5 Pros and Cons of Living in Victoria BC | Victoria BC Real Estate | Moving to Victoria BC

[@AlexCarroll]

Hey guys, hope you enjoyed this video! Do you think I missed any of the pros or cons of living in Victoria BC? What did I miss?

[@tonyvn5817]

Victoria is dear to my heart because I'm born and raised here. I love ♥Vancouver Island and the islanders

[@lynnbourdon6690]

Just got back from a vacation in Victoria. Lovely weather, lovely people, beautiful scenery and vegetation. And very dog-friendly!

[@AlexCarroll]

Glad it made a good impression on you! All true

[@nialoveslife4263]

Wow... you nailed each point of pros and cons of our lovely, yet expensive city!! Viva Victoria!🥂

[@AlexCarroll]

Glad to hear you think I hit the right points!

[@MrPeter924]

Great video great sounds great audio walking view. Canada 🇨🇦. Victoria BC. 👍

[@AlexCarroll]

Thanks 👍

[@ahmfazlerabbichowdhury8747]

Thank you for being honest on your review.

[@Redmongoose-rdm]

So twisty, winding roads? If so, that sounds like a pro to me.

[@missminti]

Im moving for work in 2 months. Im excited to leave the prairies!

[@AlexCarroll]

Very exciting! I lived in Regina for a year - it is quite a different environment!

[@missminti]

@@AlexCarroll That's exactly where I am moving from!

[@AlexCarroll]

@@missminti Great people in Regina!

[@AlexCarroll]

Bonus points if anyone can tell me where in Victoria I was for each of these clips! 1) What street in Fairfield? 2) Clue - it's a park 3) Clue at 02:55 4) Ross Bay Cemetery ✅ 5) Car but also other 2 other locations. Cons: 1) What township am I in? 2) Which Park? 3) Which street in South Oak Bay? 4) Which Park? Second time. 5) Which street in Esquimalt?

[@theshape7214]

Cool, Ty.

[@anamayasarvate1]

Great video! Do you know how are the job opportunities in IT for software engineers? Thanks for the infomative content!

[@AlexCarroll]

Hi Anamay, nice to hear from you. Victoria's tech sector has grown significantly in the last few years and there should be lots of opportunity for you in IT. Check out a software engineer job search on Indeed.com

[@anamayasarvate1]

@@AlexCarroll Thank you! Great to hear that. Will check indeed as well.

[@emeralddimus3052]

HI Alex. Thank you for this content. I will be moving into Victoria very soon and I would like to ask a few questions. You touched on the cost of placing your car on a Ferry. Please clarify: would this mean that I can have my car transported from Victoria to Vancouver on a Ferry? And if so, can I buy a car in Vancouver, drive it to the Ferry station, and bring it into Victoria via the Ferry? Secondly, I am very grateful for the comprehensive video you did on the Victoria BC Neighbourhood Guide. If one were to get a place in either Esquimalt or Victoria worth 850k (which I see your website already lists), with a down payment of 250k, what is the least salary one has to earn need to get approval for a mortgage loan (for the remaining 600k)? Also, can one reach you via your office phone? Thank you.

[@AlexCarroll]

@@emeralddimus3052 hi Emerald. These are good questions. Might be easiest to unpack over the phone [phone] is my direct line. Thanks

[@SpottedOwl23]

I moved to Victoria 10 months ago and all I can ever think about is the cons. I'm from Alberta and I used to love driving everywhere and doing everything whenever I wanted but Victoria is very restrictive in that sense. I would not recommend moving here to anyone. It's basically an old person town and the downtown is not vibrant as portrayed

[@AlexCarroll]

Fair enough! It’s not for everybody and I appreciate your candid response. I would agree with you that it’s not a driver’s city. Even so traffic is still miles better than Vancouver or Toronto.

[@broughtonparkade5381]

Taking the ferry is not a ‘puddle jump’. 2 hrs in line waiting to get on a boat and then an hour and a half trip. That’s damn near half a day.

[@overnightgrowth]

8:30 as a european im like bring it on hahaha

[@vicentereyes3101]

I want to know about health system in Victoria

[@AlexCarroll]

Like many parts of canada, there is huge demand for family doctors and very few to go around. 2 major hospitals (RJH and VGH) service the area and have areas of specialization that rank with some of the highest in the country (ie cancer clinic at Royal jubilee).

[@RobertBrugess-xj8fj]

Very poor. Very long waits in emergency departments (up to 12 hours) fewer and fewer family doctors and referrals can be six months plus. Especially in the cancer agency. I talk from experience.

[@broughtonparkade5381]

My family has been in Victoria since 1854. If I could walk into a job that would support me, I’d leave. The cost of housing is the biggest issue. If I move from the dump I live in now at a cost of $930.00 a month I’m looking at housing cost increase of at least 100%.

[@SM-B1]

Great video! Unemployment is very low, but how’s job availability? Average pay (not minimum wage) for sales/service in retail? $1,600 rent would require $4,200-$44,000 monthly income for a healthy balance between comfort and affordability.

[@AlexCarroll]

Here's some info on that from the TC. It probably doesn't fully answer your question but at least paints of picture of Victoria's job market vs. the rest of the country. "The capital region’s (Victoria BC) unemployment rate dropped in January to a level not seen since just before the pandemic. The rate declined to 3.9 per cent last month from 4.3 per cent in December, Statistics Canada said in its monthly labour force survey released Friday. In February 2020, the capital region’s unemployment rate stood at 3.7 per cent. By the end of March of that year - the month the pandemic was declared - it had risen to 4.7 per cent. It continued climbing to a high of 11.6 per cent in July 2020 before dropping again last year. Last month, the region’s labour force - people working or looking for work - grew to 223,600 from 220,000 in December. Job numbers grew year-over-year in several sectors in Greater Victoria, including construction, manufacturing, transportation and warehousing, and in the finance, insurance, real estate and rental and leasing category. Educational services, information, culture and recreation, and accommodation and food services also saw gains. Public-services numbers saw a year-over-year decline. B.C.’s unemployment rate also dropped, to 5.1 per cent from 5.4 per cent, as it saw a decrease in full-time employment and rise in part-time numbers." article here: www.timescolonist.com/business/capital-regions-unemployment-rate-declined-in-january-from-december-5028948

[@mehranrizae439]

İs there job opportunities for students

[@AlexCarroll]

@@mehranrizae439 Hi Mehran, do you mean for summer employment? Or entering the workforce after post-secondary? Thanks!

[@mehranrizae439]

@@AlexCarroll really appreciated for replying. Yeh I mean for entering the workforce after secondary. Thank u

[@mehranrizae439]

Bcoz I'm living alone, so I have to both to work and continue my studies...

[@mehranrizae439]

Could u plz give information about job opportunities in Victoria

[@Dan-nt2yb]

This is a real estate video. Why would he talk about employment opportunities?

[@GM-id9nu]

"People here are pretty relaxed" standing in a graveyard lol

[@AlexCarroll]

Hahaha glad you got the joke there!

[@johnnocanuck]

I agree, Victoria has wonderful nature and is a comfortable medium-sized Canadian city. But you can't help noticing all the homeless people. Which first-time homebuyers can afford a house? Only the rich 20-somethings or the 40 year-old professionals. It's as expensive as Vancouver or Toronto!

[@AlexCarroll]

I would be inclined to agree with you that the expense of living here is a huge detractor. Hopefully there will be more concerted efforts to improve housing stock and supports for those facing life on the streets

[@johnnocanuck]

I should add that it's possible to buy a house in Victoria if you have enough money for the big down payment. Not many people in their 20s or 30s have that $200,000+ saved up... but if your parents sell their house and give you a pile of money, no problem I suppose. Every person I know in Victoria who's under 40 and owns a house or even a condo, is either a very successful and wealthy professional or made a withdrawal from the Bank of Mom and Dad. Not fair.

[@dineshmalla3651]

100 % right. However it is time to rid of homeless people, drugs and bullying in schools in the city. Cheers to all Victorians

[@AlexCarroll]

We all are hoping there will be solutions for a better life here!

[@devalgajjar8362]

3:14 I just saw 4-6 peacocks there behind him...wow

[@AlexCarroll]

They are mainstays at the park! Very cool to see and hear them when you’re down there.

[@vincevanderbijl2203]

I was born and raised in Victoria I retired last year and moved away from the city, exactly for the same reasons as Alex pointed out in his cons and how the Mayor of the city of Victoria ruined the city of Victoria

[@AlexCarroll]

Congrats on retirement Vince!

[@RobertBrugess-xj8fj]

Ruined indeed! Her penchant for bike lanes has made driving here very frustrating!

[@saulchiriguayo2372]

Hello Alex, greetings from Guayaquil in Ecuador 🇪🇨 , very interesting Victoria. Do you know if Victoria is a good city to study? I want to go to study in Canada 🇨🇦 and I am looking for a city to study.

[@AlexCarroll]

Hi Saul, nice to hear from you. Victoria is an excellent city to study and I believe the University of Victoria, Camosun College, and Royal Roads are all highly rated in their respective categories!

[@saulchiriguayo2372]

@@AlexCarroll Perfect, thank you very much Alex for your comments, my family and I have the dream of traveling to Canada 🇨🇦 for academic preparation and we are finding out which city would be good to live and study.

[@jorger8927]

How about work... an expensive place usually has enough jobs around in the service industry. May I have your email to ask you other things? I am planning to move there and open a Landscaping Company and have the experience already having had one company already in California

[@AlexCarroll]

Hi Jorge, our jobs market is quite strong. You can email me your questions at: [e-mail]

[@RobertBrugess-xj8fj]

Con #6 traffic! The increase in traffic is about fourfold. Traffic jams, narrow roads, bike lanes everywhere that once were roads, traffic lights and crosswalks. Parking downtown is difficult to find and can be pricey. As to being rural area nothing is 30 minutes away. Sooke can be 45 minutes to an hour, western communities much the same if not worse especially at rush hours. Going north over the Malabar to Duncan, Cowichan, Chemanius or Nanaimo could take hours. Mainly because of volume on the Malahat. Driving from Oak Bay to the rec centre in Esquimalt takes 40 minutes whereas 5 years ago it may have been 15! Took much traffic, too many lane closures for bike lanes and so many blocked roads for the same reason. My number one reason for wanting to leave is the traffic. I won't mention the rampant development and all the new hi-rise condos downtown. I moved here 30 years ago when it was paradise!

[@AlexCarroll]

I’m going to respectfully disagree with commute times from oak bay to Esquimalt. I do this almost everyday from home to work and vice versa and it is never more than 25 door to door

[@shubhamdwivedi7766]

I appreciate the honesty in the video, Thank you👍 I have a quick question my field is cyber security and has total IT experience of 3 yrs , relevant 2 yrs. Is it possible to get express entry in Victoria? because I am going to give the IELTS exam next month. I want shared rent kind of housing , depending on these factors I can take any decisions.

[@AlexCarroll]

Hi Shubham, I would recommend you connect with someone with immigration services regarding express entry as this isn't my field of expertise. You may find this link useful: www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/services/immigrate-canada/express-entry/works.html

[@shubhamdwivedi7766]

@@AlexCarroll What is the range for shared rent?

[@AlexCarroll]

@@shubhamdwivedi7766 600-800 as a guess

[@Dan-nt2yb]

Con #2..you’re incorrect. Ferry travel is a blast. Con #4…rising crime? Or, is it just a lot of Karen-esque phone calls? There are a lot of whiners living in Victoria. I’d say that the traffic is pretty bad and that there’s wayyy too many annoying (and under-used) bike lanes. Others than that…I wouldn’t live anywhere else.🙂👍🏾

[@arsenarsen3975]

Talking about friendly people and walking around cemetery lol🤣

[@AlexCarroll]

Haha! Glad it got a laugh

[@arsenarsen3975]

@@AlexCarroll Great video! Thanks a lot!

[@sandhujalandharia2016]

Hello sir plzz tell me can we get job there

[@AlexCarroll]

There is a strong jobs market here depending on the types of professions you are applying for.