We’ve barely started and already apartment hunting kinda sucks. Where’s the eBay “buy now” button? We’re not used to looking and waiting anymore. The search criteria we gave Agent Awesome make it seem that we’ll settle for just any apartment, if the price and ugly factor are right. Not so. Girl’s gotta have standards, even when her apartment-hunting criteria starts and ends with “ugly”. Why? It’s going to be our home first – we have to like living there.
Apartment hunting tips: Vancouver style
This 5-point questionnaire – of my own invention – determines eligibility to the Ugly Baby Shortlist. The required answers also explain how I arrived at $300k as the baseline price for Vancouver property you’d want to own.
“No way! My friend snagged an awesome place for, like, $279!”
Yeah, yeah, yeah. This is my game and I haven’t even told you the rules yet:
#1: Do I need a car? Like many Vancouverites, we like to walk, bike and bus pretty much everywhere. Drive-thrus and strip malls are completely foreign. So suburbs, thanks but no thanks.
#2: Can two people live here? As we so rudely learned at our first Vancouver open house, we’re buying a shoebox and nothing more. So layout & storage are crucial. Can two people live here and own more than 2 pairs of shoes each? I mean live here. Sleep, hang out, cook, enjoy life. Unpack. Breathe easy.
#3: Is there yellow tape? Has the VPD recently entered the premises by means of battering ram? No former grow-ops or crack dens. We’re fine with a complete home renovation – not condemnation.
Need to book a session with Sunshine Cleaning?
#4: What does it look like on a rainy day? Insert your favourite ‘Wet Coast’ joke here. Vancouver’s great to visit, but happy living depends on the right neighbourhood. Consider that totally desirable Kitsilano looks good in any weather. As do the West End, Fairview and Cambie areas. If it looks decrepit and souless in the rain, I don’t want to suffer it for half the year. No Belgrade-on-a-bad-day. West Coast Charming, please.
#5: Would I walk there at night? Or ever? Though Vancouver’s pretty safe, whenever an apartment listing pops up for under $300k, it’s unlikely somewhere I’d feel safe walking at night. Ve-to.
And the results? If, using these 5 apartment hunting tips, you managed to beat my $300k basemark, well done to you. As for my results – dare I even say it?
More than a quarter of a million dollars are needed to buy a Vancouver ugly baby.
I’d imagine that only New Yorkers, Londoners and possibly Muscovites can feel this Vancouver girl’s pain. Yet more open houses, here we come!
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Full photo credit to lululemon athletica, alancleaver_2000 and suburbandollar via Flickr Creative Commons.
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