when we finally get approved we are thinking about living in whitby or oshawa.......

WHAT ARE THESE PLACES LIKE???

i have 2 small children...what are the schools lile?

what is the school system?

what are house prices like ??

please help

Hi Pblaney i got your email, read that first before this post. Where in lancs do you live. We are in Burnley. I.m not sure though where you are going, don't know where oshawa-whitby are. So can't help you with your questions. We have a 3 year old boy, going to halifax NS. So you started the process the same time, as i said in email we look all the time at file and get fed up with it saying"IN PROCESS" so we try not to look too often now. send email or pm and let me no how your getting on.

Hi Pblaney, am i right in saying that oshawa-whitby are in Ontario? If so there are many on this forum that i'm sure will give you lots of information about that area.

Oshawa - Whitby is on the East side of the GTA, sometimes refered to as Durham region. Property prices are about normal for GTA, and get cheaper as you head further East, check out the mls listings for current prices www.mls.ca

Stats canada has a good site that lists stats including average income and housing costs by community as well, although stats are for 2001, so house prices have moved on some. http://www12.statcan.ca/english/prof...earchForm1.cfm

That area is a little built up for my taste, but there are good links to Toronto and some nice bits if you look around hard enough, plus there are lot of employers around. You dont have to go too far north or East to get out of the Urban bit though. Dont know about the schools in that area specifically, Schools in this part of canada are run by either the public or seperate school board, seperate basically means catholic so there is more of a religous side, school masses etc, and one or both parents have to be catholic to send your kids there (I think you make a declaration on your property tax form). Around here the seperate schools have a better academic reputation, dont know about Oshawa. There are also french immersion schools run by some boards that teach many subjects in french in order to improve langauge ability. There are also some private schools around.

Iain

on a recent visit.drove around the ajax to oshawa area and found it a bit industrial and too cramped.lots of building new housing estates.I preffered the kingston -brockville areas.then the london -st. thomas area.

hi there

my family lives in the area.. one is is ajax and one is in whitby.. I lived in whitby for about 18 months.. schools were being built to accomo all the new people in the area.. currently I think whitby is at 75,000 people..

close to toronto (about 40 minutes to downtown, at off times.. )

hard for me to give you advice really.. it had everything I needed but I dont have kids.. in the area my sister was at there was tons of kids on the street so lots of playmates?

I dont know what your motive is for moving there.. work perhaps? I prefer the east end of toronto rather then the west.. but everyone is different..

good luck

We did have a trip on the train through these places. As it terminated in Oshawa we had a look round but wasn't impressed with what we saw. Fairly industrial if I remember.
Isn't Oshawa where they have a BIG car plant???Like the main Ford plant in Canada or did I just dream that one??

We live in Ajax, it is a place called Pickering Village and is by the Ajax/Pickering boundary. The part we live in is really nice and regarded as a desirable area to live, there has been a lot of building in the last couple of years but it is slightly more expensive than some of the other areas in Ajax.

As you move further East the properties become less expensive. There are some industrial areas but it is the same in the west of Toronto.

Whitby is slightly cheaper. We looked at some very nice houses there too and I have relatives living there. The only thing that put me off was the slightly longer commute downtown as I work 12-hour shifts. There has been a lot of building to the north of Whitby in places such as Brooklin which have a village atmosphere. Some of the houses by the lake are lovely, some of my colleagues live there and there are bike paths and nature trails, it is also near the GO station so you can get the train downtown - we would have lived there but the houses for sale at the time weren't as big as we wanted.

Oshawa seems to be regarded as the place to avoid. It is the administrative centre for the region. I know some people in south Oshawa and there is quite a drug and crime problem so they are all wanting to move out. North Oshawa is ok, some nice properties, very cheap, but the people are regarded as "rednecks".

Schools vary from place to place, just as in England - they are about a year behind over here in maths and english as they don't start full-time school until they are older.

We rented a house for the first 6 months then spent our time off driving around different areas, and on a weekend we went to lots of open houses - where you just walk in and look around without an appointment. Eventually we narrowed it down to a couple of areas we would like to live - but we were on a very tight deadline and nearly ended up being homeless !!!!!

Transport links are pretty good. I take the GO train to work and it is very efficient, not expensive and there is free parking at the station. Sometimes I get a lift if any of the people living near me are on the same shift, but the traffic can be a nightmare on the 401 going downtown and there is some of the worst driving I have ever seen - no wonder there are numerous accidents.

Where you live will depend on where you work and what sort of commute you are prepared to take. Now I have got used to it I just close my eyes for 40 minutes and it is a pretty comfortable ride !!!!

Gail

There are actually two large GM plants, which have recently been rated the highest quality and most productive Union plants in N America IIRC. One makes pickups and vans, the other cars. GM Canada also has its headquaters in a new building between the lake and the 401. Oshawa is car city canada, and there are also many automotive suppliers located nearby. If you can get a CAW (unionised) job then the pay and benefits are very good, but they are like "hens teeth" if you know what I mean.

Iain

I know Oshawa and Whitby and both have sprawling suburban areas that are pretty much the same. But there are big differences

Oshawa is a bit dirty in the downtown area, there is a large GM (car) plant on the lake, there is an industrial and grimy feel to the city.

Whitby, although not that far from Oshawa, has a different feel; a nice downtown area (quaint North American small town/villiage look), it is closer to Toronto than Oshawa.

Both border the lake on their south limits, both have rural areas to the north.

Hope this helps.

I lived in Oshawa for awhile.
I must say there is a big difference between the south side vs the north end. While the south side is ugly, crammed, and poverty stricken, the north end is moden, nice, clean - I'd say the typical north American suburb. Also, the north end is still being built, so there are new schools opening, as well as new shopping centers. You're close to everything: wal mart, zellers, home outfitters, many many supermarkets - it's all there. Plus, it's closer to the country side and it's a beautiful drive. I liked Oshawa and I'd move there.
Whitby is very nice as well, with a much better looking downtown area and a marina (something that ia lacking in the 'Shwa). Whitby is also spreading to the north these days. Check out the tribute web site, as they have several projects in the area.
http://www.tributehomes.com/
IMO, Durham region is a good place to live, esp if you have a family.
And another tip: check out Courtice, east of Oshawa. It's a growing community, all young family, carefully planned and beautifully built.