Anyone in Calgary?

[Nigel8600]

To the OP, no one has mentioned one thing that I thought would cancel any chance of moving to Calgary if I lived out east .................................... You are now MORE THAN DOUBLE the distance from WDW in Calgary (4500KM) vs living in Toronto (2060KM)

Are you sure you need to move????

 

[Ham Ham]

But you are closer to Disneyland.

 

[drag n' fly]

To the OP, no one has mentioned one thing that I thought would cancel any chance of moving to Calgary if I lived out east .................................... You are now MORE THAN DOUBLE the distance from WDW in Calgary (4500KM) vs living in Toronto (2060KM)

Are you sure you need to move????

Are you serious

I would walk to WDW from Calgary before I would ever live in Toronto! The smog, the humidity, the traffic, the cost...eventually Calgary will catch up so Im stayin put!

 

[ronandannette]

op is that me

My husband's company is on the SE side of the city. He said about 20 minutes outside of the city.

We will be looking for a 3br home in the burbs. We paid $400 here in Ajax 2600 sq ft. home; so hopefully Calgary will be close to that.. From what I have read, everyone says the west side is the best, obviously because of the mountain views. But, any great burb cities on the east?

We will be going to Calgary to check out everything before he accepts BUT I really appreciate the help and information given.

Thanks

Dawn

Howdy Dawn (Stampede's on, don'tcha know!)

Calgary doesn't really have "burbs" the way you know them; one municipality doesn't just merge into the next the way it does in southern Ontario (way more space to fill out here). The city its self is a fairly gigantic urban mass divided into 4 quadrants with many neighbourhoods within each one. It's all still city though and while certain ethnicities do tend to congregate in certain areas it's pretty diverse overall and you shouldn't feel uncomfortable anywhere.

Once you're out of Calgary you can hit the highway in any direction and within 20 or 30 minutes be in a "town" more like what you may be looking for. To the east there's Chestermere, Strathmore and Langdon or you may want to even consider Okotoks to the south. Housing prices in these towns might be a "little lower" but not much. The pace of life however will be much different as each of these distinct communities are much, much smaller. Bear in mind that there is no mass transit access from any of them into Calgary if that's important to you. Bear in mind also that it costs about 3X as much to fly from here to Disney and no popping across the boarder to take cheap JetBlue or Southwest trips!!

Annette

 

[calgarygary]

Howdy Dawn (Stampede's on, don'tcha know!)

.... Bear in mind also that it costs about 3X as much to fly from here to Disney and no popping across the boarder to take cheap JetBlue or Southwest trips!!

Annette

Unless of course the 7/8 hour drive to Spokane is considered popping!

 

[CDNTech]

Unless of course the 7/8 hour drive to Spokane is considered popping!

Nah... we checked into doing that and it wasn't any cheaper than a flight out of Calgary (once we included the gas to get to/from Spokane).

We've been here for 5 years and spent the first 3 in NW Calgary (Arbour Lake) and I agree 100%, if you can get a lake community, go for it! Our yearly fee was $125, so not much for everything we got out of it.

Now we're in Airdrie and loving it. DH works for the city (of Calgary) and has a straight commute down deerfoot... it's actually about 20 minutes faster now that we live outside the city as opposed to the NW.

My sister lives in Cranston and really likes it. In the south, I'd be heading straight for Auburn Bay (fantastic new lake community).

Prices really have slowed down in the last year. A year ago our house would have sold for $550K within the week, now we are more like $500K and it would take awhile. I don't mind though as I think the prices were on an outrageous climb. We built starting in Jan'06 at $293K and like I said, the house is now just over $500K.

With the new mega mall going up in Balzac (between Calgary and Airdrie), prices are expected to climb again when it opens next year. It's a good time to get into the market here.

 

[photomama]

thanks again for all the information.

What square foot living are we talking about for $500,000??

Thanks

 

[CDNTech]

thanks again for all the information.

What square foot living are we talking about for $500,000??

Thanks

It all depends on which area of the city (or bedroom community) and (if you're buying a spec home or building) which builder... but roughly 1800 - 2200.

Ours is 1800 sq. ft with an additional 900 sq. ft. fully developed basement. Our house is also completely upgraged (hardwood, granite, fixtures, ect.)... we built our dream house.

Garageless homes (you can build a detached double garage in the back yard with paved alley access) go for about $390K in Auburn Bay (nice lake community in far SE).

Double car attached garage homes go for $440K and up in the same community.

The majority of these floor plans are going to be open floor plans. Kitchen/living/dining look on to each other generally with a big island in the kitchen. You usually get some sort of flex room on the main level to be used as an office or formal dining. Upstairs you'll find 3 bedrooms with a bath and a separate ensuite for the master bedroom. Laundry varies... generally it's on the main floor in the mud room just off the garage, sometimes you can find a home with laundry on the second floor (ours is on the second floor and I love it). Most of these homes will have a bonus room on the second floor as well... makes a good theatre room/play room/family room and is generally located over the garage.

Backyards are postage stamp size, but there are plenty of parks nearby and *lots* of trails to walk on (plus that lake if you're in Auburn Bay). We've found that the small backyard really doesn't matter, our kids still play out there and enjoy it. Just for reference, our backyard (green space, not including the deck) is 36' wide by 25' deep. We also have the Costco play structure out there and the kids still have room to run and play hockey/soccer. Of course are kids are 6 and 3, so they're still small.

Auburn Bay is just off Deerfoot and just south of 22X. It's a brand new community (within the last 2 - 3 years). If dh is working SE of the city, my guess is he'll be going out on 22X to get to work, so this is close proximity for him.

Just down 22X the opposite way and up McLeod Trail is shopping, restaurants, big box stores (Walmart, Safeway, ect.).

Check out www.mls.ca and do a search in SE Calgary. A map will show up where you can specifically choose SE communities to search in. I'd look in Cranston, Auburn Bay, Copperfield, Mckenzie Lake/Towne, New Brighton, Seton, and Mahogany. These are all communities just off Deerfoot/22X and they are all fairly new communities.

Since the communites are so new, none of them really have schools (welcome to Calgary ), so your kids (if you have them?) will be bussed or you can drive them. Auburn Bay public kids (elementary/Junior) currently go to schools in Lake Bonavista (15 minute drive).

 

[calgarygary]

.....

Check out www.mls.ca and do a search in SE Calgary. A map will show up where you can specifically choose SE communities to search in. I'd look in Cranston, Auburn Bay, Copperfield, Mckenzie Lake/Towne, New Brighton, Seton, and Mahogany. These are all communities just off Deerfoot/22X and they are all fairly new communities.

Since the communites are so new, none of them really have schools (welcome to Calgary ), so your kids (if you have them?) will be bussed or you can drive them. Auburn Bay public kids (elementary/Junior) currently go to schools in Lake Bonavista (15 minute drive).

Just wanted to correct the info. regarding schools - there are schools in most of the listed communities but Auburn Bay, being so new, has yet to get schools so their children are bussed to a very mature community that has a dwindling school age population.

 

[CDNTech]

Just wanted to correct the info. regarding schools - there are schools in most of the listed communities but Auburn Bay, being so new, has yet to get schools so their children are bussed to a very mature community that has a dwindling school age population.

Auburn Bay - goes to Andrew Sibbald in Lake Bonavista
Cranston - goes to Andrew Sibbald in Lake Bonavista
Copperfield - goes to Acadia in Acadia
McKenzie Lake - goes to McKenzie Lake in McKenzie Lake
Mckenzie Towne - goes to Acadia in Acadia
New Brighton - goes to Acadia in Acadia

I'm having trouble finding info for Seton and Mahogany... probably because the communities are too new. They definitely don't have schools in them though.

Which means only *one* of the above communities actually has a designated public school *in* it.

ETA: Those are all of the designated public elementary schools for the '08-'09 year.

 

[ronandannette]

Auburn Bay - goes to Andrew Sibbald in Lake Bonavista
Cranston - goes to Andrew Sibbald in Lake Bonavista
Copperfield - goes to Acadia in Acadia
McKenzie Lake - goes to McKenzie Lake in McKenzie Lake
Mckenzie Towne - goes to Acadia in Acadia
New Brighton - goes to Acadia in Acadia

I'm having trouble finding info for Seton and Mahogany... probably because the communities are too new. They definitely don't have schools in them though.

Which means only *one* of the above communities actually has a designated public school *in* it.

ETA: Those are all of the designated public elementary schools for the '08-'09 year.

BTW Dawn,

If it matters to you, there is a separate Catholic School System here that is available to Catholic children (or the children of Catholic parents) free of charge (no tuition). There are also MANY private Christian schools (tuition must be paid) and some very good private secular prep schools (tuition must be paid).

Annette

 

[photomama]

Thanks again everyone! Looks like this moving is really going to happen.


Dawn

 

[Nigel8600]

Are you serious

I would walk to WDW from Calgary before I would ever live in Toronto! The smog, the humidity, the traffic, the cost...eventually Calgary will catch up so Im stayin put!

LOL, I'm serious!! Are you? I would bet money that you would NEVER EVER go to WDW again in your entire life if you had to walk there from YYC.

3 Km per hr walking speed divided by 4500KM = 1500 Hrs @ 8 hrs per day = 187 days to get there.

 

[drag n' fly]

LOL, I'm serious!! Are you? I would bet money that you would NEVER EVER go to WDW again in your entire life if you had to walk there from YYC.

3 Km per hr walking speed divided by 4500KM = 1500 Hrs @ 8 hrs per day = 187 days to get there.

Are you an engineer? You sound like my dh Ok maybe I wouldn't walk but I would RATHER walk than live in Toronto

 

[photomama]

you guys are hilarious!! My engineer husband will be flying from Calgary next April to WDW.

 

[drag n' fly]

Here is another good link

http://www.calgary.ca/portal/server...0Visitors/Visitor%20Essentials/Essentials.htm