kits somewhere near 4th west would be my number 1, but there are a whole lot of apartments near beach ave in the west end area of the city part that might be worth looking at. or look south east closer to main street and broadway some where near the van hospital.
It is basically in New West, one bus ride from the sky train, so live near a sky train station (closer to downtown = more stuff is walkable). Forget about North Van that commute would be ridiculous. Everything east of New West sucks but it will be cheaper.
new west is nice, pomo is so rural and boring. surrey ... let me tell you about surrey. you know why birds fly over surrey upside down? bc there's nothing worth shitting on. but if you're working in burnaby why not live there!? its the richest municipality as far as comunity services go. brentwood area is really nice! lougheed is pretty decent too at a cheaper price. hastings by renfrew station has some nice areas as well!
DTES specifically. You have to remember Hastings runs from downtown to SFU.
I used to live in North Van and my rent was $1450 for a 3br 1.5 bathroom. it was legit.
I now live in Marpole and it is also awesome but I seriously miss living in the mountains.
If you are working in Burnaby/New West, look for places in Burnaby Heights/Capitol Hill. You are close to the #1 and downtown and easy access to the rest of the city. and it's a really nice area. you can get some really nice views of both the city and mountains.
I live on East broadway close to commercial drive, and it's a really good spot. Lots of cool people, the drive has lots of good pubs, independent grocery stores, good food, and the people here are more relaxed than in the rest of vancouver it seems.