Re: Kelowna whats the catch?
 

Anyone know what would be deemed a good wage for the cost of living there? This job seems low, but hey, I'm in London at the moment!

Re: Kelowna whats the catch?
 

It is commutable BUT that road is quite dangerous in Winter and can add at least another 40mins on to that time, depending on the weather conditions.

Re: Kelowna whats the catch?
 

Good point. I've only ever done it in the Summer months.

Re: Kelowna whats the catch?
 

Is the whole valley relatively similar, or are there big ups and downs from town to town?

Re: Kelowna whats the catch?
 

I've heard there are plans to fix that. It will probably be done by the summer of '49.

Re: Kelowna whats the catch?
 

Been told that Vernon is one of the nicer places to live...

Re: Kelowna whats the catch?
 

I'll agree with that :thumbsup:

Re: Kelowna whats the catch?
 

Cost of living is similar to the UK. Take whatever salary you'd expect to live on outside of London, then multiply by 2 to convert to CA$ and you'll be in the right ball park.

Re: Kelowna whats the catch?
 

With regard to house prices?

Go north of Vernon to Kamloops and prices are lower, go south past Penticton and they get cheaper. Kamloops is more blue collar than Kelowna, and offers a good balance of salary/house prices if you can find a suitable job.

Re: Kelowna whats the catch?
 

That's true the highway runs through the centre of Kelowna and on both sides it's shops/malls and restraunts, but that is the only downside to the beautiful Okanagan Valley, and at the end of the day who actually emmigrates for nice shopping? the UK offers some of the best shopping in Europe but here we all are wanting away from the place, so apart from big city downtown Kelowna offers everything else.

Forgot to say I'm totally biased as we have three children 10,8 and 6 and we've fallen in love with this area and new within weeks of settling here that we will never go back to Scotland. (Sorry Mum)

Re: Kelowna whats the catch?
 

[QUOTE=Lamin;7501821]
So before we start looking any deeper is there a catch or was it just an over reaction to finally breaking away from a long harsh Calgary winter?

QUOTE]

Nice place to live, limited work prospects depending on what you do. Expensive and as others have said, big extremes between rich and poor. More so than I have seen in other towns/cities of a comparable size.

Has what I call the 'valley mentality' - insular and not particularly forward-thinking. It's who you know and not what you know here.

Having said all that it offers a great climate, great opportunities for outdoor activities and there's a lot to offer a family raising children.

Loving it for now, but can't say it'll be my forever home...

Re: Kelowna whats the catch?
 

We were also looking at Vernon, hubby's job is in Kelowna. But to be honest if you like driving then fine as the journey is about 45-50mins either way, however this will take relatively longer in the winter months. Mind you, it is all highway all the way and a beautiful drive with wonderful scenery.

Now with living in Kelowna - well we have been here for almost a year now and love it. We live in West Kelowna where you tend to get more house for less money then in Kelowna and the houses are not so close to each other that you can see your neighbour eating dinner! Yes people are friendly at the shops but trying to mix with other mums at schools is very difficult even for Canadians themselves who have just moved to the area. At swimming clubs with our kids we are completely ignored all the time when we say "hello" as many form very tight cliques. Yes, many people in Kelowna are stuck up their own arses but luckily for me I have managed to make a few friends and that is enough for me.

Like many others have said Kelowna is really expensive but to be honest I have got use to the prices now and with a new baby on the way, for us, this is a wonderful place to raise a family.

This is my view anyway and others may disagree.

Re: Kelowna whats the catch?
 

For the past 18 months I have driven from Vernon to Kelowna, five days a week for work. The highway is great but in the winter, the part around Predator Ridge was nasty with the winds. I would always see the accident of the day. I would suggest considering the Lake Country area which is halfway between the two places. Also known as Oyama and Winfield...Also, as for Kelowna, consider the bridge and which side of it you want to be living on...A number of my co-workers live there and some times it is easy to cross the bridge but all it takes is an accident or something like that and all the traffic stops.

Re: Kelowna whats the catch?
 

Since they built the new William Bennet Bridge cars no longer have this problem when an accident happens. The old bridge had only 3 lanes in total and now it has 2 lanes into Kelowna and 3 lanes out to Westside. Despite everyone's reservations in the beginning the bridge has turned out better than everyone expected. Driving over the bridge is not a problem at all the only problem is deciding if you want to live in Kelowna or Westside, now known as West Kelowna.:thumbsup:

Re: Kelowna whats the catch?
 

200 lakes within 2 hrs for the summer
9 skihills within 2hrs for the winter

Great people who seem to be from all over canada very few actualy seem to of been born here... And seems the rest of Canada comes for the Summer ... But then 10mins any direction and you out in the bush camping hunting biking fishing or whatever takes your fancy that day. Maybe the rest of Canada has this too but then we also got the great weather on top :thumbsup: