Rhodes

I have posted something previously in other forums (fora?) but let's try it here, too...

One of the places we are considering moving to (employment permitting, of course) in Hamilton, in south-west Ontario, about half way between Toronto and Niagara Falls. It's an old steel city with an annoying one-way traffic system, I gather, but I like the look of the houses I have seen on www.mls.ca - and the prices are incredibly low. It certainly looks prettier and more interesting than Brampton, where we'll be in the short term. Not that that'd be difficult!

Right - so should we forget the idea? If so, why? Is there anything particularly wrong with the place?

Cheers.


Simon

iaink

I have to confess I have only driven past on the QEW. I cant imagine Hamilton is prettier than anywhere based on that!

Has a reputation for polution and industrial disease too, although not as bad as Sarnia. Someone else said that the towny bit (away from the steelworks / bay) was OK, but i think there is a stigma attached to hamilton which may explain the relatively low property costs.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servl...COVER13/Focus/

Iain

Pretty Flowers

I've heard that it smells and suffers from pollution. There are a lot of heavy manufacturers there IIRC

Glaswegian

Always be very cautious of anywhere of anywhere with really low prices!

I lived in Oakville for a while and I've driven past Hamilton a few times on my way to Niagara - the town lives under a permanent smoggy cloud! One of the things I didn't like about southern Ontario was the air quality in summer - one of the secondary reasons we're in Alberta is the air here is VERY clean and we need that for health issues. We wouldn't have been outdoors very much in summer in southern Ontario because of the smog - a lot of that originates in Hamilton.

Jagrow

[QUOTE=Rhodes]I have posted something previously in other forums (fora?) but let's try it here, too...

One of the places we are considering moving to (employment permitting, of course) in Hamilton, in south-west Ontario, about half way between Toronto and Niagara Falls. It's an old steel city with an annoying one-way traffic system, I gather, but I like the look of the houses I have seen on www.mls.ca - and the prices are incredibly low. It certainly looks prettier and more interesting than Brampton, where we'll be in the short term. Not that that'd be difficult!

Right - so should we forget the idea? If so, why? Is there anything particularly wrong with the place?

Cheers.

Hamilton is a steel town and not has pretty has Bramton.
Also you have more of a choice of employment in Brampton, Mississauga, toronto and surounding area's
Brampton is one of the fastest growing cities in Ontario and the proximity to the country side and to the centre of Toronto is better.
House prices may look lower, but you are looking at homes that are old and need a lot of fixing etc.
We lived in Hamilton for a few years, still visit friends there.
The job situation is better, becouse you have a choice of Brampton, Mississauga and Toronto plus surounding area's.
We lived in Hamilton area for a few years - still visit friends there.
Have you been in Brampton? We can show you the area, if that would help.

SANDRAPAUL

Drove through it many times last week. Would not recommend anyone to stop as there is nothing there to write home about. Depends on whether cheap housing and work has more priority than your environment.

Kitchener is not nice either.

Went to London - very nice and it has a heart. Cambridge has no heart. Waterloo is OK.

Lots of prospects and lots of business going on in London.

http://www.city.london.on.ca

http://www.londontourism.ca

Paul

Rhodes

Thanks all. Does Hamilton have no redeeming features at all...?

Jagrow, we have been to Brampton a number of times. I didn't see anything pretty about it at all, apart from some of the lovely old Victorian houses. If you drive for quite a while, there are some nice bits of countryside, but most of the nearer bits seems to have been bought for building.

I also rather liked Kitchener on the few occasions we have been there, though that was mainly for the Farmers' Market, and we were on holiday paying for delicious cured sausages (including some delicious Polish things with chesese ) at a favourable exchange rate. But it also has a place like a town centre. Brampton doesn't seem to.

iaink

Location between TO and Niagara,

Not too far from a number of other towns, Waterloo/ Kitchener, Guelph, London

Access to Lake O

Relatively cheap property (for the reasons stated above).

I have heard the downtown is OK, you just have to get away from the industrial areas by the bay/QEW.

It just seems there are better places, thats all. What are you looking for in a place in particular?

Iain

oceanMDX

I agree with your comments and I'm very familiar with those areas. London is "prettier" than Kitchener to be sure. However, the Kitchener-Waterloo- Cambridge area is growing twice as fast as London. Consequently employment opportunities tend to be somewhat better.

Hamilton, Kitchener and Cambridge are very industrial centers with mostly blue-collar workers. Waterloo, and London have a lot of white-collar workers with their universities, high tech, insurance, and financial companies.

Cambridge doesn't have a "heart" because is was formed from the amalgamation of three smaller towns circa 1972.

oceanMDX

One advantage that Kitchener-Waterloo has over London is the Conestoga Parkway - a highway that basically goes north-south and lets you get from one part of the region to the other end in 15 minutes. London has no such highway in the city, and I found that very frustrating.

SANDRAPAUL

Dissagree. Highways are an eyesore to the heart of the town in general. We went south to north thru the city on a four lane road (2 lanes in either direction) in 20 minutes. The highway 401 is around 10 minutes from the centre running west east. Access to Toronto is difficult - 2 hours by car. I agree with the work aspect though.

Just my opinion... and the wifes.... and the kids

Paul

oceanMDX

Yes it does. The Niagara Escarpment runs right through the middle of Hamilton and there are a couple of nice waterfalls nearby as a consequence:

http://gowaterfalling.com/waterfalls/hamilton.shtml

The steel plants are located in the north-east section of the city along the shore of Lake Ontario. At the western part of Hamilton are the towns of Dundas and Ancaster - both are very nice (with many large and beautiful homes) and far from the steel plants.

mrs. liftman

My sister and her husband and three girls live in the Brights Grove area of Sarnia, Ontario and they love it. Hav'nt visited them myself, but the eldest girl suffers with ezema and food allergies, so I do'nt think they would take them to somewhere that was polluted!

The used to live in New Brunswick when they first emigrated some four+ years ago. My brother in law had been 'headhunted' from the U.K. All was well for a while then the company went bankrupt. They ended up with no income - the company cheques for his salary kept bouncing even although the bank said everything was O.K. As you can imagine with a wife and three small girls that was a real test for them. I do'nt think he ever got the money that was due to him. Ended up existing on handouts and the generousity of our parents who discovered what had happened when they made a visit. My sister was too upset to tell them how things had turned out. He was just a trophy employee, employed to get up the backs of the other companies in the same industry in the area. The owner of the company who brought him and the family over did'nt care what happened to them. He was O.K. in his big house, it did'nt affect him in the slightest!

They survived however, having gone with considerably less money than we will have to take with us when we go.

Brother in law then got a job in Ontario and Sarnia is where they chose to settle. They and the friends that they have who are imigrants say that you can move three or four times before you find the right home and job for that matter.

oceanMDX

You can drive from Kitchener to the Toronto International Airport in 50 minutes.

It took me 45 minutes to get from the southern part of London to its northern city limit. Zig-zagging through the downtown core of London was no fun when all I wanted to do was bypass the city to get to the north.

In Kitchener's case, I can drive from the 401 to St. Jacobs in 25 minutes.

iaink

The Sarnia mesothelioma thing is a rather nasty hangover from previous problems with the chemical / manufacturing industry that was heavy there. It used to be terrible apparantly. Nowadays it mainly affects the old workers there, and in some cases there family. Its very sad situation, and an eye opener about the importance of good workplace health and safety, but not really a reason to worry about moving there now, and not close geographically to Hamilton anyway.