Is there anything else i should know about moving to vancouver?

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wreck_beach

1. Steer clear of Surrey unless you like constant break-ins and a report in the news every week or every other week about some gang-style hit that happened in your neighborhood.
2. Steer clear of Richmond unless you're Asian or can read Mandarin/Cantonese. Nothing against Asians but if you're Caucasian you will probably feel like you're on a different continent.
3. Never loose sight of the fact that "BC" stands for "Bring Cash".
4. If you're not bringing a car, try to find a place that is really convenient to transit and preferably skytrain... the buses here are useless because they get stuck in traffic just like everyone else.
5. As long as you're okay with spending a minimum of $900 a month on a crappy entry-level apartment or tiny basement suite with ceilings that are so low you have to duck your head everywhere there is a support beam for the floors above you, then you're good to go.
6. If it was easy to make the move here, hundreds of thousands more would be doing it. In other words, its not going to be a piece of cake to set up a new life here. 1 in 10 Canadians (Ipsos-Reid Poll) say the would love to live in Vancouver if only they could afford it. #1 reason why people who live here move away? The rainy weather for 8 months of the year.
7. People here are very stand-off'ish compared to practically everywhere else. There's like a certain egotistical attitude to everyone like they're too good for someone who just moved here. Be prepared for tight-knit cliques and many lonely nights until you can get used to the idea of having to "date" your friends--even guy to guy. It can take months for even co-workers to warm up to the idea of doing something outside of work with you.
8. Never loose sight of the fact that "BC" means "Bring Cash". You'll need plenty of it. Even groceries cost more here. A box of cereal is around $6.50 to $8. A loaf of bread is $3.75. And don't ever forget that as an Albertan, you've been used to a life without provincial sales tax. In Vancouver there's an extra 7% tax on everything you buy including cars. Total sales tax: 12%. Liquor tax is another 18%.
9. If you're bringing a car with you, be prepared for about a week's worth of run-a-rounds to collect all the paper work from various agencies and inspection shops scattered all over town before you will be eligible to sign up for the most expensive insurance you've ever paid for a car in your life. ...and you won't have a choice. Even with my 43% safe driver's deduction after having no claims or accidents for 10 years, I still pay $1,376 a year for insurance on a truck that is barely worth $1,000 and I don't have any choice in the matter. There's only one insurance company and its the government run Insurance Corp. of BC. They're a monopoly and they know it.
10. Be prepared to see this place double in size in the next 30 years and double again in probably another 30. Experts are already saying Vancouver will eventually grow to about 10 million people before it can no longer sustain itself.

Rollins_college7

very costly to live there, the bus system is great as well as the skytrain (basically a subway), there's a pretty good fish place at stadium station. Email me at Ozz_fan67@yahoo.com for more information.

Maybe???

How much is 2 months rent? Are you aware that you have to pay a deposit equal to half a month's rent?
So you're actually bringing only enough money for 1 1/2 months. No landlord will rent to you if you don't have a stable job.
Do you know how much an apartment rents for here? Apartments downtown rent from $850 for a Bachelor to $3000. No mistake, three thousand bucks.
Outside of downtown rents are a minimum $800 for a 1 bedroom.
Unless you want to do construction work, there are NO jobs here.

RBS

Note that two months living expenses = $3000 and that it would be better to save up at least three months living expenses before you arrive and you should be fine.

As said before, most landlords will not rent to you if you don't have a job so it might be better to find temporary accom. until you get a steady job.

Dylan

its very costly

Mawia

2 months rent.........hmmmmmmmm..............that... first and last month's rent taken care of, what about the months in between? You likely won't have trouble finding work if you have experience, but be prepared to be depressed by all the rain. All the best to you, it's a great place to live, but rather wet and crowded. You might check the job ads before you go, just so you'll know what to expect.

Ed P

Rent is cheaper in the suburbs Burnaby ETC. Lots of work with the Olympics comming KFC and White Spot are in the union KFC pays arouind $ 11 an hour plus benifits dont know about the others

fatsausage

Go directly to Whistler and get a job at the Fairmont Whistler Resort or the Four Seasons.

no n

well vancouver has very high crime,highest hiv/hep c rate in the developed world!!!!!car theft is rampit,homeinvasions galore!!!!!needle junkies allover the streets!!!!!!!!!!thieves galore!!!!the locals are very cold!!!!!!!!!they dont trust anyone they dont know????????????lol wonder y???????????very filithy!!!!!!!600000 will buy u a rotton shack!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!very very very creepy city!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!FOR THIS TO BE A CANADIAN CITY THIS IS A DESCRACE!

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