jimf

These are the websites I used for rental properties:

http://www.homerent.ca/
http://www.places4rent.com
http://www.rentfaster.ca
http://www.rentboard.ca
http://www.rentspot.com/

$3,500 should give you a good choice but as others have said pets will be an issue particularly at the higher price range you're looking at. Maybe you could offer a higher damage deposit?

If you want to look at one organisations assessment of schools you could do worse than look at the Fraser Institute reports. As would be expected, in general, the "nicer" the area the "better" the school results.

Calgal

A thirty minute commute from out of town to the downtown core is totally unrealistic. Many suburbs with in the city are easily this 'far' away - especially at rush hour. Calgary is a HUGE city (area wise) and it CAN take 45 mins to drive the north/south limits.

Whilst public transport is a good option, it can take a long time to get where you're going depending on your location and whether you can hop the C-train or have to connect with or rely solely on buses. My OH used to commute from the NW to the downtown core on transit and it would generally take between one and two hours door to door.

Almost Canadian

I am always saying this and I am permanently shouted down by those living in Cochrane/Okotoks etc. that state that their OH can make it to downtown in less than 30 mins door to door. When pushed, they will admit that their OHs do so in the middle of the night. I live in Somerset, from the Somerset station to downtown takes 35-40 mins and the c-train stops for nought (except passengers)

snoopster

...which is why I said it would be a less wise choice than living in the suburbs. I have friends here in Okotoks whose daily commute is up to an hour (or more sometimes) to downtown.

Chookie

Mr Chookie gets the bus from the NW down town every day, and while he can do it in around 30-45 minutes, he is getting the BRT bus and usually leaves home just before 7am...

Coming home in the evening usually takes him longer.

gryphea

As the others have said $3500 is a good amount to spend, but the pets may be an issue. We spend way less than this (but then we don't need to communte to downtown)

Lots of summer camps around. I've just boooked one at COP. Uni camps are meant to be good.

Ford Flex looks fine, I really like the look of it. People here are not hung up about that sort of thing, or at least not the people I've met (even the brits)(even the oil company brits)(even the wives of the oil company brits).

MrsDV

Well, this 'wife of an oil company brit' drives a Dodge Grand Caravan, so you may have a point!

By the way, my two did the mountain bike camp at COP last year and absolutely loved it - have asked to go again this year (I must get on that!)

Calgal

Which is why I said "depending on your location". (and of course, the time of day one is traveling). I remember when you could drive down Crowchild trail and find it relatively empty - that's a rarity these days though.

Siouxie

You could also look at Kijiji for house rentals. Most seem to be in the price range of $1000 - $2000.

They have short term rentals too (fully furnished) if you were looking for somewhere temporary.

Putting in a search for "pets allowed" at Homerent.ca brought up quite a few houses too.

Pet friendly houses at Rentspot.

Pet friendly houses at Rentboard.

Houses for rent (more expensive - agency)

Pets "negotiable" at rentspot.

Home trader allows you to view rental properties by map.

There is also Rent Calgary (you need to specify the area).

Most of the rentals I saw were for $1000-$2000 a month (plus utilities)

For $3,500 a month you could have this 5 bedroom, 4 bathroom luxury house by the lake - and Pet friendly too!



Hopefully one or two of them will give you the opportunity to "paws" for thought

Wayner

Hillhurst / West Hillhurst, walking / cycling distance to downtown close to the river, cycle paths, schools, shops, restaurants etc. Job Done!

gryphea

I booked son in for Camp Torch, adventure quest. Thought about mountain bike camp, but maybe next year instead. Think he was swung by the long list of exciting stuff (plus think his mate is going to sign up too).

charlotte30

siouxie, wow thanks for all those websites! I had been on most of the but rent calgary was a new one for me! Had already spotted the house in Arbour Lake, can guarentee you it will be gone by the time i come over next month looking for a house!!
gryphea, that camp torch looks great. Only problem is my boy is 6 and not 7 until October and the younger camp (4-6) looks too young for him - it is only half day!!! He is use to going to school all day and would much prefer the adventure one. May ring them up and see what they say, you never know!!

Chookie

This one drives a Kia Sedona

danfolkestone

It's worth mentioning that bus timetables on Calgary Transit's website aren't all that accurate in rush hour. Downtown gets congested so the buses can be wildly off timetable - even worse when it snows. Many buses, the the c-train (especially from the south) also fill up before they reach downtown. In winter, some buses will already be full by the time they get much within 30 minutes of downtown, and when it's below -30 you don't want to be standing around waiting for a bus. Thinking about it, that might be a problem with Shaganappi, although it only occasionally happens at my bus stop in Westgate (twice in two winters, I think).

In winter, the waiting time is a more important consideration than the journey time.

In terms of Arbour Lake, the only problems you are likely to have are a) connecting to the c-train if you need to take a bus and b) getting home, as sometimes the stations get very full. Last year I was using the c-train northwest line to get to Kensington one evening per week for a class. I often found that trains were already full by the time they got to Bankers Hall, so I always gave myself 30 minutes to get to Kensington, which is a fraction of the distance to Arbour Lake. Normally that was plenty of time, but I still missed the class twice. With all trains using the same line through downtown, if something goes wrong (a breakdown or crash for instance) that throws out all of the trains.

Alberta_Rose

I don't think that's a problem, especially now the Crowfoot station is open.

We live in Arbour Lake and have the choice of two buses, 199 and 299, as the routes go either side of our place, so we seldom wait more than a few minutes at the station before catching one of them. More often than not we get straight on a waiting bus, but we are within walking distance anyway, if time and weather permits ...

One thing about transit tickets ... they last 90 minutes and you can take as many buses and trains as you need on one ticket during that time ....