Are you planning to settle in Vancouver?

[Willow05]

Hello future newcomer!

First of all, congratulations and I am excited for you.

7 years ago, I was in your shoes and this forum has helped me a lot. I also DIY’d and I couldn’t have done it without the awesome support of this community. I can clearly remember how excited and genuinely happy I was whenever a “batchmate” has an update on his/her application. I was also one of those who checks my CIC account every day .

Now, I just want to give back by trying my best to answer your questions for free regarding immigration and/or settling here in Canada. I had an opportunity to work in an immigration firm here in BC but I am not an expert by any means. I could probably answer some of your queries based on my experience but for full disclosure, I am not an immigration consultant nor I am promoting any immigration firm, so please note that whatever I say can’t be used as an alternative to an immigration consultant’s advice. The CIC website and a licensed immigration consultant is still your best bet.

As for settlement: If you are planning to settle in Vancouver, especially in Surrey.. hit me up. Again, I am not an expert but I have been living here for 7 years so I do know my way around. This goes especially true if you don’t know anyone here. I know it can be scary and sometimes overwhelming.

Right now, my husband and I are working as support workers for a vulnerable population here in Canada (non-profit). So why not extend our support to the community that supported us into coming here.

- I can help you in finding a place to settle (temporary or permanent), this is probably the toughest one because of our crazy rental market and landlords are looking for references.
- I can also provide info/assist you in setting up some basic but essential stuff like your SINs, MSP, child benefits, phone, bank, daycare, school catchment, transit passes, etc. (don’t worry because I won’t be asking for any of your personal info, I am just assisting up to whatever level you are comfortable with)
- I may be able to help you look for a job and give you some tips
- I can also assist you in navigating community resources. There are so many support out there, you’ll be surprised.
- I may be able to pick you up in the airport
- I can probably even give you a tour and we can exchange stories.

Please note that whatever help I am extending is free so it depends on my availability. Please be kind and understanding if I cannot accommodate everyone since I also have a full-time job. I just want to help wherever I can.

 

[feanor13]

Thanks for the offer of help -- it's always great to see folks giving back to the community! As someone who is interested in moving to Vancouver (assuming my FSW-O application gets approved), I'd love to get your thoughts on housing in the area.

My wife & I have primarily been considering 3 places: Burnaby, New Westminster, and Surrey. Our main criteria is having a "reasonable" (by Vancouver standards) purchase price for a 2BR condo (less than 700k), while also being close to a SkyTrain stop, to be able to commute to downtown Vancouver in 40min or less. Surrey appeals to us because it seems to be the place with the most realistic chance that we can afford to buy a condo while also being able to get downtown.

What are your thoughts on this? How does Surrey compare to the other places on our list? Would love to read your advice, thanks!

 

[Willow05]

Hi feanor,

It seems to me you’ve done your research on this. First of all, you are right about housing. It is very expensive here in BC (especially in the lower mainland). Many says because we are paying for the weather plus we both have the ocean and the mountains nearby. Is it worth it? I would say absolutely!

Going back to your question, a good rule of thumb in terms of housing is that the farther you go away from Vancouver, the cheaper it is. And you can see significant reduction of prices when you cross the Fraser River. Because of this, I removed Burnaby and New West from my list.

I chose Surrey because (1) I know I can’t afford Vancouver, (2) like you said, Surrey is more affordable but you can get to Vancouver in 30-45 mins without traffic, (3) Surrey is also booming really fast. In fact, UBC is expanding here. That means, there is a lot of potential here to build a home and invest in real estate.

I bought a townhouse here in Surrey (my main home)and also bought a 1-bedroom condo in downtown Surrey that I AirBnB.

I understand the desire to be as close to Vancouver as possible because of the job prospects but there is a good chance that you can find similar jobs in the other cities as well; or better yet, you’ll be working from home or will have a hybrid workplace like what happened to me.

Buying a home is a big commitment. My suggestion is to rent a place first to get a feel of the city and buy when you see yourself living there longterm. Unless you are buying in cash, you would also need to establish yourself here first to get a mortgage (show stable income, build a credit history, etc).

I would love to hear your thoughts and what you decided. What stage are you in your application?

 

[feanor13]

Hi again @Willow05 ! Thanks for sharing your thoughts, it definitely helps to know that our reasoning is aligned with yours, especially considering you have all these years of experience living in the Vancouver area!

And you can see significant reduction of prices when you cross the Fraser River. Because of this, I removed Burnaby and New West from my list

Ah, this is a valuable insight, a good rule of thumb! Thanks for sharing, we'll keep it in mind during our search.

Buying a home is a big commitment. My suggestion is to rent a place first to get a feel of the city and buy when you see yourself living there longterm

Great suggestion! My wife and I were planning to rent in our first year, and spend time exploring a few areas before making a decision.

I would love to hear your thoughts and what you decided.

We are definitely in the early stages -- all we have decided so far is our approximate budget and the type of home we want. And we know we probably don't want to be car owners (we have a car right now in the US and we don't really like car-dependence), so that will influence our choice of neighborhood as well.

What stage are you in your application?

We've applied for our PR through the Federal Skilled Workers - Outland program. We've so far received our invite to apply, submitted our docs, and received confirmation of medicals & biometrics. So now we hopefully just sit tight and wait to be informed of the outcome. If everything goes well, we hope to move to Vancouver sometime in 2024.

I bought a townhouse here in Surrey (my main home)and also bought a 1-bedroom condo in downtown Surrey that I AirBnB.

Wow! Congratulations, that's amazing -- you're practically a real estate mogul! Meanwhile my wife & I would be happy if we could just get a reasonable small condo.

To that end, do you have any tips on things we should look for as first time condo buyers? We've been reading guides online and the main tips seem to be to carefully read the strata meeting details, to buy concrete builds (less noise), and avoid pre-2000 and post-2012 constructions. Happy to hear if you have any tips for us in and around Surrey Central (or any other neighborhoods in Surrey near a SkyTrain stop). Especially based off of what you know from buying the 1BR condo in Downtown Surrey, how was your experience with that?

 

[steaky]

Thanks for the offer of help -- it's always great to see folks giving back to the community! As someone who is interested in moving to Vancouver (assuming my FSW-O application gets approved), I'd love to get your thoughts on housing in the area.

My wife & I have primarily been considering 3 places: Burnaby, New Westminster, and Surrey. Our main criteria is having a "reasonable" (by Vancouver standards) purchase price for a 2BR condo (less than 700k), while also being close to a SkyTrain stop, to be able to commute to downtown Vancouver in 40min or less. Surrey appeals to us because it seems to be the place with the most realistic chance that we can afford to buy a condo while also being able to get downtown.

What are your thoughts on this? How does Surrey compare to the other places on our list? Would love to read your advice, thanks!

Is there reason why Richmond is out of the picture? There are 4 skytrain stops and you don't need car dependence. Pedestrian traffic is more busier in Richmond than in Surrey.

 

[steaky]

To that end, do you have any tips on things we should look for as first time condo buyers? We've been reading guides online and the main tips seem to be to carefully read the strata meeting details, to buy concrete builds (less noise), and avoid pre-2000 and post-2012 constructions. Happy to hear if you have any tips for us in and around Surrey Central (or any other neighborhoods in Surrey near a SkyTrain stop). Especially based off of what you know from buying the 1BR condo in Downtown Surrey, how was your experience with that?

Why would you want to avoid pre-2000 and post-2012 constructions? You need to watch out for leaky condos. Especially for older homes, hire a home inspector to identify problem before finalise your offer. Also, look at your designated parking stall. Although the vendor said it's a regular size, it might only fit a small car.

 

[feanor13]

Is there reason why Richmond is out of the picture? There are 4 skytrain stops and you don't need car dependence. Pedestrian traffic is more busier in Richmond than in Surrey.

No reason, we just haven't considered it yet! When we realized we are priced out of Downtown Vancouver, we started looking east, starting from Burnaby and then farther out to Surrey. Thanks for bringing up Richmond though, we will definitely look into it more. Any specific neighborhoods / SkyTrain stops you'd recommend for us to get started with? Note that we are looking for high-rise type condos since we want concrete builds, so I guess there might not be a lot of options in Richmond (although I might be mistaken!)

A big advantage I guess with Richmond would be the airport connectivity, getting from YVR to any of the Richmond SkyTrain stops should take less than half hour, whereas getting to Surrey by SkyTrain from YVR would involve switching lines and should take upwards of 1.5 hrs. We hope to travel frequently (if things go as planned), so that would be very convenient.

Why would you want to avoid pre-2000 and post-2012 constructions? You need to watch out for leaky condos.

The pre-2000 advice we saw was related to leaky condos built in the '90s, just like you said! Post 2012 we were told to avoid due to the construction boom that's happened in the last decade, and shoddy builds that might have gone up. Among the post-2012s, we've been reading that it might make sense to especially avoid brand new builds for the first 5 years or so until a 5th year inspection has happened and we can see the strata notes.

Especially for older homes, hire a home inspector to identify problem before finalise your offer. Also, look at your designated parking stall. Although the vendor said it's a regular size, it might only fit a small car.

This is gold! Thanks for sharing, will follow this advice when we get close to finalizing.

 

[marshmellow]

Hello future newcomer!

First of all, congratulations and I am excited for you.

7 years ago, I was in your shoes and this forum has helped me a lot. I also DIY’d and I couldn’t have done it without the awesome support of this community. I can clearly remember how excited and genuinely happy I was whenever a “batchmate” has an update on his/her application. I was also one of those who checks my CIC account every day .

Now, I just want to give back by trying my best to answer your questions for free regarding immigration and/or settling here in Canada. I had an opportunity to work in an immigration firm here in BC but I am not an expert by any means. I could probably answer some of your queries based on my experience but for full disclosure, I am not an immigration consultant nor I am promoting any immigration firm, so please note that whatever I say can’t be used as an alternative to an immigration consultant’s advice. The CIC website and a licensed immigration consultant is still your best bet.

As for settlement: If you are planning to settle in Vancouver, especially in Surrey.. hit me up. Again, I am not an expert but I have been living here for 7 years so I do know my way around. This goes especially true if you don’t know anyone here. I know it can be scary and sometimes overwhelming.

Right now, my husband and I are working as support workers for a vulnerable population here in Canada (non-profit). So why not extend our support to the community that supported us into coming here.

- I can help you in finding a place to settle (temporary or permanent), this is probably the toughest one because of our crazy rental market and landlords are looking for references.
- I can also provide info/assist you in setting up some basic but essential stuff like your SINs, MSP, child benefits, phone, bank, daycare, school catchment, transit passes, etc. (don’t worry because I won’t be asking for any of your personal info, I am just assisting up to whatever level you are comfortable with)
- I may be able to help you look for a job and give you some tips
- I can also assist you in navigating community resources. There are so many support out there, you’ll be surprised.
- I may be able to pick you up in the airport
- I can probably even give you a tour and we can exchange stories.

Please note that whatever help I am extending is free so it depends on my availability. Please be kind and understanding if I cannot accommodate everyone since I also have a full-time job. I just want to help wherever I can.

Hey there,

Thank you for giving hand to the one in need.

I am already in Vancouver currently living in Surrey.

I am having hard time finding part time work as Student. Can you give some tips how to find out, I tried indeed but to no luck.

Also how to do volunteering work here any organization that I can join or can help?

 

[steaky]

No reason, we just haven't considered it yet! When we realized we are priced out of Downtown Vancouver, we started looking east, starting from Burnaby and then farther out to Surrey. Thanks for bringing up Richmond though, we will definitely look into it more. Any specific neighborhoods / SkyTrain stops you'd recommend for us to get started with? Note that we are looking for high-rise type condos since we want concrete builds, so I guess there might not be a lot of options in Richmond (although I might be mistaken!)

You can also look at Coquitlam and Port Moody (east of Burnaby & New Westminister). In addition to skytrain stops, each city has a commutter train station (known as the West Coast Express) to Downtown Vancouver. There should be much more concrete high-rise condos listings within your budget than Richmond.

The pre-2000 advice we saw was related to leaky condos built in the '90s, just like you said! Post 2012 we were told to avoid due to the construction boom that's happened in the last decade, and shoddy builds that might have gone up. Among the post-2012s, we've been reading that it might make sense to especially avoid brand new builds for the first 5 years or so until a 5th year inspection has happened and we can see the strata notes.

I briefly lived in a condo built in 2013. When I first moved in, I had a smart car2 go and the parking stall fit nicely. It probably didn't work if I had a toyota camry or bigger for the same parking stall.

 

[steaky]

Hey there,

Thank you for giving hand to the one in need.

I am already in Vancouver currently living in Surrey.

I am having hard time finding part time work as Student. Can you give some tips how to find out, I tried indeed but to no luck.

Also how to do volunteering work here any organization that I can join or can help?

How about retailers such as Kin's farm. For volunteering, have you tried the city or the local library?

 

[Willow05]

Hey there,

Thank you for giving hand to the one in need.

I am already in Vancouver currently living in Surrey.

I am having hard time finding part time work as Student. Can you give some tips how to find out, I tried indeed but to no luck.

Also how to do volunteering work here any organization that I can join or can help?

hello marshmellow,

Welcome to Surrey!

What program are you in? Usually it depends on what program you are taking. For example, if you are in a social services program, non-profit organizations always take in volunteers and you have a really high chance to get hired because they are always short-staffed and the demand is quite high.

Another tip is to polish your resume. Make sure it looks professional and aligns with the job responsibilities that are posted in the ad. Some companies, especially the big ones, use softwares that would detect “keywords”.

You may also check you school’s announcement boards, they usually post several jobs there that are student-focused. You can also check with WorkBC and see if they can help you out. Also, open a Linkedin account (if you don’t have one yet), many recruiters find people at linkedin.

Good luck! Let me know how it goes