rsbhj

Hi

I am looking to hear from families living in Ottawa, and how they find it.

We are family of 4, kids are 5 and 3 just now. We live in Scotland, and looking for a change, and with Australia now not possible, and my wife having Canadian citizenship we are looking further into this option.

Toronto/Vancouver were for us unaffordable. Calgary is an option but its remoteness really puts me off. Next on list Ottawa.

Looking to hear what family life is like in Ottawa, what's some good suburbs to look at, generally and honest what you like and don't like about Ottawa.

Suburbs we would be looking to buy a house for around $550k-650k ¾ bed.

I know I cant dictate who replies etc and everyone is free to post whatever they want but I am really looking to hear specifically from families currently or previously living/lived in Ottawa.

Partially discharged

I'll bite. We have two kids 17 and 21 so we're not at the same stage as you. Our kids were born here in Ottawa.

The main suburbs from west to east are Kanata/Stittsville, Barrhaven, Orleans and lots of areas inbetween. Generally I believe Kanata/Stittsville would be the most expensive and they are near many of the high tech jobs. Orleans is more francophone and more orientated towards francophones and federal government and military people..groups I have little contact with.

For your kids, there will be lots of activities to join up with and the schools are generally good. If you are inclined and qualify you could go in either the public school system or the Catholic school board. People don't lie and scheme as much as they do in the UK to get into certain schools. The catchment areas are pretty well defined. If it is available and you move to Ottawa try and have your kids into the french immersion system. You'll be amazed how quickly they pick it up.

My only real complaint about Ottawa is it can be a big government town at times that tends to have a lot of self-important people far too involved in politics. However, due to its high government employment sector it is fairly immune to big drops in employment and massive housing price hikes. However, the goverment aspect can stifle entrepreneurship at times.

I'm sure $550 - $600 k would buy you a nice house in any of those areas. If it was me, I'd prefer somewhere a bit older with more mature trees and more of a community feel.

If you like shawarma you'll like Ottawa.

scilly

You already have a thread on thsi very topic

Is it allowed to have duplicate threads on the same topic, just because you don't like the responses on the other one?????????

Jerseygirl

You have already opened one thread on this subject earlier today. As we do not allow duplicate threads I am closing this one.