kswoosh

Isolated areas. Downtown, maybe; there are a lot of 60s 'concrete block' condos in the West End. But its not all like that. Besides, any major city which went through a boom in population over a short period of time has the 'concrete block' housing because it was cheap and high-density.

Can't really argue with either of those... but I guess Van is a growing city, and the transit will only get better. That said, if you use buses rather than skytrain, there aren't many places you can't access easily. That said, there is a section of the underground, between Leicester Square and Covent Garden which is something around 300m and costs you £2.30.

With all due respect, this is completely innaccurate. Granted, I did think the same thing, but get out of downtown and you'll start to see real Vancouver. Hit up some of the bars on Main Street and the top end of Commerical Drive and then tell me it doesn't have a social scene. Downtown is crap, generic and overrated, but Main Street is eclectic, funky and interesting. If you think Van has a crap social scene, you're just looking in the wrong places.

But it also has awesome summers... which England does not. And besides, having Whistler 1.5hrs away trumps any argument anyone can have about the weather in winter. No, its not cheap, but then neither is a Bugatti Veyron; doesn't mean its not worth the money

They wouldn't. But you would pay less to live on Main Street and then not have to worry about getting your bag jacked on the way home from a night out.

I think what you need to appreciate is that Vancouver is a very transient city which appeals largely to 20-40 year olds. A lot of people come to Vancouver from the smaller cities in the Okanagan and on the island. Then when they get to an age where they want to have children and live in a house rather than a condo, they move back out either to their hometown or to the outskirts of Vancouver.

You need to decide what you would want - the city life, or the three bedroom detached house life.

dbd33

OK, I concede the bus to be reasonably priced.

Not sure about West Broadway but I don't think there's a lot on West 4th, at least not in the general area of Larch. I suppose we didn't walk the whole length of street so I'm quite dependent on the residents' opinion that "there's nothing much around here, not for shopping or going out". It's nice, very nice, but I expected somewhere like the Beach or Leslieville in Toronto rather than Oakville West. I don't think I'd want to live there without having a car.

Everything depends, of course, on expectation. To me, the case for Canada as an immigrant is twofold:

- political stability

- ability to have more stuff than at home

I don't think Vancouver works as a destination because it fails on the second point.

kswoosh

You move to Canada because its roughly a zillion times nicer than England.

If you don't think this to be the case, then there's not much point in entertaining the idea of coming.

I do understand your concerns though, it took me a good 9 months to fall in love with it, and then another 9 months to find my 'niche' and love it even more. Now, after 18 months of being here; I couldn't imagine living anywhere else.

ExKiwilass

sorry d but Commercial is changing...

ExKiwilass

having spent significant amounts of time in both places - Vancouver is nothing like NZ and vice versa. Van's better (imo).

lmartin999

I think when I first moved to Kits it probably held up on the second point. In 2000 I was being paid around $65K and a nice condo in the heart of Kits cost me not much over $200K. I recall having a decent amount of spare cash (at least enough to finance a number of dodgy cars). Were I to move back - salary would be prob be around $100K (or less) and the same condo over $600K.

JonboyE

For me it was:

- to live in the mountains by the sea
- to live in a fusion of Western and Asian cultures.

and Vancouver delivered.

Boy d

Really, seemed the same to me. My buddy's friend owns the timbre....that was close to year ago though.

ExKiwilass

believe it or not..it has changed a lot in teh past year.

there are fewer and fewer of the original portuguese/old italian businesses..it is getting trendy

Boy d

This is true and makes me wonder if it is worth it. My old condo bought in 1996 for about 170 is now worth about 600 k....nuts. The ex got it

I too had more buying power on a significantly lower salary....

Boy d

Oh...is that commercializing though....to me that means burger king, cactus club and Boston pizza....etc

el_richo

People are getting priced out East more and more these days so the "gentrification" is well under way.

It still makes me cringe when you look at Realtor.ca. You put in a $1M max price and there's a VERY obvious divide (houses) between east and west with Main or Fraser being the border.

JonboyE

As I heard it

Q what is the quickest way from the Westside to the Eastside?
A Invest in Nortel.

Boy d

Calgary police took over the nortel building.....swankiest polic station I have ever been in!

Boy d

The next area will be around the dtes...which has/is changing at a remarkable pace. 5 years or so and the place will be very different I suspect.

I really wish some sanity would return and I can one day live in my beloved kits, regardless of what dbd may think if the Place.