Possible job relocation to Toronto

[OntFamily]

May I suggest, to check housing prices, you visit www.mls.ca ? It'll give you lots of good information.

 

[Nicki828]

We were in Chicago last year. I'd say Toronto has a very similar feel. I grew up in the North end of Toronto, and we are now in the 'burbs. I like living in the 'burbs personally. There are lots of great areas within the city and in the burbs. It really depends what type of community you want to live in, and what ammenities you want.

 

[ferris198]

Womens College is about as downtown as you can get (Bay/College) so its either condo or smaller downtown home or suburbs with commute. Not to pry, but did you have any idea whether you wanted to rent or buy and what your general price range would be? That would likely help either rule out downtown-ish neighbourhoods all together or at least help us give you some ideas.

One other thing - not sure if your kids are school ago or any in daycare? If daycare, the waiting list to get into daycare in the City is insane, so just something to think about if you need it.

Just because it is downtown doesn't mean that the op has to live downtown, there are many areas of the city that have large lots and are easily accessible to public transit and a short distant from downtown.
I live in East York, have almost a quarter acre of land, and can get to downtown using public transit in about 45 mins, most days less time.
City run daycare may have waiting lists but there are many private run facilites that don't have waiting lists.

 

[Cdn Gal]

Your kids will have to take French classes (30-40 min. per day) Even if you are not Catholic you can send your kids to a Catholic School. You just need to go to the school, and write a letter to the school board stating that you would like your kids to have a Christianity taught to them. PM me if you would like specific info. I go to T.O. every summer to teach teachers. It's a great city with wonderful ethnic food. But... us in the hinterland do tend to giggle when the city shuts down for a little bit of snow.

 

[ferris198]

In the Toronto catholic board you need to be Catholic to attend the school, if the child isn't catholic than a parent must be and it has to be proven by way of a baptismal certificate.
Yiyr wrong about the french, maybe in Kingston, not Toronto

 

[Debbie]

In the Toronto catholic board you need to be Catholic to attend the school, if the child isn't catholic than a parent must be and it has to be proven by way of a baptismal certificate.
Yiyr wrong about the french, maybe in Kingston, not Toronto

Typically, in elementary school, you do need to be Catholic to attend the Catholic elementary schools. Since her daughter will be in Grade 4, she will be taking French every day. It's mandated by the Ministry of Education.

 

[bluebelle99]

May I suggest, to check housing prices, you visit www.mls.ca ? It'll give you lots of good information.

A few notes regarding the information on mls.ca:

1. This is a public site, and not all properties listed through realtors are listed here. A seller has the option of having their listing publicly displayed.

2. The information --whenever I have checked it-- is somewhat outdated.
(ie. the house has already been sold)

3. The recent trend in Toronto is to list a property at considerably under the real market value, and wait for multiple offers. The property is then generally sold at a price much above the listed price.

I would rent for several months until I had a good idea of the neighbouhood desired and the market conditions.

 

[cabmom]

I live in a town called Uxbridge, which is an hour from downtown Toronto. It is a nice small community. You can Google it to find out more.

We are part of the Durham District School Board. Your child does not have to take french, you can have them exempt from it, as I have for 2 of my boys.

Good luck, you have many choices.

 

[GrtWtNorth]

I've lived in many different cities, and when it comes down to it, they are really just a collection of neighbourhoods. Every neighbourhood is unique, but you'll always find the basics: schools, groceries, homes, public and commercial services. Some cities just have many more of neighbourhoods than others, and some neighbourhoods are more appealing than others.

Moving from Chicago to Toronto shouldn't be too much of a culture shock. You'll find better Indian and Chinese food, but much less Mexican and Puerto Rican. The rest is just details.

My best advice is to find a reputable realtor who knows the neighbourhoods in the region where you will be working. They will have the best advice about schools and which neighbourhoods suit your lifestyle.

A realtor can best prepare you if you give them some guidelines. My wife and I draft a list of "needs" and "wants" for each of our moves. Our realtor would not show us a home that didn't meet our "needs" (like a dishwasher, garage, minimum 2 bathrooms) and we evaluated our potential homes against our "wants" (like roomy kitchen, 10-foot ceilings, walking distance to playground). Of course this should be customized for each move. We are considering a future move, and adding "no forest fire potential in our back yard" to our want list.

 

[GrtWtNorth]

Margaret Wente moved from Chicago to Toronto for work a couple decades ago. She worked as a business writer for many years and now writes opinion pieces for the Globe and Mail (a national daily paper). She wrote briefly about her moving experiences in her book, An Accidental Canadian. I don't recommend buying it (it's boring), but you might want to borrow it and read the chapters about moving to Canada.

For a more interesting and irreverent introduction to Canada, read How to be a Canadian by Will Feruson. (He's written a few other humour books. My wife is reading and loving Hitching Rides with Buddha, A Journey Across Japan.)

 

[Carol17]

I live in a town called Uxbridge, which is an hour from downtown Toronto. It is a nice small community. You can Google it to find out more.

We are part of the Durham District School Board. Your child does not have to take french, you can have them exempt from it, as I have for 2 of my boys.

Good luck, you have many choices.

Cabmom, if I may ask,what do your boys do when the rest of the class is in french class? I have always wondered about students that already speak french fluently. Obviously they would be bored silly in a french class for the most part. Is this the case with your boys?

 

[glendalais]

Cabmom, if I may ask,what do your boys do when the rest of the class is in french class? I have always wondered about students that already speak french fluently. Obviously they would be bored silly in a french class for the most part. Is this the case with your boys?

If they were fluent in French at such a young age (which would suggest a French-speaking family), I would imagine they would have probably, been enroled in a Francophone school board where French is the language of instruction rather than in the Anglophone system.

Otherwise, I'm sure that they are given extra time to do another subject or something of the like.

 

[jemmouse]

Thank you to everyone who has responded to this thread. You offered so much helpful information. BUT my DH has taken a pass on the Canada job, which for the sake of myself and my family I am very happy. I will have to say though after reading so many of your posts I would really like to visit one day. Enjoy your day and your upcoming summer...

 

[Edward11]

Toronto is a great place to live. It depends on the individual how he adjusts to the locality.If are looking for a house over there then it is better make use of the MSL listings and buy house in a cheaper rate.

 

[sjsjbrook]

Toronto area is a great place to live.

It is fairly south so between May and October the weather is most likely simmilar to what you are use to.

Winters we usually have the odd storm, but again you see more snow in buffalo than TO. In fact last winter there was very little snow.

The nice thing about TO is it has great transportation in the core and lots of great things to do and see.

 

[roxysmum123]

Toronto is a GREAT city! My fave Canadian city followed very closely by Ottawa and Vancouver. It really is a great place to live and work. To answer some of your questions:

- What is it like living in Toronto, Canada
Toronto has world class dining, theatre, entertainment, sports (we lose a lot, but we're loyal!) and shopping. It is a busy city with a great public transit system that can get you anywhere you need to go. If you aren't a city person though, there are many great options of where to live within an hour of the city that your husband could very easily commute from using some very efficient highway systems. A really nice smaller city is Guelph, as well as Oakville and Burlington.

- Does everyone speak English or is French also widely spoken?
French is spoken widely in Quebec, which is the province to the east of Ontario. If you were to go to a shop in Toronto and start speaking to the staff in french they'll look at you like you have 3 heads and maybe even tell you to go back to Montreal. The only place you will hear it, and is legally required to use it, is any national government office. The front staff will always greet you "Hello! Bonjour!" until you reply in whatever language you speak and then use either English or French based on your reply.

-Weather as in summer and winter
This summer is smokin hot, and most summers have at least 2-3 days of "extreme heat" warnings. I often joke that Toronto has two seasons, winter and construction, but really the weather is quite pleasant throughout the year. Buffalo gets more snow than we do but your kids can count on having a snow day or two every year.

-Can anyone recommend some areas to look for housing? Would you live in Toronto or would it be better to live in a suburb of Toronto? We currently live in a suburb outside Chicago, I really don't like to be in the hustle and bustle of the city
I'd really look at Guelph, it's kind of a hippy town but is very green, eco friendly, and safe. It's about an hour drive into Toronto via the 401. Closer than that, Oakville is nice. Oakville is more expensive though so not sure about your cost concerns.

-Schools
Schools you can do public, private, Catholic, Christian or French Emersion. There are some great private schools but depending on the area you live in the public ones are fantastic as well. Toronto also has some of the top Universities in the country including York, Ryerson and the University of Toronto. I personally do not have children but plan on sending mine to a Christian school as I went to both public and private and had the best experience and really grew when I changed into a Christian school.

-How does an American handle health care? I think you all pay higher taxes and then your medical is paid, do you know how that would be for an American? This job is a 5 year job...
Not too sure on this one, but I think I saw someone else had answered this with some great advice.

-DO you like it there, please tell all pros and cons...
I love it here. The only other places in the world I would live are Vancouver or Disney World. On any given day I can go for a hike, swim in a lake, dine at a 5 star restaurant, see dinosaurs in a museum, see a NHL, NBA, MLB, or CFL game or other sporting event, shop at a couture boutique or go to a dollar store. There is never a lack of things to do, and people are friendly. Cons for me is the homelessness in Toronto. I'm in social work though, so it's not really a con to living in Toronto but a frustrating reminder of the cracks in the system. The only other con I can think of is traffic/construction but really that's nothing different than any other major city.

 

[DutchsMommy]

Ha - I saw this thread again and thought maybe DH was coming to TO after all . Weird about the spam posting - assuming 'Edward 1' is some type of computer program judging by the reply. Wonder how that works and why? Or maybe my conspiracy theories are getting the better of me....