I am neither sure what exactly Toronto is like for prices, or the job prospects for Audiologists in Vancouver... But it's definitely possible to find something reasonably priced if you look outside of downtown/Jericho/Kits. Especially if you're okay with Roommates.
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Vancouver-Age |OT| 125 Years
- Thread starter Firestorm
- Start date
I am neither sure what exactly Toronto is like for prices, or the job prospects for Audiologists in Vancouver... But it's definitely possible to find something reasonably priced if you look outside of downtown/Jericho/Kits. Especially if you're okay with Roommates.
Apparently in Canada the minimum education requirement for audiologists is a master's degree in audiology. I'm in college and it would take 3 more years after graduation to get a master's degree.
This really sucks :/
This really sucks :/
You might wanna take a look at craigslist to get some impressions on 1BR apartments then? Just search on craigslist vancouver and it'll give you apartments all over the Lower Mainland (Vancouver, North/West Van, Burnaby, etc) and you can see what kind of apartment you'd get for, say, 1k.
Barrow Roll
Member
Sure, if that's how you want to look at it. I prefer to say that for the price I'm happy to pay for the services I need. I simply have no need for LTE right now and paying an arm and a leg with the big 3 is out of the question. I'm still getting unlimited text and calling for the people I need to communicate with, and more than enough data for what I need. Regardless, I find comparing Wind to dial-up AOL awfully spurious.
Did you stop to think that some people simply can't afford to pay that much for really unflexible phone plans with shitty customer service and 3 year terms? Wind is a great option for people like me and I don't think should be completely overlooked.
Not showing off, since having a standard Wind plan is hardly anything to be shown off. Simply offering an alternative perspective from an as of now satisfied customer.
NotTheGuyYouKill
Member
Somebody's getting sued.
Look up how your area is doing through postal code:
http://www.environicsanalytics.ca/prizmc2_cluster_lookup.aspx
Hahaha interesting
http://www.environicsanalytics.ca/prizmc2_cluster_lookup.aspx
Hahaha interesting
Look up how your area is doing through postal code:
http://www.environicsanalytics.ca/prizmc2_cluster_lookup.aspx
Hahaha interesting
Upper-Middle-Class, Middle-Aged Suburban families... Upward Bound.
I'm a student living by myself though
Upper-Middle-Class, Middle-Aged Suburban families... Upward Bound.
I'm a student living by myself though
Just started messing around with some postal codes, check out some of the nicer Yaletown places, hahaha
This is me:
Just started messing around with some postal codes, check out some of the nicer Yaletown places, hahaha
This is me:
They even put specific Ethnic descriptions? I'm impressed. (That's Queen Elizabeth Park btw)
They even put specific Ethnic descriptions? I'm impressed. (That's Queen Elizabeth Park btw)
lol yeah I was surprised when I saw some of those clusters got ethnic backgrounds.
Lone_Prodigy
Member
Damn that's accurate. Got it for my neighbourhood (Vancouver-Kensington area).
They even put specific Ethnic descriptions? I'm impressed. (That's Queen Elizabeth Park btw)
Edit: hahaha posted this to fb and had a friend comment: "If you put in the postal code for SFU Burnaby it describes it as an "Asian Up-And-Comer"."
What kind of price level are you looking for?
I'm taking my gf to Le Crocodile for dinner tomorrow, never been, but it's presumable the best Upscale French place in town.
Where I've been and can recommend:
Guu ("traditional" non-sushi Japanese, great atmosphere, not too pricy)
Ap Gu Jung (IMHO the best of the x Korean places on Robson!)
Boneta (I think it moved, but they have the best Poutine in town. Also, generally awesome)
Bin 941 (Great Tapas)
Anton's (1 portion will fill you, and give you leftovers for 2 more dinners. It's great, too)
Miura's Milk&Waffle House (one of the best, not-so known places. AMAZING waffles. Seriously. When my sister came to visit me from Europe, we had to go there TWICE in a week because she wanted to go back there.)
I can think of more if you give me/us an idea of price and cuisine
distantmantra
Member
Go to Bin 941. My favorite place to eat in Vancouver.
My wife and I are heading up from Seattle for the weekend of April 6th to see Stars at the Commodore Ballroom. Psyched. Dinner at Bin and Stars? Yes, please.
My wife and I are heading up from Seattle for the weekend of April 6th to see Stars at the Commodore Ballroom. Psyched. Dinner at Bin and Stars? Yes, please.
Les faux bourgeois is great. Relatively affordable, great atmosphere, great food. Make reservations though.
Thanks for the recommendations folks. In the end we hit up Trattoria in Kits. I didn't know but they have "pasta Tuesdays" where each pasta dish is $11. Always loved the Wagyu meatballs and with drinks and an appy to start to share the damage was about $40.
Of course it was rammed even at 6.30pm so not the best place for those seeking a more intimate setting.
How was Le Crocodile Smiley? We've been to most of places you've recommended, in fact my last post in this thread was result of an awesome meal we had at Bin 941. I am certainly going to check out Waffle House and Ap Gu Jung since you've mentioned them though.
Of course it was rammed even at 6.30pm so not the best place for those seeking a more intimate setting.
How was Le Crocodile Smiley? We've been to most of places you've recommended, in fact my last post in this thread was result of an awesome meal we had at Bin 941. I am certainly going to check out Waffle House and Ap Gu Jung since you've mentioned them though.
Definitely check out Miura. It's becoming less and less of an insider tip, because it's great
I always get fruit&cream, it's delicious.Ap Gu Jung isn't THAT special, but it's the best korean place I've been to, and I've been to quite a few
I'm going to Crocodile tonight, I'll let you know how it is after
Oh, also, atmosphere/date-wise: Cloud 9. Make a reservation early enough to get a table for sunset. So pretty.
BocoDragon
or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Realize This Assgrab is Delicious
Hey we have Chipotle in this country now! Around the corner from Chapters downtown. Pretty good.. Just Mexican fast food but it's decent quality and the style of everything is chic. Worth a try.
beat
Member
I don't mind Chipotle, but IMO it's not really a whole lot better than Steamrollers or Red Burrito. I'd go with Salsa & Agave for Mexican food if possible. (They're closed for the holidays though.)
I THOUGHT YOU WERE SOULTRON DUE TO AVATAR BUT THEN I NOTICED YOU WERE BOCODRAGON AND I AM HAPPY
fuck it i love chipotle that deserves caps
NotTheGuyYouKill
Member
Anything interesting happening for NYE this year? I usually stay in, might not this year.
Crazymoogle
Member
Question out of nowhere: what's the best bet for watching ABC up here in Vancouver? It seems I have to maybe hope I can get it on cable, and a bunch of sites just say "get an antenna and pick up Seattle's signal for KOMO-ABC".
I just need it to watch a bowl game tomorrow..
That sounds about right. KOMO is the washington state ABC affiliate closest to Vancouver so for most of BC that's the one we would get. I never had much luck getting OTA channels but for some folks it works great; just get an HDTV antenna for $20~ or whatnot (or roll your own) and you may get lucky.
Else your only options are cable (Shaw) or Fiber if you're lucky?
Keep in mind the latter options all need you to wait for an install team, so OTA or a sports bar may be your only choice on such short notice.
distantmantra
Member
Question out of nowhere: what's the best bet for watching ABC up here in Vancouver? It seems I have to maybe hope I can get it on cable, and a bunch of sites just say "get an antenna and pick up Seattle's signal for KOMO-ABC".
I just need it to watch a bowl game tomorrow..
Every single hotel I've stayed at in Vancouver has had KOMO via cable.
Question out of nowhere: what's the best bet for watching ABC up here in Vancouver? It seems I have to maybe hope I can get it on cable, and a bunch of sites just say "get an antenna and pick up Seattle's signal for KOMO-ABC".
I just need it to watch a bowl game tomorrow..
I'm actually currently making myself a DIY antenna. As in, my bedroom currently smells of plumbing glue. And I've been putting this project off for years.
http://www.digitalhome.ca/ota/superantenna/design.htm
Basically, get two wire coat hangers. Cut the twisty loop part off. Grab the wide bottom part right in the middle (between the two existing bends and fold it 90 degrees "in on itself". Make two more bends to kind of straighten your pretzel out (it should look a lot like the diagram with only three bends you can make by hand), and you've got yourself the core of an HD antenna.
Attach it to a non-conductive frame, find a "balun" transformer (it's one of those adapters that let you hook up cable to a rabbit-ears TV back in the 70's/80's), and you're done. You've got the pinnacle of 1950's antenna technology.
Point it south to maybe pick up American HD channels. If you need to boost the signal, put a wall of tin foil behind it (but not touching the metal). If you have an excess of coaxial cable, move the antenna to the south side of your house and aim it out a window.
You can slap one of these together real quick if you're somewhat handy and you have an old balun lying around in a box somewhere and you don't care how your antenna looks.
I haven't done it myself either, but AFAIK you have to visit your bank and have a talk with them about how much you earn in a year, how stable is your job, how much money you have saved up, how good is your credit, how much money you need (which depends a lot on where you want to buy), how long you're going to take to pay it back (basically how aggressive will your payment plan be), and what kind of interest rate they would want to charge you. Once you know all that, maybe you can shop around and see if another bank is able to give you a better deal on the interest rate.
Be aware that your mortgage payments won't be an exact substitute for rent payments, because you'll be on the hook for a few new things like insurance and property taxes. If you can barely afford your rent, don't set that as your mortgage payment. Give yourself some extra room in your budget, and make sure you get a mortgage that allows you to pay down your mortgage ahead of schedule if you happen to save/earn money more aggressively (banks apparently used to refuse that as a standard practice, because paying your debt earlier means fewer interest payments, and they would prefer to keep you on the hook).
Also, you should be aware that buying in Vancouver is sort of like taking a gamble with hundreds of thousands of dollars at stake. Renting is sort of an okay way to make sure you don't have to lose that gamble. Remember the old adage, buy low, sell high. Vancouver right now is a little bit down from it's record high. Some people are confident that it'll hold steady until the global economy straightens itself out and then it'll go back up (meaning it's a great time to buy), but others are afraid that Vancouver will come crashing down sooner or later (meaning it's a terrible time to buy). You really won't like it if you're on the hook for 20 years to pay the bank a half-million dollars for a leaky run-down dive with annoying neighbors that's (some time in a possible future) only worth a hundred thousand, especially if you reach some sort of halfway point where you've already paid the bank more than twice what your property is worth, and you still have that much further to go.
But yeah, there is some pretty good pride to be felt in owning the place where you hang your hat. Same with going into business for yourself. You might have less money, but if you can make it work, you should feel better about yourself. Good luck.
distantmantra
Member
And the only Vancouver affiliate we get in Seattle is CBUT/CBC. Sucked for the last couple Olympics when they lost the rights to CTV.
I think CBC got the rights for the next Olympics so you'll be good.
Crazymoogle
Member
Buying a condo has a lot of money traps to consider; you pretty much don't want to do it unless you have a lot of cash to put against it. You want as much down upfront as possible to offset the mortgage, there are closing costs and lawyer costs, and if you're buying a new development, then you're basically signing in blood for something that could be a few years away.
Once you do move in there are usually also condo fees (and I imagine property taxes?) and of course if there's a structure flaw you get to pay a percentage of that. One of my friends had a condo near the Burrard St. bridge a few years back; he had to pony up 5k as his share in the costs to rebuild a large concrete retaining wall on one side of the property.
(All of this being said, if I lived in Vancouver, I'd love to own a place. Just be aware you need a warchest)
I don't disagree with Cheerilee but I've yet to really hear concrete evidence that the Vancouver market will tumble, at least, not downtown. There's just too much unchecked asian investment. Not to say property values will climb, but I don't think they will fall in the toilet either.
Once you do move in there are usually also condo fees (and I imagine property taxes?) and of course if there's a structure flaw you get to pay a percentage of that. One of my friends had a condo near the Burrard St. bridge a few years back; he had to pony up 5k as his share in the costs to rebuild a large concrete retaining wall on one side of the property.
(All of this being said, if I lived in Vancouver, I'd love to own a place. Just be aware you need a warchest)
I don't disagree with Cheerilee but I've yet to really hear concrete evidence that the Vancouver market will tumble, at least, not downtown. There's just too much unchecked asian investment. Not to say property values will climb, but I don't think they will fall in the toilet either.
distantmantra
Member
Yep, we're psyched. So much better than what NBC gives us.
Yeah, I'm not really that pessimistic. Vancouver won't become the next Detroit. But I was raised to believe that you don't gamble with anything you aren't willing to throw away, and buying in Vancouver basically means betting on Vancouver, and whatever the odds are, it's probably the biggest bet you'll make in your life, using money that you don't even have. It's best to go in feeling ready and prepared for the worst.
I love Vancouver so my choice is already made. I will always bet on Vancouver, even if it leads me to ruin.
Crazymoogle
Member
If it was that easy I'd still live there. ;-) I do miss BC though, the one thing you learn travelling across this country is that the messes are all roughly the same.
Well, I'm not buying as an investment... I'm buying ONCE, and I don't plan to leave, so if my property value sinks, I'm not really gonna lose sleep over it.
I know exactly what I'm looking for and what I'm willing to compromise on. (for example, I'm NOT living on the other side with the bridge-and-tunnel folk)
I don't need any amenities other than a washer/dryer built before 1980 so FUCK YOU STRATA, I'll pay as little as possible to one of them if I can.
Thinking 2 bedrooms, one big and one small, so I can subsidize my mortgage with a renter of MY choosing for a change.
I saw someone at TD today, and he was very helpful, but I will shop around to see who can get me the best rate (in Saskatoon, that was CIBC).
Based on current debt, I am above the 42% ratio of debt-to-income based on a $200,000 mortgage (can you tell I'm not looking in Vancouver AT ALL?), which would mean a substantially larger down payment. If I wait until May when my pay increases, however, that becomes a non-issue, even if I've paid none of it (which I intend to).
So all I need now is a realtor and a lawyer who won't gouge me to hell and back. Suggestions?
I know exactly what I'm looking for and what I'm willing to compromise on. (for example, I'm NOT living on the other side with the bridge-and-tunnel folk)
I don't need any amenities other than a washer/dryer built before 1980 so FUCK YOU STRATA, I'll pay as little as possible to one of them if I can.
Thinking 2 bedrooms, one big and one small, so I can subsidize my mortgage with a renter of MY choosing for a change.
I saw someone at TD today, and he was very helpful, but I will shop around to see who can get me the best rate (in Saskatoon, that was CIBC).
Based on current debt, I am above the 42% ratio of debt-to-income based on a $200,000 mortgage (can you tell I'm not looking in Vancouver AT ALL?), which would mean a substantially larger down payment. If I wait until May when my pay increases, however, that becomes a non-issue, even if I've paid none of it (which I intend to).
So all I need now is a realtor and a lawyer who won't gouge me to hell and back. Suggestions?
AFAIK, Re/Max is the biggest name in Vancouver realty, with the best selection, so if you want to browse and see what kind of properties are available, they might be your best bet. But if you want a deal, going with a smaller, more desperate realtor might work out better. The realtor takes a percentage of the sale price, and I think the little guys stay in business by undercutting the big guys on their percentage.
No clue on the lawyer.
Lone_Prodigy
Member
1 bedroom in a new development, yes. But not 2.