15 to 20 mins metro travel to Vancouver downtown, so this is a good option. Also, I checked so many rental houses in Vancouver metro and I find house sin Burnaby, Surrey, and Richmond to be the nicest ones and better option given short metro travel to Downtown Vancouver. I guess Vancouver has one of the best Public transportation in North America, so staying 30 mins away is not a big deal.That's more Burnaby than Vancouver mate (Burnaby is essentially China btw). I'm seeing they average about 1500 USD ~2000 CAD, and as far as I can see they're mostly basement rooms. For a short period (1-2 weeks) till I move into a permanent place, I wouldn't mind getting that kind of Airbnb but no way I'm paying 2000 CAD a month for a basement in Burnaby for any longer.
Unless I have to... It's really challenging for fresh immigrants to get a whole apartment due to insufficient credit score and rental history.