A question about some small towns in Alberta.
 

I've been told that Cochrane, Chestermere and Airdrie are all small towns with easy access to the city, now does anyone know what an average rental house costs around these areas? For a 3 bed minimum? Tia

Re: A question about some small towns in Alberta.
 

I reckon you could be looking at $1,000 to $1,500 for a bssement suite or 2 bedroom condo in Cochrane, and probably from around the $2,200 (up to as much as you want to pay) for a house. :)

Re: A question about some small towns in Alberta.
 

i would hardly call Airdrie a small town..has a population of 45,000..i would almost say it is now part of the Calgary conurbation..a bit like St. Albert is to Edmonton.

Re: A question about some small towns in Alberta.
 

Well small in the sense of not living in the city and being near to commute.

Re: A question about some small towns in Alberta.
 

Seems like even though our wages would increase the cost of living is so high would it really give us more disposable income.. Thats the biggie

Re: A question about some small towns in Alberta.
 

Is it likely a more permanent move? A mortgage would be less than rent - but if you need the flexibility then rentals in this whole area are sought after and highly priced.

You could buy a house in Cochrane from the $280,000's up to several million. Something in the $300's to $400's would be more than respectable. I don't know your budget, and whether that sounds horrendous (;)) but a mortgage of some $1500 a month suddenly seems favourable.

Re: A question about some small towns in Alberta.
 

Mortgage might not be an immediate option might only be able to rent.. Seems like we wouldn't be better off to be honest once you try and find cost of living.

Re: A question about some small towns in Alberta.
 

Some friends have just bought in Chestermere, there seems to be a bit of a boom housing wise, with multiple bids on houses. Could be due to the 1% rental availability in and around Calgary.

Re: A question about some small towns in Alberta.
 

I did notice that I couldn't find many rentals.

Re: A question about some small towns in Alberta.
 

What do you consider "easy access to the city"?
What kind of travel time are you happy with?
Will you be commuting every day during the peak?
If commuting downtown, to where?

Just that getting into certain parts of the City might be easier from certain outlying small towns than others. e.g. I probably wouldn't want the faff of getting to the NE or SE of the City peak time commute wise if I lived in Cochrane but downtown would be doable as would anything to the west of the City.

You might find a little more rental inventory in the city suburbs and you could start off there for a few months maybe then check out the small towns for yourself? May be easier to get to work, city centre, etc at the beginning until you find your feet.

To be honest, you could pick a house type and find it in both the suburbs of Calgary and in the small towns - they are pretty homogenous these days!

P.S. Have you looked at rentfaster.ca - gives you an idea of the type of inventory available (you can do a search for the smaller towns you mentioned) but bear in mind they are going pretty fast right now.

Re: A question about some small towns in Alberta.
 

I lnow on local FB forum someone had posted about requiring a rental (house in Red Deer) for $1100. General (actually every) reply was that you'd find nothing below $1500. So it's not too much better a little further up north.

Obviously 'proper' small town Alberta (ie 5k and less people) are going to be a little cheaper to rent but then you have the whole travelling distance issue.

Re: A question about some small towns in Alberta.
 

Hi
Finding an affordable rental within easy commute of Calgary
is becoming more and more of a challenge for many people.
All the best

Re: A question about some small towns in Alberta.
 

Well I have no idea of the area and no idea where my man would find work, all I know is when he's qualified in around two years (ish) there seems to be more jobs available in AB than NS. I would work from home, if I could get business. I run a family home daycare, he works as a heavy duty mechanic. Its worrying how little rental opportunities that are available right now. We are just sourcing out the possible idea of maybe having to move as bother our salaries would double by moving his nay even triple.. And looking at the current job marker for him in NS there are 9 jobs for him and 9 pages of jobs in AB

Re: A question about some small towns in Alberta.
 

You could set yourself up anywhere in or around Calgary and get some business! Daycares charge anything from $600 a month per child upwards (usually upwards) round these parts - just check out kijiji for the competition!

Also, not sure if you are thinking of making the move now or later, but the rental thing seems pretty cyclical over here - when we arrived back in 2007 the rental market was pretty tight and we ended up paying $1500 a month for a 2 bed apartment up in Panorama Hills. Our mortgage these days is a lot less than that! Things eased up for a while and then they seemed to be building condos everywhere and inventory got better and prices slackened off a bit. Just saying if you are maybe waiting until your other half is qualified before moving things may be different on the rental front?

Re: A question about some small towns in Alberta.
 

Yeah true, who knows what can change in two years, I'm not even sure if ill like AB, I don't hate NS just can be hard financially here some days.