ExKiwilass

I really don't think foreign ownership restrictions will work. they are easy to get around for people with contacts and $$. There just needs to be more supply, and some people need to get over the fact they are somehow owed a single family home in Vancouver.

JonboyE

Yes, the easiest thing in the world to get around. Foreigners are not allowed to own real estate withing 50 kms of the coast of Mexico, for example. So they form a Mexican trust to hold legal ownership whilst they have the beneficial ownership.

scilly

yes indeed!

scrubbedexpat091

Vancouver is the New York of Canada, once people realize this that only wealthy can own a home (those buying in today's market, not in the past) and everyone else will be renters, life will move on.

scrubbedexpat091

We have work experience but no qualifications that are in any demand, well none above grade 12. The kinds of jobs I can get, no company is going to waste time on someone out of town for interviews and such, we tried be significantly last year in Abbotsford, and got a few responses but they were all once you move here then apply again.

Well we can't move without jobs, and that is the catch 22. Need a job to move, companies don't want to deal with you if your not a local applicant.


There are some things we are willing to sacrifice but no matter where you end up, you still need to be happy in your new location, and the places in Canada we can afford are not places we would be remotely happy in.

We see no appeal to Manitoba or Saskatchewan, nor Quebec, and Ontario isn't much cheaper then BC is the regions we like.

Our best bet is the Island, assuming we can ever get decent jobs on our current education level which is a long shot.

We need to make about 8 per hour more each to buy on the island.

ExKiwilass

CONDOS ARE AFFORDABLE.

could this happen here or is it already?

Slum squeeze: overseas students taking turns to sleep in overcrowded Melbourne high rises

ExKiwilass

https://reflectingvancouver.wordpres...-in-vancouver/

good blog. I agree with him.

Moses2013

What about retraining, or reconsider the US again? I know you said due to health issues the US isn't a choice, but if you can save thousands a year on housing might make up for the cost of health insurance. I still can't believe that there is no affordable land somewhere in Canada, not too far from a city? I'm currently looking at alternative types of housing for a plot of land we have and you can get a whole smaller type house for 50K.

el_richo

Vancouver is in a bubble due to low rates, CMHC, foreign folks, realtor spin, realtor sponsored media, stupid people, and so on. It's not different here. Relax.

Former Lancastrian

So apart from the almost 6 months of winter with sometimes bone chilling minus 40C temps for several days at a time, acres of flat land style tundra, no ocean and mosquitos galore what is not appealing about the Prairies i.e. east of Calgary.
Have you ever been to Manitoba or Saskatchewan?
I mean its not like people choose to live there for cheaper housing, similar wages to the big cities, not feeling like you are living in a concrete urban jungle unless living in the downtown cores of Regina, Saskatoon, Moose Jaw, Brandon, Portage La Prairie or Winnipeg. Oceans sure but there are several lakes that have great beaches. OK I will give you the no mountains but how often do you climb them or is it a case of just looking at them or peering through the fog and mist and thinking yes there is a mountain behind those dark grey skies.

ExKiwilass

then why not Calgary or Edmonton? 5 of those factors are there too.

el_richo

The main difference? Fear and a good dose of cold water to wake them up

Also, it's Vancouver and Toronto's turn soon.

scrubbedexpat091

I've been through Manitoba and Saskatchewan and neither appealed to me, both are too flat, both are too cold in winter and too hot in summer and humid from what I can tell.

They are also far from a useful US city making getting back to California difficult and pricey and with parents getting older, I'd like to be able to make more frequent trips there.

Plus my spouse is on disability and neither of those provinces from what I can see would provide the same support she receives in BC, mostly medical costs being covered and nothing out of pocket, her medication is very pricey.


If I could gain substantial income by moving there, another story, but that is not likely and I'd be in the same income bracket there as here, and while housing would be cheaper, medications, and other items would cost more eating up any savings, and still being in the same boat. So may as well stay in BC.



Thing with the US is, where cheap housing is wages tend to be very low in the jobs I'd get, think 7.50-9 per hour, so while things would be cheaper in those regions, wages are lower, and thus really no benefit.

I did that a couple times when I lived there, move to cheaper housing, but my wage then went down, and at the end of the day, was no better off because of lower wages.

If I could maintain my current wage in one of those low cost regions, it would be doable, but its not at the prevailing wages for the jobs I would be able to obtain.

Also don't even know if the US would permit my wife to immigrate due to health stuff, not sure how they view mental illness and immigrating.

But it's something we have not written off, its just not in the cards until I have citizenship here in the event we ever wanted to come back.



We are looking into retraining and education, hurdle is math which pretty much every program requires some level of math no lower then Grade 12, so I working on trying to get the math skills needed to test at a grade 12 level, currently I am working on a grade 7 math book, and some of the stuff in there confuses me, I don't recall that kind of math in that grade, me thinks Canada has tougher math requirements for students....


School is in the works once I have the necessary basic grade 12 classes in line and done since pretty much all will want grade 12 math and English, and since I didn't go to school in BC or Canada and California curriculum was bad, I have no grade 12 equivalent of either of those classes.

School is in the plans, also have to figure out what would be the best bang for the buck tuition wise, what would bring in the most income the quickest since it will require substantial debt to do school.


I don't have the personality conducive to moving up corporate ladders which is another issue, I am a very quiet person who doesn't do well in competition with others which I am sure doesn't help me. Quiet people no matter how good a job they do, and how well they perform, tend to be overlooked in the workplace in a large company.

I've been working for smallish companies the last year or so, while easier to stand out, there is also nowhere to move since there is no management or advancement opportunities since the owners deal with everything themselves in this size of company, so there is nowhere to move.

I am as high up as I can get in my current field since hotel management isn't my cup of tea and that is all there is left past the front desk.

scrubbedexpat091

I don't know if it's that bad, however there are plenty of people renting beds in living rooms, and places with bunk beds of 2 or 4 in each bedroom with people living in them.

See those ads more for down town then for the outer area's of Vancouver though.

Haven't heard of shift sleeping though.

I agree condos are affordable, reality is even in Squamish we could buy a condo with the same monthly cost as our current rent, but banks wouldn't loan the money on our income though without a pretty high down payment, and we don't have a down payment, so it's moot anyway.

Probably better in the long run because of the IRS for us not to own anything of value, and have no assets or investments.

JuneSpring

How can you be so sure, apparently people have been saying that for 10 years....