andy_sheila

If you are looking to buy, i would suggest areas just outside of Halifax/Dartmouth. There is a morotorium on building new developments in those 2 areas and people are moving out towards Windsor and even as far as the Annapolis valley. We are in the "heart of the Valley" and i can make it to Halifax in 40/50 minutes, Dartmouth is 30/40. There are still bargains to be had here and it will be a sound investment as prices will continue to rise as long as the moritorium continues.
There are a few members on here who can advise you on the Dartmouth/Halifax area better than i can.
HTH

AnyaT

Are you buying or renting? I would recommend Halifax's south or west end to start if you are renting. You will be able to walk everywhere, thus cutting out the expense of a car, and there are some nice apartments once you filter out the student housing. Spring Garden Rd has the shopping and movie theatre, and Argyle, Brunswick, Hollis, etc streets have lots of bars and restaurants. You will also be close to the Halifax Farmer's Market in the Brewery on Hollis St., grocery stores and of course, Pete's Frootique on Dresden Row - one stop shopping for the British immigrant! If you plan to get a car, you could also consider the new apartment buildings near Bayers Lake/Clayton Park, as you will be able to make it downtown within 20 minutes and will be close to the ever-growing Bayer's Lake shopping complex. The apartments will also be larger and perhaps better maintained, if somewhat characterless.

andy_sheila

I would agree with everything except the cost of living in HRM, the OP stated he was on a "modest budget" and with decent apartments starting at $7/800 he would be better off living out of town.

Andrea&Mark

Hi everyone on the board, we are Andrea, Mark & Freyja from Gloucester and have just registered.
It is great to see threads obout Nova Scotia as we don't know anyone who has moved there or even considering moving there except us!.

We applied in June last year and have been to Alberta and BC so far. We are now considering Nova Scotia as there are more employment opportunities for Mark (He is in the Naval and Defence Industry) but we don't really know that much about the area.
We have a 2 1/2 year old daughter so are keen to move somewhere where there are good schools etc.

We are hoping to come over for a week in May or June this year for a little research trip and then a longer one next year.
What is the weather like at that time of year? we have read so many things about the harsh weather!

Any tips on where to look or avoid, any help or info would be greatfully received.
Thanks
Andrea

RJH

Many thanks AnyaT and andy_sheila.

I'm going to be renting at first until I get to know the area (Not been to NS before). I'd like to start off with a 1 or ideally 2 bedroom place.

One additional question I would like to ask is that I have a limited diet I need to follow (Gluten and Wheat free), can you recommend any places that could sell some of these products (Gluten free meals/bread, rice cakes, soya milk and butter etc) or have good / helpfull product labelling that I can work things out from. I eat veg and fish, potatoes, rice etc, it's just for when I like to try something different. Also would the local restaurants be able to cater for me ?.

In andy_sheila's repsonse they mentioned that out of town would be a little cheaper. Could any body recommend some of the better places to consider. I am wanting to live a close to the ammenities as possible as not looking to get a car straight a way and when the winter comes I don't want to get issolated (transport links will be very important).

Many thanks.

scrubbedexpat074

For the diet, Atlantic Superstore has various specialist stuff though I haven't looked too closely.

Transport-wise, as previously mentioned, I'd say you'd have to be around Spring Graden not to get isolated, living in Canada without a car is not something many people attempt in my experience. Living outside the city without car would be very tough.

dbd33

My daughter worked at Great Ocean, a health food store in Halifax. They had all of the foods listed and are at 6485 Quinpool Rd (902) 425-7400.

AnyaT

If you won't have a car you will have to live in penninsular Halifax. Anywhere outside of that either will not have public transport period, or it will be so limited it won't be worth taking. Even living across the harbour in Dartmouth will be a pain. Many bus routes run only once an hour to suburban areas so you would have to schedule your life around the bus system - I know, I did it for years! So I would still recommend looking for apartments in the south and west end of Halifax. As andy_sheila mentioned, apartments there can be expensive, but not as expensive as owning a car so try to think of it as saving money that way. The north end is cheaper but is considered the rougher part of the city. Try looking at www.southwest.ca for a preliminary idea of apartment costs and availability. (Note - there is a massive influx of students in September, so finding an apartment then can be tough).

For the gluten-free foods, Great Ocean is the only store that comes to mind immediately, though maybe some more health food stores have opened in the 2 years since I left. There are a few stalls in the Saturday Farmer's Market as well. I don't think you would have a huge problem with restaurants, though your average pub might not be able to adapt their meals. There are a couple vegetarian restaurants you might want to investigate, Satisfaction Feast is supposed to be excellent though I have never been.

RJH

Thanks Ziggy8080, dbd33 and AnyaT for your help. It's good to know about "Great Ocean" and "Atlantic Superstore " as my foods / diet are always at the forefront when I go somewhere new. I tried contacting the Celiac soiety in Canada to get a list of appropriate brands / foods, but not received anything back as yet. I'll try the NS branch to see if I can get any more information.

I think I'll probibly go for the city centre option (even though more expensive) as all things considered while I'm only renting it'll make things a little easier in the short term to settle in before I start thinking about more permanent things.

SivoxII

As a Scotsman (now resident in Canada since Dec 2002) .... i must visit Nova Scotia some day!

kayh

we too are looking to rent in Halifax so thanks all for the advice.

We have a 1 year old so would prefer to rent a house, or part of a house, somewhere with a garden so summer time will be easier. Any ideas where to start looking. found a few places but we are on a budget with us still having to pay our mortgage over in uk

thaks

kay

byreboy

Andrea and Mark

I have sent you a PM

thanks

byreboy

torticat

Kay

Listed below are the top 3 resources we used to find our last rented house. IMO the best best if you are on a budget is to rent direct and avoid those agency mark ups but then it is hit or miss as to wha your landlord is like.

http://www.homework-guide.com/Millennium/index.html
http://www.homework-guide.com/Tivert...yListings.html
http://www.herald.ns.ca/classifieds/rentals.html

PM me if you want further info.

scrubbedexpat074

I think the rental market isn't particularly cheap around Halifax (well compared to the UK it's a bargain, but not compared to local house prices...). When we arrived in September we rented a 4-bed house in Beechville on a UK style postage stamp plot, this was about 6km from the centre of the city and had plenty of local driveable amenities). We paid $1350pcm. We saw a smaller (3-bed) place on Eastern Shore at $800, but found it a bit close to the refineries for our liking!
Check out the ChronicleHerald online for rentals...

www.thechronicleherald.ca