I'm pretty sure my buddy was working on that tower.. I think he said they don't even have AC.. Paying that much and no AC... crazy.

Burnaby is also has the least to offer out of the burbs besides being close to Vancouver. Even Langley has more interesting stuff to do. Burnaby is the cactus club of the GVRD.

The older I get, the more I realize most people are couch potatoes, and don't care for hobbies / activities

I truly have no idea why people spend the money to live here then. That's a shitload of stress for nothing.

https://www.redfin.ca/bc/vancouver/5...home/175765867

My buddy is looking at this unit. How bad of an idea is living this close to Main and Hastings is it???

I guess it's far enough that it isn't as bad, but I still feel like it's pretty close to the hoards of homeless and druggies. What do you guys think?

edit; he's 33, really wants to move out of his parents house and this is within his price range and really likes the idea of being downtown.

There's still a fair bit of "character" in that area - the corner of Carrall/Hastings is the scene of many police cars and ambulances. My friend used to live right by Carrall/Hastings (20 years ago) and would tell me about watching people shoot up in the alleys all the time - I don't think it's gotten better since then.

Maybe his definition of "downtown" needs to be extended? I think the city considers everything out to Broadway to be downtown and considering how those areas are changing it's going to feel like downtown.

If you don't mind getting stabbed and free tents in your front door. Also your car getting broken into I assume. Vancouver lifestyle:pokerface:

I've lived in Vancouver Fraserview for 10 years and honestly hated most of my time there. In the last few years when it was tenants galore and the already narrow streets had cars filling up on the daily, it was the last straw.

Sometimes, boring is good. Burnaby is still relatively similar to what it was when I grew up in Canada; minus the high rises. Location being a key seller, I'm a short drive away from the "interesting stuff". Isn't that why we have cars? My family sure as heck didn't move across the Pacific to live in another metropolis to commute on public transit and live inside a 500 sq ft box.

Burnaby is exactly what you just described you didn't want to live in, in many cases. If you can afford to live in a SFH in a nice neighbourhood there like north burnaby, it's great, however we are talking about the 500 sq ft boxes there, that are as expensive as every better place to live in the GVRD if that's what you are going to be living in. $1200/sq ft can get you a high rise in burnaby Metrotown area or a high rise in yaletown.

Guilty as charged, other than walking the dog I work from home and leave my house once or maybe twice a week and it's usually one of three locations, grocery store, watch my son play football or meeting my friends or going out with my family for food/drinks. I'm turning into a hermit for sure.

I do need a hobby though, I should probably get back into motorcycles or something, at least I'd have something to tinker with in the winter and ride in the summer.

I grew up in and around Main and Hastings in social housing for a good portion of my childhood and into high school.

It was not good then. And it is no not better now. Nobody will visit him (at least I wouldn't) so he needs to accept that. If he can tough it out for a few years to experience this so-called Downtown lifestyle, go for it.

I don't know about "noone visiting him", unless his friends have some phobia of homeless people.

I think that building is almost far enough from main/Hastings. It's not great, but it's not horrible. I personally would not buy there. Noisy clubs nearby, loud drunk people fri-sat.

If he views the unit, he should sit around until an ambulance or po-po drive by, to hear if the windows are thick or not.
I live by science world, first responders are passing every 10-30 minutes, with the balcony door open, it's "loud", and with it closed, the noise is reduced by 80%, you get useto it.

Is the parents home located in East Van?

If so there's the option to building a laneway house to live in.

EDIT:

Downside would be living close to parents and you don't build your own equity

His parents have a house in east van with a basement suite and a laneway house, but he wants to do his own thing and buy something for himself.

Yeah, I was telling him that area has only gotten more crowded since we were in highschool and even though it's further away from the action, there's still probably a lot of stragglers. he said he's going to walk the area more this week to get a better idea of the area.

I think $500k for a studio in that area is too much money. I would rather live in the brentwood area.

I agree with this big time. We live right beside Brentwood and even with all the developments and "Amazing Brentwood" this area is still crap.

It's just way busier, way more balling whips and more copy/pasted sushi/bubble tea places.

No walkability, and nothing interesting to patronize. Earls, Browns, Joeys, and Cactus all spread out along a traffic light filled highway.

If this is considered the new "downtown", it's garbage.

*raises hand* resident RS couch potato right here

But browns Joey's Earls cactus is dt. :pokerface: at least there's no complimentary shootings at Brentwood:suspicious:

Just tell him to go hang out there for a few days - weekdays and weekends, during the day and during the night.

LOL at any "new downtowns" anywhere but the Downtown Peninsula. You can't just put a bunch of condo towers along a busy arterial road and call it the "new downtown". That goes for Broadway, Kingsway, Lougheed, etc.

Downtown needs employment centres believe it or not. A grid system of roads/transit, cultural institutions, and this needs to occur and grow organically. A bunch of developers selling you the next "downtown" or "next Yaletown" in Burnaby/Surrey/Langley is shoveling a bunch of horse manure into your mouth. That being said the closest things we have to a 2nd downtown in the Lower Mainland are probably North Van Lower Lonsdale and New West. Broadway in Mt. Pleasant has potential but it still has a long, long way to go.

Living in the DTES for $500k?

That place doesn't look like it has air conditioning which means open windows would give him the smells and sounds of the area. There are also mentally ill people who would just screen at the top of their lungs when on drugs in that area.

Not gonna lie, Viet Noodle Guy might be one of my favourite Viet restaurants in the city. Hoang Yen may be top, but the Chicken Pho at Viet Noodle Guy is pretty amazing. I haven't found a chicken pho that's better.

At least metrotown (stilL) has a real functioning shopping mall and transit hub. Brentwood still looks like a place you just pass through while driving on Lougheed Highway.

I went there for the first time a month ago, it had a weird Vegas vibe where you kind of can't get your bearings where you are and it's just a bunch of buildings connected to each other.

Not a compliment coz I hate Vegas now, after having gone there 5+ times over a span of 2 years in my mid/late 20s for various work and vacation reasons.

I just love Small Victory country harvest bread

Lol small victory was the sole reason I went to Brentwood in the first place.