a living but if you are a tradesperson expect a 25% cut in wages (plus the added B.C. income tax). I see you posting in the heavy equipment thread etc.. so I'm guessing you may work in a trade. People migrate here because of the weather so the job market is much tighter… expect less respect and value as an employee. People run for the door at quitting time… this includes management. In my trade it is extremelly hard to get any overtime. A customer could be out front in the service area waiting for their vehicle and management will start shutting the lights out when I have only half an hour more work and be able to get the customer back on the road. That really sums up the attitude here in a nutshell…. Not a lot of ants… but a lot of grasshoppers (If you remember that old story)

7/ Food is more expensive and of less quality (belive it or not). It can be summed up as basically fruit goes bad quicker here.. lol. The fresher stuff seems to head North and they go overkill on travel time to get it there. We found this very bizarre… we expected frsher fruit since it pretty much grows here. Meat is more expensive unless you want Costco stuff. Local organic is actually almost cheaper than supermarket stuff… quality and frshness is sketchy.

8/ Because people here are so poor and opportunistic, the petty crime is ridiculously high. Perhaps I am a bit naive as I was always taught (and moved from a place) that if you wanted something you simply bought it. Since no one here likes to work they simply steal it. Lock things up twice… I can't stess that enough. SO many pieces of shit just waiting to steal your stuff. If you've got a dirtbike etc… alway watch who is following you home and scoping out where you live so they can come back and steal your shit.

9/ This might be specific to our particular situation but people here seem to have kids later in life. Most of our friend up north had kids in their 20's…. Here they seem to have kids in their mid 30's. If you are young this may not be an issue for you. We moved here 7 years ago because all our friends up north were settling down and having children. We moved here in our mid 30's and then we were in the same boat… a lot of the people in our age demographic were again settling down and having kids…lol. Socially this is actually a big issue… especially since we do a lot of recreational activities that are hard to do with families. It seems people here get a later start in life… At 20-25 y/o people where we were from were buying houses and settling down with children… Here they don't move away from home until they are 25-30…

We are currently looking at moving… The recreational activities no longer outweigh the high housing prices, low wages, higher cost of living. People are much friendlier other places too. If you're 20 and just want to be "chill" and hang out then maybe this place is for you personally… If you want to get ahead in life, I would suggest staying in Alberta.

Sorry to sound so negative… I speak the truth tho. I wish I would have read more honest opinions of this place before moving here. I'm sure everywhere else has their problems but these are the things I noticed when moving here from a Northern community. We really are torn to move from here back to Northern B.C/Alberta since it is so central, the outdoor activities are plentiful, and the summers are long. If your persona is the ability to ignore a LOT, and you have money in the bank, then you may like it here. I unfortunatley (?) have my eyes wide open… and I don't intend to remortgage the equity in my house, or go into any debt, to be able to do the things I can simply buy elsewhere with higher wages.

A good rule of thumb if you are thinking of moving here… Look at places on the South side of the river (Aberdeen/Sahali etc..) and stay away from anything North of the river (North Shore/Brockelhurst etc…)

Speaking of air quality… I happened to have this pic on my phone. Here's what the city looks like 75% of the time when we drive in from out where we live (East of Kampoops). You will be treated to the smell of pulp, sewage, and the dump (of which all sites are located 2-3km from city center) on days like these. Take note of the retard driving in the left hand lane the same speed as the cars in the R/H lane holding me up as I was trying to get past a line of vehicles…. happens all the time. Keep right except to pass!!!!

Jeez Loopsrider….you need to move up highway 5 hours or so.

@loopsrider

I have lived in Nanaimo, Vancouver and Fort McMurray in that order and I could say all the same things about Nanaimo. lol.
Now that I live in a HAVE town it is funny to see how many people buy you drinks. The people here for the most part are way shittier then even Surrey people. But the few that I choose to hang around are awesome. I find the people from Montreal to be very fun to hang out with and funny. They seem to be very Island like. But all the fucking Newfies drive me nuts. Newfies are the dirty inbred south of Canada. Traped on that little Irish penal colonie island forever and only joining Canada in 1949.