Anyone living in Kelowna,bc ?

[Restless Entity]

Hello Everyone

We absolutely love the look of Kelowna, BC and I have even found a job there. But after a little research I have found that houses appear quite expensive compared with other provinces in Canada.

Please could anybody tell me if this is correct & if the general cost of living is high in Kelowna or just the houses ??

Regards
Tim

[The Baileys]

Hi Tim,

We are looking to move to Kelowna but just waiting for a job offer for my husband. We were lucky enough to go to Calgary and Kelowna last year and yes, some parts of Kelowna are expensive but it all depends on what you want out of life. We loved Kettle Valley and if we can do it, we would really like to relocate there rather than anywhere else as it would suit our lifestyle.

Hope this helps.

Regards



Jacqui

[Restless Entity]

Hi Jacqui

Thanks for your reply. Since posting my question we have now moved to Kelowna, It's a little difficult to know what it's truely like here because we are currently under 2 foot of snow !!

Driving can be a little difficult here in the winter but with a 4x4 it's not too bad.
We have come to the conclusion that it's not that much more expensive here than in the UK, as long as your sensible and don't overstretch yourselves. If you are happy to live with the same comforts as you had in the UK....like a typical house with a normal car....then it's no more expensive. It only starts to cost a lot more if you want the finer things in life !!

We have now bought a new minivan & found a rental house which is nice with a view of the mountains.
I wish you & your family the best of luck with your move & I hope your husband gets his job offer.

Kind regards
Tim

[The Baileys]

Hi Tim

Thanks for your reply....we are so jealous but of course very happy for you.

Keep us posted on how life is treating you!

Kind Regards



Jacqui

[dav43]

hope to arrive kelowna july this year with kids 16 yrs and 6 yr old, dont know anything about starting out eg schools, renting jobs for husband, painter decorator, joiner, manual labour, [no college education] had own business, i will be enrolled in to ohanagan college, kalowna. looking for some support and friendly advice, dont have anyone out there, closer it gets the more panic i feel. HELP

[The Baileys]

Hi there

I am starting to panic too! We are also hoping to go out to Kelowna in July and our two boys will be 16 and 12. We are hoping that my husband will get a job before landing, he is a plumbing and heating engineer and once the children are settled at school then I will probably get a temping job. When we stayed out there last summer everyone was so helpful you will soon feel setteld I am sure. Keep me posted on how it is going.

Jacqui

[dav43]

happy to hear from you, are you going on a working visa or have you applied through the tough way? we are trying to get in through the back door, went to see a lawyer in vancouver she advised me to apply for college [early education] whitch i have but all seats taken, i am now on waiting list, will not know untill march, we went out in october this year, [area hunting] and you are right people are so helpfull and very friendly, we have spent a fortune
for lawyers, registration fees for college, r.v rental, flights, and so on, its awfull the not knowing, and so many obsticles, i am at the nervouse break down stage, now i am told i have to take a exam to get in to college in english, was told i can sit it here in a high school then another dept told me i have to sit it in kalowna, then i was told i could sit it here. HOPE IT ALL WORKS OUT FOR YOU ALL I will send you my email if you want to keep in touch. Pam

[Restless Entity]

Hello Pam

I was just checking up on any news on the forum & I noticed your post.

I thought I would offer any help I can give you regarding your move to Kelowna & coping with the stress involved in such a task !!

Myself, Wife and our 19 month old son moved here on the 1st Jan 09 from Gloucesrshire, UK. We started our emigration journey about 4 years ago after we visited Vancouver island on holiday & loved it.....so much so we decided to research emigration. We attended the usual immigration seminars in London & collect as much information as possible. My wife had some reservations about leaving family & friends, which is totally understandable. Before we decided to make the leap & commit ourselves, my wife has always had an interest in New Zealand, so in January last year we holidayed on New Zealands south island & travelled across the island getting info.....all I can say is that after the first couple of days we knew straight away that New Zealand was not for us.
Based on this recent trip we decided that Canada would not be beaten !!

In June 08 I contacted Shadi Norman at Tri-continental Global services in Vancouver regarding employment, within 3 days I had a phone interview with a Company in Kelowna & I had a solid job offer.
It took about 6 months to get everything sorted....like the job offer paperwork, house sale & organising Visa's. in order to speed up the process Shadi organised work permits for us both so we could enter Canada & start work while they processed our Permanent Residency Visa's. We have our Medicals in a couple of weeks.

Since the 1st of Jan we have now started work .....purchased a minivan & moved into a rental house in the Glenmore region of Kelowna.
I won't give you any false impression......it's a lot of hard work & stress is an unfortunate part of the process.....but Kelowna is a beautiful place & the people are amazingly friendly & nothing is too much hasstle.

We came here without knowing anybody so I know what a lifeline it can be just to have someone who has already made the move to the area you want. If you have any questions, need any advice or just want a english point of contact then please feel free to contact me & I'll try to help :- tpprotheroe@gmail.com

Regards
Tim

[Oggy]

Hi! Welcome to the valley, Tim!

I was born & raised in Kelowna... if I can help out with any questions, feel free to ask.

[dunstable diva]

Hi Baileys

Ihave lived in Kelowna for nearly 4 years. Work here is difficult at the moment as everywhere. My husband is a carpenter and I have had to resort to cleaning which I actually dont mind. We find it very expensive to live here. Groceries are dear and wages are low for tradesmen. If you are very outdoorsy this is the place for you. If you like the pub, green grass, great architechture, theatre, bbc, villages, indian food and have a great sense of humour then you may wish to reconsider. Oh and if you have teens the drug culture here is huge. Pot smoking on the beach in the summer !!!!!!!!!! seems to be acceptable.