Some folks have jobs, live in Vancouver/surrounds, and are quite happy with all the goings on, regardless of the RE market. For the record, these stories from a discussion thread at reddit.com [hat-tip matt]:
“I work for a Vancouver-based biotech, this is our only office. Most of the people I know working for tech companies here work at a company with < 30 people, all of which are based here. There is an active tech meetup scene, and new startups cropping up all the time. I’ve not heard of such a culture in Halifax or Mississauga, mostly because it’s difficult to attract talented developers to places that don’t have a reputation for being livable. While I personally live in Vancouver / Burnaby right now as I don’t yet have a family, if I did have one I would probably move to Surrey (it’s where I grew up before high school). A lot of it is very transit accessible, and it’s not terribly expensive to live fairly close to one of the skytrain stations.” – kislek, 13 Apr 2011
“I’m also in biotech in Vancouver, hubby is in web development. Any companies we’ve worked for are ONLY in Vancouver. Ontario isn’t the centre of the universe. Living in Surrey means having a ~30min commute and an affordable mortgage with a yard. Most haters haven’t actually lived in Surrey before.” – solace76, 13 Apr 2011
Sorry buddy but if I worked in Vancouver, i rather raise a child in a box while living in Vancouver than to move out to Surrey.
i would be willing to live in White Rock..
..if i could work in my living room.
I once lived there… a then ‘rural idyll rental’ @ OceanPark & subsequently TheRock, proper… A popular joke at the time was, “Living in WhiteRock means ‘never having to say you’re Surrey’…
Would typically begin the ‘commute’ @ 0400 – scanner/radar detector assisted – often arriving in YaleTown approx 35min subsq. to RockDeparture…
Getting back was an altogether different matter… After a year or so of creeping along the 99 in traffic queues that made WhiteRockGrannies on walkers look like OlympicSprinters it occurred to me that I was actually spending something like the equivalent of 14days (24/7) per annum sitting in an automobile waiting to squeeze through ‘TheTunnel’.
So, ya… if you can, do it! Work from your living room… And best of all, if you do, like HughHefner, you can even wear your pajamas while yer workin’…