Suburbia made mine unhappy. In Toronto they were able to propel themselves to school, to their jobs, to their sports clubs, to dates and to bars without having to take their mother. That allowed them to grow up.

My kids won't be tied to my apron strings - not how they'll be raised, not how I was raised. Anyway, may not be here forever..........variety is the spice of life......

I guess my point is that suburbs work for small children but work less well for older ones, it's something to consider if setting up a long term home.

Where in TO were your kids raised?

They flitted between their mother's house in the suburbs (between Port Credit and Clarkson) and mine, first by the St Lawrence Market, then in Leslieville, then in the Beach. They went to school at Jarvis and Carlton, by the Maple Leaf Gardens, so were always with me if there was swimming (6:00am downtown) or ice hockey (11:00pm or 5:00am at Moss Park). One became a lifeguard working all over the city, one a serious sailor spending as many nights on the boat, moored just by the Skydome, as at either house. As they aged they spent more time at my house, once they took up driving and stoning having the 24hr TTC service was a blessing.

I am really glad I have had so many responses,

It has really helped me evaluate our plans,

Your right, I knidda want to change our standard of living, enjoy my surroundings, I guess I have had it drilled into me for to long that a 1.5 hour commute into town is the norm...

I think I am going to try and re-evaluate, and maybe try for a 45 min-1hr max commute.

I take on board the kchild comments and I think they are all very valid, we come froma non big city background, and I guess will cross the tennage years bridge when we get to it!!

Thanks though all your comments are really really helpful....

Depending on the day of the week, the phase of the moon, and the color of your socks, 1 1/2 hours could get you from St Catharine's to the downtown core of TO, or it could get you from Port Credit to the downtown core

We lived in a very nice rented condo apartment on Marine Parade Drive, which is the west end of Toronto, technically classified as Etobicoke. My fiance works downtown so I'd drive her up to the Old Mill subway station, took about 15 - 20 mins depending on traffic, and she'd then travel down to St George and then get the subway down to Queens Park. I think total door to door was probably about an hour.

We moved to Oakville in December last year and she now takes the Go train from Bronte Go station. It takes about 10 mins to get to the station and, depending on the train she catches it's usually 40 - 60 mins, and then another 10 on the subway or 30 if she walks up to College street from Union station.

We did wonder at first how the commute was going to be but it's fine. I have to say I much prefer the GO setup to South Eastern's service from High Brooms to Charring Cross. They seem to have got the commuter train thing right here. Free parking (try that in the UK!), decent fair prices, big double-decker trains and a fast and efficient service. I've taken the go both in and out of Toronto, in rush hour and after a hockey/baseball game and I've never once had to stand, I always get a seat. I used to frequently travel to/from London on the Hastings line and the majority of the time I had to stand for the entire journey, even one trip when leaving london on a tuesday evening at 8:30 I had to stand.

Anyway, the point being here, if you're happy to commute then you can look outside the city, as we did and get a potential better quality of life, moreso if you're near a GO route.

I pass over the QEW every morning on the way to the station and it's always terribly busy. I also drive downtown from Oakville a fair bit. Once a week at around 5pm on a Thursday evening and it can take anywhere from 35 to 65 mins. That's without any accidents involved. Seems to bunch up between third line and ford drive, opens up a bit, gets slow around mississauga rd to huruntario, then it's usually ok until you hit the Gardiner, at which point it's slow all the way in (I get off at lakeshore and take that up to the Jameson area).
I also travel in once a while at around 11:30 am and it still fairly busy, but at least when you get to the Gardiner there aren't massive tailbacks, so it's usually a 35 min trip.

Coming back, I usually get off at Ford drive, as the QEW from Ford Drive to, well usually past Burloak is jammed.

We chose Oakville as we wanted out of the city, and we also wanted a decent sized house that was in our price range. We were looking to a budget of about $350,000. There were houses in that price range in the area we lived in, but they were not all that big, as they tended to be older houses. When you've got a king size bed you need a lot of room.
We looked outside the downtown area and found places that were more what we were looking for. Decent sized bedrooms, garage, parking on the driveway, a back yard, all the things you'd want.

What you really need to know is where you'll be working, tricky that.

Cool, I would have liked to have lived in the Beaches, but too far for OH job and way too expensive.......have friends ho live there, just had their house valued at $1.8 million....

Wow, house in Oakville for $350k??? where????

If its Toronto and 'the greater Toronto area' (GTA) in the beginning depending on where you're going to work, I would suggest looking at renting for 12-months as a first step before buying

Second option is seeing that Toronto is about 50km wide & 30km deep at the longest point that you'd want for you & your family's sake to in the beginning have easy access to public transit (suggestion)

Many folks may live at one end of the metroplois and work at the other end. Some live beyond the east/west boundaries in Oshawa & Oakville to the North in Aurora or Newmarket & commute in to work.

These folks can drive in 30 - 60 minutes or commute on the 'GO-Train' shuttle (like intercity)

In Toronto proper the bus & subway (underground) is fairly good and unique. Its east/west run time all 35-40km is about one hour, connecting to buses. Rush hour connections are fairly good also

Its a big city that runs on forever & ever - personal choice is linked to where you will work to start

Hope this help & good luck

I liked living in the Beach but it was just a step in my progression through women each of whom needed more outdoor space; from downtown to Leslieville so as to have a barbecue, from there to the Beach so as to have room for a trampoline, from there to nowhere-really so as to have room for horses. I suppose if there's another domestic upheaval I'll be looking to buy the Lion Safari.

says 0 properties?? seems about right

Just off Heritage Way. So it's within a "box" of Bronte Rd to the west, Upper Middle to the North, QEW to the South and Third Line to the east.

I think it's referred to as Glen Abbey, or Glen Abbey West.

It's 3 bedroom, 1 full bathroom, 3 powder rooms, large deck, small garden, driveway for 2 cars, single car garage, fully finished basement. It's what I'd call in the UK a terraced/row house (not sure if townhouse would be a more accurate description, a block of five, we're in the middle. Backs onto woodland.

Had many women DBD33?