‘You give up a lot’: B.C. real estate market forces Langley family to relocate to buy a home

As the Metro Vancouver real estate market becomes more balanced in B.C. in part due to higher interest rates, it’s still hard for many to buy a home.

The ongoing housing challenges have forced many people and families to make tough decisions, including moving away from the places they’ve called home for years.

Steven and Charlene Bozzard are one such couple. They lived in Langley for about 20 years but decided to move because they weren’t able to afford the home they wanted.

The Bozzards say they did not want to leave but had to because home prices were just too expensive for them as they tried to break into the real estate market as first-time buyers.

“We did want to buy in Langley originally but the housing market was so expensive that even the smallest townhome was almost more than we could qualify for,” Charlene told CityNews.

“We talked about it and were looking in Aldergrove, couldn’t find anything. We looked in Abbotsford and basically every time we found something it sold pretty much the day we made the offer.”

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They widened their search even more last fall, having looked at what they estimate to be 50 different places. Right before the record-setting floods hit in November, they found a place in Chilliwack.

This is despite the fact Charlene worked in White Rock at the time, and Steven in Maple Ridge.

“I ended up switching jobs because it was an hour and 45 minute drive with traffic there and then return,” Charlene explained, adding her husband’s commute is now about an hour each way.

Charlene’s decision to find another job was also difficult, having spent 15 years at her previous workplace.

While they say they’re living a happy life, Steven and Charlene admit it was really hard on their family.

The desire to stay in Langley wasn’t only out of convenience. Steven was born and raised in Langley and says his kids were too. It was home.

“The kids had lots of friends and we had lots of friends, and it was a tough decision to come up and say we should move to Chilliwack,” the father explained.

“You give up a lot, you give up seeing your friends on a regular basis … taking one of the kids out of school halfway through and dropping them into another middle school so they have to make new friends.”

“And Jessica went to BCIT so she had to start online schooling because it was too far to drive,” added Charlene.

Relocation among top sacrifices for Canadians: survey

Their experience is in line with what many others seem to be doing right now. A recent RE/MAX survey found relocation was among the top sacrifices 64 per cent of survey respondents would make in order to be able to afford a home.

It also found that across western Canada, “competition from out-of-town or move-over buyers” also has been putting pressure on real estate prices year-over-year.

“It did weigh heavily on us,” Steven said of his family’s decision to leave Langley.

“Me, growing up, I went to two schools and had all my friends in Langley. Char had gone to a couple of different schools throughout her growing up so she made new friends quite easily. But it did weigh heavily on us whether or not we were making the right decision to move out there and pulling our kid out of school and popping him into another one.”

Despite the difficulties, the pair says they don’t regret the decision, though it was emotional.

“No regrets now. Getting to know Chilliwack, it’s been great. It’s a lot slower pace than what we’re used to but everyone’s friendly — not that everybody wasn’t friendly in Langley — but moving to a new town you hope that you’re going to fit in and settle right in, and it seems to be working well for us,” Steven added.

The RE/MAX survey has found that while many Canadians are willing to relocate to buy a home, half of respondents say the farthest they’d be willing to move was less than 100 kilometres from where they are now.

For the Bozzards, they went community by community. Steven notes with rents so high nowadays, it made more sense to put that money each month toward a mortgage of their own — rather than someone else’s.

However, he says had they not found their new home in Chilliwack, they likely would have stayed in Langley as renters for the time being.

“It was pretty stressful. Luckily I don’t have kids in elementary school so I didn’t have to worry about picking up, how I’m going to get to work and back, that kind of thing,” Charlene said, adding her middle schooler is able to walk each day.

The family has been in their new city for several month now. Despite this, they’re still getting used to the smaller community.

-With file from Dean Recksiedler