# Moving to Toronto



## AmandaL (Feb 20, 2009)

Hello!

I'm new to the Canada Forum, been on the US site for 4 years, moved from the UK to Cali to Detroit...

So, we are now looking at another work relocation to the Toronto area. Things will move quickly and we will probably be moving in 6 weeks!

Anyway, I really need your advise! My husband will be working in Mississauga, ON. We have 2 small children (1&3), dog & 2 cats! We've been advised that roadworks on the freeway have made commuting miserable. Can anyone advise places to live? I want the best for our buck and we only have 1 car so my husband will be taking public transport and we want a max hour commute time  I love Burlington but it seems that the public transport route could be complicated & LONG, so maybe not an option. Another idea was the Victoria Park GoTransit station area..?

We are looking for parks, kid activities, good schools, beach access, good public transport links, nice community (less big box stores, more independent stores),reasonable cost of living.. I don't want much, do I?

Does anyone have any other ideas that we should be looking at? I'd really appreciate any advise you guys may have 

Thank you in advance,
Amanda


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## luvcanada (Nov 10, 2011)

You need to be more specific regarding in which part of Mississauga your husband will be working. Can you name the major intersection?


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## AmandaL (Feb 20, 2009)

Thanks Luvcanada - his office is at Orbitor Drive & Explorer Drive


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## luvcanada (Nov 10, 2011)

You are asking for a lot lot lot! What kind of housing are you looking for - house, townhouse or apartment? Looking to rent or buy? What kind of budget if renting or buying?

On a different topic... Is that Cali as in Columbia or Cali as in California? And Detroit? What part of Detroit or suburbs did you live in? Be prepared for sticker shock in the Toronto area.


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## colchar (Oct 25, 2011)

You could look in Mississauga (but *not* Malton despite it being close), Brampton, or Etobicoke.


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## EVHB (Feb 11, 2008)

I don't know why you are looking at Victoria Park. Or do you mean Centennial Park?


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## AmandaL (Feb 20, 2009)

California - long Beach...

And yes, I realize that it's going to be FAR more expensive than Detroit  We live in Detroit itself, Palmer Park area so 7 mile..

Since we will only be there a year, renting, furnished, if possible and due to the animals we need a house or town house..

I found a furnished place which looked perfect for our housing needs in The Beaches (?) but the owner said the nearest subway station was Victoria Park - 10 mins walk.. 

Budget wise, less is better but ideally a max of C$ 2500... Is this realistic?

Thanks for your responses so far


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## EVHB (Feb 11, 2008)

I wouldn't look in Toronto, but in Mississauga.

When we were looking for a furnished place in 2010, it was very very hard to find a place for $2,500/month (that accepted a dog).
We found a 2 bedroom apartment on Square 1 Mississauga but they didn't allow a dog. Finally we found an older small townhouse in Oakville for that price (the landlord was planning to sell the house because they were moving to Grimsby), so she didn't want to rent it for long and we only wanted it 4 months max as we were buying a property.

How many animals do you have, and what kind of animals?


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## AmandaL (Feb 20, 2009)

1 50lb dog (she's not a dangerous breed) and 2 cats


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## luvcanada (Nov 10, 2011)

Victoria Park is way too far from Orbitor Drive & Explorer Drive. It is on the opposite side of the city. It would take him about 2 hours to get to work by public transit and about an hour if he drove. You may want to check rentals in Mississaugua or near Dixie Rd and Lake Shore Blvd, almost due south of his work place. The latter location will put you near Lake Ontario. If you really want your husband to use public transit it will take him about an hour and two buses to get to work from there.

I am from Detroit and went to high school near Woodward Ave and West Grand Blvd, a few blocks from the old GM building.


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## colchar (Oct 25, 2011)

EVHB said:


> I don't know why you are looking at Victoria Park. Or do you mean Centennial Park?



The Victoria Park Go station is in the northwest end of Brampton, near the border with Caledon (it might actually be in Caledon). For where the job is located, Brampton is not an unreasonable place to consider living but, living there myself, I wouldn't go that far north based on where the job is and the necessity of using public transit. If driving it would be fine, but not on public transit.





AmandaL said:


> I found a furnished place which looked perfect for our housing needs in The Beaches (?) but the owner said the nearest subway station was Victoria Park - 10 mins walk..



OK, that is completely different from the Victoria Park Go station. The Go system and the subway (TTC) have nothing to do with each other.


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## colchar (Oct 25, 2011)

luvcanada said:


> Victoria Park is way too far from Orbitor Drive & Explorer Drive. It is on the opposite side of the city. It would take him about 2 hours to get to work by public transit and about an hour if he drove. You may want to check rentals in Mississaugua or near Dixie Rd and Lake Shore Blvd, almost due south of his work place. The latter location will put you near Lake Ontario. If you really want your husband to use public transit it will take him about an hour and two buses to get to work from there.
> 
> I am from Detroit and went to high school near Woodward Ave and West Grand Blvd, a few blocks from the old GM building.



I used to work on Explorer Dr. so know exactly where it is and Lakeshore Blvd. is waaaay south of where he will be working Traffic getting up there would be a complete pain in the arse.


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## luvcanada (Nov 10, 2011)

colchar said:


> I used to work on Explorer Dr. so know exactly where it is and Lakeshore Blvd. is waaaay south of where he will be working Traffic getting up there would be a complete pain in the arse.


According to Mississauga Transit, you can get from Dixie Rd and Lake Shore Blvd to Explorer Dr and Orbitor Dr. in 57 minutes using 2 buses if you are leaving around 7:00 AM.


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## AmandaL (Feb 20, 2009)

Thanks for your help - I'm just looking into Mississauga now - and looking more towards the airport than beach, unfortunately ;( but we do want to stick to one car if possible!


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## AmandaL (Feb 20, 2009)

Any ideas on finding furnished accommodation? I'm trying Craigslist but it's not to helpful


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## EVHB (Feb 11, 2008)

Mostly it's through companies, and maybe not in your preferred neighbourhood, and most of the time not houses but apartments.

mississauga relocation, Mississauga Furnished Apartments Mississauga, ON Home
Short Term Furnished Apartment Rentals Mississauga Extended Stay Corporate Housing Hotel Suite
Ovation Furnished Rentals & Long Term Rentals Mississauga I Corporate Housing Mississauga - BOMBAY SUITES
(Lot's of them at Square 1 ;-) )

Another option is renting a house, and separately renting furniture:
Furniture Rentals l Furniture Rental Mississauga l Staging Furniture l Stage to Fit Inc. (have a look at their Clearance section as it may be cheaper to buy used furniture)
Home Staging Toronto | Rent Furniture for Home Staging in Toronto | RentWOW.ca (cheapest dining set is +$300/month. Shock! Maybe go to a cheap furniture store and buy one for $500, later sell it for $200.
Some more furniture rental companies on Homestarts (a site where you can rate your suppliers): Furniture Rental in Mississauga reviews on HomeStars
It all looks pretty nice stuff, geared towards staging a house in order to get it sold. Not towards renting it out for 12 months.

Or you can pay a visit to Ikea and try to buy your furniture there. Or look online at Kijiji to buy used furniture.

Furniture stores that are not the most expensive:
Leon’s Furniture Canada - Home furnishings, appliances for every room with delivery included - Leon's 
Furniture, Mattress, Appliance and Electronics Store | The Brick

Maybe others here know other options?


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## luvcanada (Nov 10, 2011)

Try looking at Home

This is the main real estate website in canada. Just enter the city where you want to live and then fill in the form for type of transaction, amount of rent, type of building (house, townhouse, apartment), etc. The system will display locations for rental. You can move around the map to look in different places. Check out what you like. 

Use Mississauga.ca - MiWay - MiWay Home
then select *Plan your trip* and enter the work location and house location to get travel time using public transit. 

If you want contact one of the real estate agents to help you find a rental. This may save you a lot of time and headaches.


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## colchar (Oct 25, 2011)

luvcanada said:


> According to Mississauga Transit, you can get from Dixie Rd and Lake Shore Blvd to Explorer Dr and Orbitor Dr. in 57 minutes using 2 buses if you are leaving around 7:00 AM.




I drive in those areas regularly and I don't believe that for a second.


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## colchar (Oct 25, 2011)

AmandaL said:


> Thanks for your help - I'm just looking into Mississauga now - and looking more towards the airport than beach, unfortunately ;( but we do want to stick to one car if possible!



The area of Mississauga that is near the airport is called Malton (the airport is actually in Malton) and trust me when I tell you that you do _not_ want to live in Malton. My family moved from Malton to Brampton in '79 and we are still not too far from Malton. It is a complete dump.


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## luvcanada (Nov 10, 2011)

colchar said:


> I drive in those areas regularly and I don't believe that for a second.


I just used google maps and it says 18 minutes driving time at 9:30 on a Monday night using the same route as the bus. The bus trip time is 53 minutes, also at 9:30 Monday night. The distance is about 12 km.

To verify the google drive time, I also checked the driving time from my house to the Yonge/Finch subway. It gave a time which I believe is about right. So, I am assuming that google's drive times are about right.

I would not be surprised if driving is about 3 times faster than the bus which would mean about 48 minutes by bus - not far off the 53 minutes suggested by the transit app which included 9 minutes walking time and a 8 minute wait.


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## AmandaL (Feb 20, 2009)

We should be finding out tomorrow if the move is going ahead - at the moment we are 60% sure it is... Roll on tomorrow so I can start planning in ernest! But seriously, thank you for you help. I'll be back with more questions soon, I'm sure


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## colchar (Oct 25, 2011)

luvcanada said:


> I just used google maps and it says 18 minutes driving time at 9:30 on a Monday night using the same route as the bus. The bus trip time is 53 minutes, also at 9:30 Monday night. The distance is about 12 km.
> 
> To verify the google drive time, I also checked the driving time from my house to the Yonge/Finch subway. It gave a time which I believe is about right. So, I am assuming that google's drive times are about right.
> 
> I would not be surprised if driving is about 3 times faster than the bus which would mean about 48 minutes by bus - not far off the 53 minutes suggested by the transit app which included 9 minutes walking time and a 8 minute wait.




The routes you would take from Dixie & Lakeshore up to Explorer will be massively clogged with traffic during rush hour (Dixie is bad, Tomken is bad, the 427 is worse, etc.,etc.). I live very near there and am in the area regularly. Also, I used to work on Explorer Dr. so am very familiar with traffic in that area during rush hour. You couldn't pay me to make the drive from Dixie & Lakeshore up to Explorer drive during rush hour.


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## EVHB (Feb 11, 2008)

In the GTA, often things look so much better on a map. ;-)


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## luvcanada (Nov 10, 2011)

colchar said:


> The routes you would take from Dixie & Lakeshore up to Explorer will be massively clogged with traffic during rush hour (Dixie is bad, Tomken is bad, the 427 is worse, etc.,etc.). I live very near there and am in the area regularly. Also, I used to work on Explorer Dr. so am very familiar with traffic in that area during rush hour. You couldn't pay me to make the drive from Dixie & Lakeshore up to Explorer drive during rush hour.


Don't worry I would not pay anyone to drive anywhere around Toronto, unless it was my imaginary chauffeur.  Points taken, you have the experience.


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## AmandaL (Feb 20, 2009)

Sounds like LA - I thought I'd seen the last of that traffic!


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## WestCoastCanadianGirl (Mar 17, 2012)

It's worse than L.A.

I was born and raised in Vancouver (my Mom's family as well as my brother and his wife and their kids live in the GTA, so I've been to T.O. lots of times) and even I can't be persuaded to drive along the 401 or Lakeshore or Dixie Road because of the traffic.

As soon as I read "Lakeshore" and "Dixie Road" in this thread, I thought "Good luck to you... you will probably want to take transit."


Anyway, good luck to you and have a safe trip up!


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