Something that most people have probably wondered before coming to live in Canada for a while, before going to live in an unfamiliar place for that matter, is what the place they will come to live at will be like. How the streets look, the neighbourhoods look, the surroundings, but above all, how the house to which you’ll arrive will look like. Could it be the kind of place that you could call home after a while? Well, this article is just about helping you answer that question 😉 So get ready, future Vancouverites, cause we’ll take you on a short trip!
Taking a peek at Vancouver housing..
It is quite common to hear from people living abroad that, since Canada is a first-world country, they expect the houses to be a utopian reflection of that. A big pool, big yard and high ceilings, like if every house was a small castle on its own. But of course, it’s not like that… Here’s how Vancouver housing really looks like
The Average House:
When it comes to international student living, most students arrive in Canada to live in a house, either by finding it on their own and sharing it with some roommates or by using a third-party service to help them out; Homestay services, for example, are the most common of these. Whichever the case is, the houses, of course, tend to be the same; a small to medium-sized house in the suburbs of the City, or, commonly enough, just outside the actual city limits.
Small to medium-sized houses are the ones that are usually looking forward to receiving international students and this is how they tend to look:
Houses with some years already in them, with 2 to 3 floors available (counting the basement as one of the floors of course) with some extra rooms to spare and which the families living in those houses want to put into use. Made mostly from drywall and wood houses in Canada, unless you pay gooood money for them, tend not to be as big as other countries, not even as big as the houses of the same socio-economic stratum but in another country. For example, the middle class in a country like Mexico usually has houses the same size if not even a little bigger than the Canadian middle class.
Now you understand why managing our expectations when it comes to housing is so important! Because the probability of ending up in a room or house that’s as comfortable and spacious as yours is quite high! You can imagine now the chaos and how uncomfortable it would be for you to have the wrong expectations and arrive at a house like this 😂
The Average Apartment
Besides finding their place in a local house, the second most frequent type of accommodation that students usually stay at are... apartment buildings, you guessed it right! Now, here, you’ll find two types of apartments as well, some older apartments that date back from the ’70s, although most of them would already have modernized their amenities or completely modern apartments… the ones that you would dream to be living at when you first picture yourself in Canada.
The Modern ones:
This is the kind of apartment that you could easily find in Downtown Vancouver or nearby the most commercial areas all around the city. Big and tall glass buildings that provide quite amazing views #turthbetold. Renting this kind of apartment usually includes some extra commodities that you for sure would like; an indoor swimming pool, your own balcony, common areas for different activities like an event’s saloon or a gym, some of them even have rooftops for you to enjoy!
But of course, these wonderful apartments have as a con their high price and their small spaces! They are perfect for couples, or single people. But even a two-bedroom apartment would never compare in size with a two-bedroom suite or townhouse that you could find in the suburbs.
The Oldies but Goodies:
As for the other type of apartments we mentioned, the ones that add more years to their existence, these apartments can be found all around the city! Some in Downtown, some in commercial areas, and some even randomly placed in a suburban area around a bunch of houses. Just by taking a glance at them, you can easily tell they are from a completely different era 😂 Stuck in the year where wooden walls and tacky carpets. However, and to be fair, most of them try to keep up to date. Renovating their insides or adding smart appliances for your commodity.
The pros of these types of apartments are that, despite a lot of them being modernized, they are still cheaper than modern apartments. And not only that, but they usually have more space too! Especially the further away you are from Downtown. However, they do have some cons…
The cons include that not all of them are modernized, so it's not rare to find kitchens from 50 years ago, still functionally of course, but still quite old. They also don’t include the bunch of amenities that the other apartments do offer. (Goodbye swimming pool *sad face). Plus, back in the day, there was not a trend of making complete glass walls, so that, plus that they are usually not as tall as modern-day apartment buildings, you probably will miss a lot of great sunsets.
Note* Warning! This might include some tacky washroom tiles or crazy wallpapers too hahaha
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