Home Buying Process

...in Vancouver / Canada is really different from the US!

- financing can happen in 3 days, instead of 40!
- "closing day" is really 15-30 minutes in the lawyer's office signing papers
- the lawyer really does all the work, so you actually feel good about the fee
- "picking up the keys" really means "picking up the keys"...simple as that
- a "final walk-thru" is not the norm here, we had to request it

Today, we got the apartment keys in our hands and I had 4 potential tenant appointments. Of course, a movie was being filmed in all of the common amenity areas, which meant I couldn't show the tenants the best part of the building....SO ANNOYING! No news yet on "that perfect tenant"; however, we are in no rush.  We're hoping to enjoy the views from the 42nd floor lounge this weekend.

Most Livable City in the World

For the 5th year in a row, Vancouver makes #1 again on the Economist Intelligence Unit list.

Our building is right behind that bridge!

Check out the article!

Vancouver took top spot with a score of 98 per cent based on rankings including health care, infrastructure, culture, environment and education. The Economist surveyed 140 cities.

After living here with 2 kids, I couldn't agree more!

Visitors

Our visitors from Philadelphia just left...waahhh...we love having visitors and showing people around our new city. It started off a bit rainy (big surprise), but was followed by 4 solid days of sunshine! As always, it was wonderful catching up and spending quality time with great friends. 

Whistler involved snowshoeing, snowboarding, grilling, spa-ing, hot-tubbing, shopping and of course, EATING.  Julian went to Whistler Kids Snow School, which is an AWESOME program. It runs from 8:30am-3:30am and includes lunch, 2 snacks and ski lesson!  It was tough leaving him and there were some tears during drop-off, but at the end of the day, he really enjoyed it and wants to do it again!

Vancouver involved sightseeing, walking, driving, boating, shopping and of course, EATING.  We also dined at a fabulous French bistro called Salade de Fruits Cafe.  It was actually a wonderful surprise, as I didn't expect much, but it was truly....FABULOUS. It is really hard to find an authentic French bistro, but this place was truly authentic, French server and all...the fries were awesome and the moules portion was huge!  We will be going back really soon.

We really hope our visitors enjoyed everything as much as we did!

Valentine's Day Lesson

...never eat 2 baskets of Chipotle Powdered Fry Bread...

...and then rub your eyes...

Here's to another yummy dinner at Gastown's Cobre!

Hmmm...Rugelach!

Wednesday night, Melvin and I went to that symposium about Camel's Milk, which I mentioned in a previous post has amazing benefits to the human body. I won't go too much into it, but I don't understand why this stuff is not in North America.  I know for sure that Julian would no longer be allergic to peanuts if we had him drinking this stuff for a week.  The studies that have been done since 2005 show this. Also, studies have shown that it'd cure or stabilize people's diabetes, since the milk naturally has insulin in it.  I will spare you of my insight and you can click on the link below if you're truly interested.

CAMEL MILK FOR HEALTH

Moving on, the point of this post is that the keynote speaker of the symposium was Professor Yagil of Ben Gurion University in Beer Sheva, Israel.  Naturally, the Jewish Community welcomed him to Vancouver and the symposium was hosted by the Congregation of Schara Tzedeck.  Well, all I have got to say is...

Man, do I miss Rugelach!!! 

Refreshments were served at the Temple during the symposium and I snagged a plateful of Chocolate Rugelach, ignored Melvin's face of embarrassment by the mound of goodness on my plate, and savored every minute.

Missing

me: julian, have you seen my watch

julian: julian & amelie threw it

me: can you tell me where? i won't get mad

julian: i don't know, somewhere over there; we can find it later

ARGH!! i still can't find it.

Bidding War

Woodwards Building

So it appears the Vancouver real estate market is still pretty hot, despite the post-Olympics era, as we just beat out 3 other offers on an apartment!  Yes, that's right, we are now a bit more vested in Canada and got an apartment, but not for us....it's a 1-bedroom unit, which we'll rent out and use as an investment property.  It is located in Gastown.

Rooftop Deck

Gastown is a warehouse district, similar to Meatpacking in NYC and Docklands in London. We're hoping it'll be an area that blows up and we can use this apartment as our own later on in life. If we play the cards right, it'll be one to choose from as we're traveling the world (haha, in our dreams, I know)...Or, if our children are good, we will let them use it :)

43rd Floor Fitness Centre

There were three other offers on it, so we were at the seller's mercy unfortunately ...however, as Melvin said, if you really want something, you gotta put your best foot forward and that's it...Take it or leave it.  There are still some outstanding steps before the keys are in our hands, but here's a glimpse.  Now we just have to look for tenants!!

Dim Sum in Vancouver

My search for NYC Chinatown quality Dim Sum in Vancouver lives on...

As usual, to celebrate Chinese New Year, we would out for Dim Sum and checked out Imperial Restaurant, which is located close to Canada Place in downtown Vancouver.  It was recommended to us by Chinese people, as "the best Dim Sum" in Vancouver, so you would figure it would be up to par with NYC Dim Sum at the very least.  Nope...it was fine, don't get me wrong, but I wouldn't say "the best".

Anyway, we might have to give in and venture out to Richmond, B.C. (close to Vancouver Airport) for some dim sum, as it is 45% Chinese. Maybe next year!

One dish that didn't disappoint was my all-time favorite Egg Tarts.  Yummmm!

Snowmaggedon

We had been considering Chicago as one of our cities to move to prior to finalizing Vancouver.

Lakeshore Drive - Chicago 2011 Blizzard

Let's just say we are SO glad we opted for Vancouver!!


On another note, Kung Hai Fat Choy or Happy New Year! 新年快樂
Let's see what this year of the Rabbit will bring us.  I know it will bring me some Dim Sum this weekend!!