Anyone from Oakville, Ontario?

[black_2.5RS]

There's a very high probability i'll be moving to Toronto for work for few years. I've talked to a few people at work and they all seem to recommend living in Oakville. Apparently, it's got good schools, reasonably close to Toronto and such. We need a house, so living in Toronto is not going to work (kids need space to roam). Anyone been or lived in Oakville? Any other areas someone can recommend (we were told to stay along the west line of the "Go" train since it's well maintained and trains are v. frequent). Unfortunately, what cities are on the "west line" means nothing to me right now and got a tonne of reading to do.

Also, what's the relative cost of living difference. At first glance - I figured it was close to 40% more than Calgary but my gut says that's wrong, most of difference is driven by property taxes since they are way more in Oakville (~1% of market value) vs. Calgary (~0.50% of market value). Everything else seemed like it was close, cost of gas (car), cost of power / nat. gas, etc. I know PST will also be a big difference.

Anyone live in Ontario and Alberta that can draw a relative cost of living difference?

[pattyt]

I live in Brampton, which is about an hour or an hour.5 away from oakvlle. I probably cant tell you much about specifics because i never really go there, but ive heard its a really nice place to live, nice houses and nice areas, lots of italians and portuguese lol, dont know if that matters to you.

Other than that, cant tell you much other than its a growing town,or city, or w/e that place is lol. If you want to live in Brampton, theres tons of Brown people, (im not racist, i dont mind at all, but just noting it). Alot of new development here, like tons, and there are 2 or 3 Go train stations.

But personally i believe Oakville area is much nicer, maybe a little pricier for houses though. If you got the money though, Woodbridge is another really nice area, lots of wealtheir people living there.


If you need any general questions answered jus ask aha, im only 19 so i dont know alot family / house purchasing.

[JordanLotoski]

I have lived both Ontario and Alberta....cost nowadays is pretty close, higher property taxes and sales tax.

Id never move back, not even for a job.

[JAYMEZ]

My bestfriend lives in Oakville , very nice place to live , they have some pretty god damn huge houses.. Very nice schools , and really nice golf courses... Its not to bad of a drive to Toronto, but last time I was there , the traffic was chaos and took us a very long time to get into Toronto...

Anyways , I dont have much knowledge on living there , but it is a really nice place , and doesnt seem to have to much crime.

[A790]

I moved to Ontario a few years ago. Oakeville is a very wealthy community, nice schools, amenities, etc. It is close to Toronto, and is divided by highway the QEW/403, so it's easy to get around. HOWEVER, it is a fairly expensive place to be.

As Jaymez said, traffic is bad. But that doesn't matter where you go in the GTA... traffic sucks. You might find living in Mississauga better as it costs a bit less, is a bit closer to Toronto, and is a nice place to be as well. I actually prefer Mississauga to Oakeville as I find it easier to navigate and isn't as loaded with yuppies.

Good luck with work dude. I'm moving back soon, and I work on the internet. Guess that kinda says something about the GTA... eh?

[turbo4dr]

Originally posted by JAYMEZ
My bestfriend lives in Oakville , very nice place to live , they have some pretty god damn huge houses.. Very nice schools , and really nice golf courses... Its not to bad of a drive to Toronto, but last time I was there , the traffic was chaos and took us a very long time to get into Toronto...

Anyways , I dont have much knowledge on living there , but it is a really nice place , and doesnt seem to have to much crime.

Yup he said it Oakville is a PIMP place to like its like the Hamtons in calgary bigs homes nice schools and no to far from down town. I have a buddy that live's there now how moved there a few months ago from calgary you can PM and I can give you his # if you want to ask him any questions :)

[Eleanor]

Originally posted by turbo4dr
Yup he said it Oakville is a PIMP place to like its like the Hamtons

Is it entirely pink and full of pot houses too? :rofl:

[black_2.5RS]

Thanks for the input so far. I'll definitely take a look at Mississauga. I'm surprised at what you can get out in Oakville vs. Calgary. For the price range we are looking at, we can get something almost 50% bigger in Oakville with a really big yard.

[TrailBlazerSS]

I lived in Mississauga for a few years and really enjoyed it. Oakville is also very nice, but it's a bit of a hike to Toronto if you're planning to do it daily. You shouldn't have a problem finding a job in the suburbs though - lots of businesses have moved to Mississauga and/or Oakville instead of having their offices downtown T.O.

[Supa Dexta]

It's odd that being on this site all the time there is MAJOR calgary nut hugging. Everyone from here goes on about how much better it is then elsewhere. But the moment they get the chance they say it lacks night life, or restaurants, or whatever. And then that thread about where will you be in 5 yrs, nearly EVERYONE said they want to be somewheres else.

You guy's should be thankful everyday that you have oil, or else you'd be just another winnipeg or saskatoon..

:rofl:

[black_2.5RS]

Originally posted by Supa Dexta
It's odd that being on this site all the time there is MAJOR calgary nut hugging. Everyone from here goes on about how much better it is then elsewhere. But the moment they get the chance they say it lacks night life, or restaurants, or whatever. And then that thread about where will you be in 5 yrs, nearly EVERYONE said they want to be somewheres else.

You guy's should be thankful everyday that you have oil, or else you'd be just another winnipeg or saskatoon..

:rofl:


I totally agree. I love this city (sure it's changed recently) but it's better than most cities i've visited when you look at the whole picture. I totally intend on moving back to this city at some point in time in my life but work is work...and Toronto is where I gotta be in the short term.

[A790]

Look, the fact is that there are a few things you will have to deal with if you move to the GTA:

1) Smog. No avoiding it, it's gonna happen.

2) Humidity. It's humid as HELL man. A 30 degree day feels like 40 degrees and STICKY.

3) Traffic/congestion. LOTS of it, no matter what time of day, ALL THE TIME. Not only that, but everywhere you go is jammed with people: beaches, malls, movie theatres... you get the idea.

4) Assholes. Calgary has a lot, the GTA has more. Seriously.

Have fun :)

[suen17]

Well, if you're Asian, don't even consider anything else other than Markham lol. That's like the Edgemont + T&T in city size.

It's just a bit over 1hr to get from Markham to Union by transit in rush hour (~2 buses + subway) so fairly comparable to suburbs in Calgary. Only peeve of mine: it's all brick houses. Every single one. No vinyl in sight. It gets boring.

[jonnycat]

My Dad lived there for 17 years, Ilved with him for a summer and spent many vacations there.

The GO train used to cost me $50/week to get to Union Station Down town TO. 30 minute ride. If you drive, it can take 20 minutes to a couple of hours depending on traffic. Parking used to be about $7 / hour in an underground garage. So that gets expensive.

Lots of nice communities, around there. As for expensive, my Dad just sold his 2500 sq/foot home with an outdoor pool for $530k . In other areas of Oakville it would be worth somewhere in $800's. So it really depends on where in oakville you'll live. He lived by the Ford Plant.

Humid as hell, great storms, the smog didn't really stretch out to Oakville 6 years ago, but definetly could now.

There's lots of attractions to do on weekends. I wouldn't have moved back if I didn't have an old lady.

[acura_el]

I'm working to downtown Toronto at the moment and take the GO train as well. Oakville is a really nice town, it's small, but the houses are pricey compared to Mississauga and Burlington. It's also more posh compared to the rest of the GTA considering most executives live there. A 3 bedroom house will probably cost you at least $400,000. If you want to live west of Toronto, the cities are Mississauga, Oakville, Burlington, Hamilton/Ancaster, Stoney Creek (going closest to furthest from Toronto)

It's close enough to drive to TO but traffic in the morning will probably take you 1+ hour for a 30 minute drive and it's a pain in the ass. Also, parking's a bitch in downtown costing anywhere between $15-20/day. The GO costs me about $250 for a monthly pass and takes between 40-60 minutes for me to get to work from Hamilton. There's plenty of parking at the GO stations and it's all free.

I don't know what you've heard about the GO, but overall, the service is okay at best. It's good in the summer, but come winter, there's delays almost everyday.

Hope this helps. I can't really draw much comparison to Calgary since I've never lived there. Where will you be working (if you don't mind revealing that)? Most of the financial district is within a 10-15 minute walk from Union and is connected through an underground system, which is nice.

[bashir26]

Cousins live in Oakville. Its pretty balling. Not long from toronto, but traffic is deadly.

[black_2.5RS]

Originally posted by acura_el
I'm working to downtown Toronto at the moment and take the GO train as well. Oakville is a really nice town, it's small, but the houses are pricey compared to Mississauga and Burlington. It's also more posh compared to the rest of the GTA considering most executives live there. A 3 bedroom house will probably cost you at least $400,000. If you want to live west of Toronto, the cities are Mississauga, Oakville, Burlington, Hamilton/Ancaster, Stoney Creek (going closest to furthest from Toronto)

It's close enough to drive to TO but traffic in the morning will probably take you 1+ hour for a 30 minute drive and it's a pain in the ass. Also, parking's a bitch in downtown costing anywhere between $15-20/day. The GO costs me about $250 for a monthly pass and takes between 40-60 minutes for me to get to work from Hamilton. There's plenty of parking at the GO stations and it's all free.

I don't know what you've heard about the GO, but overall, the service is okay at best. It's good in the summer, but come winter, there's delays almost everyday.

Hope this helps. I can't really draw much comparison to Calgary since I've never lived there. Where will you be working (if you don't mind revealing that)? Most of the financial district is within a 10-15 minute walk from Union and is connected through an underground system, which is nice.


My fiancee and I work for 2 of the big 4 accounting firms.
From what it sounds like, transit is definitely higher - you pay $250 / mth. I pay$75/mth. Driving in is way cheaper as you pay $20 a day and I pay $28 by my office. Does anyone have any experience between moving between Calgary and Toronto? As in, did your salary increase as a result of your move (assuming you transferred with the same company). My understanding is that the salary is the same these days - or if you do get a bump, it's not significant. Anyone know?

We've got $625,000 max to spend on a house. I know that Oakville sounds posh. Anywhere else to consider given the max. amount we can spend on a house? Again, need a house and yard.

Also, if you live in Ontario, is there preferencial "seating" provided to students applying for Universities in Ontario? Fiancee is planning on doing her MBA one day and any advantage would help. Also, if it gives our kid an advantage into getting into places like UofT or Waterloo, i'm all for it.

[acura_el]

I probably should have added this to my post above...

The GO doesn't really suck as bad as I might have made it sound. The trains are really clean and well kept. Everyone is just annoyed by the delays during winter, but I guess it's expected. It definitely beats driving during a storm though. I vividly recall it taking me 3.5 hours to get home (about 60km from Toronto) during a storm once. Again, it all depends on where you stay. The only reason I don't drive is because parking would cost more than a monthly train pass and I also have to factor in about $300-400 in gas.

If you're planning on spending $625,000 you can get a really nice house in Mississauga for that price. Something comparable in Oakville would probably be slightly more expensive. Check out the listings on www.mls.ca. It'll give you a really good idea of what to expect.

Given the choice between the 2, I'd stay in Mississauga. The commuting grind really gets to you after a while. I have to drive 20-30 minutes to Burlington every morning so I can sit on the train for an hour. Mississauga is also a larger city than Oakville and only about 15-20 minutes to Toronto during off peak hours.

As far as the school system goes, Mississauga is probably just as good as Oakville and I'm not aware of any "preferential seating" system that is provided to Ontario students. Nobody I know has had any problems getting into a university of their choice because there were too many applicants or something of the like. If they didn't get in, it was because of a lack of good grades, extracurricular activities (depending on the program) or something similar, although circumstances like those are rare. U of T is a lot easier to get into than Waterloo. Of course, one of the good things is that if you can't get into the university of your choice, you can always transfer to it after the 1st year.

It sounds like you'll probably be getting a raise if the company is having you relocate. You could have them expense some of the costs of moving and perhaps even the MBA. That's not cheap these days! :nut:


Cheers.

[Casa]

so where did you end up moving too? I live in the GTA and I'm curious as to what you thought of moving here and how things went, and what you think of Toronto.

[Supa Dexta]

My buddy moved to Brantford earlier this year, it seems like an alright spot. And the house he got for the money blows anything in calgary out of the water, plus its really close to missisauga, and therefore not too far out of toronto.

[Casa]

Originally posted by Supa Dexta
My buddy moved to Brantford earlier this year, it seems like an alright spot. And the house he got for the money blows anything in calgary out of the water, plus its really close to missisauga, and therefore not too far out of toronto.

I really like it here in Toronto. 23 degrees and was sunny out, really nice vs 7 degrees in Calgary. gas was 96 cents for regular the other day as well! Houses here are pretty cheap for what you get, and man the houses and properties can be huge.