talk to me about vancouver and area....

[brookescott88]

hello,
we are considering a relocation from toronto to vancouver (where my husband would be working). we are a homeschooling family on a budget, we like the outdoors and are pretty crunchy. where would it be good for us to live?
is midwifery covered similar to ontario? is vancouver more expensive than toronto?
any imput would be great!
thanks so much!

[jilly]

I lived in the Lower Mainland five years back (just outside of Greater Vancouver) and I can give you a few ideas, anyway, though I haven't lived in Toronto, but I have family in Southern Ontario.

A few things to consider when deciding where to live:

Housing in Vancouver is very, very expensive, so I would look in the surrounding areas.

Public transit is not as efficient as it is in Toronto, although it is fairly easy to get into Vancouver if you are near a skytrain line. But unless they've extended it since I was there, the skytrain only goes to the edge of Vancouver. So, we used to live in Langley and I taught in Surrey and my husband was doing school and internships at UBC and in downtown Vancouver. We drove 45 min to get to the skytrain, then he had another hour and fifteen minutes to get from there to UBC.

If your dh would be driving to work you don't want to be crossing a bridge going with the majority of traffic during rush hour if you can help it. There are not enough bridges, and they get backed up like crazy, even if there are no accidents or stalls. But if you are going away from traffic (like, in Surrey there were a lot of teachers that commuted FROM Vancouver) it is not so bad.

That being said, most of the suburbs of Vancouver have a real focus on preserving green spaces, which means it is easy to find places to walk / hike / jog almost anywhere you live. The weather is beautiful, once you get used to the rain. There are a lot of cool, crunchy people once you find them.

I can't give you any actual info on housing prices or cost of living because I haven't lived there recently, but I hope that helps.

[Tjej]

Be sure to strongly consider the fact that it is a rain forest here. It is very gray and wet for many months (can you tell I am a transplant who still has a hard time with the weather?).

Live close to wherever your DH will work. Traffic is really terrible. Do you know where he'll be? I can give you more ideas if you have an area.

Vancouver has a very friendly vibe, and is beautiful.

Tjej

[Rhiannon Feimorgan]

I haven't lived in Vancouver or Toronto so I can't say how they compare but I can tell you that midwife care is fully covered by BC health care.

[Piglet68]

Well, being born and raised here I don't mind the rain, though the lack of sunlight during winter can make it hard on some people. OTOH, it is rarely ever truly cold here and I'd rather be a bit wet than freezing! I really can't handle the cold so it works for me!

Yes, housing is insanely expensive here, and commuting from the outer suburbs can be a real pain. It's hard to give advice not knowing what you are looking for. Do you want an urban neighbourhood with a small apartment, where you can walk for your errands and be close to transit? The Commerical Drive area is very crunchy, but frankly overall we BC-ers are a fairly crunchy lot! If you want a house and you don't have $700,000 or more to spend, then you will be far out in the 'burbs. Or if you like rural you could head out to the Valley (Mission, Chilliwack) but that's not too convenient if your hubby will be working in town. So basically the factors that would help us give you suggestions are 1) would your hubby be working downtown, at one of the Universities, or could he find work in the suburbs. And 2) what type of housing/neighbourhood do you want?