Hi everyone,
I've been looking at older posts on the Tri Cities (Port Coquitlam. Port Moody, Coquitlam) but I'm wondering if anyone has any updated info on them? Are there are Brits who have moved to any of these three cities within the last few years, and if so can you give me your thoughts?

To give you some background - we currently live in Kamloops but we need a change. The TriCities is as close as we can get to Van on our budget, but as we both work from home anyway we don't commute. Our main concerns are the schools, crime levels, and community feeling.

We had a trip down a couple of weeks ago but just in a weekend we couldn't get a very good feel for any of the areas. Can anyone recommend which neighbourhoods are nicest for families and a community feel? We would have to buy a townhouse on our budget, btw.

Thanks very much and look forward to reading your replies!

I lived in Port Moody for a while, I didn't like it so much there, my boyfriend is Canadian and his description of Port Moody is that its "Ghetto"

I lived in Coquitlam, bordering Burquitlam, and I would recommend Burquitlam, its nice there, my daughters school was there, she's only in Kindergarten, but I really liked that school, Burquitlam was a nice community.

Also Burquitlam is close to the skytrain. The commute to work isn't so bad from the tri-cities though, when I lived in Port Moody I used the West Coast express, I miss that train ride, the trains are really nice and the views on the way are amazing! Its a more fun commute than using the skytrain, but its not cheap.

There are lots of townhome communities in the Port Moody/Coquitlam area. Look for homes near Newport Village or Suter Brook. I really like both of those areas, if I had to move there that's where I'd consider living. PM has done a good job of building real walkable village centres with all the amenities. Also look at HEritage Mountain.

Coquitlam - more single family or high rise, Burke Mountain is a growing area with townhomes that might be a good idea for you because it's new and people are open to making friends. Westwood Plateau is the most fancy pants part of the 'Lam, it's older 80-90's homes, no idea bout community feel though.

Personally I'm not a fan of PoCo. It has a nice walkable village centre, but it's pretty far away and less desirable than the other two.

All this will change when teh Evergreen Line is built, connecting the Tri-Cities to Burnaby, so bear in mind where the Evergreen Line stations are when looking for a place. There is a good chance the price will go up once the stations are built. IMO this is a great time to buy in the area.

No idea about crime - in general the lower mainland has a lot of gun crime and shootings related to gangs and PM, Coquitlam and PoCo are no different. PoCo was the home of one of Canada's most notorious serial killers, (the Pickton Farm). Actually you should figure out where the Pickton farm is and avoid buying around there - the developers have done a good job of covering up the location, but considering there were many body parts of women found on the farm PLUS the parts were ground up so they're not even sure they got all of the bone etc..... it's got a horrible stigma. SOme of our friends bought out there and they only found out afterwards the farmland they were looking at was where all those women were murdered. You might not care but some buyers will...

Thanks for the useful info. It's interesting to hear others thoughts of PoCo as we definitely got the impression it was the worst of the 3. I think we're swaying towards PM so I'll look up the neighbourhoods you mention and we can focus more on those when we next take a trip. Cheers.

Yeah. PoCo tends to be where people buy who can't afford PM or Coquitlam and who don't want to move as far as Maple Ridge or over the Fraser to Surrey.

I don't know the Tri-Cities well but, from what I do know if I had to choose, it would be Port Moody. It can be very pretty around the Inlet.

If you keep half the street smarts that get you by in the UK, crime will likely be a non-issue. Unless, that is, you are planning to supplement your income by selling class A drugs.

A good point about the Evergreen line. Buying now might make sense if you are within walking distance of a station.

A downside is that this is one of the more moist areas of Metro Vancouver - hence the Evergreen.

The area around Citadel Heights in Port Coquitlam is worth having a look at. Less dense than Coquitlam, no blocks of flats, and fantastic views. We have friends who live there who say there is a real sense of community. Also easy access to Highway 1.