Lawyer Couple in 30’s – “Neither of us feel entitled to owning a freestanding home in Kits. You’re missing the point if you think that’s the problem. Fact is, we don’t want to be renting a small apartment in our 40’s.”

Posted on 4 November 2011 | 14 Comments

“I’m in my 30’s as is my wife. We’re both working lawyers and have a baby on the way. We rent a two bedroom apartment in East Van. We’re essentially the couple in the article except we live in a more affordable neighbourhood.
Recently we gave notice at our place and are packing our bags to leave Vancouver as we feel like we’ve been priced out of the housing market. Neither of us feel entitled to owning a freestanding home in Kits, and you’re missing the point if you think that’s the problem, but we also don’t want to be renting a small to mid-sized apartment in our 40’s which is the reality of housing in metro Vancouver. The fact is all of our friends who are in their 30’s, have kids, and can find work elsewhere have already left for more affordable pastures, either to the Island or to Langley. Those who are tied here due to their work end up commuting two hours a day and dream of finding jobs elsewhere.
I don’t know what the solution is, but there’s definitely a problem here even if you don’t want to admit it.”
– mizike at reddit.com discussion of Going Going Gone article, 13 Oct 2011

This entry was posted in 07. Avoiding Vancouver, 09. Delaying Buying, 10. Demoralized Renters?, 14. Social Effects of the Boom, 15. Misallocation of Resources and tagged Anecdotes, British Columbia, Bubble, Canada, Economy, Housing, Real Estate, Vancouver. Bookmark the permalink.

14 responses to “Lawyer Couple in 30’s – “Neither of us feel entitled to owning a freestanding home in Kits. You’re missing the point if you think that’s the problem. Fact is, we don’t want to be renting a small apartment in our 40’s.””

space889 | 4 November 2011 at 3:17 pm | Reply

Uhm…leave for greener pastures instead of driving 2hrs a day and feel sorrying for oneself and maybe not paying attention while driving? Seriously, if you have portable marketable skills and don’t like Vancouver, consider leaving rather than just dream about it. Chances are you will feel better about it. If you stay then you need to change your mental attitude, otherwise say hello to major depression.
- jesse | 4 November 2011 at 4:16 pm | Reply
  
  “Portable” in this case means transferring qualifications to new jurisdictions. If lawyers, likely most of the jobs will be near the city centre.
  
  It’s tough out there… 😉
- Royce McCutcheon | 4 November 2011 at 4:50 pm | Reply
  
  I do agree with you space889. But looking past those with portable skills who are simply unable to leave (e.g. due to obligations towards family), I’d only point out that if you love this place and have lived here your whole life, you might be inclined to fight against the fact that a whole generation of young locals is being squeezed out. And I think that’s worth saying whether high prices are justified or not. AND I’d say that if people do leave, they should be very vocal about their reasons for doing so. The notion of a lost generation IS seeping into the public consciousness and each family that spells out why it is moving away will help bring this issue to the fore.
pricedoutfornow | 4 November 2011 at 6:38 pm | Reply

Sure seeing a lot of these comments these days. People are fed up! Me too….can’t leave due to family reasons though but maybe one day….too bad, I do enjoy living in Vancouver and am impressed with things it has to offer (I’ve had good health care, I love the recreation opportunities, all the libraries etc). It’s definitely better than living in a suburbia nightmare like Kelowna. But it’s getting exhausting to live in a 2 bed apartment with a rapidly expanding family (and $100k in the bank). Oh, Vancouver, what have you done to yourself? It’s sad, really.
- jesse | 4 November 2011 at 9:02 pm | Reply
  
  My impression is that people decided to “wait out” prices but have capitulated and made the choice to move. The data back up that there are more people leaving the province than in previous years.
  - diablo | 4 November 2011 at 9:07 pm |
    
    the data says there are 10s of thousands more coming than going
  - keeperofthederp | 5 November 2011 at 4:33 pm |
    
    nothing like displacing multi-generational british columbians, eh?
    
    but then again, they were just white people – stupid, lazy, good for nothing white people.
scullboy | 5 November 2011 at 3:18 am | Reply

I agree, if you aren’t happy, leave. It’s really that simple. Vancouver / BC are *not* the best place on earth. The hard fact is these days they aren’t even the best places in Canada. Sorry if that bruises egos but it’s true. Given the difficulties in getting any kind of career traction, I would say ANYWHERE ELSE IN THIS COUNTRY IS BETTER.

Nova Scotia has coastline, better (in some aspects) food, and with a 25 billion dollar contract, FAR better opportunities in both trades and high tech. Also, far fewer pretentious wankers claiming it’s the best place in the universe.

Montreal has the French, a fabulous historic city crammed with festivals and cultural events, great food and loads of good shopping.

Toronto is the center of the country geographically and culturally. I wriite this sitting in a lovely executive suite at King and Simcoe, across from Roy Thompson Hall. This city’s come a long way since I left.

Ottawa has excellent employment opportunities and is a good place to raise a family. Personally I hate Ottawa but… you know… it’s not for everyone.

I haven’t spent much time between Toronto and Vancouver but I imagine someone else could list the benefits of living there.

Every other city in this country is more affordable then Van and has something to offer. There’s no reason to sit around waiting for house prices to fall. There’s no reason to put your life on hold while you wait… and wait… and wait. There’s no reason to put with the the unbearable snobbiness of Vancouver’s home owners because you aren’t willing to sell your soul for a stupid house.

If you’re unhappy, leave. There’s loads of happiness to be found elsewhere. Take it from me.
- keeperofthederp | 5 November 2011 at 4:35 pm | Reply
  
  i actually only stay so i can see (more) miserable vancouverites when the SHTF – sure is taking a long time, but these LulZ will be epic..
  - chubster | 7 November 2011 at 1:23 pm |
    
    schadenfreude isn’t good eats. you can find something better to satisfy the hunger.
Bryn | 7 November 2011 at 11:47 am | Reply

So don’t rent a small apartment. Rent a whole house!!

There are PLENTY of alternatives to the apartment route, and you’d better believe most landlords would much rather rent to a professional couple than to a load of UBC students.

I have a wonderful home here in Vancouver that I rent for less than half what the payments would be. It has a fantastic view, it is in a great neighbourhood and it has been well taken care of.

The best way to stop encouraging rampant price speculation is for people to stop paying stupid amounts of money for tiny condos – real men rent!
- Michelle | 7 November 2011 at 2:54 pm | Reply
  
  The problem with renting a whole house is that you will live in (very justifiable) fear that your landlord will flip it out from under you. Why would they keep renting it to you at $3k/month if they could get $2 million in a sale?
  
  I speak from experience: this has happened to me twice already. And now that I have a child, renting a house seems even more problematic as being flipped out would likely mean having to move our child to a new school or daycare if you can’t find a suitable rental in the same neighbourhood.
  
  We are in this exact situation and, between deciding to raise our son in a 900 sq. ft. condo, moving out to the burbs and spending 2-3 hours a day (time that could be spent with our son), or just throwing in the towel and deciding to leave Vancouver entirely.
  
  If you of another stable, well-maintained, reasonably priced rental house in Vancouver with a view, please let me know! We don’t want to leave our friends and family but feel we are being squeezed to the point that leaving is the best option in the long term.
  
  And, if I may say so, I hate all this “if you don’t like it, just leave / rent” baloney. We live here, we’re from here, and it is families like us that make Vancouver what it is. When we are gone it will be too late for you to complain.
Michelle | 7 November 2011 at 3:07 pm | Reply

Sorry, I wish you could edit comments here. I tinkered around with the above before posting and now some passages don’t make sense. Oh well, you get my drift.
Vesta | 7 November 2011 at 5:00 pm | Reply

Michelle, I know whereof you speak, and I hope you won’t mind if I say to
Bryn that we would also be interested in hearing about his house for rent.