north shore mass exit

There's real estate, and then there's the culture. What about the redneck factor of moving to interior? Coming from fraser valley, it might not be a shock, but coming outta downtown van to the backwoods could lead to some very different discussions at the water cooler or coffee shop.

Sure, NV gossip and entitlement is annoying, but so is having few around for intelligent conversations.

This goes for raising a family factor too - now you're sending the kid to school environment there. Kids repeat where they hear from parents and so on. Any of you new parents considering where rural schools offer an equal of better experience than GVRD schools ?

Lastly, no one is talking about hospital services. I just read Trail/Castlegar regional hospital is turning away preggers cause of lack of space and/or funding and/or staff. Is access to decent care not an issue, just like real estate for family-aged riders looking for a place to happen?

I'm playing devl's advocate a bit here, but my main point is that real estate is but ONE element to the conversation, especially when we start talking about raising a family where we relocate to.

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Get yer gloat on…. :P

Penticton average house price is $365K.

West Van average house price is $1.1M.

Really.

You think it's spendy in the Okanagan now….just you wait. It's going to be MORE than Vancouver soon. The Disney Corp. is about to announce they're moving a major division of their operations to Kelowna.

The redneck thing? Well, check my location status for how that's going….

Penticton average house price is $365K.

West Van average house price is $1.1M.

That's a pretty skewed comparison there Smoke. How many shitshacks are there in Penticton or even middle income home owners? Compare that to West Van. You'd be better off comparing Penticton to NV district, Port Moody/Burnaby/Coquitlam where you get similar demographic backgrounds. West Van is unique to the entire country.

I'm not sure, but I'm guessing Kamloops median prices to be around $280-$300 at this moment. Thankfully we have the north shore bringing values waaaay down. :P Juniper (where I live) is pretty much the WV of Kamloops where newer houses are hitting $1mil. That's a lot for here.

In a place like Kamloops or any smaller city/town you get a microcosm of what the entire lower mainland is in one small area. We have our Surrey, our DT yuppies, suburban sprawl, and ranch/farmland. Unlike a place like NV or WV, its harder to escape it. You can choose not to go to Surrey, but here it's more in your face. You get a smattering of intelligent conversation mixed with dumb rednecks, left wing liberals to ultra conservative church goers and cowboy ranchers.

However, what you get more of here than in NV is a sense of people being more down to earth and approachable. I find people here tend to be more open minded and less judgemental (surprisingly enough). We also found that people will actually call you and want to make time with you! As in, just come over to hang out. We had lots of friends in NV but rarely did we see anyone outside of personal interests (ie: bikes). Maybe its just because people are busier?

Penticton only has a few resident rednecks.
We have many transient Albertican rednecks, though…. mostly in summer
hahahaha

That's a pretty skewed comparison there Smoke. How many shitshacks are there in Penticton or even middle income home owners? Compare that to West Van. You'd be better off comparing Penticton to NV district, Port Moody/Burnaby/Coquitlam where you get similar demographic backgrounds. West Van is unique to the entire country.

OK, then…

North Van average = $870K Of course you can always get a condo/apartment for about $500K if you want. Or conversely, you get about 10 acres of view orchard and a damn nice house with a pool and hot tub for about the same as a new townhouse in Vancouver.

Oh, and Chuck…..double time and a half for working stat holidays comes out to about $700.

I shall now return to my usual arguments….

lack of trades workers + tons of concrete work = $$$$$$$
hahahaha

I lived in vancouver for 8 months while I went to school, and that was easily enough to last me a lifetime. I grew up in a town of 3000, and now live in a city of 10 000 which feels plenty big-city for me. I make the odd trip to vancouver or victoria every year to see whats changed (and usually, nothing has) but for the most part I'm happy to live in the middle of nowhere, although I'm already looking where to move when the area gets too busy.

OK, then…

North Van average = $870K Of course you can always get a condo/apartment for about $500K if you want. Or conversely, you get about 10 acres of view orchard and a damn nice house with a pool and hot tub for about the same as a new townhouse in Vancouver.

Where are you getting these numbers? $870k average price in NV??? I would've guessed more like $670k. Damn…. glad I don't live there.

I too fled the sence of entitlement of those in NV. And Silk is right - it does come from the parents. I just wish more 20 to 40 somethings with similar values could have afforded NV. Small town gossip and sence of community trumps the coldness and political BS of the Shore - at least at this stage of our lives with small children.

I couldn't have said it better.

1998 I think it was….when Kits/Point Grey started pouring into the Cove/Seymour area…its all been down hill from there

Housing prices, raising a family in a smaller town, traffic congestion of the lower mainland, slower pace, more friends, more opportunity (depending on your situation of course).

I guess you'll be moving soon to eh?

Definetly. Having lived in a city 4-5 times the size of Vancouver have had enough of da bullshite. Now that I have a little girl it makes me think even more about whether moving to Vancouver is a good idea for Gabby's future.

With our move to Kingston I feel it is a move in the right direction.

Where are you getting these numbers? $870k average price in NV??? I would've guessed more like $670k. Damn…. glad I don't live there.

Googled it and went with figures from some consumer price index site for real estate. When you start getting more specific about neighborhoods (Deep Cove, Lynn Valley) that figure goes up. The house I grew up in just sold for a shade under a million. 60 stairs to the kitchen, 20 more to the bedrooms.

It's just not an option for us. For the same house we just got in Westbank, we'd have had to put down a half mil with a mortgage of $3k a month. Straight up impossible.

The whole wealth of pristine singletrack thing is just a bonus.

there are way more cool places to live in BC than the island/fraser valley

the man speaks the truth. nothing to see on the island. move along people, move along…

i think that squamish would be nice, close to whistler, and squamish has amazing trails aperantly. You can build what you want, anywhere you want.
and you're still close to the Shore, and Vancouver.