OT--Calgary

[disneyvacationmom]

Help! Anyone from Calgary out there. My son just accepted a position with Sunwest air and will be moving to Calgary within the next 10 days. Any info would be appreciated--he will need a place to live(fairly close to the airport) and probably a car(soon). He will be setting up from scratch--any help would be appreciated--i.e. where not to live, reasonably priced furniture stores etc. Also any information on the transit system would help. I will be flying out with him and staying for a few days to hopefully get him moved in--will stay in a hotel for a few days until I know he is organized. This is a good thing for him I know but what's a mother to do other than feel sad. Thanks for any info.

 

[GreatWhiteNorth]

Hi there,
I live near Calgary and it is a booming city. Can you buy the Calgary Herald or the Calgary Sun? I believe apartment rentals are quite expensive. I would do a google search and go from there. Hope this helps.

 

[GreatWhiteNorth]

I just found this web site that might help.
www.kijiji.com

 

[drag n' fly]

PM me and I will give you any info you require.

 

[ChisJo]

Hey - I live in Edmonton, but can tell you what I can based on my many travels there.

Calgary is a hopping city - in fact, all of Alberta's economy is booming right now (it has tapered off in the last months, but it is still hot). Real estate and rentals have sky rocketed in price. At one point, Calgary was far more expensive to live in compared to Edmonton, now we are closer together, and I think what is being charged for rent or even to buy a SMALL place in not so nice area is ridiculous. That being said, I think Calgary is a very pretty city, and very easy to maneuver around (the city is laid out in 4 quadrants - NE, SE, SW, and NW). The transportation system, is, well, uhm, for lack of a better word...sucky. It doesn't really reach all areas very well (I'm talking their subway type of system), but I'm sure their bus system reaches all area (but, I cannot be for sure - if it's anything like Edmonton, well, I won't get into that). So, in the end, most people drive. Here is a link for their transportation system:
http://www.calgarytransit.com/

As for areas to live in....sorry, cannot help you. I have been to all parts of the city, and cannot remember too much each one specifically or which ones to avoid. I know that Calgary Gary on this site could probably help you out more than me....

Jo

 

[calgarygary]

I'll see if I can't give you some assistance with some of your questions:
Leons the brick and Ikea are 3 major chains that have locations in Calgary.

Will your son be renting or buying a home. If buying, rather than saying where not to live, I would suggest he look at one of Calgary's many lake communities. These are man made lakes turned into private parks for the enjoyment of people who live in the community. They usually have a beach area, are stocked with fish, and have boats (non-motorized) available for use. In the winter, there is often hills for tobaganning and areas for skating as part of the lake area. If renting, you might get a headstart by visiting this site: rentals.

The airport is located in the northeast area of Calgary while most of Calgary's best communities are in the west. While on this topic, the city is divided into quadrants and whenever getting an address, the quadrant is an important part of the address - dont forget to get it! NE, NW, SE, SW just like ChisJo mentioned. That means if all you were to get was an address like 605 16th Ave., you still have NO idea where it is - you must get the quadrant.

Should you need more info. don't hesitate to pm me.

 

[disneyvacationmom]

Thanks everyone--pm's to follow. My son is definately renting as he is just starting out--He needs to be fairly close to the airport but hopefuly will have a car soon--needs to find a place to live first and then a car. Good thing I have a charge card apparently.LOL He's good and will pay us back after he starts getting pay cheques but it's the initial outlay of money that will kill us both. He's young and brave so hopefully all will go well for him--me on the other hand am beside myself--I must admit that Calgary is better than some of the remote places in the far north that he could've ended up in. It's just hard to think of getting everything done in such a short period of time. I'll keep you all posted.

 

[drag n' fly]

Thanks everyone--pm's to follow. My son is definately renting as he is just starting out--He needs to be fairly close to the airport but hopefuly will have a car soon--needs to find a place to live first and then a car. Good thing I have a charge card apparently.LOL He's good and will pay us back after he starts getting pay cheques but it's the initial outlay of money that will kill us both. He's young and brave so hopefully all will go well for him--me on the other hand am beside myself--I must admit that Calgary is better than some of the remote places in the far north that he could've ended up in. It's just hard to think of getting everything done in such a short period of time. I'll keep you all posted.

pm sent

 

[blizzard]

Renting in Calgary is really tough. (I think the vacancy rate is less than 1%)

I know some people who used to work at Sunwest, hopefully he will enjoy it there. If you possibly can, it may pay off to find some temporary accommodations until he has a chance to meet some people. He may be able to find a roommate or a reasonable deal to rent something from someone who knows someone at the airport.

As far as areas to avoid, I wouldn't be too concerned, as EVERY area in Calgary has it's problems, and he may not be able to afford to live in an area with high rent. (I used to live in an area where a lot of people say, "don't even look there", but I never had any big problems) Another place to consider when he has a vehicle is Airdrie. It is about 15 minutes north of the airport. There are a lot of airport people who live in Airdrie (us included).

If he has airline friends that work in Calgary already, he should be talking to them to see if he can get any leads on reasonable places to live. Finding a place to live will be the biggest hurdle, but once it's overcome he will likely enjoy living in Calgary. WestJet has hired a lot of SunWest people, if that's where his ambitions lie.

 

[disneyvacationmom]

Well, he has found a place to live via an aviation board he frequents( a pilot for Jazz that has 2 rooms in his house to rent out) It looks really nice and the price was ok. We leave Monday night to go and hopefully we can find him a car fairly quickly--he starts work on Thursday. One of our biggest hurdles was finding a hotel room. Everything was sold out for that week but we did finally get the Best Western Port-o-Call for more money than I wanted to spend but I didn't have much choice. What's with that? Busy place I'm guessing. Thanks to everyone for the help and if you see a strange women in tears wandering the streets of Calgary, that will be me.LOL

 

[drag n' fly]

Glad to hear everything worked out!

 

[disneyvacationmom]

Well we're home from Calgary--what a beautiful city. Happily my son found a nice place to rent and we picked him up a car while there--seeminlgy, everything went well--he enjoyed his job the first day so now he's on his own. I sure everything will go well. Thanks to everyone for all your help.