Steve_

Yeah, a view of the mountains if you stand on top of your house. With the assistance of a step ladder. I thought it was a con when I moved here, "mountain view" my arse.

The thing you have to bear in mind is the closer you get to the foothills, the worse the weather gets as you're more likely to be caught by hail. I have to say during the summer someone's house in the NW always seems to get destroyed by lightning.

One thing I would say if you're looking for a house in Calgary is that the NE gets an excessively bad rap, there are some crappy neighbourhoods in the NE but a lot of people basically write off the whole NE of the city which is excessive, imo. Street view is your friend.

Flossie and Jim

Ahem...

(view from my living room window, NOT photoshopped, NOT zoomed in, and NOT on top of my house or with step ladder)

Sits back and waits for house to be struck by lightning

Oh, and just to get back on topic, Chestermere is basically another bedroom community for Calgary. A recent annexation means that it now shares a border with Calgary and some think that Calgary might swallow Chestermere up some time in the future. I think it was one of the fastest growing municipalities in Canada in recent times (similar to Airdrie). We had a sniff round the place once and aside from the nice lake houses it is basically cookie cutter stuff that you could find anywhere in Calgary or the dormitory towns. Doesn't seem as established as Cochrane or Airdrie to me, but then it has only really taken off since the 60's/70's. Facilities and shops have been developing in recent years and it could be a quicker commute into Calgary than some of the City's outer suburbs but that would depend on where in the City you would be commuting to.

You would be advised to check it out for yourselves to see if it has enough in the way of facilities for the kids and your wife, especially if she is not going to be working. Regional transit from the dormitories to Calgary is pretty much limited to the peak commute times and that's it, so a car (possibly two) would be a necessity. Also, when your kids get to that age where you are Mum and Dad's taxi for activities, you might find yourself having to drive them into the City for a lot of that kind of stuff. Just a few things for you to check out!

Steve_

Yeah I can just about see them, they're somewhere out there.

If I want to see the mountains I get in my car and drive up there. Never understood the big deal myself. Not worth the tradeoff with the traffic up in the NW, imo.

ann m

You have to trade off the sprawl of the suburbs and lack of architecture, with some natural beauty.

As I said before, if you are going to choose Calgary, then at least don't live the wrong side of a hill, or in a hollow dip in the landscape - at least when you start or return from the commute - give yourself a little bit of visual pleasure along the way.

delsol79

I must admit a mountain view was an appeal to us and one of reason we really liked NW. In fact we have downtown views from the front and mountain views from the back

I don't find the commute bad compared to if you were going from downtown to SE or NE.

el_richo

You have better eyesight than i

Pah!!! Now THIS (attached) is a proper mountain view from the living room window (NOT photoshopped, NOT zoomed in, and NOT on top of the house or with step ladder)

*struts away like a Bee Gee*

Chookie

This confirms that we are not "posh"...

My mother (who had Hyacinth Bucket tendencies would be rotating in her grave! Mother?? a snob?????).

We ended up living in the central NW... affordable, an OK house, good schools, and loads of kids for ours to play with... plus good transport downtown for Mr Chookie. OK so all the houses look the same, but do you know what? I do not care! The inside of ours doesn't look the same as everyone elses and that is all that matters to me.

Flossie and Jim

I bow to thee

el_richo

You may rise

Steve_

But you're not in Calgary city limits, right?

el_richo

Nope. We wanted proper mountain views in a property so Calgary city limits wasn't an option.

That said, in Vancouver we are in the city and have proper mountain views also. The view is very important for me since i stare so much out of the bloody window while working at home

Anyway, where's Chestermere?

Almost Canadian

15 mins east of Calgary

el_richo

Thank you M'Lud

peas

That is truly horrific... two empty beers.

LucyLovelock

I would definately go for Cochrane over Chestermere any day,but thats just me personally.
As for distance to Calgary, I drove to the University the other day from home here, and it took me just over 20 minutes. Admittedly that wasnt rush hour,but thats pretty close in my book.
Good luck with wherever you decide to move to. A research trip, if at all possible, is highly recommended!