acer rose

New Westminster sprang to mind as it is cheaper than other nearby locations and has good transit connections. It seems to get a bad rap but I'm not sure it is fully justified. I've never lived there but several of my colleagues (fine, upstanding types) do. Their kids are doing well in school, model students, etc, etc. One of the good friends was born and raised in New Westminster - another fine upstanding citizen there.

There are bad areas so take a careful look at the neighbourhood before you commit to a lease.

I did live on the north shore until recently. There are some great family neighbourhoods and few really bad areas. You'll pay for the pleasure though.

No idea about Catholic schools. There are some and a couple of my friends attended Catholic schools in Vancouver but that was many years ago so information from them would probably be irrelevant and certainly out of date.

terese677

I live on the north shore , I have looked at many rentals here with a friend who was searching recently.
We didn't come across any houses for $2000 but there are many suites for $1500 to $2000 these are basement or upper parts of houses that are seperate
I have a friend whose children go to the local catholic school I was surprised by the fees hers are only little but the fees r around $400 er year per child but I imagine these would vary
Have a look at craigslist for an idea of rental prices
Good luck

ExKiwilass

I don't think NW has a bad rap any more - a know lots of people who have moved there.

The only thing to remember with a renting a cheap house is that it's probably going to be a dump/fixer. So you'll want to check it out first.

kiwi100

Hi I'm in a very similar situation!!!! Husband has a job in vancouver and the family will relocate feb/mar 2012. I have lots of questions if anyone can help that would be great.

1) Best areas/schools for a family of four to live child ages 7 & 1. we would prefer to rent for awhile our budget would be $2000 to $3000

2) If you don't have citizenship or residency however have a work visa do you have to pay for your child to go to public school e.g would they be classed as oversea's students until we got residency?

3) advise any real esate agents for HOUSE rentals not apartments.

4) What year would my son be heading into at school he will be 7 yrs old.

5) Can he enrol and start school anytime or will we have to wait for the begin of the new term

thanks heaps hope you can help

Boy d

I,m struggling to identify anywhere on the north shore as really bad? Granted some areas are not as nice as others, but i can't say anything particularly bad about them.

JonboyE

Some answers.

Alan2005

Buy a lottery ticket. Hope.

acer rose

Hence few really bad areas. If you want to avoid gang members for neighbours then don't move up into the Properties Otherwise, on the north shore I would not personally choose to live:

Anywhere on a major thoroughfare (Cap Road, Mountain Hwy) or rat run (e.g. Chesterfield, Garden Ave though the streets running parallel and perpendicular to Garden seem to be nice family areas see Norgate comment below).

Anywhere near the railway line.

In the area under LG bridge (FN land so I have no idea whether rentals are available but some of the mobile homes always seem to be up for sale) - noisy because of the bridge and the waste water treatment plant (sewage works) stinks at times. Nearby though, Norgate seems to be a nice family area and may be far enough away from the treatment plant that there's no smell.

Close to Hwy 1 in the area around the "Superstore" exit - very busy with traffic.

Maplewood - traffic noise and a bit too close to the industrial activity on the waterfront for my tastes.

Premier Street - tired, old (roomy townhouse) housing stock. Similarly, Westview Crescent looks family friendly and has large townhouses but that development is old and Westview Dr is busy. It may not matter to the OP that things are a bit tired but living with the damp (and some places on Premier St seemed to suffer badly from that) is not for everybody.

Plateau Drive (and the street on the other side of Hwy 1) - actually a very nice area but you have to live with the constant swoosh of highway traffic.

Just a block away from some of these are some very nice family-friendly areas and the above are based on my preferences. My particular bugbear is noise so LoLo, although considered a very chi-chi area these days, would not be for me. YMMV.

OP, if you do look at the north shore be aware that it is hilly in places and due to the cool, wet, winter climate black ice can become an issue that is much less fun on a 1:4 gradient road or driveway than you might think.

Boy d

Not exactly my definiton of "really bad" though. Based on the above examples it seems that this areas are best avoided due to older housing stock or traffic noise.

Personally, while I have not minded the north shore, I haven't really warmed to it. I lived in Lo Lo which is meh...a very cheap imitiation of the yaletown pretends to be. It's saving grace is the quay and access to downtown.

Oink

Yes it does, its a dump. And the schools, especially the high school are dreadful.

shhhh

We live just round the corner from a Catholic School on the N.Shore (Indian River), about 15 min walk down to the sea at Deep Cove, and literally backs onto the mountains for hiking/biking/skiing. Also easy enough to get downtown, so guess it ticks your boxes
It is a very nice place to live indeed, but not cheap (though compared to buying something off Cambie seems a bargain!). We bought a place because finding a decent rental house on the N. Shore is hard work.

el_richo

The OP has a $1500 a month budget though and needs 3 bedroom, etc.

Either their budget needs to rise to $2500 to open up many more opportunities or their expectations need to be lowered.




*My standards may differ from the OP

ExKiwilass

No it's not.

ladylord

Sweeping generalisation!!!! I think, because my neighbours aren't gang members and the views are lovely.

acer rose

<sigh> In the absence of a "tongue in cheek" smiley I used the "wink" smiley. Apologies for not adding the appropriate commentary <insert a rather frustrated tongue in cheek smiley here>

<genaralized whinge on>
<insert facepalm smiley> Why don't posters read what is actually written instead of replying to what they think a poster has written.

<wanders off to search, again, probably in vain, for a "whooshed over your head did it" smiley for future use>.