Hi All!

My husband is currently being recruited by a company in Ottawa. We are living in the UK at present but have previously lived in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick.

We would like to make an informed decision about a move to Ottawa, so would really like to hear from anyone who has lived/or is living there please.

Would like to know about:
*Schools
*Neighbourhoods - nice family neighbourhoods
*Realtors
*Weather
*Sports clubs etc
*Bugs
*Pros/cons
*helpful websites

Look forward to hearing from you!
Thankyou!

We are a family of 5 with 3 children under the age of 10 years.

We moved from Europe to Ottawa and have lived here for many years.
We wanted to live in a place with all the conveniences of a city but not as busy as Toronto.
Ottawa is not the most exciting place to live - ask anyone under 55, but there are plenty of nice neighborhoods and a couple of bad ones too. A realtor will tell you the good and bad ones.
The weather can get extremely cold in the winter, with a surprising amount of snow and you're basically looking at 5 months of solid white winter. Spring and autumn seasons are short and summer is nice but can get very uncomfortable with the humidity sometimes.
Can't help you with anything related to kids though, as we have none.

We've been here approaching three years and like it.

No kids, so can't really comment on that side of things, but this appears to be a great place to raise a family.

If you're coming from UK where schools seem to be an obsession among our friends with families, you'll probably notice that a lot of people here just send their kid to the local school. Ottawa has four school boards: English public, French public, English catholic, French catholic.

Unless you or your kids have had a French education already, they'd go to English school. Some of these schools are immersion, where a proportion of the lessons are in French. If you want to stay in Ottawa very long-term, I'd recommend you ensure your kids get a decent grounding in French. Their job opportunities will be better in the long-run.

Neighbourhoods - depends on your budget. Glebe, Westboro, Holland/Wellington, New Edinburgh, Rockliffe Park all nice neighbourhoods, but will cost you. If you have a large family, you will presumably need a decent-sized house.

In my area, the Glebe, a 4-bed house will set you back upward of $600K. Smaller places in the $400-$500K range. The other neighbourhoods listed will probably be in a similar range, more in Rockcliffe maybe a bit less around Holland/Wellington.

You'd get a lot more for your money in other areas - Orleans, Kanata, you could get a 4-bed family home for $300-$400K, but a cookie-cutter environment and long commute downtown on the crowded 417 highway.

On the Quebec side (Gatineau, Hull, Aylmer), places might even be a bit less than that for a similar home. Your kids would go to school in French there, unless you paid for them to go private. Taxes are higher, and there also seems to be a chronic shortage of GPs. Aylmer seems like a nice area on that side of the river and a mixed French/English speaking community if you like that. Think is more expensive that some other areas though.

Realtors - I used a guy called Gary Shane at Remax who was a recommendation from my new boss when I arrived. He did a good job, although if you're buying a place for the first time in Canada you'll be pleasantly surprised by how helpful most realtors are. Especially as you personally are not paying them (comes from sellers). He took us round for a few days, scouting out different areas which we found very helpful for finding our feet and understanding the city.

Weather - extreme. Very cold winters (-20 to -30 sometimes), very hot and humid summers (up to +35, feels like more with humidity). Starts snowing in late October, sits usually from December and stays until March. Forget spring, it ain't happening. Nicest months are probably May and September. Get used to shovelling snow from your drive/sidewalk, its a lot of work. Humid summers are an unexpected trial sometimes - I find it too hot to garden during the day in July and August. But the evenings stay really nice and warm so you can sit out until late and BBQ.

Weather doesn't stop you from doing too much, but think about how you set up your life to cope with it. You can just go from a heated house to a heated car in an indoor garage to an indoor garage at work to a heated office and then home again. No snow boots or parkas required. I get cabin fever very badly by March, and people seem to get grouchy by end of winter.

Bugs? Meh. They are around, black fly and mosquitos, but I wouldn't see that as huge deal compared to moving countries! I got bitten a lot in the first year and swelled up a lot from it, but seem to have developed some kind of immunity over time. Mozzies are out from June I think, Black fly you don't really see in town, but beware by the lakes. They bite, but only still around for a month or two.

Pros - affordable, clean, plenty to do, access to nature, proximity to Quebec/US, good cultural stuff, bilingual city, decent transit by bus (some may disagree), amazing cycle paths which I use to commute to work, skating, skiiing if you do that

Cons - can be a bit dull, extreme weather, people maybe less open and friendly than elsewhere in Canada, Montrealers and Torontonians will sneer at your city...

PDarwin thankyou for your comments!

Lemonfish - lots of great info thankyou - will now look into it all before making a decision.

Hi, put some links on here, maybe it helps. Good luck with your decision

Schools: http://relocatecanada.com/ottawa/educate.html

*Neighbourhoods - nice family neighbourhoods:
http://www.cmhc-schl.gc.ca/en/co/buho/sune/sune_005.cfm

The Glebe and Westboro are quite expensive neighbourhoods,
Hunt Club Park, Mooneys Bay, Barrhaven are really nice neighbourhoods, too and great for kids. (parks, playgrounds,wading pools) and cheaper to buy.

*Realtors : we are renting so cannot contribute to that

*Weather: as the others said, hot and humid in summer and cold and snowy in winter but if you like the seasons and don’t mind the cold it is really nice and lots to do in winter too, like skating on Rideau Canal. I haven’t been through a winter here yet but lived in places with similar conditions and if you like the snow and get good clothes then it is not that bad.

*Sports clubs etc
http://ottawastart.com/sports.php ,
http://www.ottawa.ca/residents/yzj/r.../index_en.html

*Bugs: they are here but don’t know a place where you’ll be bugfree, unfortunatelly

*Pros/cons: nice family town, lots to do, great areas around like Gatinaeu Park and Sandbanks. But very hot in summer and very cold in winter and it seems a bit hard to get in touch with Canadians, although they are very friendly and nice but seem bit reserved. But there are really nice Brits living in and around Ottawa.


*helpful websites
http://www.ottawa.ca/ ,
http://danigirl.ca/blog/2008/05/21/4...ily-fun-ideas/,
http://ottawastart.com/kids.php ,
http://www.101kidstravel.com/index.c...&region=ottawa

I say lemonfish has nailed it there. My wife and inlaws are from Ottawa and live in Huntclub. Thats where we're planing to move to to begin with. I would say its not the liveliest city but it is very clean and open. Ive been there many many times and have not had any bad experiences.

Hi jussie18

You have asked the question we were thinking of posting. We are planning on starting in Ottawa as this is where there are more job opportunities for me.

The "sneer" comment from Lemonfish made me laugh as we have just been speaking to my cousin's friend who lives in Toronto and he did sneer at me for talking about moving to Ottawa

Have you done a recce trip yet?

JB

Nina - thanks for all that info - really helpful! Do you have kids too?


Londonottawa - comment much appreciated and highlights what a lot of people seem to be saying! Thanks!


JB - how exciting! When do you think you will go? What line of work are you in? We have previously lived in NS and NB so were not planning a recce trip, however my husband will probably go first to start work and then me and kids will follow a couple of months after. No job offer quite yet, but probably soon.
Good Luck with your job hunt!

yes we have Emily 2 years and 5 month old and Sophie 7 month old. That's why I cannot really recommend any school but know every playground, wading pool, experimental farm and other activity kids like lol.
Good luck with everything

The info above has echoed much of what I'd say.
I'd consider where to live depending where you work (duh!!!) The reason being is that the 417 running through the centre of Ottawa can be a nightmare during rush hour if you live Westend but work Eastend or vice versa.
I work in Kanata in the Westend, but live in Manotick in the South, near Barrhaven. So I use the 416 which, save for the last 2 km's in the morning, is a breeze.
We rented for a year before deciding where to settle in - I'd recommend that, it means you really get to know the areas before settling on one.
WRT Snow, and bugs - what they said. Every comment above is bang on. You end up with two wardrobes, one for winter, one for summer. And you get bug spray! Believe me - mozzies find me irrisitable but I can still get out to mow the lawns, walk etc.
We are close to Montreal (two hours to YUL) five hours to downtown Toronto. And three hours to Lake Placid in NY state which is gorgeous.

Hi Jussie....we are probably going to get out to Ottawa in Oct, the latest will be mid-April. I am a hardware engineer in the defence industry. We are going on a recce trip in Sept.

All.....any recommendations on ottawa recce trip? we have an estate agent lined up to show us some properties and I intend on looking at areas based on companies locations (i do 130 miles commute at moment and dont want to do that again). Thanks

Will you hire a car? Would recommend that and just drive round and look at the neighbourhoods. Don't know if you have kids but then you might want to look as well if there are parks and schools near. Look how the public transport is established where you think of living, as some areas are quite good to go on the bus or OC Train, depending on where you'll be working.
Good luck

Hi Everyone!

just to update you..... hubby has got a job in Ottawa so we are on our way. He arrives 17 Sept and myself and kids arrive 28 Oct!!!!
Any further info would be much appreciated or even a meet up.....so we know someone!!!!

Thanks again xx

Congratulation

If you have any questions just ask. We've only been here for 4 months but I'll try and help.
I'll pm you my landline number, so when you arrive give me a ring and we can meet up...
Good luck with the move

Congratulations Jussie18.

We have our recce trip coming up mid-Sept and then we (me + wife) are landing for real on 29th Oct....very excited but a little nervous .

Good Luck