VANCOUVER ISLAND WINDTALK

There's been a few too many stabbings in my neighborhood lately, so we are thinking of moving out to the Westshore or even up to an acreage in Cobble Hill so I can be closer to downwinddave.

Anyone care to chime in about the commute? I'll have to head to downtown Victoria 4 times a week, but probably only for the next year and a half. My hours are flexible so I can time it to be not the worst, but still, looking for insight from those who might be doing it.

I work mainly up island and don't have to commute at all but my wife does and between the accidents, snow jams and the crawl i can't recommend it. cobble hill puts you in sort of a gray zone where you are kinda equally close to nitinat, kook and CB but not really local to any of those spots. ie you can't really score quick evening/after work sessions. have you considered fernwood or up the peninsula a bit? there are plenty of low-stabbing incidence neighborhoods. unless you attract that sort of thing.

Problem is cost, Melodie working in Langford, and wanting to have some land to play with. Any non-stabbing neighborhood on the east side of downtown is crazy expensive, as is anything up on the peninsula. In Cobble Hill/Mill Bay a new or newish house on an acre is $250k less or more than the equivalent (but likely on a 1/4 acre) anywhere on the other side of the hat. In our case it's also $100k less than our half duplex, nearby stabbings and home invasions not included.

I agree with DWD. The drive up and down the Saanich Peninsula is far better than through the Western Communities/C.Crawl/Malahat.

All I can say for my commute is thank goodness for the alternative to the Malahat. The Brentwood Bay - Mill Bay ferry.

<a href="/http://www.bcferries.com/schedules/main ... rrent.html" target="_blank">Mill Bay Ferry schedule</a>

Midweek, I leave downtown by 4pm and I'm easily on the Brentwood Bay ferry for 4:45, usually not a line up and then up in Mill Bay by 5:15, and smoooth sailing up the Island Highway after that and have missed all the western communities/Malahat road rage induced drive.

The friendly ferry people mentioned that they are getting a bigger ferry in the spring and upgrading the dock.

My two cents worth.

I left downtown at 415 a couple Wednesdays ago and was in cobble hill by 455....!

I was gonna say, SB, that's no time saver even in crappy line-up traffic on the TCH. Saanichton has some nice spots and is close to at least some sailing and of course the ferry/airport with snow a few more days a year. Wx is better in Cobble Hill tho and there are oysters and crab off Cow Bay, not to mention some ski touring in Lake Cow area

Yesterday, I saw a girlfriend that I used to carpool with from the Saanich Peninsula. She moved from Deep Cove, North Saanich to Cobble Hill (for more land value) and just curses the daily Malahat drive now. Some mornings she wakes up at 4am to beat the rushhour crawl into Victoria. She said we had it easy driving the peninsula into work downtown compared to her drive now.
There's no shortcuts, just better quality driving and ferrying IMHO.

If you consider all factors, cost, inconvenience, increased usage of your vehicle and time spent in the car commuting along with increased traffic accidents...... if you can somehow afford it, I recommend the Saanich Pennisula. Prices of course, are higher than Mill Bay, Shawnigan and Cobble Hill but once you add up the cost of running two vehicles/maintenance and loss of hours off your day.... you might be surprised that it isn't as much as you think.
I looked at the same scenerio years ago and decided to pay a little more on my mortgage and avoid the drive. I lived in Mill Bay initially.... before the traffic was such an issue.... and it was still inconvenient for a number of reasons. If I was working north of the Malahat and not in Victoria I would have a different point of view of course but watching what has happened with the commute to Victoria over the past years has confirmed my decision over and over. Once a month I leave at 7 am from town and drive to Nanaimo for work. The commuters heading to Victoria are at a stand still from Goldstream to town. I wouldn't have the patience to voluntarily take that on each day. Enviromentally, with all those cars lined up with engines idling for an hour seems so wrong!
The nice new house soon loses it's appeal once the inconvenience and frustration of the commute dominate. Been there, done that

Getting invaded/stabbed never sounded so good!

I agree. San Pen is where it's at if you want rural near Vic. Get a place with a suite or some other form of mortgage helper and you've got a big chunk of your mortgage covered. Don't forget about renting buildings to trades people or renting land for RV/boat storage. Workshop space is tough to find!! Lots of income potential if you have a sizable chunk of dirt. Something to think about.
Or, you could just move to Port now, buy a place for cash, sail every day in the summer and live on a beach in the Baja in the winter.

I think you should move to Saskatchewan, it's cheap there and I heard it's windy too!

Thanks for chiming in Ed, I was hoping to get your opinion.

The big problem with the Peninsula is the cost - it's significant. A quick search on MLS shows the cheapest acreage north of Mckenzie/Hwy 1 and East of Millstream is $680k (even in the western communities its $550k). What we are looking at in Cobble Hill is $400k so an additional $280k is not just a small increase of a mortgage even if we have a suite, not to mention property tax would be nearly 5 times. Little hiccup here or there with work or finances and that could go downhill really quick...

I've ran the numbers again and again, and I'm estimating we'll save $500-700 a month of our housing costs while knocking 5 years off the amortization and only increasing my commute. So the big question is, is $700 a month (or lets say $1400 a month if you compare cobble hill apples to apples on the peninsula) worth some frustration 4 days a week for all the benefits an acre in a more central island location offers for the remaining 3 days a week?

oh, now we're talking not just dwelling but acreage ...ain't rocket science Cobble Hill acreage is cheaper, houses on a decent lot of 1/5 acre (is that acreage?) are comparable, so it's acreage and nasty mind numbing commute and little to no gain in real estate over 5 years or not-so-much acreage (just think if all the mowing u won't have to do, chores suck the life out of sailing btw Mr. Farmer) with a nice garden, quiet (well, except for the airport, haha) and a lovely short commute or.....bike ride even.... into town. Not much of a comparison in my view but then what do I know..hey I thought you were moving to Parksville anyway?

Columbia Beach looks like fun ... I've lived in Saanichton for 27 years ... My modest rancher (.25 acre lot) has served me well ... I find for those Summer trips to Gordons that I need to hit the rd. before 3 p.m. & return after the commuters ... Sidney is a great place for your boat Nanmoo !!! Oops I'm late for my a.m. Dog walk @ I.V. ... I may retire in Sooke in ~ 3 years for the life style change with no commute required & adopt a winter in a warm climate routine as per M&M / Rob & Fluffy etc.

If your original thought was to get away from high crime Esquimalt, I thought I'd point out that Saanich east had the realtor stabbing, Beach drive had the uvic student bludgeoning, and King George Tce that horrific murder/suicide. My point is that you can't really judge a neighbourhood by it's location/tax rate. I think daily stressers like traffic noise, loud stereos & unkempt lawns ( ) and yes, the commute should carry the weight. If it's peace of mind - invest in stronger doors, windows & a good alarm... cheapest option. Or try to move closer to Saxe Point - my favorite location in E-Town. I like the sense of community there - best of the 5 Greater Victoria municipalities - and I don't even live there.