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Hello Everyone,
It gives me great pleasure to write in this forum. I heard from someone that this might be a great place to get some reliable information. I am presently looking to buy a house in the Greater Toronto Area region, with preference for homes in Pickering, Ajax or Whitby.
I am moving from Jacksonville in Florida to Toronto in mid-december and will be working in Downtown Toronto on Bay street. Because we are keen on a decent sized home, that is, a home with three bedrooms, a finished basement, and at least 2.5 baths, we decided to live on the out-skirts of Toronto. To avoid driving to downtown Toronto, we decided to stay in regions where I can easily access GO TRAINS and BUSSES, which led us to shortlist Pickering, Ajax and Whitby as possible locations. In an ideal case we would prefer a shorter commute to downtown, therefore, Pickering, followed by Ajax and Whitby will be our order of preference. But more than the commute, the surrounding neighbourhood is the most important criterion for us, thus, we are even open to living as far off as Whitby provided it offers the perfect neighbourhood we are looking for. My family includes my wife and our 3 year old son. To give you a better idea of our ideal sustainable neighbourhood, here are the key points in order of preference:
A very safe neighborhood for young families and children.
Close proximity to an excellent primary school.
There are playgrounds in the neighborhood.
There is shopping nearby.
Close proximity to a Go train or bus station.
There is a medical facility in the vicinity.
There are no noise problems from neighboring businesses or heavy traffic.
If there are any other regions apart from the three mentioned above that you feel better suit our requirements, please do suggest. Our price range is from 210,000 to 270,000.
I look forward to hearing your suggestions on which areas may be the most suitable to our requirements.
Kind regards, Shav
honestly, my husband works in toronto and we live in a GREAT Whitby neighbourhood...he takes the go train to work usually, but driving is about an hour
you should look on www.mls.ca for homes....do you want a single or double car garage? for your price you can get a single car small home if your lucky in whitby....you may have to go to oshawa or courtice
oshawa has the furthest east go train station to and from toronto
the raods would be okay to drive from bowmanville or courtice to the train station though, not too busy that ffar east
i really feel safe sending my kids to school in north whitby , i don't think i like pickering at all-
have you looked in Brooklin? it is north of whitby
it is like whitby, a commuter town and quite new, very pretty!
The areas on the north sides of Oshawa, Pickering and Whitby are currently the sites of several subdivisions. The rule of thumb in that neck of the woods is that the older neighbourhoods are closer to the Lake Ontario shore while newer expansion has taken place in the north.
Most of your criteria should be easy to meet; even if you locate on the north edge of Oshawa/Whitby, you're still only looking at a 10-minute drive to the GO station. Be aware, though, that it's a 50-minute train ride to downtown Toronto -- assuming no train problems.
The only problem I can see you having is in your price expectations: $270K might not get you what you want. For example, I know of an 8-year-old, 3-bedroom, double garage house in north Whitby that recently sold for $345K --- it was on the market for 6 days.
As the previous poster mentioned, have a look at REALTOR.ca - Welcome to see if your price range is realistic.
Not sure if you still need help or not, but for a local website with all the listings you should go to [URL="http://www.openhouse-tour.com"]www.openhouse-tour.com[/URL]
Thank you everyone for your response. Your suggestions have been most useful. I have got in touch with an agent and will likely look for something in north whitby or north ajax.
You might also want to look into Brampton. It's very multicultural, safe, well served by transit, good schools and there's actually a brand new hospital around the Bramalea area. There is definitely a lot of shopping around but it can be busy. You might also want to look into Mississauga. I also have cousins living in Vaughan which you might also like but it might be less convenient for getting downtown via transit.
After going through a lot of details about schools, neighbourhood and kind of lifestyle, we seem to take a decision towards Whitby. We were thinking of renting an appartment first to look out and know more about the area.
I came across Highland Towers ( 200 WHITE OAKS COURT , at Dundas St W) . it's 5 min from go station, has immediate daily needs ( grocery, cofee, medicines etc right next door). I'm not sure about the area , if it's considered as a good area for a family. We have a toddler too.
It would be really nice if someone could help us know more about it.
After going through a lot of details about schools, neighbourhood and kind of lifestyle, we seem to take a decision towards Whitby. We were thinking of renting an appartment first to look out and know more about the area.
I came across Highland Towers ( 200 WHITE OAKS COURT , at Dundas St W) . it's 5 min from go station, has immediate daily needs ( grocery, cofee, medicines etc right next door). I'm not sure about the area , if it's considered as a good area for a family. We have a toddler too.
It would be really nice if someone could help us know more about it.
Thanks
no, don't go there!!!
it's not a good area for kids...if Whitby is to have a bad area, that apt building is one of them....
Definitely do not go to the White Oaks...possibly the only bad spot in Whitby. Anywhere else would be fine but there are not many apartments in this area to choose from. Maybe you could find something in your price range like a smaller bungalow in the older areas around Brock and Dundas Sts. We moved to this area two years ago and found good value....mostly mixed neighbourhoods with some character.
Hey, that townhome you told me about sold, did you buy it???I drove by it (not too far from where I live) and I thought it was cute!
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