Vancouver mums - where should I live?

[canadamum]

Hi

I've got 3 kids, 3, 2 and 2 months... we are moving to Vancouver for 2 years and I'm struggling to make sense of the guidebooks - I'm looking for family friendly neighbourhoods that don't cost a bomb. Also - bet advice to find nice, furnished accomodation?? Also - what do stay at home Canadaian mum's get up to? I'm a bit nervous - I know no one and am already feeling lonely! any advice??

Hello! I'm from Vancouver but have lived in the UK for the past 13 years so while I'm not really au fait with the current housing market I can recommend some areas of the Lower Mainland (the greater vancouver/fraser valley area as its called). My brother and his g/friend live off Commercial Drive ('Italian' neighbourhood) and they pay the same rent for a pokey one bedroom basement suite as we do our 4 bedroom house in Wiltshire!! Part Moody is nice (and my childhood hometown), not too far away from downtown Vancouver for shopping and there is a train link into the city. Coquitlam and PortCoquitlam are ajoining communities and are also nice. You'd want to avoid Surrey/Kingsway/South Burnaby unless its changed dramatically since I lived there. Financially speaking, housing gets cheaper the further out from Vancouver you go ie into the fraser valley however the difficulty is commuting times into Vancouver increase. My parents live in Abbotsford (don't recommend it) and it takes them about 11/2-2hours to get into Vancouver now due to increased traffic. Langley and Fort Langley are popular places but I don't see the attraction- strip malls and oversized dodge pickup trucks abound.

If I was returning to Canada with my child and DP, I would consider living somewhere like Port Moody or Coquitlam or North Burnaby as they are communities close to Vancouver and as such the culture/shopping (and good transit links).....or somewhere like Mission to be closer to the countryside (poorer transit links). Can't say much about Richmond or North Vancouver apart from that they seem expensive and Richmond area isn't that attractive apart from White Rock (expensive!!). As for getting furnished accomodation, I don't think thats very common unless its student digs, perhaps you'd find part-furnished but at a push.

As for meeting people as a SAHM, I wouldn't worry too much, there are loads of community centres with activities going on. People are friendly and making friends won't be difficult. Good luck!

Hello! I'm from Vancouver but have lived in the UK for the past 13 years so while I'm not really au fait with the current housing market I can recommend some areas of the Lower Mainland (the greater vancouver/fraser valley area as its called). My brother and his g/friend live off Commercial Drive ('Italian' neighbourhood) and they pay the same rent for a pokey one bedroom basement suite as we do our 4 bedroom house in Wiltshire!! Part Moody is nice (and my childhood hometown), not too far away from downtown Vancouver for shopping and there is a train link into the city. Coquitlam and PortCoquitlam are ajoining communities and are also nice. You'd want to avoid Surrey/Kingsway/South Burnaby unless its changed dramatically since I lived there. Financially speaking, housing gets cheaper the further out from Vancouver you go ie into the fraser valley however the difficulty is commuting times into Vancouver increase. My parents live in Abbotsford (don't recommend it) and it takes them about 11/2-2hours to get into Vancouver now due to increased traffic. Langley and Fort Langley are popular places but I don't see the attraction- strip malls and oversized dodge pickup trucks abound.

If I was returning to Canada with my child and DP, I would consider living somewhere like Port Moody or Coquitlam or North Burnaby as they are communities close to Vancouver and as such the culture/shopping (and good transit links).....or somewhere like Mission to be closer to the countryside (poorer transit links). Can't say much about Richmond or North Vancouver apart from that they seem expensive and Richmond area isn't that attractive apart from White Rock (expensive!!). As for getting furnished accomodation, I don't think thats very common unless its student digs, perhaps you'd find part-furnished but at a push.

As for meeting people as a SAHM, I wouldn't worry too much, there are loads of community centres with activities going on. People are friendly and making friends won't be difficult. Good luck!

Hiya! When are you moving to Vancouver? Do you know yet if you are looking to buy or rent? The best way to search in advance to buy is on a site like mls.ca, you can compare costs quickly, plus get an idea of where houses are selling faster or slower. As to renting, most places don't rent with furniture, but many come with fridge and stove included. Meeting new people is quite easy, just show up at a park, the local pool or check out community centers for mum and tot classes. Local papers, including on line ones, often have events and classes listed too : ) Welcome to Canada, I hope you enjoy your stay : )

North Vancouver is your best bet for family-friendly but not too expensive accommodation (especially Lynn Valley area); some parts of Burnaby will also be fine. Port Moody is MILES away from downtown and will probably mean a dreadful commute and will definitely mean you spend most of your time way out in the suburbs rather than enjoying things in and around Vancouver proper.

Furnished accommodation is not very common here and tends to be more expensive and more corporate - downtown flats etc. Try some property management companies - adventvancouver.com, vistarealty.net and see if they have anything to offer.

My experience as a SAHM in Vancouver is that many of us spend our time going around to the many, many fabulous family activities on offer, both outdoors and in. There's Grouse Mountain, Science World, the Aquarium, Granville Island, community centres everywhere, libraries, beaches, parks, pools, soft play, petting zoos, etc etc. It won't be hard to meet people if you sign a child or two up for a regular class/preschool at your local community centre. Good luck!

Oh, and before I forget: don't do the usual UK thing and assume that because it's Canada, you're going to have piles of snow every winter. It barely snows at all in Vancouver, and it's usually quite mild. Bring your wellies instead!

I think Cookie's been gone a bit too long to reliably advise on this - Mission is even farther away from Vancouver than Port Moody, and White Rock isn't anywhere near Richmond (it's actually down by the US border). Richmond is fine, family-friendly and not too expensive, but it is predominantly Chinese, to the extent that signs tend to be in both languages, and in a couple of the shopping malls, the staff don't speak much English! Great restaurants though.

West or North Vancouver if you can afford it. Lived in Vancouver and visit every year on many school holidays as we have a house there(currently in London). Had experience in East Van in 90s - -Commercial Drive - dreadful for living, good for visiting, Burnaby Central park also 90s- ok for mall shopping and park, mized community. Email me privately, I can give a good full list of schools and areas, have tonns of friends there, almost moved there back this summer but was not ready to leave London.

If money were no object my choices would be as follows (in order of preference):

Shaugnessy
Kitsilano
Kerrisdale
North Vancouver (Edgemont village is particularly nice)
West Vancouver
Deep Cove
Port Moody
Richmond
Tsawassen

Furnished lets are hard to find.

Kitslano has a good family scene, but it is busy.

I lived in Ambleside (West Van) and I loved it.

Beware, however, of living too close to a Fire Dept house, or the railway along West Van. The fire engines are first responders for medical 911s and seem to stick the horns on for everything. It's damn noisy! The freight trains clank their bbells all the way along West Van, even in the middle of the night.

You need to decide if you want Vancouver (the City) which would be Kitsilano, West End, Commercial Drive, Kerrisdale, Cambie etc.

Or you want Vancouver (the suburbs) which would be North Van, Burnaby, Port Moody, Coquitlam etc.

Both are family friendly with great amenities, rent will be high for both but you will get more for your money the further out you go.

If you OH is working downtown, it might be best to find a nice 3 bed apartment and base yourself close or in downtown, there are loads of young families in the Westend, Kits or Yaletown and great amenities and you can walk everywhere so save on having to have a car or two (you might need two cars if you live out in the suburbs).

I think the suburbs is more realistic if you end up staying longterm and want to buy a house etc, but for the experience I would go for as close to the city as possible.

I left Vancouver six months go, but if I was going back, I would move to Main street ( between 10th and 30th) Housing is cheaper than Kitsalano, west / north van and there are lots of kids friendly places and restaurants around.

Hi VMum!
We arrived here in Van from UK four years ago. We initially stayed in a hotel suite Downtown (cheaper if booked before you arrive), then printed off the accommodation section of that day's page on Craigslist.com and that days edition of The Vancouver Sun and we looked at a few places until we settled on a ground floor flat in S Vancouver. Well it wasn't ideal, but we stayed there until it was sold 6 months later. Then we moved to Kerrisdale, one of the nicest - but most expensive-places to live in Van. Lots of Brits in that area! By then we wanted to buy a house, so returned to S Van where u get more bang for yr buck! I hv worked in N Van - lots of Brits; W Van is v scenic but u will spend a lot of time in the car. Richmond is connected to Downtown Van by the excellent (cheap too) Transit system; renting is cheaper here than Van. If you are thinking of kindergarten for yr eldest, remember they start school a yr later than UK! It is also just 30 mins to the US border, so u can pop down to Seattle for cheap shopping.