HGerchikov

Years ago in the UK, a friend of mine had one of those convertible jeeps with a soft top. The top was fitted to the car by means of press studs and zips. One day some moron totally mangled the door trying to break the lock then smashed the window when all he needed to do was pull the zip.

HGerchikov

To get back to the poor OPs original question. All those places could be made to work for you, personally (depending on commute) I would go for Hamilton over the other two. My reasons being that it's a place in its own right. It has a distinct character of its own, it's grubby in places and beautiful in others. Mississauga freaks me out a little for reasons I can't quite determine. I think it's the fact that once you get away from the older communities close to the Lakeshore (eg Port Credit, Mineola) it becomes something of a soulless wasteland of identical housing on identical subdivisions. I don't know Brampton that well (I only know the areas around the hockey rinks).

dbd33

I work now with a fair number of people who live in Brampton and Mississauga notQEW. What they value in housing is not what I value. They specifically want no lawn, no foliage and as much internal square footage as possible. I think this accounts for the look these areas, it's not just that the builders are soulless destroyers of the environment, blind to beauty, but that their customers are.

Something I find odd though is that my colleagues are sociable people, those who lived in Bradford or Southall speak warmly of the pubs there. They mostly eat lunch in restaurants. It's not the inclination of the residents that has lead to these areas having nothing but houses, that's just greed, shoving in as many boxes as possible.

I was once charged with delivering some children to a birthday party in what was then northern Mississauga, halfway up to the 401, it was before satnav and I had a hell of a time on the phone with the parents of the birthday child trying to navigate identical streets of identical houses; all the streets being named for something bulldozed to build them. That Jim Carrey film would be an accurate portrayal of the wasteland but it has too much green and not enough roll on faux brickwork.

HGerchikov

I know, it never fails to amaze me what people will consider desirable property. Provided the kitchen has granite and stainless steel, the floors are hardwood and the bathroom is large enough to hold a barndance they don't seem to care that the backyard is smaller than a postage stamp and the occupants of 37 other homes can see them. More than one 'really?' has slipped out when clients have announced they want to offer for a particular house.

Partially discharged

My S-I-L and B-I-L live in a town which is just outside of Hamilton that has experienced a lot of growth on what was good quality farmland. The homes look like the home of that Kazakstani Canadian in Ancaster who has been charged with internet crimes. The homes are about 3000 - 3500 ft2 each with high vaulted ceilings and about 3' on each of the sides and a back yard that is maybe 15' deep. They have found a way to fill the house with 'stuff' and they find our 1700 ft2 home in Ottawa to be tiny. They have never been away from North America and in seeing photos of our holidays in the UK or Europe and seeing photos of homes they recoil in horror at the cramped surroundings. My usual retort is that people easily adapt to the amount of room that they have and that I don't want to spend my dying days paying for a McMansion.

HGerchikov

Each to his own I suppose. I am much more about the surroundings and privacy of the plot rather than the house itself. Which explains why we just bought 33 acres of trees with a house right out of 1989 (parquet flooring, grey bathroom suite and melamine with wood trim kitchen cupboards).

dbd33

Highly sought after nowadays, I hear.

dbd33

Here's a house with a nice parquet floor. Otherwise awful but nice floor:

https://espc.com/property/87a-hepbur...sid=8168767790

HGerchikov

I think the rest of the decor supports my point about the parquet. That house is also stuck in an era that is not the current one. However as parquet floors go, those are not at all bad - ours I fear are worse.

JamesM

What do you do for work?