Hi everyone, please could you give us some advice about the areas within Saskatoon to live. We have a young family looking for a nice area that the children are able to play e.g parks for bike rides, walks etc. Also we have to consider schools. Any advice would be much appreciated as it's hard looking at all these great properties but not knowing what the area's are like. Any help on a letting agancy when we first arrive as I persume we have to be in the country for a while before buying a property.
Thanks

I have some friends who emigrated in February. They rented a house for 3 months and bought an acreage during that time. They contacted a realtor at Remax in Regina and she found a house for them to rent. I met the husband on this board. I looked at the house for them before they came. In fact I looked at another house for them and told them it was a total dump and they rented the one from the realtor, and then they used her to buy their own house. I believe they were paying $1,000 a month for a 3 bedroom house with a garage. It was in a nice area and had hardwood floors and a finished basement with a fireplace.

The realtor who helped my friends recommended a realtor in Saskatoon called Henry Moulin. His cell no. is 306-221-9221. His office no. is 306-934-0909. His email is [email protected]. This is another cell no. 1-888-444-3679 . It looks like a tollfree but not sure if it works from England. It wont hurt to call him and see what he says.

You need a realtor. Saskatoon is like Regina. You might see a lovely old character house but if its in the wrong area . . . you will be very sorry - especially with children you do not want to be in an area where there are lots of natives living. We are not supposed to say that - its racist apparently but very true.

Also my friends told me that in England its OK to contact lots of different realtors. I don't think that is acceptable here. You will probably tick them all off if you ask 10 different realtors to look for houses to rent.

I hate to agree with lizwil98 but it IS very racist. Look at mls.ca and see the areas of Saskatoon. Avoid Area 4 like the plague. Although yes, your realtor can help, have a look at the online Phoenix paper for rentals too which should give you an idea of rates and what's on offer.

To begin with we stayed at the Colonial Inn on 8th Street but found that they also do 'executive rates' in an appartment block on Main Street. As they're never full (I'd guess) you shouldn't have a problem finding space but they have an internet site which I've lost as I keep deleting it. Quite acceptable for the six weeks stay we had with them.

We bought our house in Area 1 directly from the builders hence the wait so my only realtor experience comes from Larry 'Ginger' Gingell at Realty Executives...got the job done and Mark 'the brit' Caddy of Remax. Whereas I wouldn't use this chap necessarily, when we initially emailed him he was the only one who bothered to reply to the UK. He sent us details of houses and an info pack with detailed street map, school details etc to the UK. When we finally met, he seemed to be the only one who would call a spade a spade. We had a drive round town..he showed me the less pleasant parts of town incl the red light street (well its only a small city!) and where not to go. Noone else I spoke to would even admit there was a problem in area 4.

So just to keep you going here's a few links:-

www.mysask.com
www.saskhouses.com
http://www.foundlocally.com/Saskatoo...SaskDNeigh.htm
http://saskatoon-sk.mostreferred.ca/...onal_8203.html
www.markthebrit.ca
www.mls.ca

Hope this keeps you going for a while!

For sure what Smokey says is right. If you are looking with a realtor and he or she tries to tell you there are no problem area - he or she is not telling the truth and so I would not believe anything they say!

Of course, houses are not terribly expensive in Saskatchewan compared with other places. In Regina if you pay over $100,000 - its pretty hard to be near an "iffy" area. But you still have to be careful. I can only talk about Regina. My son and his girlfriend live in the Cathedral area, which is really nice. But if you go north of the tracks from there, which is not very far, or even some small bits nearer downtown - then you are in what us "racist" Reginans call "teepeetown". The houses are often really nice, but you would not want to live there, even with a security system! My last job was in that area and we had all kinds of trash around - they would try to beg money as you got out of your car. Some of them used to drink in the empty lot beside the office - these were usually so darn drunk they were not particularly a bother but not exactly pleasant to see out the office window - peeing in the bushes etc.

I know there are areas like this in Saskatoon.

If you are paying anything over $120,000 then I would think you would be pretty safe.

Unfortunately I've heard that Saskatoon is a bit of a boring dump. Are you tied to moving there, or is there somewhere else you could move?

Int.

Thanks for all your addresses and hints we will look into them, at the moment we're busy getting all the paper work for my husband's interview together and keeping our fingers crossed that things go to plan. From what you say I understand there is no time limit to how long you have to be living in Canada before buying a house. Will it be different if we require a small mortgae though?
Thanks again

I would't say we are tied to moving to Saskatoon but at the moment the job that my husband has applied for is a company based there and he doesn' want to be miles away as he will be driving for a living, the other thing I also need to consider is that I will be in the house on my own for up to 12days at a time with the children so I don't want to be out in the sticks but a area that I can meet people and be close to school so I can get involved with that as well. I have been to Canada and have elderley relatives who live in Regina and also Vancover island and friends in Ontario but traveled from Montrial to Vancover stayed in Calgaray then onto Jasper to a log Cabin then Toronto. I will say I don't really like cities I prefer the contry and space. At present we live in Blackpool but on the outskirts and this is what I'm looking for again so just far enough away from the the tourist scene but close enough for the super market and main shops.

I guess that it would be a good place then considering your husbands work. At leat you have relatives in Regina, so you'll know someone to visit!

I guess we all have to make our own fun, so maybe it will tuen out good for you! Good Luck,
Int

I've been to Saskatoon many times. I certainly can't agree that it is dumpy. It is boring? That depends on what it is that floats your boat - you may or may not find it in Saskatoon. However, as lizwil98 is saying, avoid any part of town that might be considered "teepee alley".

I don't think one person can decide or advise another person on where they might like to live. After all some people would be perfectly happy out miles from anywhere or anybody and someone else would go snaky in that situation.

I think you have to go where the job is. If you like it - fine. If you don't then at least you have a base in Canada and can move on from there. The most important thing is - a job!

Hello Int
Myself and my family are flying out to saskatoon on saturday, I presume he'll be driving for westcan as thats what i'll be doing. I went over a month or so ago and it seems like a nice place, not too many bad areas. Once we get settled and buy a pc I will keep intouch and could maybe be of help for you. I dont know about you but its pretty scary now the moves iminent and we've sold most of our stuff, good luck anyway
chris

Better bring warm clothes Chris!! Its terrible today - 11 degrees right now at 11 am and pouring rain. More like the middle of October than the end of August. Still, IT HAS TO BE better next year! Can't be this bad two years running.

OMG -11....WOW! It is only august!!! Who wants to live there!!!

That should be +11 C not -11 C.

undefinedundefined Hi there,
You are in luck, i have just come back from saskatoon after staying there for a month. My husband has been there since June driving for yanke transport.
I went out to see what it was like having read all sorts on the net.
I had a great time, I had only been their a day when a shop assistant gave me her phone number and invited me to her house for tea.
The people are very friendly and go out of their way to help you.
I found the shopping mall in down town, to be like a small version of the trafford center with hardly any queues. It was great.
I stayed close to the west although i didnt know when booking. I had heard not to go there. Yes there were a lot of natives, but nobody bothered us.
They are quite poor on this side of the river, so the houses are cheaper, but i would not live on this side of the river a lot of them looked like mobile homes if you know what i mean.
If you go to the east side you will find the houses more expensive but they are still very cheap compared to the uk. We bought a house in a place called Arbor Creek, I think it is roughly 10mins away from town.