Possibly moving to Greater Vancouver Area, advice please.

[KrisYYC]

Hey all,

My mother and step-dad are seriously thinking about moving to the Vancouver area. They want to find a place with a finished basement that my brother and I can rent off them while we go to school. My mother doesn't really know which areas in the Greater Vancouver area are nice. She's a realtor and is close to retirement so distance from the downtown core is not an issue, though distance from UBC is slightly and issue depending on public transportation to UBC. Which areas are to be avoided and which areas are nice?

My mother has always wanted to live in Vancouver, but the prices were so high compared to Calgary in the past that she decided to stay in Calgary. Now that prices in Calgary are catching up to Vancouver fast, she'd rather live in a smaller place in Vancouver and enjoy the high quality of life. Another bonus is my real father currently lives in New Westminster, so I could see him more often.

Any info is greatly appreciated!

Thanks,

Kris

[SpongeG]

Prices even for something small in Vancouver are extremely high - just look at the MLS

as for criteria - Burnaby - central burnaby, even north burnaby would be good - both are close to skytrain lines - and there is bus service to UBC from the terminus station of VCC Clarke on the m line

Richmond is a possibility but its still a couple years until skytrain is up and running and i have no idea how well served it is for busses - there is a b line though and you could transfer easily to UBC

Nice areas
North Burnaby/Brentwood mall area

i really have no clue - I personally wouldn't want to live near metrowtown - its got a lot of crime - but than the south slope is decent and improving - roads anyway are nicer than a decade ago

Collingwood is nice but again lots of crime as is common in east vancouver

the west side - kits - shaugnessy - point grey would be the dream place to live - but even a fixer upper is in the $600,000 range if there is even anything that low price

the commercial drive area is really nice too - a little sketchy but lots of families there - the area in between say commercial - nanaimo - and vroadway and venables - anything further north than venables is less desirable

[204]

A nice relatively "undiscovered" area of Vancouver is the area bordered by Nanaimo/McGill/Renfrew/Hastings. A lot of character homes with families.

Google map (http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=renfrew+and+mcgill+vancouver,+bc&sll=49.286115,-123.052583&sspn=0.018755,0.039911&ie=UTF8&ll=49.287669,-123.04975&spn=0.009377,0.019956&t=h&z=16&om=1)

[squeezied]

do u mind telling us what price range you're family is willing to spend? a nice place comes with a big price - and thats an understatement. the avg detached house price in the westside of vancouver is 1.3 million, with ubc at the western tip. the eastside is half as expensive at the mid 600's, but some areas are lacking in character as a lot of houses are being torn down to make way for bland mass-produced houses(think suburbs, except the houses are smaller). the surrounding cities that are still convienient to commute to ubc, such as richmond, burnaby, and even north vancouver, are within the 700's to 800's range. but i think new westminster fits into ur criteria the best: the area has not (yet) lost its character and old-time charm by mass-produced suburban-type houses, close to your father, avg price(mid 500's) is close to that of calgary's, and the whole city is well connected to the skytrain.

i figure posting a map may be helpful :)
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/47/Vancouver_Location.png/724px-Vancouver_Location.png

here's the list of all the avg house prices: http://www.realtylink.org/hpi/rebgvhpistats.cfm?date=0707&TYPE=buyers
and envitably, you're gonna end up using this site: http://www.realtylink.org/

[KrisYYC]

Thanks for the replies so far. I spoke to my mother again. Larger townhouse or duplex is also acceptable. They can go pretty high in price as they'll have around $300,000 cash to put down on it. Plus their combined income is pretty high. I'd say their cap would be around $850,000. I'm not totally 100% sure though.

Last time I was in New West was probably 5 years ago. It was a bit... dumpy. At least the area where my father lives, near Ash street, I think... Has it changed since then?

[SpongeG]

new west - is getting better but its still the butt of jokes in the lower mainland

[jlousa]

I'd recommend the Collingwood/Joyce area, great access to Downtown and UBC, lots of amenity's and it's in Zone 1 so you save on transit. The area is steadily improving so investment wise it's a safer bet if your parents decide to move a few years later. Someone mentioned lots of crime as it's East van, I suggest you look at the stats available in the community policing office somepeople will be surprised to find the crime rate is very low.

[SpongeG]

theres lot of hookers just up along the kingsway stretch in collingwood

maybe south of kingsway - i have to admit is nice - but north of kingsway not so pretty

all hours of the day

[Canadian Mind]

Who said the kid dislikes hookers? ;)

[squeezied]

800's would give u a wide range of houses to choose from. wide bungalows in south vancouver to old well-kept houses in the highly desired westside of vancouver to newly-built and seriously overly-mass-produced houses in the eastside and suburbs(such as this: http://www.realtylink.org/prop_search/Detail.cfm?areatitle=Vancouver%20East&ARPK=236,233,241,245,244,242,235,240,246,239,247,237,855,432,238,234,243&ComID=&agentid=&MLS=V663302&rowc=5&rowp=1&BCD=GV&imdp=&RSPP=20&AIDL=243,234,238,432,855,237,247,239,246,240,235,242,244,245,241,233,236&SRTB=P_Price&ERTA=true&MNAGE=0&MXAGE=10&MNBT=1&MNBD=1&PTYTID=5&MNPRC=800000&MXPRC=900000&SCTP=RA).

[deasine]

I would say around Richmond is very nice... especailly the Tera Nova area (No. 1 rd). It's not the best location for Transit as in Vancouver. But if you connect yourself to Richmond Centre, there are many express buses that take you to Downtown, UBC, etc. It's a beautiful and quiet neighboorhood. I think buses come no longer than every 15 min on weekdays for you to connect yourself with Richmond Centre...

[crazyjoeda]

I would look for a place between Cambie and Granville south of 49th, you may be able to find somthing decent for $850,000 in that area. That is a nice, safe area on the Westside which is generaly less expensive. It has good public transit and is only about 25min bus ride to UBC.

[Coldrsx]

800,000 gets you a nice townhouse at UBC...but also you could be in much of point grey if you want a condo or townhouse. Also kerrisdale.

check out "hampton place", we have a condo there,(16th and westbrook mall)...across the street from UBC, amazing area, near water, beaches....and you can find 2bdrm condos for 500-700,000...

[KrisYYC]

Thanks for all the tips guys! We're browsing like crazy right now on msl.ca

Mom is planning a trip out to look at certain areas in person. It seems like there's a ton of listings on the market right now.

Thanks again!

[SpongeG]

the market is quite insane here

soemtimes you have to get so specific on mls as there are usually too many results