The Decline of Vancouver.

I certainly didn't mean to put down what you're doing and it sounds like things are working out.

the only thing I can add is that you might be surprised of the demand for educated folk like yourself in small communities if you do decide to get out of vancouver - here in the kootenays, we have a local college that pumps out carpenters, foresters, electricians, welders, machinists, hairdressers and basketweavers (arts school..) etc every year in great numbers. There is alot of competition for jobs in these sectors and as such wages are usually low, job stability not so great.

but the closest school turning out more specialized professionals such as yourself is far away and while there aren't as many jobs in these sectors, there is much less competition. Everyone here is a carpenter, but I only know one engineer…

If you do decide to make a move to a small town somewhere else, the job search procedure is quite a bit different than in big cities so you likely won't find job postings online, but looking through the phone book and calling some consultants in your field of work might reap surprising rewards.

I've met a few professionals over the past few years who relocated from big cities (edmonton, calgary and vancouver) and had a job lined up before they arrived. When I expressed some surprise and asked how they managed to have a job already lined up in an often tough job market, they said all they did was phone and ask a few consultants in their line of work. The three individuals I'm thinking of had to take a pay cut compared to what they were making in the city but all were much happier, and relatively speaking their money went further.

I don't know anyone here who makes $100k a year here, although I'm sure they exist

The medical field Doctor/Nursing/physio are good paying steady local jobs

school teacher is great even if you don't get a contract there is a lot of TOC and form talking to young people I know it seems to be easyier to get on up here than Van or the island and there are lots of boomers retiring so the jobs will be coming up

BC government jobs are only 35hrs (or was it 37?)a week, pretty steady, very cush lots of room to advance

consulting engineer type stuff seems to be here one day [HTML_REMOVED] gone the next as small branch offices of big companies get bought up/amalgamated/closed

If one member of the family has the steady job its pretty easy for the other one to do sporadic work and still have good lives

Businesses are not always big enough to hire you full time but they can give you part time so if you have 2 or 3 part time jobs its the same as one full time job and if you lose one you have others to fall back on till you find another filler

A really good way to find a job in the past has been to move here and netwerk by playing ultimate, smoking dope and volunteering for folk fest

ya everyone is a carpenter eh?

that's crazy. Vancouver is going down a dark path….

yup seen that go sideways back in 80-82 when some friends bought a house togetehr because … the cost of owning a house was too much

they bought at the peak, things went sideways, 2 yrs later housing had dropped by 50%

house [HTML_REMOVED] friendship was underwater

that's crazy. Vancouver is going down a dark path….

Holy shit. That's a really bad sign. Surely this is the writing on the wall.

Hey, if anyone wants to point some fingers try pointing them at banks.

"Oh no, our customers can't afford to take on anymore debt! Let's just invent a new product called Mixer Mortgage! Yay, more money for all."

No bubbles here, move along.

that's crazy. Vancouver is going down a dark path….

no kidding..

when multiple families/groups of people need to get together to apply for a mortgage that should be HUGE red flag theres a problem looming…

no kidding..

when multiple families/groups of people need to get together to apply for a mortgage that should be HUGE red flag theres a problem looming…

I think the idea of sharing houses is a little bit ridiculous. I can see that happening in a country like Japan where they have a massive population on a small island, but look at Canada - we have one of the most sparsely populated countries in the world with an infinite amount of unused land.

Realistically they just need to:
A) increase density near the city - aka. west side, east van, etc.
B) improve infrastructure (roads/highways, skytrain, light rail, west coast express, etc.) so that people can live further out and still get to their job in an efficient manner.

We definitely aren't in some sort of crisis situation where we need to ram 3 families into one house. That's crazy talk!

Well yeah cause I was only responding to one small part. The other was a joke I would have thought the blah blah blah would have clued you in, that and you never said any of it.

i didn't see any part of my post that you were responding to. i was talking about buying a property and you were talking about renting. still not sure what you were on about.

that's crazy. Vancouver is going down a dark path….

Holy shit. That's a really bad sign. Surely this is the writing on the wall.

Hey, if anyone wants to point some fingers try pointing them at banks.

"Oh no, our customers can't afford to take on anymore debt! Let's just invent a new product called Mixer Mortgage! Yay, more money for all."

No bubbles here, move along.

no kidding..

when multiple families/groups of people need to get together to apply for a mortgage that should be HUGE red flag theres a problem looming…

I think the idea of sharing houses is a little bit ridiculous. I can see that happening in a country like Japan where they have a massive population on a small island, but look at Canada - we have one of the most sparsely populated countries in the world with an infinite amount of unused land.

Realistically they just need to:
A) increase density near the city - aka. west side, east van, etc.
B) improve infrastructure (roads/highways, skytrain, light rail, west coast express, etc.) so that people can live further out and still get to their job in an efficient manner.

We definitely aren't in some sort of crisis situation where we need to ram 3 families into one house. That's crazy talk!

i'd consider buying a house with someone if the circumstances were right and we had a solid plan.

I think the idea of sharing houses is a little bit ridiculous. I can see that happening in a country like Japan where they have a massive population on a small island, but look at Canada - we have one of the most sparsely populated countries in the world with an infinite amount of unused land.

Sure.

Except when 50% of our pop lives just in the red regions of this map:

there is a bit of a demand problem. Not all of those people are wanting to go neighbor up with XXX'er and 3Sheets.

Link for the map (way too lazy to hunt for deeper stats on this): http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2014/04/17/canada-empty-maps_n_5169055.html

i'd consider buying a house with someone if the circumstances were right and we had a solid plan.

I've done it twice …its called marriage

for any body considering coming north I just want to say in advance

get offa my lawn

Not sure if I am reading your post correctly, but are you suggesting:

1) That people need to invest their money prior to making a down payment on a house? Isn't this common sense..? I'm sure the vast majority of people have their future downpayment fund sitting in some sort of investment and not just sitting in a non-interest bearing account.

2) That people should be sharing houses with friends and family to make it more affordable for everyone?

I'm talking about something does more for your savings than just beat inflation. And no, I'm not trying solve all comers, just the early-mid career worker bees that were close but now priced out and venting here. Sorry if you thought I was some cure-all.

for any body considering coming north I just want to say in advance

get offa my lawn

I have to say … when you say 'lawn', I visualize a bunch of weeds, an old half-dead rose bush and a couple of cannabis plants.

Not all of those people are wanting to go neighbor up with XXX'er and 3Sheets.

This is a good thing

I have to say … when you say 'lawn', I visualize a bunch of weeds, an old half-dead rose bush and a couple of cannabis plants.

He actually has a very nice lawn in a nice neighborhood. Don't let the "old hippy" persona fool you.

yeah man its the house with the prayer flags