rossland/trail/castlegar - the kootenays - for living

anybody here living in these areas, say close to trail? what's it like and how are the job prospects? i'm contemplating gettin outta dodge and doing something different. would connsider a bit further north to kaslo or new denver too.

Cashing out? Good move.

Considered it as well , problem is . Should one choose to come back closer to the lower mainland they are stuck again due to insane costs . As a single person I would have left this area years back , but being married with kids , we choose to stay local .

People,s wages and such can,t continue to support this rapidly rising real estate , it,s going to hit a bubble and burst one of these years . In some ways it's started , in my neck of the woods houses stopped selling for huge over costs months back.

I would get out if I could…i keep my ear to the ground, hopefully there will be an up and coming city where all the blue collars are fleeing too. I need to go where there is a need for construction.
The kootneys gets preety tight especially in winter. Good to get on with a company if possible so a UI ski winter is possible.

Same with me, family and kids. If I was single I'd be out of here no question. If you move, I think best to be your own boss/start your own thing. Not sure I would relly on someone else. Could be the perfect time to start a small buisness if you have the cash. BC needs to diversify outside of the lower mainland.

Just do it. There ain't no comfort in the growth zone, and ain't no growth in the comfort zone. Amanda and I considered Trail a few times since it has a) hockey rink b) WalMart c) movie theatres and d) Red Mountain. It's the MTB capital of the world (before Squamish was). Real estate is cheap. Air quality is crap, but in that case live in C-gar, Blueberry, Oasis or Genelle. Worst case scenario? Death…but the odds of that are pretty low, and that's coming for all of us anyways.

Same with me, family and kids. If I was single I'd be out of here no question. If you move, I think best to be your own boss/start your own thing. Not sure I would relly on someone else. Could be the perfect time to start a small buisness if you have the cash. BC needs to diversify outside of the lower mainland.

well besides my city job and db pension (which is hard to walk away from) i already have my own part-time small reno biz. for the places i'm looking at going to i don't know if there's enough of a demand for that type of work to turn it into my sole income stream.

but i'm single and no kids so i am free to take off to pretty much anywhere i want and do anything i want.

well besides my city job and db pension (which is hard to walk away from) i already have my own part-time small reno biz. for the places i'm looking at going to i don't know if there's enough of a demand for that type of work to turn it into my sole income stream.

but i'm single and no kids so i am free to take off to pretty much anywhere i want and do anything i want.

wow. imagine, endless and different tail every week. you are my freaking hero.

leaving Vancouver is huge but so is a DB pension

well besides my city job and db pension (which is hard to walk away from) i already have my own part-time small reno biz. for the places i'm looking at going to i don't know if there's enough of a demand for that type of work to turn it into my sole income stream.

but i'm single and no kids so i am free to take off to pretty much anywhere i want and do anything i want.

Funny.. I'm in the same boat (plus kids tho) it's hard to leave. I don't hate my job (kind of like it), lots of holidays and a pension. Sometimes it feels like it's a curse… hating your life can be a good thing, makes you take chances. If your comfortable and happy just stay as you are, why change??

wow. imagine, endless and different tail every week. you are my freaking hero.

Endless tail and Rossland don't usually go in the same sentence unless you put "I wish there was" before.

Don't get me wrong Rossland is an amazing place and if I didn't have a wife and commitments where I am I would be back there in a heartbeat.

Just bought a place in Rossland

The place is under siege from pregnant millenials :) ….demographic has changed for the better.

Seems lots of reno work going on..I've struggled to find help when needed

Lots of cash spent in the last 2 years on large capital projects..they are just finishing a huge water project, and have added bike lanes up the steepest hill in town

..and did I mention that the brewery is stellar..and there is an IT microindustry

Work is available in town, or down the hill for better pay/prospects..

We were in that rut in 2005, then made a decision one day to gtfo of North Van and move to the Kamloops. Best move ever. Beautiful landscapes, easily accessible back country, zero crowds, countless lakes 15 minutes from the city in either direction, and so on. Every time I go back to NV, I am reminded of why we left.

do it Mark, the kootenays are great (so are many places in this province, though)…I might skip living in Trail (the smelter still pumps out alot of nasty shit and it's one of the only towns in the province requiring you to have your children tested for lead levels regularely).

Castlegar is nice, very blue collar but experiencing quite a housing boom in the past 8mos and the demographic is definitely changing.

Rossland is great, a friend moved from Nelson 6 months ago and got into a little fixer-upper for less than $120k, seems pretty happy with the community and brewery there. From the time I've spent in Rossland though, there's not ot very many single women (byo-girlfriend) but Trail seems to have plenty of tail as well as job prospects, better pay and it's really just down the street from Rossland. There are also many small communities (really just a dot on the map) between the communities here, so if you're looking for a more rural place outside of a town, check some of those out.

I notice you didn't mention Nelson for a place to live, good choice. High cost of housing, insane property taxes and next to no services. Great place to come and visit or see some live music but it had it's heyday in the mid-late 2000's and isn't the place it once was.

Not sure on the demand for contractors in the areas you're looking for but in the Nelson area things are booming and there's alot of work in the trades right now, you'd probably have no shortage of work taking on small projects that the big contractors turn away right now. The commute from any of the communities you mentioned is a breeze compared to the city (winter driving can be a bit sketchy at times) but all that to say you could likely base yourself out of Rossland and get alot of work within a 1hr radius, Christina lake to Nelson and beyond.

PM me if you want more info, I've been in the Kootenays for…12 years now and I'd be happy to point out some cool areas to check out before moving up here. I like rural so I bought property in the Slocan Valley but if I was looking for a more urban environment I'd pick Rossland in a heart beat.