SHAW

Hi all

I'm finally off to Toronto on the 4th June for my first visit. Whilst being excited I'm not too sure how I'm going to get the most out of a weeks visit (work commitments means I can only do a 7 days).

Is there anyone who could give me any tips on what is the most important things to research. I want to try to find good areas with good schools as my children are 6 and 4 yr olds. Is it possible to visit schools (primary and secondary) whilst there? And does anyone know what's the best way of doing this.

Thanks for any help.
Leigh & family

Elaine B.

Hi there

couple of questions. Are you coming by yourself? Are you going to hire a care or take public transit? If it where me and I was coming by myself I'd get a map, get a weekly TTC pass:

http://www.toronto.ca/ttc/fares.htm

and just start exploring to get a feel for the city. I'm sure most schools wouldn't mind if you just called into the office or give them a call and asked them for a quick tour of the school.

http://www.tdsb.on.ca/

I'm sure you'll get a lot more helpful suggestions but I hope that helps for starters. Good luck with you visit and enjoy Toronto.

dbd33

Are you an urban, suburban or out-in-the-boonies sort of family?

SHAW

Hi

Thank you for the replies.

To answer your questions I'll be visiting on my own and hiring a car at the airport. I plan to spend a couple of days in Toronto and then move further out maybe towards Cambridge and London. Ideally we would like the security of living in or just outside a small / medium sized town but with a decent size plot for the children to play in (Something they don't have here) not sure if thats doable in these areas but will hopefully find out soon.

Thanks again

Leigh

Elaine B.

I'm not much help to you then, I don't drive and anything north of Bloor Street is a mystery to me even after 6 years in Toronto I'm sure dbd will be able to help though

dbd33

It took me early twenty years to venture north of Bloor.

I guess the key question for the OP is, where are you going work?

HellyWelly

Hi
We've just got back from Vancouver yesterday after doing exactly the same thing. I'm sure some of the things we did will be the same for yourself in Toronto. My advice would be to see a mortgage advisor. It's free of charge and they'll explain the mortgages for you, which is a lot different than UK. They'll give you a rough idea about how much you could afford. Then drive around and find a nice area - get a real good map - if the area looks nice it tends to be nice. Then find a realtor. Explain what you are doing and we were shown around 5 houses which also helped. The realtor is also a mine of information with best areas and schools etc. After we'd done this I phoned a couple of schools in the area. Explained again that we are on a scouting trip and the principals showed us around, one on the same day and the other the very next day.
Hope that helps
Helen

Talk to people on the plane. On both our outbound and inbound flights we talked to Canadians who were so helpful, even given a phone number off one. Just keep talking to people the more the merrier

Mikey B

Hi,

Ive been here for 3 years living mainly in the burbs although cus of friends living downtown I have spent an awful lot of time in the downtown core aswell as the outer areas with work and Toronto is a great city but like any city its not a great place to raise a family in my opinion, my canadian fiancee has 2 kids with her ex hubby and she wudnt dream of living anything south of the 407 and I have to agree, depending what u want from life thers options te west end, parts of mississauga are nice especially port credit, oakville where I lived is very nice as is Burlington and Milton, all have everythign u need and arent too from from TO. Ive been to the tri cities area (cam/waterloo/kitch) and although they are nice they are too far out the way, to me Canada is about the great north, trails, hiking, biking, camping, canoeing, boating, sledding and skiing in the winter, that to me is Canada and most of that is north of TO in the georgian bay, muskoka, haliburton, kawartha areas so Id be tempted to stay more east that the tri cities area, if u fancy something a bit quieter than the cities I mentioned above that are in effect a quiet extention of TO then you can look at Newmarket and Barrie both really nice towns of about 120,000 ppl with everything u need and still not far from TO if u want a lively night out or a concert but also a lot closer to what Canada has to offer in the great outdoors.

As for schools Id look for a Montessori, the fiancee's kids go to one in nobleton and its way better than traditional canadian schools, they teach more to the level of each kid rather than blanket teaching everyone at a basic level so ur kid gets pushed further. They are all over the place.

As for the mortgage advisor if u see one be careful, rates over here are high and its a haggle culture, I was lucky in my local british pub had the TD ontario manager as a local so I got to know him thru the owner and he gave me a rate of 4.5% when advertised rates were 7-8, plus I have friends who haggled as low as 4.25, u basically need to bear this in mind and if necessary play a cple of banks against each other. This is a pain and unfortunately banks are one of the things canada loses to on a check list against the UK, u will grow to hate canadian banks trust me.

Good luck whatever u decide.

achanginglife

Live near Calgary so can't help you with specific advice on Toronto area, but here's a few tips to help get your research plan before you go.

1. Do some brainstorming and write down in an ideal situation, what info. you would like to have by the time you get back. Or think of what you would want to know if you were moving somewhere in the UK. What decisions do you want to have made, what do you need to know to make them? What is important to you that you know?
2. Turn these into positive goals, by writing them as if you have achieved them this helps to focus you on the outcome you want. You might even have some goals for before you go.
e.g. I have contacted schools to arrange visits before I leave.
eg. I have visited 3 schools by 3 days into trip and have the info to decide the best one for my kids.

2. Priortise your list so the most important areas are sorted first.

3. Sort out as much as you can before you arrive, its easier when you have a phone and the internet to make contact. Make appointments. To best use your time. Realtors are a great idea, they have lots of area info.

4. Create a plannner with what you are doing on each day, and what you want to have found out.

5. Make sure you add in some leisure time to enjoy it.

Hope it goes well, Louise

bunnett

Hi

My family (hubby and two girls aged 9 and 4) moved to Cambridge last August and love it here. It is a fairly big place but not too big that you can't meet anyone or get anywhere.

Last June my hubby and myself came over for a research trip and went to places like Grimsby, Hamilton, Brampton, Guelf etc and none of them matched up to Cambridge. Once we decided on Cambridge my huband went through the local telephone book got an interview and got the job for when we arrived for good in the August - he is a kitchen installer.

Within 1 month I was working part time at the local YMCA and enjoy that. The girls have settled in really well and we have all met loads and loads of friends. Hubby is in a local football club.

Everyone is different in what they are looking for and financial situations are also very different, don't be blinded by the cost of things here, we think that it is roughly the same as the UK, some cheaper, some more expensive but in general it all works out the same. Just make sure you get yourself a GPS.

If you want to send me a private e-mail feel free.

Sharon

clynnog

For someone who apparently edited their posting you may want to take a lesson in how to avoid run on sentences....That first paragraph was basically 19 lines without any periods (full stop). Despite that, I gather you are happy on the fringe of YYZ and anything south of the 407 gives you palpitations.