frankieforehead

Rain....Urrgh....We live in the fabulous town of Cochrane, and enjoy the delights of the open spaces and the close proximity of Calgary. If you want your children to grow up in a nice environment, then this is the place. We love being able to go away for the day and enjoy everything that the mountains have to offer...for some that may be a long trip...but for us 45 minutes and we are there. Yet we hate being isolated so being just fifteen minutes outside of Calgary means that we can enjoy the shops restaurants etc.

Cochrane still has shops and is growing quite significantly, but is being kept small (If that makes sense) as not to spoil the town...so for a good night out or great shopping we hop into Calgary.

Anyway if you want to see what cochrane has to offer visit www.cochrane.ca

House price wise...well they are shooting up...new three beds are around $350,000 +....If you want a nice bit of land, consider living in Bearspaw...Houses start at around $600,000 if you can find one...Bearspaw is located inbetween Calgary and Cochrane, but you'll have to always drive a short distance to any facilities.

The best thing to do is to come over for a holiday.

Good luck and Happy new Year to you.

OzRob

Arrr, it was you that I was thinking about earlier!!!!

willmore

WOO HOO! ANOTHER MAC LOVER! WELCOME!

Karma sent!

frankieforehead

You should come here too...you cutie

love_it_here

We visited Cochrane recently and can concur that it is rather fabulous! Do you commute to Calgary or work locally? I would imagine commuting to Calgary to be a bit of a drag.

lipards

This is very personal thing...well, I think for a good sized house, anything over 400k is considered expensive.

Butch Cassidy

Suggestions in Calgary, Western side of the city
Outside Calgary, Cochrane or Canmore(bit of a commute if you need to be working in the city)

frankieforehead

I work in Calgary and it can be a pain returning from work, but generally about 40 minutes... then again I could spend an hour and a half for a 20 mile journey in the UK.

OzRob

I'll be just up the road in Canmore...

love_it_here

Oh, sorry, my husband informed me it was Canmore we visited not Cochrane. Yes, Canmore is very nice!

frankieforehead

Nice...........Our first choice, but too far from work...maybe when we retire

Cornish couple

[QUOTE=love_it_here]Hi Sarah,

I can totally empathise with what you are going through - my husband and i went through exactly the same thing. But at least you know which country you want to go to - we spent ages deliberating about that! Anyway, I think what you have to do is continue to do what you have done - draw up a least of needs and wants. A great deal of it comes down to what line of employment you are in, what money you have, what your tolerance is for the cold, and what kind of lifestyle you want.

Hi Georgina, we have spent ages on the internet researching on places around Vancouver (and other areas) and loved the look of Kelowna. We struggled to find information on job availability for my trade skilled profession (master carpet fitter). Do you guys actually buy carpet!!! We haven't been able to find any shops for home furnishing or carpet retail. Can you help at all?
Also has Kelowna got a typical Canadian vibe i.e in my eyes coffee shops, friendly people, beautiful views?
Any information on Kelowna would be great thanks!

MikeUK

personally .......

find somewhere that has the type of work you can do available!! then rent!

Once you have a job you can go look for that nice residence with a view…

For what its worth most of Canada has nice views outside of the cities, with nice reasonably priced properties.. (even the GTA)

What these places often lack though are well paying jobs in these regions… hence the property prices

So the people that get the nice houses often commute, just like in the UK… city wages with country living

or as some here used to say... you can't eat the scenery

iaink

Yep, job first, then if the area sucks at least you have canadian expereince to smooth the path to the next job in the area you have identified as "paradise"

I got lucky first time, there are good jobs in the small towns, but obviously most jobs are in the big cites, but then so are most of the job seekers. Wages are higher in the GTA, but they have to be to compensate for the location.

Depends a lot on how exclisive what you do for a living is, and if you are emmigrating to escape the rat race, but in many cases where you can work will dictate where you should go at first. Its all very well worying about the cold etc, but the rest of us adapt and enjoy and Id rather be somewhere with a winter doing a well paid job, with great people, than living in paradise stuck at home or job seeking wondering how long my money will last.

As one forum member put it "Happily Employed=Happy Immigrant. Unhappily Employed = Unhappy Immigrant" Oh, hang on, that was me!

MikeUK

yep.... winter isn't that hard here at all, if you can afford the heating, and the right clothing, and have enough to go out and enjoy its benefits..

however I’m lead to believe it can be the final straw in the camels back is money is running out, heating bills are going through the roof, and your trapped inside with nothing to do for 4 months !