where does the time etc.

[jazzfish]

Two weekends ago we went back out to Harrison Hot Springs for some time away. We took semilocal J-- and K-- with us this time, which worked out alright. We soaked in the hot pools and played games and wandered a bit and generally had a decent time. I'm not sure I'd go back out there again but I'm glad we went.

Last weekend a couple of friends were unexpectedly in town, so uilos arranged to meet up with them for buns and dim sum at New Town Bakery in Chinatown. Turned out last weekend was also the Chinese New Year parade, so we got to fight through some serious crowds, in the rain, to get to the food.

I'm very fond of Vancouver's Chinatown. The fact that there's not a lot of English makes me a little more comfortable, actually: means I don't have this background worry about whether I need to pay attention if someone is speaking to me, because they aren't. It's got a lot of character and some history, and it just feels *right*. I'm rather bitter that it seems to be the next target for overpriced condo developers.

Meanwhile we are continuing to not find an apartment, because we're super-picky and also the market is terrible. (Don't get me started about buying a place. How stupid is the real estate market in Vancouver? This stupid.) Something will come up eventually, I guess.

Comments

[novel_machinist]

"Average price for detached houses on west side recently $3.5-million, so this is starter"


WHAT THE HOLY SHIT? OVER 2.5 MILLION USD for ----that-----?! What are RENTALS like?

[jazzfish]

Technically it's $2.5mil CAD, so only around $2mil USD. But still. Land in Vancouver is at a premium (squeezed between water, mountains, and the US border, and there's only so far east you can go).

It's fucking terrible. We're currently getting a (non-sarcastic) Very Good Deal: we pay $1800/mo for around 1100sqft right on top of transit with a great view. It's also two suburbs out from the city proper (half an hour by transit) and right on top of a railyard that works all night so we don't get much sleep in the summer. Before we moved we were paying $2800 for 1200sqft, downtown but further from transit, and without the trains. Currently we're looking to move closer to downtown, and hoping to get away with $2200 for ~900sqft.

If E hadn't just gotten herself a very good (union, academia) job I'd be thinking harder about possibly moving to Montreal in a few years.

[novel_machinist]

1800/mo is average depending on the district here, but that's why I ended up moving out of town. Sorta sucks cause I have to drive the wife to the bus/pick her up from the bus but it's really worth it. There are condos downtown that are like 2000 a month plus taxes and fees, no idea how big cause it's too rich for my blood, yanno?

You have my sympathies.

[jazzfish]

Yep. :7 I'm enough of a city boy that I'm willing to pay the extra to live closer in, at least for now... but that's mostly because if we're going to live *anywhere* in the Vancouver area we're both gonna have to be working at least part-time, so may as well live somewhere we want to be. I have no idea how people with kids manage.

And, re 'good job in academia', the pay's not so great (though it doesn't suck) but the environment is pleasant, the people are friendly, and there's a strong union so job security is a thing that exists. By 'good job' I mostly mean that last.

[novel_machinist]

Also it's mind blowing to me that academia jobs are "very good" XD academia pays for utter shite in the states unless you're a tenured prof.

[sartorias.livejournal.com]

Holy shit! That's worse than here!!!

[jazzfish]

It's kinda terrifying, honestly. I have less than no interest in buying a standalone house, and very very little interest in buying a condo (any arrangement where I have to convince fifty other people to pony up for basic structural maintenance is Right Out)... but the ridiculous costs are starting to trickle down to rental costs. There's a nonzero chance that as a pair of DINKs with full-time salaried jobs, we're going to be priced out of living in an apartment within half an hour of work.

[queenoftheskies.livejournal.com]

Wow, I just...I'm flabbergasted. And, I thought prices were bad here.

[jazzfish]

I thought I had adjusted to stupidly high prices when I lived in DC ("oh, $600,000 for a condo, that's reasonable, it's right on the metro after all") but this... yeesh.

[ckd]

That's just ridiculous. Would be cheap for the Bay Area though (even treating the price as being in USD rather than CAD).

[jazzfish]

Ugh. That makes the Bay Area even *more* ridiculous than I had previously though.

[ckd]

There are many reasons why "not in California" was one of my primary criteria for a new office. (There are general statewide dysfunctions which would apply to any of them, plus super crazy costs in the Bay Area, plus not being in a real city in the south bay. At least SFO is a city, just a really badly managed one....)

http://www.sfgate.com/technology/businessinsider/article/This-San-Francisco-home-in-a-deteriorative-6161821.php