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Originally Posted by peter12
Maybe we are a bit too Goldilocks, but we really aren't willing to move to neighbourhoods that would entail a long commute for either of us. So obviously, we are bidding in neighbourhoods that are extremely high demand and we shouldn't expect lower prices. That said, this current boom has seen condo and townhouse bidding wars that are just ridiculous.
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Yeah, it's fairly insane, particularly for what you get. There's just no option for regular people to live there at this point unless you're renting and often then it's like student housing, only occupied by people in their late 20's. My view is that the commuting option is far, far preferable than subjecting yourself to that sort of thing, particularly given what you say below about the cultural issues... the real benefit of living there is the climate, natural beauty and access to the outdoors (which is sort of three ways of saying the same thing).
Hence my "live up in the mountains or on an island in the woods" ideas... the best outcome out there is one where your weekend routine is to walk out your door, take a few dozen steps, and slide a boat into the water.
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If you want to talk about cultural development, Vancouver has taken massive steps backwards. Arts and cultural space is being shuttered at breakneck speed. There is almost nothing in the way of local music or art anymore.
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I think that happened in the early 00's. Seems like the only cultural developments since have been wealth-display-oriented. Even the activities are like that... Gone are the days of picking up a $50 lift ticket at 7-11, hitchhiking by the ferry terminal and crashing on someone's floor in Tamarisk. Now you drive your 5 series up the re-constructed sea to sky and rent your room at Legends, or you stay in your place.
On the other hand, Calgary is a lot more fun when money is flying around everywhere. It has a sort of hunkered-down, "we're waiting for the good times to come back" feeling these days, and that started well before Covid. But if you're spending most of your time in your house, and you're spending a million bucks on it, you can live in pretty solid luxury.
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As for restaurants and shops, it's fine here. Again, high commercial property taxes and rents mean that most of the high streets have a lot of vacancy. There was a block on 4th Ave in Kits (where I first lived in Van) which always had around 80% vacancy.
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I lived in Kits once upon a time for a short period, many years ago. The beach was pretty nice to have nearby. Nothing like that here. I'm guessing Sophies is still there, but that Sgt. Pepperoni's is now a Starbucks.