I'll never forget the time I read an article back in 2012 (around the time this thread started) mentioning how established doctors could not afford to buy property here. I remember as a kid, going down the 'street of dreams' on Westwood Plateau, assuming that's where the doctors, lawyers, big business types all lived. Now I'm being told real estate is too high for them here.

Fast forward through the money laundering, shadow flipping, garbage-bags-full-of-money purchases, empty homes, foreign student ownerships, consulting firms that exist overseas to facilitate all of the above ^ and absolutely unethical standards & practices from some realtors and now we're here in 2024 where it's not only structures that are commodified but the people inside as well!

It was weird for me to walk into the AB market with a BC mindset lol. Not only did they tell me I can put a $50 deposit on a house, but even after I took possession of my home, my realtor insisted I go golfing with her and her friends and keep in touch. They really do want to be your friend after the deal closes. The city-boy in me thinks it's nefarious but the now country-boy in me says 'no, they just want to build a strong community'.

That is the Canada I remember :badpokerface:

^ I experienced the same thing, the realtor I was dealing with I only got him to take me on because my best friend's wife is one of his best clients, he's a big dog player in Calgary but he responds to all my messages within minutes any day of the week and didn't treat me like a nobody... and he is at a level where like he goes to parties that Jacob Markstrom is at and needles him about properties he missed out on / how he needs a new financial advisor... but despite that, he's still like "Hey let's go out with your Supra after you're here, I've got a new GT3 RS and Lambo you can try one of those and I try the Supra"

Super refreshing lol

^
So that's why you got the Supra... :p

Just came back from Japan and for anyone who has been you know it's the norm to be doing laundry late at night. I ran into some dude in the same situation one night so we started shooting the shit, dudes from Ohio and moving to Boston, makes decent coin and talks about the struggle and grind of people working hard to save up to buy a home for a couple few hundred K. In my mind I'm like geez you have it good try working hard and struggling to even rent where I'm from let alone buy a shit box.

stretching a further 5 years only reduces monthlies by several hundreds while it comes with a whole host of issues

Talking to Americans at work is always fucking hoot. They're now bitching about paying $400K for a detached house. I'm like :pokerface:

That $200K gap, you're better off living like bums at home for 1-2 years, saving $200K than taking on a 30-year.

The last 3 friends who bought in Nov 2023 to 2024 put 20-35% down, so close to $130 - $250K on their first 1/2BR.

Idk a single soul who put down $100K. Even my old place at 2020 prices was closer to $116K. Income won't qualify without a big enough DP lol

Did someone do an article for Vancouver Sun? :lol Just as this topic was heating up here, Vancouver Sun did a piece:

'Peace of mind': Why thousands of British Columbians are leaving for Alberta

https://vancouversun.com/news/local-...7-a23dad45f41d

Which one of you is this?

https://smartcdn.gprod.postmedia.dig...QDH11_mTSBwqBg

Not me, those colours would look terrible with my complexion, although he did study the same subject in university as me lol

I don't know where they pulled this stat from though: "In contrast, a house in Calgary sells for $567,900"

There are NO houses below $650k in Calgary anymore... and even if they are listed in that price, they guaranteed sell anywhere from $40-100k over ask.

i get cost of housing is better in AB and all, but instead of going there, any reason people aren't selecting other areas in BC to still have moderate weather?

like island (i know ppl said nanaimo is a dump LUL) or interior ?

i dunno i'd think i'd rather choose parksville or nanaimo over AB
mind you i've only travelled thru/to those places and never lived long term.

Kelowna, Penticton, etc. are over a mill for good detached. Kelowna tracks closer to Burnaby than anything.

Even Kamloops, which frankly, is a shit hole is pushing 750k+ for “good” neighborhoods

My thinking too, when I retire, I prob move to a small BC town ... Sydney, Comox, something up the Sunshine Coast like Roberts Creek, Sechelt, etc. There has to be some small quiet places in BC that is affordable. By retirement, I prob need less ... condo, TH, etc.

I considered it, but the island is almost as expensive as the lower mainland and it would actually take me longer to come back to Vancouver by ferry than it does to fly from Calgary lol. Both places I'd have to find a new job anyway, I can't work full remote.

Kelowna like Hondaracer said is the same as lower mainland price wise, and there's way too many wildfires every year in the interior. You saw what happened in Kelowna last year? I have no job or friends there either. Maybe underscore would be my friend if he took pity on me lolol

Calgary was the cheapest and still a "big" city by Canada standards and my best friend and my gf's childhood friends all live there. It was a pretty natural choice.

I'm going to paint my driveway with a rainbow and put tampons in all my bathrooms as soon as I get there, really try to fit in :troll:

https://www.rew.ca/properties/557295...-parksville-bc

I browse the stuff in Parksville and Qualicum a lot and if I traded in for a place like this I'd be mortgage free and could likely retire in 3-4 years (I'm 48). I also work remotely and wouldn't have to take a pay cut if I moved to a smaller town either. I try not to think too much about how much extra I'm paying in order to stay near friends and family (not like I can stand my parents or my in-laws anyways).

In that article, they did allude to that ... all the BC Libs, gender affirming education, harm reduction, tree hugging, rainbow crosswalk ... it's something that one has to be willing to 'give up' per se in AB.

That's something I'm afraid of tbh, my gf especially is.

However, I made a point of paying attention to that stuff when I was there in February. Like the article also says, there's an underlying youth movement that's extremely encouraging. A focus on the arts in the downtown core, expression of cultures and ideologies and even, yes, a bunch of rainbow themed things. One of my GF's friends is in a same sex relationship. My best friend and almost everyone he hangs out with are pretty progressive thinkers.

Only the aforementioned real estate agent tried to tell me PP was what the country needs. I just switched topics lol

I'm wondering for people who have/are considering moving outside of BC, what's your rationale behind it in terms of taxation, lifestyle, or whatever?

And more specifically, where are you moving?

I've been thinking about moving, and speaking to a friend who relocated to South America really got me thinking.

BC's cost of living is just shocking to say the least. I'm trying hard to cut unnecessary expenses, but it's hard to go much further without starting to cut into the lifestyle. This plus the fact that much of my investment in commercial RE is deemed as passive income, my tax exposure is huge. I'm currently delaying them by keeping money in the US entity by not issuing any dividends, and it makes sense as I continue to expand the portfolio. But at some point, if I'd like to take it out, the tax would take a big chunk of it.

By moving to a country where they only tax the income from that country and cost of living is lower, I could save an incredible amount of money in taxes alone. But I have kids and they have grown accustomed to the Canadian way of life.

Thus, my question is, for people who looked into moving, what's your thought and where?

I was thinking that maybe even somewhere in Canada. Yes, I'll still get hit by federal taxes, but that's ok. The provincial stuff is something I can play around a bit.

Sunshine Coast is fucked nowadays thanks to COVID.

Yeah you're easily looking at $1M for a decent detached here, if you're flexible maybe a bit under. I'm in a pretty good neighbourhood and the 4 houses nearby that are for sale are $1M, $1M, $1.5M and $2M.

Every time I shop around the province there isn't *that* much of a price drop going somewhere more remote than Kelowna. Especially once you consider the cost of moving + having to drive more to get to what you need it ends up at a wash so moving purely for financial reasons isn't worth it. The only way it works is if you want to live there or have to move already for whatever reason. It sounds like you guys are in the same boat. You sell there for $1.4M, buy here for $1.2M, subract all the realty fees and you're not up by much.

I'd go to the island over Alberta but that's personal preference, better politics, better weather, and I wouldn't have to give up quite as many of my hobbies. And it would cost me money to do it. I also have the limitation of needing to be near a major airport.

If anyone moves here I'll be their friend if they take me for a rip in their Supra lol.

This is just it I think, everyone can only weight their own ideals and restrictions and things important to them. We can all relate our stories to one another, but a lot of it doesn't apply to anything in our own lives as they are so situationally different despite living in the same general area.

I can see from your line of work, employment wise you don't require much other than to be somewhat near an airport to visit your properties if need be. But you have a wife and you have kids and they have their own wants and desires, so you can't make decisions for yourself really.

Even me, I might be going to Alberta... but that was defintiely a compromise. I don't have kids, but I do have a GF in a committed relationship. If I didn't have her in my life, I would quit my job completely and go to either Japan or England. Full stop. Why there? Japan because I love the country, I'd like to be there just immersed in the place and live out my years. England because I love the history and my family roots are there, bit of a "coming home" party. I'd quit my job and buy property most likely in Japan and figure out something to do. I don't need a lot of $ to survive and homes outside of major cities there are such that I could live off investment income from dissolving my assets in Canada and just come up with a hobby or artisan style business to sustain myself. For me personally, I don't care about accumulating a mass of wealth. I just want to wake up happy most mornings. You likely have different priorities than me adn definitely different responsibilities to your kids, etc.

That said, my GF doesn't want to go to either of those places. And she means more to me than that solitary dream of mine... if she didn't, I would just break up with her and be on my way. She has American citizenship, so we entertained the idea of going to the USA instead, but we'd need to stay in the PNW due to her parents. We also both don't like the politics and social issues down there or want any possible kid we might have to go to public school there.

So we settled on Alberta, she grew up there originally, I have friends there, it's an hour to fly home and we can have a lot of stuff we want there, minus the weather.

If you are with someone who is very inflexible about location, it can be quite a serious detriment to the relationship and cause immense frustration I think. It's tough when you're not just 1 person making a decision.

Kudos to all your guys parents and parents parents that made the tough decisions to move to different countries etc.

Best you can do when you have to have a consensus from so many different individuals is present the facts as you have them and have a conversation. Show options. Show what benefits there could be and make a list of the pros and cons. That's what we both did individually and together as a couple. Maybe you convince them that your idea is great and they warm up to it, maybe they hate it and there's no point in thinking of it anymore or they need to provide an alternative if in fact change is mandatory and just staying put or staying the course is no longer an option. Communication is the most important thing in my mind.

I really hate how COVID fucking over the Coast though.

My family have lived out there since the 70s.

Prices were slowly going up, but they exploded during COVID. All these fuckers took trips out there, realized the ferry was only 40 minutes, and "OMG it's free on the way back?!".

Suddenly people were gobbling up properties and WFH out there.

That ship has sailed.

how the heck does kelowna sustain... honest question.

there's no way salaries are $100k there... how properties are $1M and people are still buying them like crazy like chump change is beyond me.

Are people really so dumb as to believe the return trip is "free"?

ngl, i was one of those said fuckers that went there during covid and loved it... also had the "OMG it's free on the way back?!" moment... that feeling when i got to put my credit card away when lining up to go back :tears:

my peasant ass is still too poor to buy a property up there though so i didn't affect housing prices :lol

Alberta cuz close to here, I rather be in Calgary and can drive somewhere rather than rely on bc ferry and our weather. There's TNT and enough Asians. I'm sure we can change the politics once enough libs from everywhere else moves there.

I thought about Asia, Japan, Thailand, Malaysia? I keep seeing those ads for Japanese country side it beach town houses for like $50000 USD. Their dollar is worth garbage right now. And even if I bought a place I'm sure I can sustain myself with cad assets. It seems like it's very easy to be frugal in Japan. Then I can live out my gaijin drifter dreams