Sometimes, it's just nice to be told what to do when undertaking something as big as a move. Here's my checklist of things I wish I knew before relocating to Vancouver Island.
Am I new to the area? Fairly, we moved here a year ago in July.
The good news is you can learn from my mistakes and use this checklist to make sure you're starting your big move on the right foot!
I'd like to start off by saying that if you're considering relocating to Vancouver Island I'm so happy you're doing it now and not when we did. We sold our home in January of 2021 and spent the next six months not knowing where we would end up due to the crazy market. I'll spare you the details but any plan we would have made would have been useless due to how much we had the rug swept out from underneath us. Looking back and considering the current friendlier buyer environment here's what I think should help you on your journey.
I'm going to go a bit deeper on this one, sort of a “pre-checklist”. When you're searching for a place to live on Vancouver Island, unless you have to be in a certain area I'd recommend opening up your map to a larger geographic area. Search in areas you've never considered! When we first thought of moving to Vancouver Island we had in mind that we wanted to move to an area called Maple Bay. We even did a day trip over and spent the majority of our time looking in that area.
I even remember declaring loudly at the dinner table one night that I would “never move to Nanaimo” but, I'm forever grateful that the housing market forced us to look in more regions because I know I'm so much happier here. Perhaps knowing that you'll have a more “leisurely” buying experience makes you want to narrow down more. I would encourage you to stay open-minded! The distances from one place to another on Vancouver Island are actually a lot shorter than you might think, so even though you end up in one location you might be closer to your desired location. You can do day trips there or visit and explore on your days off!
Now while you're doing the fun part of shopping for a home it's essential to think of the transitions you'll have to make moving to the island. If you have kids, it's going to be important for you to look into schools and when registration is open in certain cities. You're going to need an address in the catchment where you're considering registering your child, so please think of this one early!
Our child was in French immersion and although we put them on every single wait list in Nanaimo he didn't make it in. The school in his catchment was almost full at that point! I don't have all the answers for you and I'm sure I jumped through some hoops to get him into the school that we needed to but I'm just saying this is an important one to think of early.
An important thing to mention is that it's almost impossible to find a doctor in Nanaimo or on Vancouver Island right now. If your doctor has moved to doing virtual visits since Covid I'd recommend maybe having a chat with them and seeing if you can stay on as a patient. Otherwise, you might be waiting a while.
If you're moving from out of Province, you'll have some additional things to consider. Think of things like setting up your BC care cards, your BC driver's license and also your ICBC auto insurance. On that topic, we found our insurance to be quite a bit less expensive than on the Mainland, so that might be a nice perk for you! Make sure you're prepared ahead of time for any deviances from what you're used to in terms of cost and service. (Some of these differences I'll be covering in a future blog regarding Nanaimo's cost of living)
Plan to have things such as utilities like cable, internet and hydro installed on the day that you arrive. Think of your home insurance as well (this is a good one to shop around for!)
Once you found your home and you know your possession date, make sure to book your mover early! This is essential because they'll have to book a ferry reservation - and they'll want to do that early in the day! We had a great experience with a company called One Pro Moving. They're experts at Island moves and we would highly recommend them!
Scope out some local restaurants so that you can order takeout on the day of your move!
Even if you're organized enough to bring food, you probably won't have the energy or have any of your kitchen stuff unpacked. Just trust me on this one! The good news is if you are relocating to Nanaimo there are tons of food options, so you will not be disappointed!
If you have a dog, make sure that you do some research to find out where you can take them along your journey and also once you've arrived at your new home.
There are some really great off-leash trails in Nanaimo! One of my favourites is Pioneer Park. This one would be really good on moving day when you're short on time because the loop is fairly short but there are lots of fun paths for your dog to explore! Last but not least on my list: give your friends and family your new address and update all of your bank cards and online services. Canada Post also has mail forwarding for up to a year, for six people in your household. That's about $75.
When it comes time for your big move, you'll be so happy you thought ahead and I really hope this checklist has helped! Speaking of checklists, I made a free download on my website titled “Questions to Ask Your Realtor When Buying Your First Home”
