BristolUK

Indeed it is but in a different form. It was an "exotic bar" when I moved here, then a sports shop, Vietnamese restaurant and now an Oriental food store.

I didn't expect that to come out as an image. You might like to look at other pics there. Uh oh....looks like BE is playing up again. Try refreshing if there's no picture and if that fails use the quote function so you can see the link I put there. Vintage Moncton.
I wondered what that was about.

rivingtonpike

Well, what I've read so far hasn't put us off the "theory" of moving East. If we ever do move it would likely be 2 years hence. Although the youngest sporn is at boarding school, proximity to her is still important to us - and her. The eldest (university absentee) is much more self sufficient. From the research I've done so far, however, the scenery and house prices are both very appealing.

The thing that concerns us the most is the weather. Is it really as grim as I hear?

BristolUK

In my part we get about 285cm of snow each winter. On its own that doesn't tell you much because if a lot falls when it's wet and warm it just melts. For example just after Christmas we had just as much snow fall through December as normal but there was virtually no snow "on the ground" whereas in other years from the same total snowfall so far there could be snowbanks everywhere from the city plows. With more to come.

And sometimes there is so much "on the ground" and plenty of snowbanks already that the city picks up the snow, driving it out of town for dumping, to make room for the snow still to come. But that happens in Montreal too.
You can see an example in this youtube clip, but look how clear the roads are because it's handled.


The roads are plowed very quickly and sometimes I feel too often. Imagine the plow passes and you go out to clear the snowbank from your drive, only to see it passes again and there's another ridge to clear. At least one side of the street have the sidewalks cleared too.

However, if you're no longer as fit as you were and you're in no hurry to be out then just forget about it and use a contractor to clear it. dbd might volunteer.

We don't drive but obviously we need access from the street. We have a long drive back to the garage so I have a guy who just plows the stuff back to the garage. It's much less than most of the contractors who use tractor/snowblowers.

Find a reliable weather site. TWN works well for me and if 15cm or more is expected you know there will be a snowbank. On our street the city plow always does our side of the street first and two-thirds of the width is on our side. I mention this because some seemingly small difference can put a snowbank across my drive entrance that's twice the size of the one across the street.

Anyway, with the knowledge about the snowbank, just accept that unless you clear a small gap to walk through or the whole thing to drive out, just get your groceries or what ever you need done the day before. Put your feet up and avoid the heart attack.

Freezing rain can be a nuisance but, again, be prepared and wait it out. It's nice to be retired and know you can just do that.

We're also lucky where we are in that we get very few power outages from the bad weather. If some lines are down the power company seems to be able to 'switch us over' to a different source. But an area half a mile away was without power for something like 36 hours once. We've been here 18 years this June and we've had about three outages of between 4 and 6 hours.

Summers are humid.

I never see anyone else mention this but when looking at potential places to live, consider what happens to the snow. If you have a path to your front door that's away from your drive than that's two places that need snow clearing. There's a house up the road from me where they tape off the front door in the winter, using the rear door and the cleared drive for access.

BristolUK

Found this in Friday's newspaper.


That was a surprise to me. I moved here in 2005 having done much research from 2004 and then visiting Moncton for the house search.
Using the money from the sale of my house in Bristol (thanks to the boom) I was looking for a home and a rental property for income.
For both types Saint John was by far the cheapest but so many of the rentals on the market looked pretty run down.
Fredericton was also do-able but wanting a home centrally situated left much less for the rental.
Centrally situated in Moncton was significantly less, leaving money for rental and some capital.

And now Moncton is the most expensive of the three.

scrubbedexpat143

Oh yeh, the snow. I had quite forgotten about that. Obviously my brain has wiped itself clean of the lesser aspects of New Brunswick living...

This said, OP should consider the (many) small towns in NB located within easy driving distances to the cities.

Also that winter conditions often mean or used to mean in my time there, '60s and '70s, there will be days when driving from home to one's office or other work place will be impossible or too difficult/dangerous due to ice and snow conditions.

I have friends in NB who "moved out" and have never regretted this decision. Small communities mean fewer convenient resources but also lower housing prices. I know one couple who live in Port Elgin and commute to Moncton where they both work. A long drive but the roads are now much better than they were in my time and they were able to negotiate four-day weeks in their respective offices in Moncton, so it suits them. They also shop for food and consumables in Moncton where prices are better. On weekends they garden in the summers, raise horses and pet goats and hang out with grandchildren and friends. I recall Port Elgin as small and very quiet but also very pleasant. The drive via Shediac is do-able. Now and then winter conditions mean even the highway are snowed out but they can stay with family in the city. So it's win-win for them.

Shediac and the Shediac Cape area are also Uber-commutable and an easy drive to Moncton. I personally would not consider the smaller places like Shellac Bridge or Cocagne as they are too small and gossipy for me, but some enjoy the "small-townness" and would probably like living there. Geographically they are well situated and quite pretty tho' their closeness to the water would make the winters too cold for me and the summers too humid for my liking. Just my druthers, of course. Spring and autumn are wonderful seasons and in my time there we often went canoeing up those two pretty rivers, the Scoudouc and the Shediac rivers to look at and photograph the gorgeous fall colors. The rivers out of Cocagne and Bouctouche are also attractive and well suited to leisurely rowing in canoes or other small water craft. I was never into winter sports but during the cold months one can amuse themselves with skiing, snowshoeing and that scourge of the landscape, the snow mobile. As we did when I lived there.

Saint John I've now completely lost contact with as I no longer know anyone there. IN my time (up to mid-'80s) it was widely seen as a bolt-hole for those who wanted inexpensive housing (often as not badly in need of repair and in one case of friends, a complete restoration which they did but eventually sold at a small loss as nobody would pay for all the work they had done). Fredericton is a civil servant town with all the advantages and disadvantages that entails. A lot of culture as it's the provincial capital but the downsides mean, well, civil service attitudes and middle-middle-middle classness which will suit some but I quite dislike. Everything boils down to money and too many I've known there (including many family members who went to "F'ton" for career advancement) came down with the classic accountants' mentality, they knew the the cost of every little thing but essentially the value of very little. This will suit some but it bored me. The art gallery and other cultural icons are well worth visiting, tho'.

If climate is a consideration most will consider Nova Scotia and especially the Halifax region and not New Brunswick. Also Prince Edward Island which as isolated as I always found it, has some very attractive towns (Charlottetown is quite unique in its architectural charm unless this has changed in the last 20-30 years and all the gorgeous old public buildings and streets of "period" houses have been demolished, which I for one would find regrettable).

Apologies if my comments have offended some but please bear in mind they are only one poster's opinions. I have family in NB who thrive on the many pastimes and pursuits available there - one lot of cousins and their children and grandchildren are planning to revitalize maple syrup making on what remains of my mother's family property out of Notre Dame in Kent County which my Acadian grandfather did until the '80s when he gave it up due to old age. So old traditions endure, which I think this is delightful. That and of course the megabuck$ they may make from selling maple syrup and the candy...

The usual disclaimer here. My MacBook keeps changing "Shediac" to Shellac. I've had to change this several times but it seems to go on replicating itself. Steve Job's revenge on the computer world he has now left behind, maybe to reprogram the big country beyond the clouds.

BristolUK

And today it's been announced the NB papers are cutting back to three paper editions a week. Weds, Thurs and Saturday.
It's been hard enough stretching Fri/Sat to Tuesday. Now I'm going to have to stretch Thurs to Fri and then Saturday's to Wednesday. What on earth am I going to read in the toilet now?

Tumbling_Dice

Not quite sure what you are after. Houses prices here are still nuts and you can quite often end up with a bit of a money pit, if some of the chit chat I hear is anything to go by. As for travel to the UK, Westject have announced they won't have flights from Halifax in 2023 and may return next year - won't hold my breath - which leaves AC to Heathrow and a seasonal flight to Frankfurt for now. The health service is in the crapper here - big time. The waiting list for a family doctor is getting longer, people are dying in ER rooms, having important appointments cancelled etc. The ambilance service is a similar mess.

It is a lovely place. Halifax is a great city and that Northumberland Shore is great in the summer with its lovely warm water. But you would really want to do some serious research into the practicalities of daily life before making a move.

Lychee

From my understanding, it's less about the weather and more about the length of the seasons. On Vancouver Island, you're not dealng with snow right now and it's fairly green. Your earliest spring flowers are starting to appear. That won't start to happen in the east until May. It will be March, April, and May in the east but it'll feel like January or February on Vancouver Island to you.

rivingtonpike

Hmmmm....
I suppose is what concerns us most is still the weather

• We like a quiet life, so being somewhat remote doesn't feel like a big issue
• We're already "stuck" on an island, so the notion of having to travel - before you can start your journey proper - isn't a new one
• I like the "tinkering in my garage/den" sort of weekend. My wife likes her crafts
• We like the garden/outside but we're by no means sporty runny jumpy types - I've never been skiiing in my life

Properties on MLS etc seem lovely. Do you guys think they're a fair representation of what you can buy for your buck? Are properties going for the prices being asked, or are these listed prices still somewhat ambitious?

BristolUK

There have been a few newspaper reports of offers having to exceed the listed price, but recently there have been reports of prices falling back.

I'm sure the "money pit" thing can happen everywhere but the "everything we hoped for" and "best decision we ever made" is not something that gets the same attention. Let's face it for what you can get for a house in BC you could buy something over here have it all fall down, have some hidden exclusion on insurance, clear the site and build a new house and still be quids in.

btar

Zolo reports shows house prices in Surrey BC have fallen by up to 47% over the past year with detached homes showing the biggest falls and condo's the least - Surrey Housing Market Report | February 2023 Real Estate Trends & Stats | Zolo.ca gives the details.
Stats for Vancouver city show some even bigger falls but also some in positive territory - Vancouver Housing Market Report | February 2023 Real Estate Trends & Stats | Zolo.ca

Grimnorth

Hi Guys, sorry have not been on here for a while.

We lived in NB for our first seven years and here in rural NS since 2016. Weather wise here we have micro climates, so in the last few years we have had little snow. I used my snow blower twice last year and once this. Our friends still in NB dig themselves out every few days.
We live in a small village called Noel on the cobequid bay. Our back yard is adjacent to Burntcoat head park https://www.burntcoatheadpark.ca/ . If you want quiet this is it. I go for coffee at the local garage where this month the big topic of conversation is how much sap they are getting and how much maple syrup it will make. There is a fire hall, community hall, Legion, post office and Charlie garage that's about it. Fire hall, community hall and Legion do events such as chase the ace, concerts and BBQ's. Plenty of groups for your wife to do her crafts.
We are about 30 minutes from Halifax airport which still has direct Heathrow flights in the summer. About the same 30-40 minutes to the local towns (supermarkets etc) and 50 minutes to Halifax.

Our main house is 4,000 Sq Foot Colonial home similar to those you may see in Maine etc (purchased 2015). There are some very nice areas to buy here, South Shore is gorgeous (some really really nice beach properties) but by NS terms expensive. We have a cottage (another house) in Phillips Harbour (Purchased 2021) on what is called the forgotten coast, Guysborough Country . It is gorgeous up there very similar to Maine etc. Ocean views and multi coloured forests as far as the eye can see.
Noel



Philips Harbour property

I mention this because you asked about value for money. We got change from $500K for the purchase of both properties. Property prices have gone up here but probably not as fast as the rest of the country, they are in fact slowing down now. Realtor.ca is a good reflection but a lot of the locals still sell privately here so they do not use a realtor.

Charlie who's garage I go to has a brother who has just moved back here from Vancouver Island. So he can probably advise of the in and outs of the move.

If you want us to research for you just message me.

Good luck