Re: When you first arrive
 

we stayed for a week or so with some friends we had met. We found a place we liked the look of on MLS , but we'd already done extensive research about the areas we were interested in, we'd already looked at this building specifically in the UK.

We rented for a year to see how we got on, extended for another year.

long story short, after 6 years we are buying the unit from our landlord.

Re: When you first arrive
 

I can confirm, through purely non-scientific testing with absolutely no control, that our cooker (also kenmore) and dishwasher (GE), both of which have stainless steel doors are also magnetophobic. So I postulate that they are made from austenitic stainless steel. I further advance the theory that all household appliances are made from that variant of stainless steel. Further research would be needed to establish what the reason is that appliance manufacturers use austenitic as opposed to ferritic stainless. I reckon there is a Phd project there for someone.;)

Re: When you first arrive
 

Tootle,
I have already haggled with them over;

Salary - increased
Holidays - increased
Pension - increased
ETO (earned time off) - increased length of service taken as having occurred to have this entitlement.
Healthcare provision - increased.

I don't want to seem like a greedy SOB, so I don't want to ask for any more ;)

The company is in Coquitlam, so I'm looking at property from there to around the Mission area, I believe there has been a lot of road improvements so the commute is not bad?

Thanks to everyone posting their experiences, its a great help and has given me some good ideas to try for my move, keep em coming! :)

Re: When you first arrive
 

It is a loooooooooong way from Coquitlam to Mission. Not just in kilometers.

Re: When you first arrive
 

Yes it is. Its not a pleasant commute even with the road improvements.

I've done Mission to Coquitlam, as well as Mission to YVR commutes and they were both horrible.

Would be better if you want to live in the Fraser Valley, to live in Langley or Abby and be close to Hwy 1.

Re: When you first arrive
 

Hmm, thanks for the feedback, food for thought. The type of property I want is large, with some 'acreage', which is tough to get closer to Coquitlam, I currently have around a one hour commute, so I was looking at something similar as my guide for max distance.
What is it about the commute that makes it so bad?

Re: When you first arrive
 

Not in my group there's not. It might be worth a poll though (I have a theory...). :) I could google but it'll be more fun to use the crowd research tool that is the BE collective.

Re: When you first arrive
 

It's not the commute as such. You get the choice of the Pitt River bridge that has recently been rebuilt, or pay the tolls and use the Golden Ears/Port Mann bridges. I am not sure whereabouts in Coquitlam you will be working but an hour should be OK - even from Mission.

Coquitlam is a relatively modern suburb of Vancouver. There are lots of people with different faces, there are blue collar and white collar workers, there are expensive houses and cheap houses as well as places to rent. For a suburb in Canada it has a touch of sophistication.

Mission is a Fraser Valley town, a smallish and out of the way Fraser Valley town at that.

They are very different.

Re: When you first arrive
 

We stayed in a serviced apartment on the 20th floor of a soulless tower block on Hurontario St in Mississauga, arranged through my work. The utter concrete wasteland of the surrounding area was incentive enough to get out and find a house to buy. We completed the house purchase a week after our belongings arrived in their container, but considered the extra week of storage a small price to pay for having found a decent house in a reasonable neighbourhood.

As to the more important subject of fridges and magnetophobic stainless steel, our (newish) fridge, a GE, has what is evidently an austenitic s/s front but powder-coated mild steel sides. The front bit is not magnetic, but the sides are. The fridge is on the end of a run of cabinets. The lower half of this side is covered in magnetic letters, farm animals, dinosaurs, butterflies, etc; the upper half has a local area map and a whole load of doubtless very important but rather elderly messages on it.

Curiously, the dishwasher, also stainless but much older and made by Kenmore, I think, is magnetic. But not very. Any but the lightest magnets fall off under their own weight when the dishwasher is open. Maybe that's the fcc-structured version, or bcc-stainless over a mild steel carcass, or something... The cooker, a hideous thing that's been on the "hurry up and break so we can justify getting a new one" list for years, is magnetic, but no amount of pretty magnets would make up for the vile cream and brown ugliness of the thing. And they'd melt or catch fire or something, so vilely ugly it remains.

Re: When you first arrive
 

Culturally Mission is a bit of a backwater. A backwater of cheap acreages, but a backwater nonetheless.

Re: When you first arrive
 

Another option if you live in Mission and work M-F 9-5 type schedule with holidays off, is to take West Coast Express, its nicer way to commute from Mission when compared to driving.

Its about a 50 minute ish train ride.

Re: When you first arrive
 

Good suggestion on the train, however, I will need to drive with my job :(

Re: When you first arrive
 

I haven't selected Mission as the place I want to live, I am looking from Coquitlam (where my job is) to Mission (the furthest I would travel) AND EVERYWHERE IN BETWEEN!

LOL :rofl: