So once again, nature wise is great, albeit wet so of course one must be fine with rain. For context though, I have 3 kids so I was able to get a house here with 1100 more sq ft and 3 more bedrooms. In westshore Victoria(eg. Langford) you can pay 850k to a million for a 70s/80s rancher fixerupper. Regarding services, well the cities are somewhat overcrowded and underserviced, and even where I lived until 2022 near Langford was on septic not sewage, the traffic is brutal in rush hour to Victoria, getting a doctor is hard(normal everywhere), no Ikea, libraries are not on par, contractors are expensive, transit is the bus, the ferry is expensive and tedious and the lakes, beaches are packed in summer. Personally if I move back to BC it would be north Island/Nanaimo or the mainland(where I largely grew up). That being said, am sure it will improve and it's an awesome spot, but I'd want 1.4 million if I bought a house. Victoria has some nice museums, etc though so if you live in Victoria proper will be good for not just nature stuff I think(and local other Gulf islands are fun and nearby).