Calgary Suburbs/Living
Jun 29th 2017, 5:22 pm
#16
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Re: Calgary Suburbs/Living
My posts just now are on suburbs getting a feel for them and the house prices, mortgage payments is a major factor, as is having an income.
I am research jobs, I am just not research job on BE as this is not a recruitment agency or employer.
I have said my original choice would be Toronto, I have said I am shocked at house prices, my wife is keen on Calgary, I would be stupid not to consider both places and look into things more.
I would never in my life think to choose a place where my kids will get jobs, they have their own life, they could end up anywhere they want and in fact I would want them to adventure on their own if they can.
Jun 29th 2017, 5:23 pm
#17
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Jun 29th 2017, 5:25 pm
#18
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Re: Calgary Suburbs/Living
Yes sorry I did not mean this in a negative way towards BE, I just mean I am doing my own research for now, I will more than likely have a post on work at sometime but for now I am happy with my research. 
Jun 29th 2017, 5:26 pm
#19
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Re: Calgary Suburbs/Living
Guys thats for the suburbs recommendations I will have a look
I would have thought most would cater for kids and sports
I would have thought most would cater for kids and sports
Jun 29th 2017, 6:21 pm
#20
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Re: Calgary Suburbs/Living
No problem. Plenty of areas in Calgary that are good......and bad! It is a city with a mixed income range and there are those that can afford toys and those that can't. Plenty of people take drugs, just like most big places......I don't. If I had a long term concern here in Canada, they are going to legalize dope next year, that is incompatible with my own beliefs and views and will likely mean I will leave the country.
Jun 29th 2017, 6:41 pm
#21
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Re: Calgary Suburbs/Living
Simple question you should ask, where ever you settle.
What will the job prospects for your children be when they grow up.
Will they be able to find jobs locally when they grow up, or will they have to move away to other provinces, with all the heart aches of your children being so far away.
I settled in the greater Toronto area (GTA) with a population of 9 million and thus with jobs in many sectors, both of my children live and found work in the GTA.
What will the job prospects for your children be when they grow up.
Will they be able to find jobs locally when they grow up, or will they have to move away to other provinces, with all the heart aches of your children being so far away.
I settled in the greater Toronto area (GTA) with a population of 9 million and thus with jobs in many sectors, both of my children live and found work in the GTA.
Jun 29th 2017, 6:49 pm
#22
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Re: Calgary Suburbs/Living
I can't imagine it will make any difference to life in Canada at all. People who want to smoke do so already, it's not like there's a shortage. My information is that even the operators of huge grow ops don't get prosecuted anymore. My source in the court system commented "I haven't seen a heroin file for two years, never mind weed, all prosecutions are for fentanyl these days".
Jun 30th 2017, 12:06 am
#23
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Re: Calgary Suburbs/Living
For Calgary if you are within the City limits then you will probably be able to access all the things you mentioned to some extent within a reasonable distance/time.
It will boil down to where will your job be located - can you get to it by cTrain or will you have to drive. Then the length of commute you are prepared to stand.
For communities closer to CTrain stations check out for example in the NW: Tuscany, Royal Oak, Scenic Acres, Arbour Lake, Ranchlands, Silver Springs, Dalhousie, Varsity Estates, Brentwood, Collingwood, University Quarter, Banff Trail, Hillhurst/Sunnyside
And then it will depend on the type of house you want to live in. There are inner suburbs and outer suburbs. In very general terms inner suburbs have a little more character as they have had time for trees to grow and people to improve the homes so there is more variation. newer suburbs are more cookie cutter and maybe a little less treed (but that will change in time), a little closer together and slightly small lots.
On the school front the more established neighbourhoods tend to have more established schools while the newer outer suburbs may not have the school built yet and you are looking at the kids being bussed to another school until its built - just something to bear in mind. Having sid that, depending on what kind of program you choose you may need to bus the kids anyway (e.g. for French Immersion, etc).
It will boil down to where will your job be located - can you get to it by cTrain or will you have to drive. Then the length of commute you are prepared to stand.
For communities closer to CTrain stations check out for example in the NW: Tuscany, Royal Oak, Scenic Acres, Arbour Lake, Ranchlands, Silver Springs, Dalhousie, Varsity Estates, Brentwood, Collingwood, University Quarter, Banff Trail, Hillhurst/Sunnyside
And then it will depend on the type of house you want to live in. There are inner suburbs and outer suburbs. In very general terms inner suburbs have a little more character as they have had time for trees to grow and people to improve the homes so there is more variation. newer suburbs are more cookie cutter and maybe a little less treed (but that will change in time), a little closer together and slightly small lots.
On the school front the more established neighbourhoods tend to have more established schools while the newer outer suburbs may not have the school built yet and you are looking at the kids being bussed to another school until its built - just something to bear in mind. Having sid that, depending on what kind of program you choose you may need to bus the kids anyway (e.g. for French Immersion, etc).
Last edited by Flossie and Jim; Jun 30th 2017 at 12:10 am.
Jun 30th 2017, 4:33 am
#24
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Re: Calgary Suburbs/Living
Flossie and Jim offers great comments. Calgary is a sprawl of suburbs but I think is generally quite geographically small. No where is that far from anywhere else really but please don't commute from one end of the city to the other if you can help it at all. On the whole, getting around is easy by car but choosing somewhere nearish the C-train is good if you will be working downtown.
Activities for kids are everywhere. Every community seems to have something. Let them have a go at anything and everything! Mine zoomed in on dance in the end and it's been a colourful, noisy, lipstick-laden and expensive blast for 10 years.
We chose a small town just outside the city limits to the northwest, and given my time again I would probably do the same, or choose a NW Calgry suburb/community simply because I just like it and getting around and access to everything is easy. And if not from your own house, you get great views of those little old mountains from many areas as you are driving around. That's enough to soothe the soul on many a day.
Be prepared for great tracts of cookie-cutter homes on the outer edges of the city. Gardens generally are small. This bugged me hugely when house hunting but to be honest, it's a dead, brown-grassed frozen wasteland from November till end of March! 😉 There are tons of little kids parks everywhere when they need to burn off energy.
I find Calgary a very liveable city, day to day, but a bit far from anywhere else interesting. Once you've done all the popular haunts you have to travel. However if you hike or ski or camp, them thar mountains are an awesome playground.
Activities for kids are everywhere. Every community seems to have something. Let them have a go at anything and everything! Mine zoomed in on dance in the end and it's been a colourful, noisy, lipstick-laden and expensive blast for 10 years.
We chose a small town just outside the city limits to the northwest, and given my time again I would probably do the same, or choose a NW Calgry suburb/community simply because I just like it and getting around and access to everything is easy. And if not from your own house, you get great views of those little old mountains from many areas as you are driving around. That's enough to soothe the soul on many a day.
Be prepared for great tracts of cookie-cutter homes on the outer edges of the city. Gardens generally are small. This bugged me hugely when house hunting but to be honest, it's a dead, brown-grassed frozen wasteland from November till end of March! 😉 There are tons of little kids parks everywhere when they need to burn off energy.
I find Calgary a very liveable city, day to day, but a bit far from anywhere else interesting. Once you've done all the popular haunts you have to travel. However if you hike or ski or camp, them thar mountains are an awesome playground.
Jun 30th 2017, 7:47 am
#25
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Re: Calgary Suburbs/Living
I visited Cochrane with my girlfriend, it's such a beautiful town, I'm envious of you living there! When we eventually move to Canada, if I can find work around that area we'd love to settle there.
I hope they don't expand it so much that it loses the small town feel though.
Jun 30th 2017, 9:19 am
#26
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Re: Calgary Suburbs/Living
Yeah looking on the map I can see it is a quite geographically small, which is very like the city where I am just now, however I am in the Uk so there is other cities etc close by also.
I have had a look at a few places in the north west, and they look nice
Where I am in the Uk the garden is pretty much unusable from October to April, due to the rain and dark nights/mornings, summer is only really a 2-3 month rare event and even then the sun is a welcome visitor when it shows. Its windy, wet, overcast most of the time to be honest…one of my main reasons to look elsewhere to explore living.
I know Calgary has a cold, dry, snowy winter, which is better that the wet, windy, sometimes snowy winter I experience in the Uk, I think it will be worst in Calgary as in colder but better as its dry and sunny. The summer will defiantly be better so if I get 2-3 months better than I do now, it’s a good start.
Thanks for the suburbs listed I will look into them and the transport links.
I have had a look at a few places in the north west, and they look nice
Where I am in the Uk the garden is pretty much unusable from October to April, due to the rain and dark nights/mornings, summer is only really a 2-3 month rare event and even then the sun is a welcome visitor when it shows. Its windy, wet, overcast most of the time to be honest…one of my main reasons to look elsewhere to explore living.
I know Calgary has a cold, dry, snowy winter, which is better that the wet, windy, sometimes snowy winter I experience in the Uk, I think it will be worst in Calgary as in colder but better as its dry and sunny. The summer will defiantly be better so if I get 2-3 months better than I do now, it’s a good start.
Thanks for the suburbs listed I will look into them and the transport links.
Jun 30th 2017, 4:35 pm
#27
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Re: Calgary Suburbs/Living
I visited Cochrane with my girlfriend, it's such a beautiful town, I'm envious of you living there! When we eventually move to Canada, if I can find work around that area we'd love to settle there.
I hope they don't expand it so much that it loses the small town feel though.
I hope they don't expand it so much that it loses the small town feel though.
I do, however, think it does manage to hang on to some kind of small town feel simply because you have that decent break between the Calgary city limits and coming into Cochrane. I drive the Crowchild Trail onto the 1A out through the NW burbs towards home - and its always, every single day, that pause for breath that I love. Just 10 minutes every day that I can marvel at my surroundings.
Jun 30th 2017, 8:32 pm
#28
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Re: Calgary Suburbs/Living
I have a post already regarding Toronto Suburbs as this is our first choice, (well Vancouver was until we looked more into the cost of Vancouver) so next for us, well me was Toronto mainly due to a couple factors bigger city, NBA, MLS teams, closer for flight back to UK, not as remote as Calgary, shorter flight times to Orlando, Caribbean, NY for holidays.
Then I realised the house pricing in Toronto and we would be looking at 40-50km out for $550-700k range in a nice family suburb 3-4 bed house, and good transport links.
My wife is keen on Calgary, I am open to the idea and looking more into it the housing market is cheaper, you don’t have to be as far out the city, its not as remote as I thought and has its advantages of being shorter flights to Vancouver, San fran, LA, vegas, phoenix, Mexico for hols, and is a shorter flight to Australia which is another advantage to be as I have family there.
The flights I know are more expensive out of Canada, but Vancouver/ Seattle is drivable, and as is a road trip down to LA!
Anyway to bring my post back into line, can anyone recommend nice family suburbs in Calgary I can look more into, things I am looking for…
1. Good schools
2. Transport links
3. Kids activities
I know Toronto has more on offer in in the way of a bigger city, but living 40-50km out of the city, the main thing for me… is going to be what the local area is like for transport, schools and stuff for my kids to do sports etc.
So really while my kids are that young am I going to get to enjoy living within a bigger city or is Calgary a good option for more local living and access to holiday destinations, I mean we could look to relocation within Canada down the line.
I have also taken the different weather conditions into account, and there is advantages and disadvantages to both.
Then I realised the house pricing in Toronto and we would be looking at 40-50km out for $550-700k range in a nice family suburb 3-4 bed house, and good transport links.
My wife is keen on Calgary, I am open to the idea and looking more into it the housing market is cheaper, you don’t have to be as far out the city, its not as remote as I thought and has its advantages of being shorter flights to Vancouver, San fran, LA, vegas, phoenix, Mexico for hols, and is a shorter flight to Australia which is another advantage to be as I have family there.
The flights I know are more expensive out of Canada, but Vancouver/ Seattle is drivable, and as is a road trip down to LA!
Anyway to bring my post back into line, can anyone recommend nice family suburbs in Calgary I can look more into, things I am looking for…
1. Good schools
2. Transport links
3. Kids activities
I know Toronto has more on offer in in the way of a bigger city, but living 40-50km out of the city, the main thing for me… is going to be what the local area is like for transport, schools and stuff for my kids to do sports etc.
So really while my kids are that young am I going to get to enjoy living within a bigger city or is Calgary a good option for more local living and access to holiday destinations, I mean we could look to relocation within Canada down the line.
I have also taken the different weather conditions into account, and there is advantages and disadvantages to both.
Jul 1st 2017, 7:36 am
#29
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Re: Calgary Suburbs/Living
I do, however, think it does manage to hang on to some kind of small town feel simply because you have that decent break between the Calgary city limits and coming into Cochrane. I drive the Crowchild Trail onto the 1A out through the NW burbs towards home - and its always, every single day, that pause for breath that I love. Just 10 minutes every day that I can marvel at my surroundings.
We checked out a few of the suburbs around cochrane, there are some beautiful views! We really liked the little town centre with the prospector style shops.
Jul 1st 2017, 2:40 pm
#30
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Re: Calgary Suburbs/Living
