Thinking of moving to Vancouver

[Quasmo]

I'm thinking of moving to Vancouver, Canada once I'm out of film school. For those of you who live there, how is the housing and job market is there (Not necessarily the film industry). How much for rent in a two bedroom apt?

 

[Platypus]

after reading this thread I want to eat a peach

 

[Sukhoi]

From what I hear it is really expensive. Think Bay Area expensive.

 

[syee]

Depends where in Vancouver you want to live. My brother is renting a 1 bedroom 600sq ft apartment for $1000/month in East Vancouver (Collingwood Village area). That's about 30 mins out of downtown.

Not sure where you want to live, but if you're looking in the Vancouver/Burnaby area, be prepared to fork out about $1000-$1500 a month for a 2 bedroom apartment. It'll be considerably more if you want something right downtown.

 

[Quasmo]

I'm a broke ass film maker, the cheaper the better.

 

[sandorski]

$700+ for a 1 Bedroom in Burnaby, right next to Vancouver 20 minutes from downtown.

Construction Jobs are everywhere, if you have experience. Lots of Retail/Lower Paying jobs as well. I'd think the prospects for the Movie/TV Industry would be pretty good, but you might want to research that first. Just make sure you have all the Immigration paperwork you need.

 

[Quasmo]

Originally posted by: sandorski
$700+ for a 1 Bedroom in Burnaby, right next to Vancouver 20 minutes from downtown.

Construction Jobs are everywhere, if you have experience. Lots of Retail/Lower Paying jobs as well. I'd think the prospects for the Movie/TV Industry would be pretty good, but you might want to research that first. Just make sure you have all the Immigration paperwork you need.

I'm also thinking about living in the US and doing it that way. How mmuch does the Canadian government take out in taxes? 41%?

 

[sandorski]

Originally posted by: Quasmo

Originally posted by: sandorski
$700+ for a 1 Bedroom in Burnaby, right next to Vancouver 20 minutes from downtown.

Construction Jobs are everywhere, if you have experience. Lots of Retail/Lower Paying jobs as well. I'd think the prospects for the Movie/TV Industry would be pretty good, but you might want to research that first. Just make sure you have all the Immigration paperwork you need.

I'm also thinking about living in the US and doing it that way. How mmuch does the Canadian government take out in taxes? 41%?

Depends on Income level and other things. If you live in the US and work in Canada that also will make a difference in Tax rates. I really haven't a clue what the Rates would be though.

If you did that, you'd be looking at a minimum 1 hour commute each way.

 

[Quasmo]

anyone else?

 

[dainthomas]

I thought you were going to say Vancouver, WA. That place is an armpit.

 

[potato28]

Really expensive. My cousin lives out there, his rent is $900 CAD, utils included, in Surrey or Burnaby. He used to have a bachelors apartment about 5 minutes from the city, cost him more with less space. And it's like most Canadian cities; telecom, electronics, or bank for good jobs. I don't really know anything else, I'm in Toronto....

 

[Queasy]

Originally posted by: Platypus
after reading this thread I want to eat a peach

millions of peaches
peaches for me
millions of peaches
peaches for free

 

[OutHouse]

if you do ill pay you 5 bucks to throw a egg at the business intelligence office building.

 

[Toonces]

lived in Vancouver the past year... my rent was $375 for a room in a house in both East Van (Joyce-Collingwood; same as syee's brother it seems) and West Vancouver (lucked out finding a great place for really cheap there).

If you want to live alone; Vancouver proper would be $1000-$1200 for anything decent 1-bdr type. Many people rent out their 1-bdr condos downtown and have a person sleep in the living room area for rents around $500-$600 in a nice, new place. Houses are shared between many people usually and for my Collingwood place there were 6 of us for the whole house.

Job market is booming in BC. If you're going into films theres lots of work on smaller productions - made for TV movies, cable series shows, commercials, and B-movies. I worked in North Vancouver and my mountain was being used for commercials, films, and tv shows all the time (not to mention the surrounding area as well).

Living quality is excellent. There's quite a bit of construction going on right now for the 2010 Olympics and traffic can be bad. For me; the Skytrain from Collingwood to downtown only took about 15 minutes and is fast, cheap, and convenient. Culturally I find Van to be a bit lacking compared to Toronto for live dramas, shows/concerts but has excellent cuisine as well as great neighbourhoods. Cars were an afterthought and much planning went into improving mass transit and enticing people to live in higher density areas close to their work than commute from suburbs an hour away.

I loved my time in Vancouver. There's an incredible amount of outdoor activities to take part in on the North Shore 10 minutes from downtown, Squamish, or Whister an hour and a half away. Not to mention the city is beautiful, people are more friendly than any city I've been to. The health-oriented, socially conscious, and more liberal attitudes generally fit my own make it a place that I could easily end up living in for the rest of my life (once I get my mid-20's traveling out of the way)