Livingston or Evanston?

[Asian_defender]

Girlfriend and I are looking for a new home.
After walking through about 50 showhomes we fell in love in a Jayman plan. Unfortunately the only communities they are building in the NW are Evanston and Livingston. We're currently in Sage Hill but are wondering what beyonders think of each. Symons valley parkway seems to be a nightmare during the winter but Livingston just opened up so you'll have to deal with alot of construction for the next 5 years. Been considering Airdrie as well but it would be a pain in the ass to drive into Calgary all the time.

[craigcd]

Livingston has quicker access to almost everything aside from exiting town to the West I would say.

[R!zz0]

I think all homes in Livingston comes with indoor sprinkler systems. I don't know why just in Livingston.

[ExtraSlow]

Most of livingston is outside the current standard of 7-minute response time for the CFD, so they put in sprinklers as some kind of deal with the city to allow them to develop that area before a new station is built out there. I guess in theory those sprinklers buy you a couple of minutes in the event of a structure fire?

Kind of laughable since something like 60% of CFD calls are for medical issues, and sprinklers won't help if you have a heart attack and AHS is slow, which they often are.

[mikey008]

Sprinkler systems standard will just reduce the number of houses being destroyed in case of fires. Considering all these newer homes are being built so close together especially with zero lot line houses.

Sure Evanston is more of an established area, however once the 14th street bridge is built, it still only has one way in and out of the area. (2 Later down the road evenutally)

Livingston at least is closer to the main routes around Calgary which is Deerfoot, and right now it's in its first 3 stages, so prices are reasonable. My wife and I where considering a JAYMAN floorplan In Evanston the samehouse was priced starting at 35-40k higher then the same house in Livingston.

[killramos]

A buddy of mine bought in Evanston last year. I found it surprisingly livable considering it might as well be in edmonton. Good places to eat, get groceries, go to movies without much of a hassle. Will be awesome once that second interchange is put in on the east side.

Considering what he paid and what he got, its a pretty damn good place to live.

[phreezee]

That Jayman showhome in Livingston was awesome! $640k for that is quite a deal.
I'd love to know designer's name to see if they do consulting.
I overheard a salesperson talking and they said they are building the largest HOA center the city has ever seen in Livingston. I think by the time the 14th st interchange is done both areas will be similar for ease of access, so the only deciding factor would be schools if that applies to you.

[Asian_defender]

The showhome in Livingston is what sold us on that plan.
We went up to Airdrie and saw the 4 bedroom one (Emerge 26-4) with cheater into the laundry and expanded pantry was bang on what we wanted.
Can't beat the idea of his and hers ensuite :thumbsup:

[jwslam]

Originally posted by Asian_defender
The showhome in Livingston is what sold us on that plan.
We went up to Airdrie and saw the 4 bedroom one (Emerge 26-4) with cheater into the laundry and expanded pantry was bang on what we wanted.
Can't beat the idea of his and hers ensuite :thumbsup:
Is that the standard now (Emerge 26-4)?
http://www.jayman.com/assets/FloorPlan-Images/_resampled/ScaleWidthWyIzMDAiXQ/Emerge26-4-2a.png

I saw a similar layout just this morning on C4078714 which had double split vanity as well.
https://rmximagesprd01.blob.core.windows.net/images/listings2/WP/ID1533920691.jpg

[Sonic]

If you're already thinking Livingston, why not drive an extra 10-15 minutes to Airdrie and save yourself $50,000-$75,000 on the exact same models??

We went through this last summer, we had lived in Evansridge in a starter home and wanted to move up to a 2000 sq ft home. Ended up in Airdrie, I still remember pricing out homes on the Jayman site and the same models were literally $60,000 cheaper for a lot in Airdrie, and this is in the ~$500,000 category. The savings are higher the more expensive you go.

Evanston itself is an okay looking community, no fancy lakes or anything, it's just your typical cookie cutter type community with a few hills here and there that are a nightmare in the winter, what concerned me was the ever increasing traffic which is only getting worse when they finish all those condos and all the new homes by the Carrington side, it's already a nightmare as it is right now coming down to Creekside and all the way down Beddington just to get to DF in the mornings.

My commute from Airdie to downtown every day is just awesome, 10 minutes to get to Deerfoot and then it's spirited driving till I hit around Airport exit area when I join all the other Calgary suburbs commuters...the actual km are more but the time difference is roughly the same now that I don't have to drive through that Evanston to Creekside down Beddington to DF shit show...and coming home I used to hit Stoney then go left for about 15 minutes to Evanston, now I just go straight for 15 minutes to Airdrie.

Definitely worth the money and Airdrie itself is nice and quaint with convenient schooling without having to worry my kids will turn into punk ass gangsters...the whole Evanston/Sage/Nolan area will be the new the Northeast in a few short years too...all that ghetto shit has already spread to Panarama/Coventry, it will spread very soon if it hasn't already...just wait till all the young kids get older.

[403ep3]

The one thing about Airdrie is the hail.. wife works at an insurance company and they get so many hail claims from Airdrie.

Evanston sucks for access in the winter. The traffic light helps, but the hill is slippery :dunno:

[Sonic]

Ya I'm worried about hail, interesting though I'm with TDMM, my insurance costs are exactly the same, house insurance went way up but car insurance went way down so it evened out.

[mikey008]

I've been living in Evanston for 2 years now! I love my house, but starting to hate the commute in and out of the community. Also not to mention the drive down Symons/Beddington with an intersection every 100 meters....:banghead:

[Sonic]

Yup... That's what I'm talking about... Even worse in the winter, it's brutal.

[Asian_defender]

Originally posted by jwslam

Is that the standard now (Emerge 26-4)?
http://www.jayman.com/assets/FloorPlan-Images/_resampled/ScaleWidthWyIzMDAiXQ/Emerge26-4-2a.png

I saw a similar layout just this morning on C4078714 which had double split vanity as well.
https://rmximagesprd01.blob.core.windows.net/images/listings2/WP/ID1533920691.jpg

Not bad, have to check it out. For 650, I'd probably want to do ground up as its about 600 for that plan on the Plus spec with Jayman.

We were looking at the one with the cheater into the laundry
http://www.jayman.com/assets/FloorPlan-Images/_resampled/ScaleWidthWyIzMDAiXQ/Emerge26-4-2b-WalkthruLaundry.png

[jwslam]

Originally posted by Asian_defender
We were looking at the one with the cheater into the laundry
http://www.jayman.com/assets/FloorPlan-Images/_resampled/ScaleWidthWyIzMDAiXQ/Emerge26-4-2b-WalkthruLaundry.png
Personally I don't like the cheater door though it makes sense on a convenience factor. My two cents based on looking at the two images:
Cons for yours:
-The cheater door takes up wall space and you lose a linen closet in the laundry room.
-Similarly, an additional walkthrough in the closet is dead space. You can't use it for storage.
-The cheater plan doesn't seem to show a window in the bathroom; plus the 2nd bathroom looks and probably feels a lot smaller.
-Boxing off the bonus room with wall & door would make the space feel closed, whereas double doors in the other plan can maintain a big feel.
-The bonus room in this plan is more limited in layouts. Think about where a TV could go vs where the couch would go
-The area in where the linen, laundry, and bathroom door meet is completely dead space.
-Feels like the 3 bedrooms would have to walk past the bathroom to come back around and use it.

Pros:
-Bonus room next to the stairs could make the layout look bigger if you go with railing instead of a wall.

[Asian_defender]

The main bath gets upgraded to 2 sinks which is a bonus. My current main bath doesn't have a window and it hasn't been an issue for us.

It also positions the sink in the better spot IMO.

Bedrooms are seperated from the master which is a huge plus for me

They had built in cabineta in the laundry room in the show home and it was both functional and beautiful

Pros and cons but after walking through it :drool:

[jwslam]

Ultimately it's your decision of course, I'm just giving my two cents. Either way, :thumbsup:

[R!zz0]

Wow i thought i paid a little too much for my home...I guess not.

We bought 2570 sq ft in Evanston with all the upgrades (minus the A/C, which i'll be putting later) for $625,000 including the finished basement.

We're talking "quartz counters in kitchen and all the bathrooms/washrooms, glass railings with led stair lights, fully finished basement with a media room, full bathroom, big bedroom with huge walk in closet and a craft room which can be used as an office. 9 ft ceilings throughout the house. Too much to list the whole house.

[Sonic]

Rizzo...when did you buy? When I was looking it was August 2016 in the darkest midst of the downturn and to me it seemed like new build prices were around the same or close to as back in Jan 2013 when we bought our first house in Evansridge...seems like prices have gone back up a bit?!

[R!zz0]

We bought the house in Oct and our possession is May, maybe June because of the cold spell we had. We built with NuVista.

We went to see them in Aug and signed a deal in Oct. Yes prices have gone up a bit.

[403ep3]

Pricing seems about right as I bought in Nolan for $640k all-in. We went with a lot of upgrades though and had a premium pie lot w/ green space behind us (2515 sq ft)

[Asian_defender]

Originally posted by R!zz0
Wow i thought i paid a little too much for my home...I guess not.

We bought 2570 sq ft in Evanston with all the upgrades (minus the A/C, which i'll be putting later) for $625,000 including the finished basement.

We're talking "quartz counters in kitchen and all the bathrooms/washrooms, glass railings with led stair lights, fully finished basement with a media room, full bathroom, big bedroom with huge walk in closet and a craft room which can be used as an office. 9 ft ceilings throughout the house. Too much to list the whole house.

Jesus Christ that's a good price!
new builds seem to keep going up regardless of what the market is like.... 2453 Jayman is starting at 595 for their plus spec.....
45k for a basement so it's getting up there

Been looking at resale market, seems like I'll get a better deal there