Winterdiva

Hello everyone,
we are still researching to find somewhere that meets all (most ) of our requirements. Of course such places exist - but our budget won’t take us anywhere near there.

The area we are looking at is Kitchner. Are there any areas in Kitchner that compare to Oakville? Safe and good schools. Oakville is a top contender, BUT the daily commute is putting me off. Ideal ideal scenario is to drive to work, max 30mins. Oakville is 30mins to union station on GO but the connections add up - don’t they ? getting to the station, parking time, waiting for the train, connections from Union station ( to wherever I need to get to) and walk from there to office. I’m looking at 1hr 15mins at a minimum I guess. I can’t do that day in day out - i do it now here (UK) and I’m totally fed up.

Coming back to the point, please can anyone suggest lovely areas in Kitchner/Waterloo that can give me access to IT jobs within 30-40min drive?

Partially discharged

If the IT job is in Waterloo or Guelph most areas of Kitchener are feasible. Waterloo itself is probably more expensive than Kitchener for housing. To me, Waterloo or Guelph are probably the places I'd want to move to in the greater GTA if I had to live in that area.

dbd33

Guelph, northeast of the river, between Eramosa, Metcalfe and Elizabeth.

anders101

Don't know any beautiful areas in Kitchener, but have a wee look at the Elora/Fergus areas. Very scenic and easy commute to Guelph or KW.

DandNHill

dbd33

I'm sitting in a semi-rural house from which we commute to Guelph. It's nothing at all like Oakville around here. I'm guessing that the Oakville the OP is thinking of is the affluent treed suburbia pictured in, for example, American Beauty. The area of Guelph I nominated is like that, see Streetview, there are similar areas of Waterloo. If, otoh, the Oakville of the OP's dreams is one of those ghastly housing projects north of the QEW then much of Kitchener, as well as "the south end" of Guelph offers that. Be warned though, competition is fierce in K-W and area due to all those people being priced out of the GTA.

Winterdiva

scilly

I love the Kitchener/Waterloo area ......... and you're in the middle of the Mennonite and Amish communities.

St Jacobs is a lovely more rural area just north of the joint cities of Kitchener/Waterloo.

I've also seen some nice areas in Guelph.

I'm always amazed at the conjunction of century old brick and stone houses which I would love to own and the modern slap dash building!

Schools probably will not vary much in any of those areas ......... and all 3 have at last one university for future consideration.

Siouxie

Yes, there's some lovely areas around - also Elora isn't bad - I also quite like Stratford, for a 'town' situation though there's some lovely countryside around. My nephew lives in a lovely old house in Guelph.. he and his family love living there.

DandNHill

dbd33

Hence my suggestion above. Old houses, proper lawns, parks, walk to Loblaws, walk to the Farmer's market, walk across the river (probably using a bridge) and you're at the Wooly or one of numerous other bars and restaurants, walk to the GO station. The are behind the cathedral offers similar amenities though it would drive me mad to live in a street called Yorkshire or Edinburgh and to have to mispronounce the name in order to have things delivered.

JamesM

Guelph is a very nice town. I prefer it to Oakville but then I prefer Burlington and Hamilton to Oakville too.

Waterloo/Kitchener is a little more bohemiam but fine.

Winterdiva

Thanks all. Kitchner/Waterloo/Guelph area is now on the top of our list. Oakville is now off the list. Housing is too expensive and I'm not very happy with the commute.
Please can I ask for recommendations of specific areas to look at - so I can have a rough idea of what my money can get me in terms of housing.
Here are some areas I gathered from this forum:

1. Beechwood / Beechwood forest
2. St Jacobs
3. Guelph
4. Elora/Fergus

Coming from a big city like London, we don't want to live somewhere rural at this point. We prefer a small quiet town/suburb. One more question - what to expect from having Amish/Mennonite communities around? (As long as they are peace loving and tolerant, we have no probs). What extent of "bohemianism" to expect in Kitchener? Is it like Camden town in London(UK)?

We'd love to have a nice 4bed house on a big lot, in a peaceful neighbourhood, with good schools and within short commute to work. The last part I know is the most difficult to quantify, but anything upto 30 mins drive is fine. Shorter the better!

Thanks again for sharing your insights. I'm very grateful.

DandNHill

Partially discharged

Beechwood/Beechwood Forest as in the neighbourhood to the west of the U of W? Big homes, big lots, lots of trees, although with big lots and a squiggly road design comes sprawl and I'm pretty sure little to no public transit in the interior of that subdivision. I was at Waterloo in the 80's and Beechwood seemed quite settled/mature then. Lots of profs live there and their kids. You'll be driving to almost everything.

Guelph has been described by a poster who has lived there and still works there I think. Nice town although the new subdivisions on the south side are devoid of character now.