the blairs

Hi all!

I'm looking for a bit of advice....
We have our visa and are looking to move by the end of Aug to an area within commutable distance to Toronto.

Family situation is Me, My husband and two kids - Son aged 17 and daughter aged 13.

A few years ago we came out and looked around Oakville and Burlington. Both nice areas with good schools and a lovely shore/shopping area but I found it just to be house, house, house etc.... And whilst I am more geared to moving to the 'burbs' whilst the kids are in high school i still would like to be able to walk to a main st for shopping/coffee etc...

My husband has just returned from looking around Markham/Cornell and Stoufville as we had noticed these areas had main shopping streets. Also a factor in this was Joyride bike park for our BMX mad son.
The problem is that he found it to be overwhelmingly Asian. Now, before anyone gets the wrong idea! I like diversity which is why we chose Toronto as the area we were keen on in the first place but I am not keen to move to little Italy/China/UK etc... in the slightest.

So, I guess the question is where???? Any recommendations?
Husband - Commute to toronto
Me - Nice main st
Son - Bmx daft
Daughter - Malls and cinema
2 dogs - nice walks


I have been looking at The Beaches area and it seems to be a good area to live in! Also, many of the houses I've looked at allow pets which is perfect. Any thoughts on this area? Is it safe bearing in mind its close proximity to a big city?

I realise this is a huge area for discussion so be nice please

Linz xx

sharkus

My initial thought would have been Oakville / Burlington, but you've looked there already. It could be that there isn't something that matches the exact things you're looking for.

What about somewhere like Scarborough or Pickering? Just mentioning them. I think they'd be, commute wise, about the same distance as from Oakville / Burlington.

Another possibility would be Mississauga or Milton.

I actually quite like Milton, but the GO Train service isn't as frequent as it really should be. Milton has certainly grown a lot in the years I've been here, so the transit system should take that into account.

colchar

Oakville has a nice main street down on the lakeshore.

not2old

Newmarket....commute to Toronto main union station

GOTransit.com - Stations and stops

Home - Town of Newmarket

http://uppercanadamall.com/stores

below gives you an idea of property rentals

http://www.kijiji.ca/b-house-rental/...ket/k0c43l9004

.

not2old

The commuter GO Train to Toronto union station from the following is approx one-hour

Oakville

Newmarket

Pickering

or if living in the Beaches, take the TTC street car (Tram), Bus, Subway combination - approx 40 minutes

https://www.ttc.ca/Routes/503/RouteD...sp?tabName=map

.

HGerchikov

The GO train from Oakville is not an hour. Its max 40 mins, 30 mins if you get the express. The Lakeshore GO either East or West is the best line in terms of regularity of service, plus trains run every 30 mins outside of peak times, much more frequently in rush hour.

dbd33

But while the commute time from the Beach is truly 40 minutes (5 minutes walk each end, half an hour on the tram) the Oakville 30 minutes is based on estate agent time; it doesn't take into account driving to the station, waiting for the train and walking at the other end. An hour door-to-door is optimistic.

(Not that that's a compelling reason not to move to Oakville, lots of people like dormitory towns)

HGerchikov

I was merely correcting the previous post which stated that the GO Train took an hour. I used to work at the old hydro building at 700 University. It took 8 mins to drive to station. 30 mins on train (I preferred the non express from Clarkson because I wanted a seat) then a 20 min walk up University avenue. Pretty much exactly an hour door to door. My husband who worked in the same building would sprint like a lunatic through the parking lot, hence cutting time to drive to station to 7 mins, he got the 20 min express train and then run up University Ave. his door to door was closer to 40 mins.

not2old

OK, so for my earlier post, leaving the house to getting to work for those coming in from Oakville, Pickering or Newmarket, without delays, heart pacing runs, allow one hour commute ... is that OK?

40 minutes from leaving the house in the Beaches to union station, as long as there are zero breakdowns or delays on the TTC

dbd33

I worked in that building. At first I walked there, from Scotland Yard, which was 20 minutes or so depending on how rude I was to the many beggars along the way. Later I took the tram from Leslieville, 40 minutes, then from the Beach, still 40 minutes but prone to breaking down in winter. Walking is an hour and ten, longer when I carried a 2-4. I also tried bicycling which was nice because almost no roads were involved.

I did also commute to 700 from Lorne Park Road in Mississauga but I drove. I was not about to put myself through the hell of getting out of Union to the subway or the street. And anyway, at that time driving was as fast as the train (note that I have a parking spot nearby so cost wasn't an issue, I also drove from the Beach quite often).

I accept that one can get there from Oakville but not that the commute is in any way preferable to a shorter one. You have to want to live in an outer 'burb for it to be worthwhile.

HGerchikov

Couldn't agree more, my current commute is a full 5 seconds from putting coffee cup in dishwasher to my office, it's great!

dbd33

40 minutes drive, atm. It's fine because there's rarely another vehicle to deal with and, when there is, it's a tractor.

not2old

on a Sunday morning, yeah right!

Try that next week when the city is in gridlock

not2old

except when you have to go outside & do your business or whatever it is you do in your line of work. Driving around in the dead of winter, stuck in the snow drifts, having fender benders, trying to park... its unimaginable to park several blocks or a few side streets away from doing that work.

Same in the hot humid 30C +high humid summer months.

Canada, especially Toronto or within the GTA is a lovely place to live & work

Aviator

In our part of the country we have an indoor privvy. Perhaps going outside is one of those back to nature things?