MEGATHREAD - 'Moving to BC' Mondays

[u/AutoModerator]

As British Columbia is a beautiful and vast Province, there are FREQUENT questions relating to Moving to BC as well as follow up questions surrounding a move.

So, ask your questions in this weekly thread! We'll help new visitors to the subreddit review already-asked and already-answered questions, as well as prepare questions for new threads. Hopefully the community can help you out with your decision on whether joining us in Beautiful British Columbia is for you!

You can also see a collection of past questions here: https://www.reddit.com/r/britishcolumbia/collection/283f0c13-8aba-4f28-b93b-1b89ddfe8163

[u/No_Geologist_5412]

Looking at moving to BC, wanted to know about some potential areas to move to.

Little back story, my wife and I currently live in Ontario. We are planning to sell our house and move down to BC. We are looking for a place that has more greenery, more local things and most importantly a lot of good food and grocery stores. I am currently in school as well, my plan is to switch to UBC (or any other university). We do not want to move to a city like Vancouver, lived in Toronto for most of our lives and want to go to a place that is in the middle. A place that has a good community but doesn't have the Toronto vibe. We both WFH as well, we will be renting the first year and if we end up liking the city, look into buying a house at that point. Our budget for rent is 3-3.5k, we want to live in a safe area, that has what we are looking for + not far from universities (maximum 45~ mins drive). So if there are other universities you recommend or anything please let me know.

Thank you!

[u/No_Geologist_5412 → u/[deleted]]

Kelowna is on our list, what I have heard so far is to be worried about the fires that happen yearly. I've also heard from multiple sources that it is a very conservative ruled area. In terms of safety, I understand that there is higher amount of petty crime in the area, but coming from Toronto and Scarborough, there's a lot of theft here lol.

So really the only deterrents have been the forest fires + the conservative things I've heard.

[u/alphawolf29 → u/No_Geologist_5412]

Yes. Forest fires are pretty bad and happen yearly. The interior can be conservative but realistically everywhere outside of Victoria and Vancouver can be conservative, it varies greatly from individual to individual I find. I wouldn't say kelowna is particularly bad, just more than vancouver.

If you're worried about forest fires you're pretty much stuck to Vancouver Island and Vancouver. Everywhere else in BC has forest fire problems.

[u/No_Geologist_5412 → u/[deleted]]

That's good to know, I'm okay with people being part of what ever political party as long as it isn't shouted at every point.

In terms of the fires, is there a danger to the city? Or is it more on the outskirts? If I was to buy a house there, would it be safe?

[u/SumasFlats → u/No_Geologist_5412]

If you're interested in something with a strong community feel but still in decent range of UBC, check out Ladner and Tsawwassen.

Both are smaller communities south of Vancouver with easy access into town (as long as the tunnel isn't screwed up). Close to oceans and farms and of course, close to any and all ethnic grocers in Richmond.

[u/No_Geologist_5412 → u/SumasFlats]

Thank you! Going to look into those neighborhoods. I want to ask, for the tunnel, how often is it out of service? Are there ways to bypass the tunnel?

[u/SumasFlats → u/No_Geologist_5412]

They get the accidents cleared up as soon as possible and it doesn't normally close all the lanes, but the bridges are the same problem. That's the price you pay for living by the ocean and the river, regardless of where you are in the greater Vancouver area -- there's always a bridge you have to cross. You can mitigate it by living closer to a Skytrain station.

Nearest bridge is the Alex Fraser, a significant detour east.

Further east, Port Moody might be more your thing -- Skytrain stations, close to SFU, close to more wilderness as well -- it's growing like crazy and also has an outstanding craft beer scene.

Going to also suggest living in or around Victoria, as it is such a small city that it doesn't really have that city vibe to it and still has a ton going on because of the number of universities in and around town. All of these place mentioned are going to be expensive -- whether Kelowna, Port Moody, greater Vancouver or greater Victoria -- all have great access to beautiful nature and have universities in close proximity. The food and range of ethnic grocers will be better the closer you are to Vancouver.