St. Catharines?
 

Just wondering if anyone lives in St. C's, and if so, what do you think?

We've been in Nova Scotia now for 2 years, and are starting to out-grow the province a bit.

My better-halves Father is from St. C's originally and has always spoken very highly of it. They too are looking to retire out of N.S and are thinking of moving back there.

Of course, he hasn't lived there for 50 years, and I am sure things have moved on a bit since then. So does anyone have some up-to-date opinions?

In terms of jobs, I run a business that can operate from any location, so the employment situation isn't a factor for us as we'll continue what we are already doing. We just like the idea of being somewhere a bit different, close to Toronto and also with options to get to the States easily if we want to....

Thanks guys!
J.

Re: St. Catharines?
 

My OH fell in love with the area this past summer, he would move tomorrow! We are going for another looksee in the Spring and we'll do a Fall/winter trip too.

EVERYONE we speak to about the area has nothing but good to say. I am slowly coming to terms with leaving my mountains behind:blink::rofl:

Re: St. Catharines?
 

Hiya

How you doing?

Yes I agree loved the surrounding areas too, I would defo live there :thumbup:. We stayed in Niagara last month and ventured out. I was surprised to notice how close the towns/cities were to each other. We then took internal flight to Manitoba to see friends looked around Winnipeg, which I liked too. But preferred Niagara, rather beautiful and would go to say was better than the mountains!!! For us at this moment of time it's where we can find a job and like yourselves go from there.

Wages seem a lot lower in the electrical field but I think property is cheaper maybe??????? Again I don't know the true ins and outs off living there. Maybe someone else could comment?

Angela

Re: St. Catharines?
 

Hi
My wife and I intend to move out to the Niagara region before christmas and we have been looking in the past at living in Virgil,Port Dalhousie,or Niagara on the Lake.We are at retiring age and would like to move somewhere more rural than where my son lives in Burlington(chaos at commuting times)We have visited the area many times and there is always something going on with it being a tourist area.Also good for over the border shopping.These places don,t have all the big stores the larger cities have but I think it is worth the sacrifice to live in a more rural environment.Plus the local wine is good.Please give your thoughts on any of the areas mentioned as we need your moral support.Thank Ron& Mary:thumbsup:

Re: St. Catharines?
 

Hi

That was my favorite area, Niagara-on-the-lake, reminded me a little of the UK with a touch of Canada thrown in. I just loved the mixture of houses, not all cookie cut, although I'm sure there're some of them around. I loved the fact that like you say things happening around and according to a local there's very little crime, although being a regimented I would like lock my doors. Again you're not far from the falls (stunning) and the U.S boarder, which we slightly explored and didn't like the Buffalo area, a really let down compared to the Canadian side. Another local who we spoke to lived in Virgil and said it was I think 5-10 mins down the road and cheaper to buy a house. I liked the fact we could take a one-way flight to the U.K instead of two flights from Winnipeg (a really chore and expense). I do believe they got many weeks of very hot weather this year.

I do think this is a defo area to retire to, go for it! I'm jealous now. As for work for us I'm just not sure if this would be the right move to start of with.

Do keep in touch and let us know how u get on.

Angela

Re: St. Catharines?
 

Angela the houses are cheaper - you get more for your money in most of Ontario (excluding Toronto?) than a hell of a lot of the more livable areas of Alberta. There are more villagey type places in the Southern Ontario area we visited (upto Pentanguishene/Midland) than there is in the whole of central Alberta.

Now we have a bit of a quandary ourselves, locally there was a house auction yesterday (small acreage) that we were interested enough in to visit the bank and line up a load of money. Auction fever hit and the property went at more than the assessed value, which was more than we would have been comfortable with anyway. So anyway the whole thing has got us thinking. Our dream when we moved was to have a campground - the one we really like the look of has just come up for sale, we're going to take a look today, but we want to move out of Province in a few years, so now we have lots to decide...

Re: St. Catharines?
 

Hi Nice to hear from you again. been a while!

I understand, wanting the same thing and having that in Alberta is not realistic, it's possible in Manitoba. We have been asking friends of friends to sub-divide their land on outskirts of Winnipeg perimeter, but again is a lengthy process. It can be quite tricky to find the land that isn't too out reached of everything. Kinda want the best of two worlds really. gain need to weigh up income, housing and locality. If I could get it all or near abouts I would jump towards the Niagara area for sure. Would love to visit again.

Maybe for now go for something you know and work on something else for later, keep you busy!

Angela