Kamloops questions
 

:mrgreen:


My wife said you had a flat water rate, no meters. Correct? Is it true the hydro is increasing a fair bit to pay for upgraded metering? I cant move there if its to expensive. :lol:

Everything she finds is more than here. Although some of the housing seems reasonable.

I going to live next to Steve..... :tea: The we can drive over together to visit Brad.......:eyebrows:

Meters are coming, but there is only one thing to remember- Kamloops versus Manitoba

ya its more expensive for hydro vs manitoba.
its .587 per KW here

and ya ok you do have better water. ad its humid there too. and why on earth Doug would you wanna live close to a Retired Navy guy. can anyone say. liquid soap. "


bend over and I'll slip ya a bar of steel Billy!!!"

Don't forget about our high municipal taxes here too!
its a great city to live in, and its close to every outdoor recreation amenity, but expensive to live in.

its humid where? definatly not in kamloops concidering we are classed as a semi arid desert.

Hydro is not going up to pay for water meters as the water is a city owned utility and hydro is provincialy owned, and in fact most people will end up paying less for there water with the meters, but that allso will depend on how much you water your lawn. when I moved here I could not believe the water waist, for instance my sprinkler system was set to water ever second day, I switched it right away to every 3rd day and this year I will try every 4th day

Steve

taxes arn't bad, kinda on the lower side of average. I am paying less than I did in langford, and for the same house in alberta I am paying over 1500 bucks less so I can't complain there, but also a lot of people here seamt to group the city utility into there taxes and that part will be going down with the water meters also.

Steve

actualy there are some nice houses here for sale and that would work out good.. I could leave my tank shut down and just build things for your tank, and help you so I wouldn't need one here :mrgreen:

as for Brad, its his turn to drive up and see me :wink:

Steve

yup huge difference we are .0627/KWh :mrgreen:

what is your natural gas price in manatoba out of curosity.. this is the first time I have owned a houe that uses natural gas for heat and hot water ours is 7.94/GJ which is 1/2 the price of nat gas in Victoria.

its funny as my house in vic was electric heat with a gas fireplace and when I added everything up water, power, gas, garbage, ect... we are paying 200.00/month less in kamloops than we wer
e in Vic.

Steve

you mentioned you water every third day....better watch it; as the city will fine you if you don't water on your designated day (odd or even)

as for taxes....do your own research....you'll find municipal taxes are among the highest...compared to similar sized cities across canada....and they have continually been going up.
Brand new houses, 3-4 bedroom, can expect to pay between 4-5K a year.

Those taxes you quoted for a new house are the same or worse here. Winnipeg & Brandon are terrible for property taxes.

I cant compare as thats one thing I have not checked yet, but have been told its similar or cheaper than here.

I asked if hydro rates were going up Steve because of the smart meters they are app. switching to?? Would guess its to cover that cost. Cant comment on gas, as all electric but Mike should know, he has gas. Not much difference in hydro rates at present.

Why did you pick there from Victoria Steve, if you dont mind me asking.

I,m looking as family members, {daughter & her husband, {and my boss} & grandkids}, are likely moving there. No to mention my brother lives in Langley. And although my oldest boy is still here in Manitoba, my youngest is in Hinton, just up #5.

However at this stage of life, cost of living is pretty important.

Perhaps something out a bit or in Chase or elsewhere not to far away.

:pound:

I moved back here in 2006 from the Peg the climit is sort of like Carberry Manitoba the winters are far better than Manitoba. I hate those -50's temp days. Taxes I find are a little less than in the Peg. cost of living is a bit less cheeper to heat your house here. the electric is similar. my gas is about $40 per month on equal payments, we do supliment with wood heat. lots of hunting and fishing here many out door activities around Kamloops.

Bill

Thanks Bill. Sounds like some good comparisons. Hmmm, wood heat. I miss mine. Always wanted a property where I could cut my own.

Yes Ryan, I realize I said that. :lol: :lol: But he does. :D

nope I went and talked to the city, and asked them if they were more interested in water concervation or with which day and they said the third day is better and they made a note on my property file about it.

I don't find the taxes that bad, in Leduc they were higher and I don't see how a brand new 3 bedroom house is going to pay 2500 to 3500 more than my 3 bedroom house. Maybe if you have one of the 800000.00 buck houses in the fancy areas but a normal house will be no where near that much.

Steve

hey Steve ya i think that its .0587 per KW so its pretty close i didn't think yours was that cheap too. Wow pretty cheap liviing there in Kamloops I didnt know that it was that dry there really when I was up visiting Leah it was humid there.

we for me I wanted to go back to alberta, but the wife had family here. so it was a compromise, but I am realy happy with it, it is a big city with a small town attitude, it took a while for me to get used to everything being closed on the weekends except the big box stores, but there is a huge sence of comunity and lots of stuff going on. there is a farmers market during the spring to fall seasons down town every sat and wensday. very good city for sports and out door activitys. a friend of mine wants me to get a quad so he can start showing me fishing holes.. aparently there are over 200 lakes with in 1 hour of kamloops.

the summers are hot.. damn hot but I love it, the winters are mild with a normal low of -10 and high of 0 but we do get cold snaps down to -20 (lows)

as for where to buy I went with water.. I ended up deciding I didn't want to be on a well so I bought in dallas on the river side. one block from me there is a house for sale for 2.2 mill :mrgreen: accros the street therte is one for sale for 280. nice quiet area bigger lots (hard to find now) and a bunch of good niebours

Steve

Steve is in a good area and he is right we have everything needed and with a trip to the coast once in a while you can have it all, Vancouver is only 3.5 hours away. hay Steve Manitoba get stinking hot in the summer and has a tun of humidity to go along with the heat. I spent 15 years there growing up. I do like the summers but they can keep the winters. When i went back there in 2003 the first winter got down to -50's without the windchill. I had to work outside in it, I worked for MTS. Scientists have sed that if you lived in Winnipeg you can live just about any where in the world. it gets hotter than a dessert and colder than Antarctic.

Thanks Steve. I was looking at one in that area just the other day.

I,m ok with the cold Bill. I did spend 30yrs. in Thompson, so its actually somewhat mild in Brandon in comparison. :lol:

For sure the short drive to the coast is attractive to me, with my brother in Langley. A day trip to JL or Wendall,s also sounds pretty good. :mrgreen:

which side of the hiway? you have to be carfull as the ones on the south side of the highway stuck up against the valley are pretty shady all the time, and the ones on the north side of the hiway but south of the river still are in the pounding sun all day (it is about 5 degrees hotter at my house than it is down town kamloops) if you go up the hills an out of the valley you can get a winter that is a month to 2 months longer, than the lower valley will have.

if you need me to you can PM me with some addresses you are interested in and I can take some strait up pics of the front and let you know what the area is like.

Steve

is Leah in Kamloops? its never humid here except when its raining. the valley here is a micro climate.

heres a few weather facts on Kamloops

ranked #1 for hottest summer in canada
#1 for most days over 30 degrees
#13 for mildest winter
#11 for warmest year round
#2 for the driest city
#3 for the most dry days
#10 for lightest wind speed year round.

Steve

do you have a relater you are working with I know a few in the city there is a couple that I know that are really good people. Thompson now you are talking cold winter and long at that. You don't thaw out up there till June some years....:lol::lol::lol: By the way if you by right on the river it stays a bit cooler in the summer, you get a nice breeze moving down river a lot of the time.

Any way good luck in finding a house.

Bill

actually not necessarily true, it is hotter at my place than in town in the summer, but I have found if you are on the other river then you are right as they get the wind coming from the north funneling down the valley. by my place we have the sun shining on the valley all day because the valley runs east and west and trust me there is no cool breeze :mrgreen: but there usually is a little one about supper time which cools it off to about 32 degrees by 11pm. good for drinking beer on the patio :wink:

I never said when there was a breeze but I remember a friend of mine many years ago lived along the river closer to town than you though and there seemed to be a breeze in the evenings. We didn't hang out at his house very often as we were young and not so bright and decided the bar was a better place to drink beer and spend all our money at..
We would have saved so much if we would have just drank at one of our places.

Bill

ya was probably closer to where the two rivers join

Steve

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/britis...increases.html

Just stopped home for a sandwich and reading this.

heck the only time my electrical bills are that hi is during the summer when the AC is running. other wise mine are about 1/2 of there "average" as you get towards the coast there is a larger number of houses with electrical heat which cranks up the average. I pay 44 bucks per month for electricity on equal billing.

interesting article though as even a 30% increase over 3 years only means BC will still be one of the two cheepest provences in Canada which is the same as it is now. but that also reflects the price in 3 years if they increases are all aproved. right now we are the cheepest as we are 6.27 and manatoba is 6.30 but this is also assuming that no one else raiases there rates also which it looks like almost every provence is going to do.

do as you would any where else. make sure what ever you buy has natural gas heat and hot water and the electricity is minimized.

Steve

No realtor yet Bill. Still in the looking stage. Yes, some late springs and early winters there but I enjoyed all of my time in Thompson.

I will keep that in mind.

Thanks for the offer. May do when the time comes. We are still just looking, until the kids make the final decision. I think they are going out in a month to look for a place.

:lol: I was even looking at a place up in Blue River but thinks thats to much commute. :lol:

ya and that probably the worst strech of highway between here and alberta in the winter.. and there is nothing there LOL.

I have to go through there on sunday.. always icy there.

Steve

Blue river get a tun of snow cold and alot of mosketoes in the summer if you think Manitoba has alot wait till you see Blueriver. Clearwater is a bit better and you can still get a good deal on a house there. I looked a 3600sf house there they only wanted 170 for it mundyou that was when we came back here, but in Kamloops it would have went for 400 - 500k.

Bill

Heh,heh. After 30 yrs. driving to and from Thompson, including multi trips ever winter out west for bowling, not much in the way of highway travel can surprise me. Yea, dont need those skitters anymore Bill.

Its a bit to far away anyways. At one time though somewhere like that would be my preference but not my wifes. :lol:

I,m off to look for Clearwater Bill.

hmmmmm moving aren't ya Dougy :redface: that is ok Tammy will sell your place here and she knows of Realtors in Kamloops too so you are taken care of.

Have you considered Vernon? Only an hour drive south of Kamloops. Three lakes to enjoy in the summer, great ski hill Silver Star. Not quite as crazy as Kelowna for Real Estate.

Not a sure thing yet bud. :smile:

Actually we have talked about it but not looked at real estate there. If not someplace in the middle may be nice.

Well yeah, if you don't mind living out in the boonies, there are probably some good deals to be had on larger properties out of town. There's not much between Vernon & Kamloops as far as communities though, very small towns, Westwold, Falkland. Salmon Arm or Sicamous a little farther east on Hwy 1 might also be worth looking at.

Some questions from the missis.

----do you get a property tax rebate like we do in Manitoba, {$700 school tax rebate}?

----is that correct that you pay health care premiums?

Yes, if you live in your principal residence, there's a two stage property tax rebate. Basic Grant for just living there & Additional Grant if you're a senior 65+. I qualify for the Basic and it was just over $700 on my home this year.

Don't recall about the health care off the top of my head, but if there is, it's not much.

Thanks Mike. I will pass that on to her. Not 65 yet but getting closer. :lol:

yes we pay health care premiums. I think full rate would be 32/month, and it is scalled back depending on your income.

Steve

My bro said they pay $52 each in Langley. Seems like a bit much in comparison to what you guys are saying.

Cell phone question. My MTS plan is expired and was going with Rodgers on a new Iphone. Is Rodgers fine there? I would wait and perhaps use Telus in a bundle but a friends does not work when she comes here.

Hmm, I just looked it up, 57/month is the full rate. if you make under 30K/year there are discounts, we pay 32/month for the whole family but that is through the wifes work. I would pay about 24 bucks a month based on my pension. heres a chart showing the discounts
http://www.health.gov.bc.ca/msp/info...html#temporary

the problem is most good jobs got plans so we don't know what it realy costs, and normaly if you don't have a good job it is close to free :wink:



rodgers works, but telus as much as I hate to say has the best coverage in BC and AB. I am with telus myself but only till shaw starts with cell phones :mrgreen: I did have rodgers and was rather disapointed with the coverage in BC.

if you still thinking about the outlying area's forget about the cell.. lots of the small towns don't have coverage once your off the main hiway and even on it in some places. they are slowly getting all the holes filled but still a ways off.. for instance when I go to work I leave here and go to boston bar.. that whole area in the fraser canyon is very pourly serviced for cell. cell is comming there but there still in the planning phase so I can see it being a year or two at least then, and then you will need a phone that works witht he system as Telus isn't going back wards to older cell formats, so if the phone is to old it probably won't work, but you should be eligible for a free phone. I would just leave it till you move here. let your rodgers go month to month and when you get established go to telus get a free top of the line phone for being a new customer. then you don't have to pay again to change the number, ect...


Steve