I thought I would start a new thread since the other was getting into the infamous 'more replies below current depth' stuff which personally makes me nutty.
Anyway [SIZE=6][B]SOLD![/B][/SIZE] official done! I can cook stinky food! I can leave my underwear on the floor and a bra hanging on the doorknob if I want!:bliss:
So, now what should I do? I am open to all experiences. If you recall this saga began with me wanting a shorter winter and so BC is the destination. I have some places in mind but think the best bet is a road trip to check out all I can between here and the island. My thought is to rent for now until I make up my mind whether I have found the right place or not.
I give over this house the end of Oct. so I have a bit of time. Do I do the road trip for mid Sept or later do you think? I mean if I go too early, will do you think I will find a place to rent for Nov?
Job 1 right now is to figure out a new Mac since mine is obsolete and needs replacing and since they can take up to 6 weeks to get, I need to do that now.
So help me with a list...what is job 2 etc. and when do you think the best time for me to get Eb in the car and head west for a scouting trip would be?
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Yes, and that is why I mentioned Costco etc. as it seems to me there are a lot of people here who would understand why that might be. Sort of like when I go to the dog forums and start questioning about vets and parks and general attitude towards dogs (apparently Kelowna is not the most dog friendly city compared to other places for instance) as that is important to me.
When are kids were small we looked at places if there was a hockey rink close by and everyone thought that was funny so I guess it is what is important to you at the time.
I didn't mean that as a criticism of your research skills, DBD, far from it! I just thought it was funny that we all provide advice to each other on the basis that, "you would like it there because it has a Homesense" or "you wouldn't enjoy that place, there's no Costco"!
I have only one question -- do you think this is the only forum on the web that provides relocation advice based on proximity to Costco and Homesense?
:D
ROTFLMAO, too funny. Well our creature comforts are important and I know whenever I go to the U.S. I need to know where the closest Target and TJ Maxx are. What would be the point in moving somewhere when your favourite store was 2 hours away? Look at JanetC's predicament with shopping. Shoppers have different priorities than other people I suppose, but it's all good. It wouldn't bother me in the least if I moved to an area where there were no sports facilities or libraries even, as long as there was a Homesense, HD, big grocery store near by I would be pretty happy.
I have only one question -- do you think this is the only forum on the web that provides relocation advice based on proximity to Costco and Homesense?
:D
Uh, no. It's one source though and one I find helpful for various reasons. If anyone knows how to google it's me.
Congratulations and good luck, DBD. I have no advice, having only lived in Quebec and Ontario my whole life.
I have only one question -- do you think this is the only forum on the web that provides relocation advice based on proximity to Costco and Homesense?
:D
Congratulations!
I cant help you but it will be a nice aventure.
I've spent time in both Kamloops and Kelowna, and if it were me I would pick Kelowna without even a second thought. Kamloops has Costco and Home Depot, etc., as does Kelowna, but Kelowna has more, and has so many great little unique shops and stores and restaurants I think I could shop everyday for a year and still not see it all. It has a great "old main street" that can easily be walked end to end, nice antique shops, yet all the "big box" and discount stores I would need.
Kelowna also has good vet services, and a homeopathic vet that people go from Kamloops to Kelowna to see.
It's not a small town, it's a city, but it has a small town feel, and has lots of different quaint and quirky neighbourhoods with wonderful old character homes.
The biggest issue you would face in the Okanagan (Kelowna or Kamloops or anywhere around them) would be the hot month or so in the summer. Both have dog beaches for pups to cool off, and great human beaches too, Kamloops on the river and Kelowna on the lake.
I'd suggest you contact a realtor in every city you are thinking about. They can narrow down the search for you. All these places are so big. Even a small place it can be hard to pin point the crime areas.
Hard to put a label on any particular area of a city. There are always different pockets unless it happens to be very up on down scale.
Pearl's link seems similar to the little bit I know about Victoria. Esquimalt used to be considered rough. Sydney is a popular location though parts are under the flight path. Saanich is generally very good.
Vancouver - the East end is generally not considered good but if regentrification is happening ....... Some places have a bad rep then others are considered very rich and you still might have a grow op next door. There are some Vancouver members here who would know specifics better than I do.
Kelowna & Kamloops have some crime around the city centres but again there are nice areas too.
Even where I live, I was driving down a street with lots of houses for sale. A stranger would never know that there are always [I]lots[/I] of houses for sale on this street. It doesn't appear busy but is actually a semi-major artery for traffic flow. Once school starts up it is even busier. That is the kind of thing you might want to discuss with the realtor.
Thanks for the info.
Airport isn't that important to me at the moment.
Can anyone tell me the areas to avoid/check that are beside/in/near Kelowna, Kamloops, Vancouver, Victoria? When I look on the MLS I have no idea what areas I should be looking at (in other words which are the dive areas and which are the nice ones but not overly expensive).
I've seen mention for instance that the west side of Victoria is one to look at but really with all the areas around these places and my not being familiar at all it's a little daunting to figure out from this distance.
If you want to be near a Costco, I'd recommend Kelowna or Kamloops. There are smaller cities near here, but travel time is about 45 minutes minimum, more like 1 hour because of the heavy traffic & narrow, winding roads. The other place is Victoria & it has more smaller cities outside it. Not sure if these would feel like suburbia to you.
Do you need to be near an airport for trips back to Calgary? Or will you be driving because of Ebony? If return car trips to Alberta will be happening, then I'd stick to Kelowna or Kamloops.
Are you a walker? If so, Kamloops has some flat areas in the DTarea of city. Kelowna has more flat land.
Both have good medical care for you & Ebony. There are lots of naturopaths - not sure if they are covered by basic medical.
Just a warning - the valleys do fog in during the winter. For some prairie people this is hard to get used to. Advice is to take a drive up a (ski) hill and enjoy the sun for a few hours. It gets you through the doldrums. Frankly I'll take a shorter, easier winter over what you've had in the past years in Alberta.
Any specific questions, feel free to ask.
I don't really have any requirement to be near downtown Vancouver or downtown anywhere really (I live a few blocks from downtown here which was nice when I worked DT but since, I rarely have any need to go there for any reason on a regular basis it's more of an area I simply pass through on the way to other parts). It's more about having what I need fairly close (say within a half hour or less) and that would be groceries, doctor/vet, parks. Just the normal stuff. Being so used to having pretty much whatever I need within Calgary, I don't want to be having to do a monthly type trip just to pick up paint or to go to Costco or be stuck because there is no whatever I happen to need within half an hour drive or so.
Given how even smaller towns/cities have most of that sort of thing I have no problem considering the smaller places. I have zero requirement to be near ocean since it's not something I'm used to anyway.
A bad day in BC is still better than a good day anywhere else! ;)
That must have been written by Tourism BC.
Still it boils down to what you want - water or land. If it's water the coast or the island have lots of very nice options - a ferry ride away from everything!
On the island I always liked the Port Alberni area because it was close to Nanimo and the ferry and wasn't too far from Victoria. Housing prices would be less than the other areas. Tofino would also be nice, but it is touristy thanks to the whales while PA is on the way to there.
Sunshine Coast is also spectacular. North of Sechelt is Half Moon Bay and is also very pretty - all the way along the coast here is nice - even Sechelt or Gibsons for that matter. I'd love to live there.This is still a ferrry ride to Vancouver though albeit very enjoyable.
In the Okanagan everything centres around Kelowna and all of the centres away from there would be my choice. I liked Penticton and Vernon is nice as well.
Inland will give you four seasons - moderate ones for the most part and the coast will give you two seasons - eight months of rain and four months of dampness with a little sun in between. And despite that, the coast would still be my choice. I think the Sunshine Coast is callng me! :D
I think that you will have a lot of ground to cover in one short trip unless you narrow it down a little before you come. There are many different areas in BC and they each have unique traits.
The Island is nice but as mentioned before some people feel trapped by needing to take a ferry to a concert/big game or downtown shopping. Some people love being that ferry ride away.
The outskirts of Vancouver are nice if you like to travel to the city occasionally but don't want the expense of downtown living.
Towns mentioned such as Kamloops, Kelowna etc are also very nice but if you are interested in being able to go downtown they are quite the drive (3-4 hours).
I think the question to ask yourself is....How close do you want to be to downtown Vancouver? That may help narrow your search. Also, what would you like to population of the town you are living in to be? I am sure that online you can search the population number and also the demographics of each area.
Once you have an idea Google Earth is always a good tool to see what the lay of the land is like in particular areas. I have lived in BC for awhile as have many on this site. Feel free to message me if you are interested in more specific info.
I knew you were selling, and wow actually starting a whole new life. Sounds so exciting DBD. Good for you!!!! :bliss: I wish i could say we were selling our house and moving on, two years and still trying to adjust. :)
All the best to ya girl!
smiles
janet
I would do your homework ahead of time and plan on buying somewhere that makes sense to you. You have to decide if you want mainland or island. From what I understand everything on the island is more expensive because it has to be shipped over there pretty much so factor that into things.
[COLOR=Magenta][SIZE=6]Congratulations ! [/SIZE] [/COLOR]
:confetti: :bliss: :clapping:
[COLOR=Teal][SIZE=3][I]"What do you think is an adequate amount of time to check a place/area out?"[/I][/SIZE][/COLOR]
We moved from Niagara to Chatham (about 4 or 5 hours drive) in the spring; I checked out the internet - tourism, Chamber of Commerce, city, hospital, public transportation, long-distance buses/trains, watched Kijiji and Freecycle, probably a few others; checked for drug stores, grocery stores, Can Tire, Home Depot, WalMart etc; I checked the MLS listings, found a dozen or so that would suit us, sent the addresses to zoning dept. at city hall and got the zoning back, only 2 were zoned commercial (which we wanted); our realtor drove us down one day to look at one house; within 10 minutes of walking in the front door, I signed the offer (on my now kitchen countertop), she walked it down to the vendor's realtor, and we went for lunch before going home.
All told, I was probably in the town less than 1 hour! We did our homework before we came here, and we just love it, no regrets. And, as planned, we can cycle just about everywhere we need to go, nothing is far.
Congratulations - Can't help with the road trip or where to settle in BC but this is a lovely time of year to see this amazing country of ours. Hope you find somewhere soon then we can all possibly help with the decorating. Good luck.
Victoria area and the island are great but there is always the ferry also some people moving from the prairies find the island to confineing. If you need to be close to a Costco and that is high on your list then anywhere in the Kootenays is out we don't have one here the closest is Kelowna or Calgary. There is a Costco in Langford which is a suburb of Victoria and you would want to be on that side of Victoria not the Sidney side. My BIL lives in Sidney and it is a very nice area sleepy little community that is very walker friendly but not close to Costco and you have to drive the Pat Bay to get there so they never go. If you go on the other side of the Malahat you can go to Naniamo for Costco. I think if you go for 2 weeks and look around and then rent a place on the1st of the month for the 1st of Nov and then you have a month to pack. Your realtor maybe able to put you in touch with a realtor there and they may have rentals but the local paper is probably your best source. I would get letters from my banker and anyone else such as Telephone cable anything like that since you haven't rented. Be prepared for a larger deposit because of no references also be prepared that dogs aren't always welcome. Try to stay maybe in a B&B to get a feel for the town and the owners are locals that maybe to give you inside info on the the town. Good luck
How about some more detail.
The clearing exercise was done before I put the house up and most of my stuff is already packed in boxes so I just need to worry about the remainders. I can do that later I think.
I am a little concerned about how one rents when they haven't rented in about 20 years. I just don't have references for that sort of thing any more but I really can't remember ever really having to supply one before. Seems to me they used credit ratings or something but I admit no real memory of how that worked. I wonder if a REaltor/agent could help me find a rental. Anyone know if they do that sort of thing?
MY idea of 'wouldn't this be the ideal way for things to work' is to do road trip to check out the interior and coast (I have been checking websites and getting ideas for the past few months), find a place that just says 'this is right' and being able to arrange a rental. All in one trip...then come back and spend Oct. getting ready to move. Pipe dream maybe. That would save me having to arrange for a POD for my furniture if I have to move before having a location.
What do you think is an adequate amount of time to check a place/area out? Typically there have been places where I've driven into or stayed overnight and thought 'yuck' or 'nice place to live' but I can't say I've ever had to verify whether those feelings were accurate or not. There are so many places so close to each other in the interior should I just plan on staying a while in one and driving into the others or should I stay in various places within the area while getting the feel for a place?
the other area that is getting my attention is around Victoria. I have no idea what all is out there but if not right in the city, there seems to be a lot of smaller places close enough that there may be possibilities there.
As well as the typical list which for me includes having some conveniences I'm used to within say half an hour drive or so (like a Costco) one thing I found out yesterday for instance is Kelowna is not very dog friendly in providing off leashes and other things for dogs so that is now going to be a criteria for me to watch for.
Congratulations! Really happy for you...must be such a relief to have the SOLD sign outside. :)
We moved out to BC about 4.5 years ago from Toronto and rented for a little over a year before buying. We ended up renting in burbs and i really regret not renting a little condo downtown for a while we had the chance- needed a house later (space) so i don't see us moving into a condo anytime soon. If you'd like to ask any questions about areas etc you can send me a message. I've gotten pretty familiar with the places out here. Good luck in your search.
[[SIZE=4]Congratulations[/SIZE]
I too would book a road trip by mid Sept. This way you know where you are going to be and focus your packing etc to that destination. Renting is a good idea to get a feel for the area with no strings attached.
Start making your lists :)
CONGRATULATIONS!!!DBD,Sorry I can't help you with the road trip, absolutely no experience in that department...All the best in your new life venture.
I would think by now, what with all of that C/S time on your hands, you must have some areas in mind where you would like to live. Maybe not specifics until you get there and get a feel..you did mention before what your priorities were so maybe sharing them again with us can renew the look.
Personally I think many of the places around Kelowna would be ideal. Kelowna has gotten very expensive, but Vernon, Cranbrook, etc are all nice little spots.
We did something very much like that when we sold but we didn't have time to look around we only had 30 days to move out. So we first arranged for storage of our things and that wasn't easy to find a place to hold all our things, then we hit the road. We when to 2 different places that we thought we would like and stayed there for about a week and found we weren't going to stay. If you don't need a place until the end of Oct I would be on the road by the middle of Sept so you can decide where you want to go and then you can look for the rental. There is so sense in looking for a rental if you don't like it there. You will need to book the moving company well in advance so you need to know where to tell them you are going and remember of course they are busy on the last day of the month. You will get a better deal if you can move anytime other than the end of the month. Good luck and if you come to my little town give me a call. Remember we have fiberoptic internet and it is the fastest going. Plus houses are plentiful with the mill closure.
Wow - congratulations.
So - you want to do the road trip, figure out which town is going to be home, and rent something all in one trip?
Jeez - you must be superwoman!
It's usually one month's notice, but I don't know how long it will take you to visit everywhere and make a decision. Some of it you can do online - you can look at what the climate is usually like, how much precipitation, house prices, neighbourhoods. Any questions can probably be answered by someone here - lots of us are BCites.
The interior has hotter summers and colder winters than the coast - I think the coastal climate might be more to your liking if the housing prices are in your range. Victoria is beautiful and has the milder climate.
Congratulations DBD and Eb! Looking forward to hearing about your travels and changes while going west!
Congatuations, DBD! I'll bet that you are glad that that is over with and you can call your life your own again. If you do a road trip now at least you could maybe narrow it down as to where you want to be and then concentrate on that area. If you are going to rent then you may find something for Nov. In Ontario you are required to give 2 months notice if you are moving.(correct me if I am wrong) I don't know if it works the same way there. Pretty exciting stuff awaiting for you and Eb!