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Potential new TO resident!

J

jimbogreen

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Hi All!

First post...and i wasn't really sure where to put it, but here seemed a good a place as any.

wellll...I currently live in England, but I am applying for my one year work visa for Canada and intend to move to Toronto (a friend is also interested in coming as well, so you could have two new brits with you!!). Now for the avalanche of questions (and a michelob for anyone who takes the time to reply!)

- I've been to Toronto 3 times previously (last visit was in 2003) and found it a very friendly, walkable city. Big city attractions, small town vibe. Is this still correct?

- Where is a good (loaded question obviously!) place to live? I want to be downtown. I've stayed at the Sheraton on Queen st, and also at Younge & Bloor. What price should I expect for a 2 bed place? (i'm expecting it to be $1500-$2000...thats if my friend comes. if not, house share!). I like the entertainment district around Adelaide, but realise that would be mighty expensive!

- I love playing my guitar (doesn't mean i'm spectacular at it though!). are the chances good that i'll find some people to jam with? Where would I go to find that?

- Anyone have any good jobs?!?! :D (i work in Travel, as a sales & marketing manager)

Thanks for taking the time to read this, and fingers crossed 2009 will be the year of Toronto!

Cheers,

James
 
Welcome to Toronto. Hope you enjoy your stay here.

- I've been to Toronto 3 times previously (last visit was in 2003) and found it a very friendly, walkable city. Big city attractions, small town vibe. Is this still correct?
Click to expand...

I think it's a relatively friendly and somewhat safe place to live. I don't know about small town vibe. It depends how you describe small town. There's a lot of skyscrapers here and during the past few years there's a lot of residential skyscrapers being built. You'll probably see photos from the projects thread.


- Where is a good (loaded question obviously!) place to live? I want to be downtown. I've stayed at the Sheraton on Queen st, and also at Younge & Bloor. What price should I expect for a 2 bed place? (i'm expecting it to be $1500-$2000...thats if my friend comes. if not, house share!). I like the entertainment district around Adelaide, but realise that would be mighty expensive!
Click to expand...

It depends how big and where abouts you want to stay but currently 1+1 costs around $1500-1800 to rent. 2 bdrm will cost you over 1800-2000+ to rent. Lower floors generally have cheaper rent due to lack of view. I've heard East of Yonge is cheaper than West of Yonge but I'm not too sure about East of Yonge area. dt toronto geek on the forum knows though I think.
 
Hi AKS,

Thanks for your reply.

I probably didn't explain myself very well when I said small town feel. What I was going for is that for a large city, Toronto feelings very friendly and welcoming and that isn't a vibe you get in many big cities. I feel Toronto is a bit like New York (diversity, attractions, visually attractive) but much more manageable and liveable.

Thanks for the info on rentals. Do you happen to know if that sort of price ($1800-$2000) would generally include utilites?

One other thing that I just thought of. How badly do you feel the credit crunch has affected Toronto? Whats the job market like?

Thanks for all your help...it is invaluable!

Cheers
 
Usually the condos include utilities like water and stuff in your maintenance fee. But excludes Hydro. Old condo might still include Hydro like World Trade Centre. I heard they even include cable tv. However most have the basics and owner/renter pays Hydro. There's an ontario by-law forcing all condos to become individually metered by 2010. Some older ones have already installed, some may be waiting until last minute. However depending how much hydro you use your cost could vary.

Maintenance fee is around 50 cents/sq ft. Some might be higher or lower depending on the age and the building, management, and amenities.

As for the credit crunch. I think we are just starting to feel it. The affect already started around the world but we're starting to feel the after shocks. Whether we get hit as badly as other countries is unknown but I would like to think Canada is slightly better off because we are conservative. The job market won't be as good as before I think. The auto industry has already been hit. I suspect the financial industry will get hit next. With the major drop in market price for banks and having posted losses, they will most likely cut jobs. I also think the R&D will get hit. Since there's credit issues, I doubt many will be putting money into R&D.

However, from the looks of things construction industry will still do well. Toronto seems to have so much construction going on. There's little doubt there will be fewer buildings being built. But there's still the infrastructure they're trying to build like fixing up the streets, adding railways, fixing up stations, etc.

As for Tourism industry. I don't think that will do too well. People will probably be less likely to travel than before due to the credit crunch. Those who have money could afford but many probably have financial problems.
 
The "credit crunch" has affected Canada less than many other countries, so far at least, but we are not exempt. A distant relative of mine, in the travel industry, says that it is unfortunately a poor sector to be looking for work at the moment. Travel is the sort of spending that gets cut, when people become pessimistic, and in addition they are apparently losing share to the on-line services, which will probably be a permanent change. Sorry if that sounds a bit negative.

Living expense can be reduced by living a bit outside the downtown area. If you looked along the subway lines, but a bit farther out, you may find better bargains. Consider the High Park area, for one (15 minutes to downtown by subway), or the "uptown" area around Yonge and Eglinton.
 
I'm another potential TO resisdent from the UK. I'm currently in the midst of sorting myself out, getting some money together and hopefully I'll be coming over on a working holiday for a year. I've come on board this forum to get a bit of insight into how the people of TO feel about the place, see what goes on in and around the city and hopefully chat to a few cool people.
 
The pennies will be saved. It will no doubt get worse before it gets better but hopefully I'll still be able to get over (and pick up a job whilst there). I'm more about coming over to experience new things than make a fortune, so hopefully everything will work out fine.
 
We're a popular destination for folk from across the pond.

Not that they're a bellwether of British vacation preferences, but a couple of the guys who work in the fish and chip shop in rural Fakenham, Norfolk - where my Mother used to live - come here most years at Christmas and love Toronto's scene. The bars ... the snow ... that sort of thing. This year they even visited Niagara Falls to look at all the frozen water.
 
I've got a friend from Nottingham who I met when he first traveled here six or seven years ago. He has traveled quite extensively and says Toronto is among his favorate places to come back to. He comes back each summer (I happily put him up, he's a terrific guy) and stays 4-6 weeks. Our only caveat in his mind are our warm & humid summers.
 
I can deal with warm and humid. And snow. Not that we really get either of those weather types where I'm from. :)
 
Good luck, I have wanted to move to Toronto for a long time now to no avail. I really hope it works for you.

BTW, I agree with the notion that Toronto is like New York without the b.s. But that can be said for Canada as a whole in comparison to the US. Not sure I agree with the small town vibe... ;)
 
jimbogreen said:
- Where is a good (loaded question obviously!) place to live? I want to be downtown. I've stayed at the Sheraton on Queen st, and also at Younge & Bloor. What price should I expect for a 2 bed place? (i'm expecting it to be $1500-$2000...thats if my friend comes. if not, house share!). I like the entertainment district around Adelaide, but realise that would be mighty expensive!
Click to expand...

One useful tool to see if you are getting a good deal if you are renting is Rentometer. It won't tell you if the neighborhood is nice, but if you're looking in a specific area, it will show you similar listings in the immediate vicinity.
 
Hipster Duck said:
If by "b.s." you mean a centre for creative exchange of the highest magnitude I might agree with you too.
Click to expand...

Didn't you just rave about the mayor of Braddock, PA being a reason why America is "the most inventive nation on earth" or something to that effect?

If you love the US so much, why don't we trade social insurance number/social security numbers? I'll be happy to let you come south of the border overnight, so long as you agree your SIN will be mine forever and you can have my SSN. But I will be legally changing the name on your SIN to match mine.

If you think I'm joking, just give me a PM. The offer is on the table. You could be an American for life tomorrow.
 
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