Where to move on vancouver island?
- Thread starter dmurph
- Start date
fogged in
Well-Known Member
Good luck on your search
$500,ooo won't buy you a house in Victoria...maybe Sooke, Duncan or Campbell River.
No chance of waterfront with a dock
Maybe Port Alberni??
Housing prices have gone thru the roof everywhere on Vancouver Island.
trophywife
Crew Member
if i could with my family, comox.
scott craven
Well-Known Member
you will be hard pressed to buy land in the greater Victoria/Sooke area for under 500K.
perhaps Duncan/Chemainus area ?
you won't touch waterfront anywhere on your budget.
perhaps Duncan/Chemainus area ?
you won't touch waterfront anywhere on your budget.
Trophy21
Crew Member
Campbell river will give you your best bang for the buck. Comox valley is a bit more but gives you a good airport and ski mountain. Both are close to west coast fishing ports for epic adventures, as well as marinas,lakes,camping,quading, and all around good fun. But sorry no outlet malls,fancy pubs,and traffic jams. O and people say hi to you! So be careful lol
Striper Sniper
Well-Known Member
COMOX........
ExFlyGuy
Well-Known Member
Were in nanaimo and have no complaints( two kids 4 and2). Like people have said you aren't going to be getting much of a property for 500k. You might be able to find a partial ocean view. Sooke and parksville are nice but think about your wife and kid. Pick somewhere with things for them to do that do not require lots of time in the car. If I were to move it would be up to comox valley, but we're happy where we're at for now.
I have lived on Vancouver Island for the last 45 years - Campbell River, Black Creek and Cowichan Valley. Lots of good advice in these replies. So far as cost is concerned, the further north you go the more expensive. If you want a small acreage your budget would get you something in the Cowichan Valley but, not likely, anything south of the Malahat. A small freshwater acreage on Cowichan Lake might be a possibility. Checkout the towns of Lake Cowichan and Youbou for that possibility. The Comox Valley is getting pricey too but probably still in your price range. North of Campbell River there is the Sayward Valley which probably has some of the least expensive acreages on the Island but schools for your kids would be an issue to consider carefully. As others have said, waterfront for 500k is not realistic although you could look at Quadra or Cortes Island. It depends on how isolated you want to be and whether you want to be dependent on the small ferries.
SpringVelocity
Crew Member
This is hard thing to comment on. Everyone is going to say there area is the best. I don't think there is bad part of island. I would jot down needs and wants and go from there. I personally think up island from start of malahat is way more value for your money. Same with Sooke. Victoria areas including langford are way overpriced now, and is unreasonable families unless you have a lot of equity or rent out parts of your house.
Dmurph
I live in Vic and am also looking at moving out, north Island it will be probably CR. I would not pic sooke for one reason=traffic. I hate spending 2 hrs a day sometimes at green lights in traffic. Not sure what Whisler's traffic is but Vic/Sooke is gridlock most days. Biggest issue is powers to be have no future traffic plans, they have 100's of higher density housing projects being built now. I cant imagine Vic and westshore traffic in 3-4 years when Royal Bay has 4000-5000 new residents and same roads.
The fishing is great now although not nothing like it was 25 yrs ago, in my opinion this will also change, law suit for all salmon?? Who knows how that will turn out. But bigger worry is all these new people in Vic, lots are fisherman. The weekend lineups at the marinas are something to see and then to see 80 boats anchored on Constance bank, and some on every other little hump fishing, really scares me for the future regs for our local halibut. Vic is a nice town but it is changing, as Trophy 21 states, people still stop to say hello in communities outside Vic. Not so here as much anymore.
Just my opinion.
HM
I live in Vic and am also looking at moving out, north Island it will be probably CR. I would not pic sooke for one reason=traffic. I hate spending 2 hrs a day sometimes at green lights in traffic. Not sure what Whisler's traffic is but Vic/Sooke is gridlock most days. Biggest issue is powers to be have no future traffic plans, they have 100's of higher density housing projects being built now. I cant imagine Vic and westshore traffic in 3-4 years when Royal Bay has 4000-5000 new residents and same roads.
The fishing is great now although not nothing like it was 25 yrs ago, in my opinion this will also change, law suit for all salmon?? Who knows how that will turn out. But bigger worry is all these new people in Vic, lots are fisherman. The weekend lineups at the marinas are something to see and then to see 80 boats anchored on Constance bank, and some on every other little hump fishing, really scares me for the future regs for our local halibut. Vic is a nice town but it is changing, as Trophy 21 states, people still stop to say hello in communities outside Vic. Not so here as much anymore.
Just my opinion.
HM
RogersonCrusoe
Well-Known Member
This may not be in line with you Vancouver Island requirement, but have you considered Powell River? Compact town with all amenities, still great real estate prices and waterfront available.
CBsqrd
Well-Known Member
All good advice above and some great suggestions. Having been born and mostly raised on the Island (Duncan, Cobble Hill, Port Hardy, Victoria), one place that's missing from above that I'd put at the top of my list would be Ladysmith. Nice town and you should be able to find what you are looking for your budget, even acreages if you head out towards Yellow Point or Saltaire. Centrally located with easy access to both Nanaimo (ferries and more importantly Harbour Chandler!) and Victoria (ferries), and easy to get across to the West Coast - Port Renfrew via Lake Cowichan or Port Alberni (or farther north) off the Island Highway. Plus you are close to protected waters and the Southern Gulf Islands are on your doorstep - great place to explore in the summer and for your son to learn to boat when he starts heading out on his own.
Probably not the best from a pure fishing perspective, but good prawning and crabbing, decent winter fishing, Gabriola / Porlier in the spring and summer and you could still run across to fish the Fraser in the fall. Sooke would be ok for fishing as well, but driving the Sooke-ahala regularly and dealing with Victoria traffic every time I wanted to go to Trotac would put me off, and much more of a trek to go up Island or to the mainland. For the best fishing you're going to have to go to the west coast, or very north island (Port McNeil/Hardy), but you're trading off quality of schools and access to services. I'd definitely budget to have a truck and trailer (if you don't have one already) to hit up those places - should have lots of place to store them on your new acreage!
Cowichan and Comox Valley's would also be on my short list, but you're likely going to be further from the water in the Cowichan for your budget and Comox area is a bit too far up Island for my preference if you plan to travel to the mainland or through YVR regularly.
Generally, the schools in the central island (Comox - Cowichan) are will be better than the more outlying places - anot. Great fishing in Port Hardy and cheap real estate in Port Alberni, but I wouldn't want to send my kids to school in either if I had the choice (just my opinion from having gone to school / uni in and opinion from friends in the places above). Check http://britishcolumbia.compareschoolrankings.org for the Fraser Institute's school rankings (FWIW).
Probably not the best from a pure fishing perspective, but good prawning and crabbing, decent winter fishing, Gabriola / Porlier in the spring and summer and you could still run across to fish the Fraser in the fall. Sooke would be ok for fishing as well, but driving the Sooke-ahala regularly and dealing with Victoria traffic every time I wanted to go to Trotac would put me off, and much more of a trek to go up Island or to the mainland. For the best fishing you're going to have to go to the west coast, or very north island (Port McNeil/Hardy), but you're trading off quality of schools and access to services. I'd definitely budget to have a truck and trailer (if you don't have one already) to hit up those places - should have lots of place to store them on your new acreage!
Cowichan and Comox Valley's would also be on my short list, but you're likely going to be further from the water in the Cowichan for your budget and Comox area is a bit too far up Island for my preference if you plan to travel to the mainland or through YVR regularly.
Generally, the schools in the central island (Comox - Cowichan) are will be better than the more outlying places - anot. Great fishing in Port Hardy and cheap real estate in Port Alberni, but I wouldn't want to send my kids to school in either if I had the choice (just my opinion from having gone to school / uni in and opinion from friends in the places above). Check http://britishcolumbia.compareschoolrankings.org for the Fraser Institute's school rankings (FWIW).
Wild Bill
Well-Known Member
We like the Sooke area. We are further out in Shirley, French Beach though. The town has schools, and everything else you need so for the most part why do you need to do the run to Langford during rush hour? Launch the boat at Jordan River or keep it in Sooke or Port Renfrew. Kids In my subdivision are always happy to see more kids. Love facing south and sun all day! Just have to build a house in my retirement!
Attachments
scott craven
Well-Known Member
Agreed !
the climate we experience here is very temperate and mild.
land prices however are still on the rise.
Similar threads
