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moving to okanagan?

Discussion in 'General Discussion' started by stort, Jun 29, 2020.

  1. stort

    stort Junior Member

    Anybody here recently move away from Vancouver area to the okanagan? Specifically Penticton . Not going into details why or the fine details of how big Penticton is versus big city Vancouver, costs of living, employment, blah blah.....studied that to death already. Just asking from real people who made the move and like to know if you regretted it or should of gone to kelowna instead? Did you find it too boring/hard to find employment/the winters too quiet or too cold? Did you miss the metro vancouver dining scene, you miss the Rain, or the bountiful shopping options? Or did you find once settled in, it was/is a friendly community with lots of sunshine and everything you desire all in the entire okanagan region? Thanks!
     
  2. gardengnome

    gardengnome Guest

    not penticton but kelowna. no regrets we're major homebodies so the main thing we miss is the food and our family. we make lots of trips back. i suggest finding a job before you move. try visiting and staying there to vibe it out.
     
    stort likes this.
  3. Superchecker

    Superchecker Active Member


    https://www.reddit.com/r/britishcolumbia/new might be helpful

    We have friends the retired to the Summerland area; They love the quieter pace. Winter gets a tad cold and lasts longer up there...
     
    stort likes this.
  4. stort

    stort Junior Member

    Hi, thanks for your reply. I am familiar with visiting Penticton/Summerland and have long term relatives in both cities, also my parents lived on and off in both cities ( plus Princeton , many small okanagan communities). I am interested in peoples such as yourself and the positives and negatives. I'm a bit surprised the Kelowna food scene (for you) is lacking somewhat. I know we are spoiled in Vancouver with food options, but i figure Kelowna would be sorta a jewel in the okanagan crown. Imagine how sucky it can be in Penticton with only 33,000 people and early night closures! Summerland food scene is even more scary. The pub there and Zia's italian restaurant apparently the only thing worth going out for dinner. Oh well.....
     
  5. stort

    stort Junior Member

    My aunt/uncle/cousins live in Summerland, my parents lived in Summerland before and after i was born, i got a brother who retired and lives in Penticton ( he difficult to get words and emotion out of so no point asking his opinion). Summerland is ''nice'' but mainly a retirement town , not much going on in general, i do like that town but i still need to work/pay bills/mortgage, etc, so i'm not so interested in moving there unless i got a good secure job in Penticton and commuted the 20 minutes by hwy. You know, the winters there are not as bad as they once were. Not as deep cold or even the amount of snow fall then decades ago. But!!!!....a nice change of scenery from the copious Vancouver rains. Also, they just get way more sunshine, the dreaded '' okanagan valley cloud inversion'' is laughable and tolerable if you compare and hate on the vancouver winter months. They get powdery dry snow falls, one can dress warmer and not feel damp and wet/cold like vancouver. I've had my fill of rain living in Vancouver. I love the Okanagan scenery, the trees, vegetation, the Lake, low mountains....always felt happier whenever i visited Summerland and got my sunshine fix.
     
  6. Checkersuper

    Checkersuper Guest

  7. stort

    stort Junior Member

    you sir are correct. I have a reddit account, got banned from the vancouver reddit after 8 months. Too be honest, i was glad, was about to ban myself ...lol. Mind you, the BC/Canada subreddits and other reddit forums not bad. Mostly a very toxic vancouver reddit.
     
  8. Bill

    Bill Full Member

    It will be worth a move if houses are in the $500k range and not million dollar range.
     
  9. stort

    stort Junior Member

    YEsssss.....one can buy a dumpy older house for maybe $450K, but it may need a lot of renovation$. I have been looking at Penticton realty online and more realistic would be $525-600K MArk. Ones that are 3-4 bdrm, two suites, nicely renovated/updated and very nice size bakyards that are also fixed up, fenced and often landscaped. Depending on the down payment, a mortgage is way more affordable and doable. That is if you have a job that pays more then minimum wage ! Might even have to commute to kelowna for a better paying job.
     
  10. beernut

    beernut Guest

    you could find a job that lets you WFH. should be more common these days
     
  11. Bill

    Bill Full Member

    Sounds like a good place for retirement, sell the million dollar home in Vancouver, buy a $500k house and enjoy the retirement with the rest of the money.
     
  12. stort

    stort Junior Member

    Oh ya, lots of people retiring from metro Vancouver, the Island , Alberta and even Ontario. Most go to Kelowna, a lot more dynamic/interesting. Penticton itself has fairly stagnant population growth. I had compared the city's population from 1996-2016, their population grew only about 1500 people. Currently 34,000 and about 42,000 ''metro''. Most of the population is seniors, pegged at 77 %. Crazy how much the 2 bedroom condos go for : $250-270K. Goes to show how much the city relies on retirees moving there and others buying up summer vacation properties. I will be looking at the $500-550 to 600K , 3-4 bdrm houses .....with maybe 25% down or more and carrying a mortgage.
     
  13. neowise

    neowise Guest

    more likely to get covid in kelowna than penticton
     
  14. Bill

    Bill Full Member

    How would you rate the Okanagan cities: Kelowna, Penticton, Vernon, Kamloops? Which city has cheapest houses?
     
  15. stort

    stort Junior Member

    Hmmmmmm......well I have been looking over the realty in all the Okanagan cities , including Oliver. Kamloops not so much as for now it does not fit what i am interested in. Altho it does have some very nice homes and 'hoods/shopping and so on. Kelowna would be the most expensive with an average price of about $779K. But that might not be the perfect home, might be a starter/ fixer upper, older smaller home. Penticton average is $590K. I have looked at a variety of nicely renovated Penticton homes and i'd say you can buy one for anywhere from $525-550-575K. Of course if you want luxury, you can go from $600K to $12M! Summerland is only about 11,000 pop., yet more expensive then Penticton. It's like the little exclusive, quiet, desirable town with low end to high end homes and property. Good luck finding employment there tho. $718K or 690K average for Summerland. Vernon average is $563K.....nicer city then i had originally thought. But they do get more snow in winter and more of the cloudy winter days. They do seem more blue collar economy and not so much Summer tourist destination and full of crap self promotion of the best place to live in the okanagan mentality. Kamloops is at the $525 average but i suspect you might really be looking at homes at $600-725K for something newer, better, nicer area etc. Nice sized city of about 90,000 pop....sometimes looks bigger and busier then 90,000. I think Kamloops or Kelowna would offer better job ops to pay that mortgage, Vernon not too bad....Penticton/Summerland is pretty lacking in jobs or start up business ventures.
     
  16. Bill

    Bill Full Member

    Sounds like Kelowna is the most expensive. Vernon, Kamloops, Penticton selling at around $500k would be doable. Sell off home in Vancouver (condo around $500-$600 or house around $1m), buy a $500k home with spare change to spend. Get a Walmart cashier or McDonald's job to supplement the spare change funds. Enjoy life in the interior!

    Oliver or any other smaller cities can be considered if they have a big box store (Walmart, Superstore, BestBuy, Costco, etc)
     
  17. Jugger

    Jugger Guest

    If your asian then it is very racist compared with GRVD
     
  18. stort

    stort Junior Member

    I am not asian. It is true that there are very few asians in the okanagan, but i can't speak of the racism levels for the few who chose to live there. I was just reading the 2020 demographics for kelowna with a population of 180,000 metro it is 90% White and chinese make up only 1.2 %. Even less of korean, japanese , vietnamese and filipinos. I imagine Penticton, with less then 34,000 population, has maybe less then 100 or so combined asians. So i will not pretend to be dumb, deaf and blind and say no racism in the okanagan. Vast majority of the population there seems to live in harmony and of course you will have some bouts of ugliness . Where in the world can a person live with zero racism?
     

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