Location Location Location
 

Hi,

I would like to start by saying, WOW what a great forum, this site has helped us immensely in preparing the big move.
I would just like to know if any of you have the time to give me your opinions on the following:-

What areas should I Consider moving to in and around Toronto?

I will be moving out with my partner and 2 bambinos (aged 5 and 8), I am more than happy to commute (by any available transport methods) for up to 1hr 30ish to get into the city center from any direction (where I hope to work)
Schools are obviously going to be important and we would like somewhere safe and quite and ideally in an area popular with families.
Local amenities are not to much of an issue, I am happy to have to take a short drive (15-25 min’s to find a store)

Any suggestions would be gratefully received we have been searching high and low and end going round in circles…

Also again a suspect a very random question, but I am applying under the FSW scheme (IS/IT Manager) and wondered if any one had an opinion on whether Toronto is the best place to try and obtain work in IT? Am I over looking any other areas?

Any input would be fantastic!!!

Thanks for taking the time to read this! :)

Simon

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The location issue has been done to death on past threads, it depends on:

- your tolerance for indentikit suburbia
- the degree of independence you want your children to have
- the amount of space you want to have

with a willingness to commute 90 minutes each way and a house budget of, say, $400,000, you could, just about, live in the city next to a subway station, in the country with room for a horse, in the bland belt in some ghastly new subdivision, or in an older suburb with a lot proportionate to the house. If you have more money you could live in Oakville like every other new immigrant from the UK. What would you prefer?

The GTA and the area west of it, down to Kitchener-Waterloo is the place with most computing jobs in Canada. Next best bet is probably Ottawa.

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Thanks for the quick response.

Sorry I had scanned older responses, I just wanted a fresh opinion on it.

Living in the country with room for a house sounds great!!
as does the old suburb!!

I guess we are fairly relaxed, and intend to try out a few areas before purchasing.

Again, thanks for your response

Re: Location Location Location
 

Hi and welcome to the forum.

If you do a search (top right) you'll find lots of info and opinions on areas around Toronto. Some people love the GTA, some loathe it, but it may give you some idea if you have a read of previous threads.

It would also be helpful if you can give people a rough idea of your budget if asking them to suggest an area, as much will depend on that.

Hope that helps, good luck. :)

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Then around Orangeville is 90 minutes to downtown (realistically, it's less than an hour on Sunday) by car. Any sort of rural living of course commits you to using cars for every trip everywhere.

Lots of choice there, depending on budget. Oakville and Missisauga (south of the QEW) to the west, places farther out than Scarborough to the east (I don't know the east as well as the west). Note that the only practical public transit in the suburbs runs along the lakeshore so, if you want your teenaged kids to ever be out of your hair, you either have to live in the city or as near to the lake as funds permit.

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Sorry,

Cant bieleve I missed that off, I guess the budget will be approx 525,000.

Thanks for your help

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The fact that you are willing to drive up to 1h30 to the city centre and up to 25 minutes to a store, doesn't rule out much in the GTA. That would cover basically from St. Catherines to Hamilton to Kitchener Waterloo to north of Orangeville to almost Barrie to almost Peterborough to Cobourg and everything within that area if downtown Toronto is the city centre. You'll spend a fortune of non-recoverable money on transit or car costs if you travel from the extremities.

Good luck on your search

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I kinda feel that the 1.5 hrs commute is what I do now from my town into Central London, which is also faily expensive..

so would be happy to carry on this trend, especailly if I could have a wonderful house in a nice area and really enjoy the bennifits of a chilled out life but with the City lights on the door step (well over an hour away)

Thanks so much for all your replies, its just such a mindfield!

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That's a good point. I live well north of Orangeville and drive to either Guelph or downtown most days (sometimes both). My commuter car was new in 2007 and now has 88,000 miles on it. At 37cents a kilometer, not an especially generous allowance, that's over fifty grand in two years and a bit years. It's a cost at great risk of increasing due to fluctuations in the price of oil. There's also the consideration that some of the roads are subject to weather, if you're going to commute reliably you need a suitable vehicle and then you need another one for the wife and probably more for the kids. Not cheap.

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For me personally, i'm looking forward to not having a commute anything like as my old London one. A chilled out life to me doesn't include 3 hours travel each day :)

I'm not sure if you've ever been to Toronto or even Canada but you may want to visit a couple of times first just to make yourself aware of the areas, cities, outskirts of citys, countryside, etc etc etc.

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These are all really great points. again thanks for taking the time to help me out.

Maybe your right, maybe I should try to rein it back to about an hours cummute.

We are coming out for a scout In Jan, and then again in March/April, we have only ever been as tourists up un till now, I intend to do alot of driving around checking out the areas etc.

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A fine time to test your willingness to commute by car.

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You coukd do Oakville on that - lots of trails, close enough to Toronto without being in it, close to the lake and Bronte provoncial park....my kids 81/2 & 7 love it here as do I!

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The problem though is that they'll grow up and, as teenagers, may find their dependence on "Mom's Taxi" awkward. The taxi driver may also find it a bother to have to drive them everywhere.

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As long as my girls are safe and happy, I don't mind................