One resource with information to plan a move to PEI
In the spring of 2024, I was on the Facebook group “Ask PEI” and over the span of a couple of weeks, I noticed multiple people post asking a question about moving to PEI. It could be something so simple as “I’m thinking of moving to this community, what should I know” up to the over inundated question “Making the move to PEI - who is a great REALTOR®️ to work with?” What I noticed in the comments is many responses like “Hope you don’t need a doctor” “Hope you have lots of money for renting” and more unwelcoming posts. Any time anyone asked a question that had anything to do with moving to PEI, they were met with rude and unhelpful comments. (Unless you were asking about a REALTOR®️ and then you were probably inundated with so many DM’s from local realtors offering to help you out.)
I have spoken about this many times and will continue to talk about my own experience of moving home to PEI. I took the huge step in January of 2022 to get my real estate license while we were living in the Annapolis Valley, NS. I had passed the exam and chosen a brokerage and started my business the week before Mother’s Day that year. Mother’s Day weekend, we dropped the kiddos off with my parents and went to Halifax for a bit of a get away. On the drive from my parents house to Halifax, Tyler recieved a call with a job offer. Ultimately we decided that this was a good opportunity for him and he accepted the job. A major bonus was that he could work from anywhere. In August, we made the leap to move home to Charlottetown and we were back living on the red soil by November.
Us living on PEI was always a choice. We wanted to raise our kids here. When we moved, I had 3 grandparents living in Charlottetown; Tyler was born and raised in Charlottetown and we both had many extended family members and close friends near by. My experience living on PEI has never been the one of discouraging people to come here. I love that you can walk down the street and strike up a conversation with a stranger, let your kids ride their bikes around the neighbourhood without added worry and have a generally ‘normal’ life. And I knew that there are many people, like me, who are wanting that life for themselves and their families. And so began my journey to create more resources and a community of like-minded people, all looking to make the move to PEI to build their Island Life.
Hence, the creation of the Move to PEI Facebook group was started. (link)
What is this group? It is a community of people who have made the move to PEI and those also hoping to make the move in the future. It is a community of support and encouragement for those who don’t know where to get started. It is a community of experience of what went well for people when they moved and what was a challenge. In this group, anyone who has a question about a potential challenge they are facing can expect a non-sarcastic, helpful answer to their question along with stories about what others have experienced in the past. It is a community where more resources are shared.
There are so many challenges that people face when moving here from away that we wanted to keep the island spirit of helping out your neighbour alive. When people are already here and integrating into Island life, people are very welcoming and ready to help you out. But not so much on social media…
One thing that has grown as the group has grown is that we now do live discussions the last Friday of the month. In the past, we have talked about: IRAC and the role is plays in renting and also buying, Commutable Communities, What to Expect in your First Year, Raising Kiddos, etc. Tomorrow is our next discussion (July 25, 2025) and we will be talking about Summer Living on PEI. People are able to ask questions in live time and we will answer them. Can’t make it to the live discussion, then you can watch the recorded discussion on your own time.
Additionally, we are working on building out the resource files to support those making the move. Our Communities Guide as well as a PEI Rental Guide are just the beginning. Aren’t on Facebook but want to see the playback of the live discussions, visit this link for the playlist. Want to chat more about where you can get started on making your move to PEI, send me an email or a text and let’s chat.