Poss move to Toronto/Ontario....
Mar 17th 2008, 10:55 pm
#1
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Joined: Mar 2007
Location: Arnhem, Netherlands
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Poss move to Toronto/Ontario....
Hi all
We currently live in Calgary but are considering a potential move to Toronto area with Hubby's job....
I know the city but not the 'burbs' around it and am wondering if anyone in the area could give me a couple of suggestions of where to start considering house prices....In an ideal world no more than an hours commute to downtown Toronto.....Does that rule out the Brampton area?? I have heard that is quite nice?
We have two very active little boys so recreation/good schools would, I guess, also be a consideration.....
Any thoughts/opinions gratefully recieved
Lisa
We currently live in Calgary but are considering a potential move to Toronto area with Hubby's job....
I know the city but not the 'burbs' around it and am wondering if anyone in the area could give me a couple of suggestions of where to start considering house prices....In an ideal world no more than an hours commute to downtown Toronto.....Does that rule out the Brampton area?? I have heard that is quite nice?
We have two very active little boys so recreation/good schools would, I guess, also be a consideration.....
Any thoughts/opinions gratefully recieved
Lisa
Mar 18th 2008, 1:13 am
#2
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Joined: Jul 2002
Location: Toronto, Ontario
Posts: 846
Re: Poss move to Toronto/Ontario....
An hour by car?
I live in the city and about 6 miles from my work and it can take me sometimes 40 minutes to get to work via tranist, 30 minutes on my bike in the nicer weather. If I had a car I could drive there in maybe 20 minutes if there was no traffic, but then I'd have to bankrupt myself to pay for parking.
I used to live in Newmarket which is about an hour north of the city in a car with light traffic. I took GO tranist and it took me 2 hours to get to work which included getting to the GO station, waiting say 10 minutes for the train, just over an hour on the train, then subway up to midtown/Bloor and another 10 minutes to walk to work.
I travel to Oakville once a week for work and take the GO train. The train takes about 30 minutes but it takes me 30 minutes to get to the GO station on the TTC so that amkes it about an hour plus say getting there 10 minutes early and 10 minute walk from the GO station to work.
I'd say Brampton was similar commute to Oakville, a lot depends on traffic, what times you plan on commuting etc. I have driven to Oakville a few times rather than take the GO train when I had borrowed a car and it took me around 45 minutes to drive there fairly early in the morning, took me 3 hours to drive back though because I hit the exact wrong time and solid traffic. So it can vary a lot.
Basically though you can live West, East or North.
If you live West it would be Oakville, Burlington, you could live in and around Hamilton and take the GO train and make the commute less than 2 hours.
North West is Brampton and then North you can go through Ricchmond Hill / Maple / Vaughan / Aurora and Newmarket. Barrie would be a longer commute.
Northwest you could go for Markham and there are a few other smaller places up that way that are a longer commute but cheaper.
East you have Pickering and Ajax and then Whitby and Oshawa.
There are lots of places in between and around those but they are the major commuter type places and on the GO train lines.
They are all really the same kind of place. The closer to the city you get the more urban but most of those towns are almost identical as far as typical suburban living goes. Lots of identical subdivisions with duplicate houses only differentiated by the colour of the doors and punctuated by strip malls and big box store clusters. If you have a reasonably large amount of money you can aim for the older parts of the towns which have much more character, but you pay for it. However in those places you get what you want which is low crime, lots of schools and more open spaces for kids to play and that kind of safe suburbia but you lack in anything cultural, just malls and fast food outlets and a multiplex cinema.
I'm not sure if I prefer that to the city which has the culture but way too many people and crime and all the stuff that comes with people. PErsonally I'd prefer to get outside the GTA and aim for somewhere that is not commutable where the property is cheaper and it is quiter but still has character as it hasn't been developed to hell by endless housing estates and strip malls.
I live in the city and about 6 miles from my work and it can take me sometimes 40 minutes to get to work via tranist, 30 minutes on my bike in the nicer weather. If I had a car I could drive there in maybe 20 minutes if there was no traffic, but then I'd have to bankrupt myself to pay for parking.
I used to live in Newmarket which is about an hour north of the city in a car with light traffic. I took GO tranist and it took me 2 hours to get to work which included getting to the GO station, waiting say 10 minutes for the train, just over an hour on the train, then subway up to midtown/Bloor and another 10 minutes to walk to work.
I travel to Oakville once a week for work and take the GO train. The train takes about 30 minutes but it takes me 30 minutes to get to the GO station on the TTC so that amkes it about an hour plus say getting there 10 minutes early and 10 minute walk from the GO station to work.
I'd say Brampton was similar commute to Oakville, a lot depends on traffic, what times you plan on commuting etc. I have driven to Oakville a few times rather than take the GO train when I had borrowed a car and it took me around 45 minutes to drive there fairly early in the morning, took me 3 hours to drive back though because I hit the exact wrong time and solid traffic. So it can vary a lot.
Basically though you can live West, East or North.
If you live West it would be Oakville, Burlington, you could live in and around Hamilton and take the GO train and make the commute less than 2 hours.
North West is Brampton and then North you can go through Ricchmond Hill / Maple / Vaughan / Aurora and Newmarket. Barrie would be a longer commute.
Northwest you could go for Markham and there are a few other smaller places up that way that are a longer commute but cheaper.
East you have Pickering and Ajax and then Whitby and Oshawa.
There are lots of places in between and around those but they are the major commuter type places and on the GO train lines.
They are all really the same kind of place. The closer to the city you get the more urban but most of those towns are almost identical as far as typical suburban living goes. Lots of identical subdivisions with duplicate houses only differentiated by the colour of the doors and punctuated by strip malls and big box store clusters. If you have a reasonably large amount of money you can aim for the older parts of the towns which have much more character, but you pay for it. However in those places you get what you want which is low crime, lots of schools and more open spaces for kids to play and that kind of safe suburbia but you lack in anything cultural, just malls and fast food outlets and a multiplex cinema.
I'm not sure if I prefer that to the city which has the culture but way too many people and crime and all the stuff that comes with people. PErsonally I'd prefer to get outside the GTA and aim for somewhere that is not commutable where the property is cheaper and it is quiter but still has character as it hasn't been developed to hell by endless housing estates and strip malls.
