Question 1

Will I love living in Burnaby or regret it?

Accepted Answer

It comes down less to the neighbourhood you pick and more to whether you’re buying into the tower life or the established detached pockets, because they’re almost two different cities. In the detached market you can position yourself near the parks and out of the busiest congestion zones. In the big towers you’re signing up for the traffic, the noise and a building whose costs are tied to the city’s budget.

Question 2

Which parts of Burnaby do you like best?

Accepted Answer

Capitol Hill, Vancouver Heights, Willingdon Heights, Brentwood Park and the established parts of North Burnaby. You’re close to parks, you’re out of the worst of the congestion, and the community actually feels like a community. Capitol Hill in particular is always really popular, and I’ve put families into these areas who are thrilled.

Question 3

Is Burnaby really cheaper than Vancouver?

Accepted Answer

Not by as much as people think, so pull the real comparables before you believe the cheaper story. I had buyers who came to me dead set on Burnaby as the budget version of Vancouver, and when we put the numbers side by side on the home they wanted, the gap was so small the decision came down to lifestyle and commute. The line where Vancouver stops and Burnaby starts is arbitrary for day-to-day life anyway, so choose the home and the street, not the name on the address.

Question 4

What should I know before buying a condo in Metrotown or Brentwood?

Accepted Answer

Map your real daily life first. You can end up buying the rendering of a walkable urban life and getting a podium, a parkade and a six-lane road you have to cross for a coffee, with Lougheed and Kingsway gridlocked for big stretches of the day. And when you sell, you’re competing with hundreds of other units that look a lot like yours, so price becomes the only lever that gets you a showing.

Question 5

Will I be close to a park in Burnaby?

Accepted Answer

Don’t assume it. Burnaby has gems like Central Park, but a study out of BCIT found access to green space is uneven across the city, and the wealthier pockets aren’t always the greener ones. Confirm you’re within a real walk of a park, because green space hasn’t kept pace with all the towers going up.

Question 6

Are the new Burnaby duplexes a good buy?

Accepted Answer

Some are lovely: big duplexes over 3,000 square feet on what is basically a full-size lot, which makes a really nice in between for intergenerational living. But a lot of them just aren’t well built in terms of flow, and without the finishes buyers expect and an open floor plan, they sit. A five-bedroom duplex is the right product for a multi-generational family and maybe the wrong one for everybody else, so ask the builder hard questions before you write.

Question 7

Anything to watch for up near SFU?

Accepted Answer

Leasehold. Up around the SFU area there can be a lot of leasehold property, and that’s something I would stay away from.

Question 8

What makes a Burnaby neighbourhood worth paying more for?

Accepted Answer

Look past this month’s numbers to what’s being built around you. Community projects, school catchments and transit lines are part of what makes a neighbourhood worth a premium five and 10 years down the road, long after the monthly stats are forgotten. The question isn’t what Burnaby did, it’s what your property type is doing in your specific neighbourhood.

Buying a home in Burnaby