Canada question

[Byff]

As the USA forum is the closest thing to Canada, i'll ask my question here.

Where is the best place to live around Toronto? We're not really into nightclubs etc, more normal family activites with a good neighbourhood feel.

[GavinPearson]

I presume you are emigrating.....

It's a bit like saying "I'm going to work in London, where do I live". The answer will be somewhere around the M25. It could be St Albans, Croydon, Beckenham, numerous places.....

You need to speak to a realtor. Find out stats on each area and you can gauge the feel of the place. I found this realtor and it has an excellent map.

www.torontorealestatenorth.com/

Based on what I learnt coming to the USA you need:
1) Median household income.
2) Proximity of major shopping malls and "anchor" stores.
3) Education test score rankings.
4) Demographics of people from last cencus.

That will give you areas to look in.

What I learnt from looking in the USA is that it isn't often clear as to where the "Downtown" is. Get the realtor to show you so you can gauge it for Restaurants, cinema, shops etc. It is often the case that the Downtown is virtually non-existant, very different from what is in Britain.

Good luck.

[Byff]

GavinPearson said:

I presume you are emigrating.....

Doh!, Thinking about it with a very good possibility of making it happen. I really should make myself clear.

We just don't want to end up renting/buying a place in the wrong area, but as you suggested, we will be speaking to a realtor when we go over in August.

I know Toronto's a big place and recommending one area is hard to do, as it would be for recommending a place in London, but there must be nice areas that people aspire to live in.

[GavinPearson]

The only thing I'd say is that realtors are very different from Estate Agents.

Realtors are like a personal shopping service for a house.

Estate Agents are basically a shop full of adverts and you can see the house if you like.

As such the realtor wants an exclusive contract, as a guide they get 3% of the sales price of the house for the buyer, plus 3% if they are selling on behalf of somebody.

Demographics, school scores and average income say 90% of what you want to know.

Here is Michigan. Compare average income with rest of USA.
http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/26000.html

Now look at Oakland County in Michigan.
http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/26/26125.html

You should be able to get the same data by city - if you live where the well off people live, and your kids go to the same schools, you should be OK.