Standard of living in Vancouver

PB Forum :: Canada - West
Standard of living in Vancouver
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Posted: Jan 28, 2017 at 19:26 Quote
I have lived in the States my whole life, except the first couple months as I was born in Canada.

B.C. is a favorite of my wife and I for vacations and I consider a move every once in a while. I find the area very nice, the people friendly, the area beautiful, and the government more sane.

Lately I have been considering a move more seriously.

From what I read online, I have citizenship and so does my child. My wife doesn't. We are both high-tech workers which usually makes immigration easy as most countries want these skills.

But I am wondering about the cost of living. I looked at some salary surveys and they say the average for a software engineer is about 60k! Converted in USD, that would not even be close to what a fresh college grad makes in the states.
Then I looked at the average home price in Vancouver and see they are about a couple million! So it looks like our salaries would be cut in half, taxes would be a bit higher, and houses would be impossible to buy.

Are these number close to reality? Or is the picture not this bad? People look like they are doing OK when I visit there, really it feels similar to U.S. cities are far as houses and cars go so maybe I am missing something? Is rent for a condo/townhome in a decent area insanely expensive?

If anyone is in high tech, what would be a reasonable ballpark expectation for us? 1. C++/Java/C# developer with 15 years experience. 2. Technical marketing/big data person in software industry (mba, CS major, lots of software experience, etc)

We have thought about maybe just retiring in Canada instead, and I looked at the prices of Whistler condos. They seemed very reasonable for a resort community, so why is Vancouver so expensive.

Thanks

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Posted: Jan 28, 2017 at 20:47 Quote
Housing in Vancouver is very expensive but as you go farther out into the Fraser Valley the prices go down. If you don't mind being about an hour away from the city you can spend about 1/3 the cost and get 3x what you would get in the City.

As for computer technicians and programmers with experience I would expect it to be closer to $100k.

B.C. = Bring Cash

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Posted: Jan 30, 2017 at 11:01 Quote
Obviously it depends on your occupation and experience, but I do believe you generally make less and pay more here. I moved from Calgary, AB and ended up taking a pay cut and increasing my living expenses. The flip side is that I have a dozen or more epic riding spots within an hour including the North Shore (three mountains), Squamish and the Fraser Valley. Whistler is about two hours away, Bellingham is close by as well. For now, I'm very happy with this arrangement, but may reconsider when it's time to start a family/buy property.

Posted: Jan 30, 2017 at 11:33 Quote
Your numbers are more or less accurate. Home ownership will be out of reach for you in Vancouver unless you commute over an hour each way and even then it will be a stretch.

Posted: Feb 1, 2017 at 21:00 Quote
OK. Well I looked at houses for rent and they seem similar to Portland OR (2-3.5 k). Where I am from, generally rent would cost about the same as the mortgage to buy the home plus maybe a little extra for the landlord. It seem in Vancouver that renting would be way cheaper. I did brief research but it looked that way to me.

Is there some reason people would pay way more to buy a house then it would rent for?

A small house within 45 minutes of work (during heavy traffic) would be OK. Not sure exactly what that would cost. Would be real nice if I could ride the shore after work in the summer.

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Posted: Feb 10, 2017 at 16:02 Quote
NWRide wrote:
OK. Well I looked at houses for rent and they seem similar to Portland OR (2-3.5 k). Where I am from, generally rent would cost about the same as the mortgage to buy the home plus maybe a little extra for the landlord. It seem in Vancouver that renting would be way cheaper. I did brief research but it looked that way to me.

Is there some reason people would pay way more to buy a house then it would rent for?

A small house within 45 minutes of work (during heavy traffic) would be OK. Not sure exactly what that would cost. Would be real nice if I could ride the shore after work in the summer.

Vancouver housing market is one of the craziest in the world. Short side of it is there is a ton of foreign money flowing into the city into real estate as a form of tax havens or sheltering illegal money. So that drives housing prices up. It's a total mess - and only the super elite rich people can afford a house in Van. Riding the shore is sweet but honestly I only do it once a week in the summer after work. Traffic is always shit and it takes forever to get and from North Van if you live downtown, Mt Pleasant, etc. I'd way rather live in Squamish or Whistler.

Posted: Feb 11, 2017 at 7:41 Quote
If the sticker shock of YVR has you shaking your head, take a look at us across the pond here in YYJ. Tech scene is booming, house prices although still high are attainable, quality of life is great, weather is a TON better than Vancouver or Seattle, and the riding on Vancouver Island can easily hold its own. I'm not in the industry myself but a good number of my buds are.

Tech Job Board - http://www.viatec.ca/jobs?current_page=1&sort_type=featured_recent&filter=%7B%7D&display_type=default

http://betakit.com/celebrating-victorias-transformation-to-tectoria/

O+ FL
Posted: Feb 14, 2017 at 17:27 Quote
With your/wife experience you would be making at least 80-100k I would think, big data can be more depending on the role.

Don't bother thinking about owning a house here, the market is in correction mode so you are seeing prices at their peak. Renting makes much more sense.

Generally yes, salaries are low and costs are high. It only makes sense to live here if you truly take advantage of the lifestyle AND have a job that requires you to be in a big city. If you can work remotely then I would live up the Fraser valley, Sunshine Coast, Pemberton etc.

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Posted: Feb 18, 2017 at 23:29 Quote
To be honest, I think Vancouver as a city is overrate. Yes I live here (have for the last decade or so) and I own a condo. People are house broke here. I'm not sure how people can afford high end bikes...I'm not sure how I afford mine. Oh wait, I'm in debt. That's how.

As for politics, the mayor of Van is a moron and the premier of BC is pretty corrupt. We have issues here and we're taxed like nobody's business.

If you were to move up here, consider North Van or Squamish area. Traffic is so bad here that getting anywhere between 2pm and 7pm is a gong show.

What I found is people can afford the high rent (or just barely afford it), but can't put a down payment together because they're all going paycheque to paycheque.

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Posted: Mar 25, 2017 at 18:16 Quote
I used to live just outside the GVRD in Abbotsford. I knew a few people that bought houses there and then communted, but you are looking at an hour drive. As for why it is so expensive, I believe as stated above there are many taxes. Another reason I believe is the market has many international buyers who have a lot of money, creating a lot of competition (I watched on the local news about a year ago).

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