Re: how do you pick a location to live?
 

I tried to cope with the cold winter in Grande Prairie,AB and quickly found out that it was not for me.So moved to wet Vancouver ASAP ,willing to change job to suit the job market, that was in 1981 when they were laying off nurses.
That was the period when interest rate was over 20% ,we were in
recession and high unemployment.

I came from a tropical island of Penang, Malaysia ,the threat of drought and water rationing while growing up there must have an impact on me .
The rainy weather in Vancouver is ideal for me.:)

Re: how do you pick a location to live?
 

If locale to work is not an issue, as is my case as well, then drive around and take a look. Even then you may not get it right first time. Wherever you decide on rent for at least 6 months, this give more flexibility and a chance to look around a lot more than for 2 weeks.

Depends on how rural you want and how much or a commute. There are many rural/Semi rural communities in and around Vancouver that might be worth a look in nor particular order, Squamish, Langley, Abbotsford, Chilliwack, Fort Langley, South Surrey, Pitt Meadows to name a few. What appeals to one might not appeal to another. Personaly, Abbotsford, where we are now or Chilliwack would suit us best.

Re: how do you pick a location to live?
 

hi sir
im going to ask for sum advise coz the oh offered a job in richmond, just wondering what is like living there, in terms of crime rate. Is it safe to live in richmond with children ages 3 and 10. how bout educatiion?

thanks in advance

dpl5

[QUO=dboy;7475964]I live in Vancouver (been here 16 years) and can answer questions in that regard. As already noted, work is goning to be a huge factor. Construction jobs are way down at the moment, due to the economy. Still a lot of cranes about though.

Housing is very expensive in Vancouver - probably as high as anywhere in the uk (other than central london) and may be a factor in your decision. Although rent is reasonable when compared to the cost of real estate - i compared vancouver to city centre manchester and found not much difference. In Vancouver though you don't have to be pay council tax (property tax) if you rent and most bills other than phone/cable are included in the rent, so overall a little more affordable.

Anyway feel free to ask me any questions.[/QUOTE]

Re: how do you pick a location to live?
 

hi sir dboy
im going to ask for sum advise coz the oh offered a job in richmond, just wondering what is like living there, in terms of crime rate. Is it safe to live in richmond with children ages 3 and 10. how bout educatiion?

thanks in advance

dpl5

[QUO=dboy;7475964]I live in Vancouver (been here 16 years) and can answer questions in that regard. As already noted, work is goning to be a huge factor. Construction jobs are way down at the moment, due to the economy. Still a lot of cranes about though.

Housing is very expensive in Vancouver - probably as high as anywhere in the uk (other than central london) and may be a factor in your decision. Although rent is reasonable when compared to the cost of real estate - i compared vancouver to city centre manchester and found not much difference. In Vancouver though you don't have to be pay council tax (property tax) if you rent and most bills other than phone/cable are included in the rent, so overall a little more affordable.

Anyway feel free to ask me any questions.[/QUOTE]

Re: how do you pick a location to live?
 

thanks guys. the plan is that dh will go and do a recce, hopefully get a job offer or two ( he is highly qualified in his field) and have a look about, also he ill take the tests he has to do to get his canadian crane licence. we have spoken to the relevent bods and they just need his flight details to book him in, then we will all move out there for a grand experiement. if we hate it we will move, if we still hate it we will think then about going back to uk, but both of us are committed to trying something new, ideally id love to go out on the recce with him but childcare prohibits it , maybe ill go out before we move to check out the areas.

the problem with jet a job, move near it, is that it is hard to get a job unless you are there on the doorstep knocking, esp in cranes, they tend not to advertise cos there are a core group of drivers who can do it and they tend to switch from one company to another.

without a job, we have to prove we have a spare $20k, and i have checked my other handbag - its not in there either! :thumbdown: so its job, or no visa for us. BTW, anyone need a highly qualified easy going safety concious crane driver for their crane firm?:thumbup:

Re: how do you pick a location to live?
 

Let me try and get in touch with my friend in Vancouver (Pitt Meadows) this week. He's a crane driver (works on the docks loading and off loading containers from ships) and earns very good money doing it too. I know it's a clique working environment but will see if he has any pointers or knows of any opptys.

Re: how do you pick a location to live?
 

if we still hate it we will think then about going back to uk,

How can you not hate it :D.....I am sure once you get settled you will just love the place........so very different to the UK (in my opinion anyway) ;)

Re: how do you pick a location to live?
 

Hey dboy,

My Partner and I are coming over to Vancouver on a recce in July. We've been before but that was all before we applied, did a load of form filling and then got out med requests...

At two twenty somethings we were thinking of living in the city or there abouts when we do come. Would you recommend any other areas to take a look at?

Cheers,

J

Re: how do you pick a location to live?
 

Trip through the Okanagan, rockies to calagary.....amazing.

Re: how do you pick a location to live?
 

How did you know?

Actually our route is a week in Vancouver, 3 days in Victoria, up to Whistler and across from there with a final few days in Calgary via dinner in Okotoks...

Can't wait!

Re: how do you pick a location to live?
 

You can get it wrong, even with lots of research. We lobbied for the Toronto area because that was where we thought my best chances of finding a job were. I didn't and Souvette hated the place. Four years later we moved to Ottawa-Gatineau, which is where the military had wanted to post her in the first place. She's now well into her second career and I got a full-time jobs months after we arrived here (admittedly one that isn't very local).

Funny old life.

Re: how do you pick a location to live?
 

thanks mate appreciate it. basically all we need is an offer of a job to fulfil the visa terms, hubby is planning on his recce in early june im hoping to join him now childcare is possibly sorted but its £400 return per person for flights (using air transat) and im not sure we can spare the £400 just so i can go sightseeing.

being realistic, dh has lived abroad before, he was an army brat and lived in malaysia, singapore etc, so he can deal, i have always been very close to my folkes, in fact i still live within 40 miles of where i was born. also he is talking about me having to leave behind some of my scrapbooking stuff :curse: silly man... LOL. but realistically, we both want to try something new, get an adventure, the kids are 9 and 7 and are of an age when they will hopefully adapt ( altho 9yo has aspergers so may find it harder than little one) if we hate it we come home, but we just might love it, we might decide this is us for ever and become canadian, eh? and if you never try you will never know huh?

Re: how do you pick a location to live?
 

We moved to Sasktachewan sight unseen, in fact had only ever been to Niagra Falls a zillion years ago.

We've been in Regina Beach 18 months arrived with 2 suitcases and a dog- we are lucky it worked for us.

Good luck it whatever you choose. :thumbup:

Re: how do you pick a location to live?
 

I have worked in Richmond for eight of the last ten years and in my opinion it is a fine place to live. It is very mixed demographically. As far as I am aware it has a low crime rate. Schools are good but there will be many children who's first language is not English. Some English speaking immigrants don't like that.

Re: how do you pick a location to live?
 

It all depends where you can get a job to be honest. Myself and my partner were never too keen either on big cities and had originally targeted the Kelowna, BC area but he got offered a job in Edmonton so that's where we came. We don't live in Edmonton but we like the city and it's not some sorta chaotic, busy city or not that we've seen anyway. We came here having never visited Canada from a small village in Northern Ireland and we have settled in nicely but yeah your never really sure if your gonna like it, even on a holiday.