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Looking for places to live in Eastern Canada, thinking of Halifax. Thoughts? Info?

3K views 68 replies 29 participants last post by  greco 
#1 · (Edited)
My wife and I have been in Mexico for almost 6 months. We were hoping to find a place to live here but it doesn't look like it's going to happen. We were in BC for the last few years but it's way too expensive for us to buy a home there so we've been considering a few places in Eastern Canada. I'm pretty sure we could do the snow bird thing and skip at least three months of winter so the weather probably isn't that big a deal to us.

Montreal looks exciting but it's right at the top of our housing budget and I'm not sure I want to go back to real big city living. Halifax looks like it may be a good compromise with housing right in our price range and enough urban amenities

Any thoughts? TIA.
 
#14 · (Edited)
1) From what I've seen, visiting, and bringing our son back to school, Halifax/Dartmouth is a really nice place to live. I would say as high a quality of life as Victoria (where we lived for 4-1/2 years) although a wee bit snowier and cooler, being on the East, rather than West, coast. Dartmouth is cheaper than Halifax. Think of it like Esquimault is to Victoria. The suburbs are like suburbs anywhere, but "the peninsula" is lovely. Lots of small commercial properties available, so that means plenty of one-of-a-kind businesses. The new library is FABULOUS. I nice city for walking around in. Saturday mornings in the 3 farmers markets are wonderful. I loved Fredericton's farmers market on Saturday morning, but Halifax has 3 close to each other.

2) The Lunenberg county area is apparently an up-and-comer for folks past 50. Lunenburg and Municipality of Lunenburg, Nova Scotia Same weather, I gather. Not THAT far from Halifax. Don't know what your comfort range is with prices, but these seem pretty reasonable. https://www.point2homes.com/CA/Real-Estate-Listings/NS/Lunenburg.htmlhttp://www.lunenburg.ca/

3) Kingston is quite nice, although I think a bit pricier than the east coast. There's a LOT of ex-GTA folks who look for properties in the 1000 Islands region, and that tends to drive the prive up. Not quite Mexican climes, but anything close to Lake Ontario is generally minimal snow when we make our Ottawa-to-Orillia pilgrimage every Christmas break. Drive 25km north of the lake or St.Lawrence, and the snow returns. It's a bit like the difference between Duncan and Victoria.
 
#19 ·
Gananoque is kinda cute. You cantraipse through it via Streetview. We went to a literary festival there two years ago that we quite enjoyed. Home

Not a LOT of good places to eat, but both Kingston and Belleville aren't far away. A surfeit of Victorian era homes. Close to the Ivy Lea bridge that brings you stateside.
 
#20 ·
We liked the Bridgewater NS area when we visited several times. Also liked PEI a lot, in fact Mrs. Mooh all but begged me to return home alone and return with all our belongings. Several places along the St. John River NB, not far off the Trans Canada were lovely too.
 
#22 · (Edited)
It's funny. The old highway, pre-mid-1990s, ran right beside the St. John River for much of the province. The new highway (near 20 years old now) steers clear of the St. John River for much of its length. Efficient movement through the province, to be sure, but you wouldn't know anyone lived in New Brunswick, outside of Edmonston and a suburb of Moncton. The good news is: less traffic through the riverside communities. The bad news is: less traffic through the riverside communities. Pretty, though.

I concur with Wardo about Kingston's size. I don't know what the "magic number" is, but there is a certain city size, when it becomes big enough to have all the amenities, culture, and vibrancy, but not so big that you dread driving across town. I liked that about both Halifax and Victoria, and it's true of Kingston as well. London ON is probably about the same. Personally, I found Belleville, Fredericton, and Brandon to be juuuuussssst a bit too small for my tastes.

I wonder if there is any national list/ranking of "best cities to take your dog for a walk in".
 
#21 ·
I liked Kingston when I was at school there; big enough town but not too big and it’s a university town in the traditional sense.

Move to Toronto, even the most simple innocuous activity here is a race to the finish and every man for himself ... lol
 
#25 ·
A couple of my friends are in the same position, "retirement relocation project" a few positive comments on New Brunswick, remember this is only on housing cost other factors such as amenities were not discussed.
I prefer to move to a border town in Ontario (Sarnia, Windsor, Niagara Falls, Cornwall etc...
Big decisions coming fast!!
 
#26 ·
The Niagara region would be one of the places i would look at. Weather seems milder than in Ottawa area, a few hours away from T.O. Dont know about housing prices though. Quebec city is probably one of the nicest cleanest places to live. Montreal is too big for my likings but its a vibrant city with a lot of nightlife. PEI would be another place i would choose just because of how pretty it is. Best of luck choosing.
 
#27 ·
My father moved from Quebec to Sussex, New Brunswick in the late '90's and fell in love in with the maritimes. He retired about 7 years ago and moved to Halifax and absolutely loves it. He had an opportunity to move to B.C. and declined as the maritimes is home for him. He is a snowbird and travels plenty so doesn't get any winter exposure. A friend also moved to Bathurst for a few years and loved the area enough that he bought a place for summer vacation and possibly retiring. This is a few years back and the real estate pricing was so attractive, it was a fairly easy decision.

I went to school in Quebec City and the winters were harsh although many friends still live there today with their families.

All the best with your decision.
 
#28 · (Edited)
@Jim Soloway Welcome back! I have been reading some of your posts over on the Jazz Guitar Forum.

I have nothing to back up my suggestion. However, I found Quebec City to be the nicest Canadian city I have ever visited. Admitted, I prefer cities with a 'European flavour' and I like historical architecture.
I have never actually "lived" in Quebec City and know very little about it in general.

I will also put a plug in for Kitchener-Waterloo and the surrounding communities.

Apart from housing costs, are there other criteria that rank high?

Cheers

Dave

EDIT:
This might be of interest to you...
https://www.guitarscanada.com/index.php?posts/659730/
 
#34 ·
@Jim Soloway Welcome back! I have been reading some of your posts over on the Jazz Guitar Forum.

I have nothing to back up my suggestion. However, I found Quebec City to be the nicest Canadian city I have ever visited. Admitted, I prefer cities with a 'European flavour' and I like historical architecture.
I have never actually "lived" in Quebec City and know very little about it in general.

I will also put a plug in for Kitchener-Waterloo and the surrounding communities.

Apart from housing costs, are there other criteria that rank high?

Cheers

Dave

EDIT:
This might be of interest to you...
https://www.guitarscanada.com/index.php?posts/659730/
Hi Dave

Thanks for the link. I'll definitely dive into that one as well.

I have the some of the same concern about Quebec City as I do about Montreal. I'm not sure I want to deal with urban congestion and after 6 months in Mexico, I'm not sure I want to be a linguistic outsider in the city where I live. That becomes accentuated by some of my other priorities.

I generally don't talk much about this but since I've already raised the subject of sobriety in this thread I may as well get to the point. I've been clean and sober for a very long time and that a very central part of my life. So one of my important priorities is a vibrant recovery community and preferably a strong NA fellowship. That's one of the reasons why language is an issue.

Other than that I prefer moderate weather in the summer. We power walk and hike pretty much every day so good trails (preferably unpaved) are a huge plus. Good libraries are a priority. We don't eat out a lot so the restaurant scene is not a big deal to us (other than as a place to play music). Access to natural beauty is always a pleasure. Access to medical care is important. Will we be able to find a family doctor? Since we're planning to go away for much of the winter, access to international flights is important. We both prefer moderate politics (assuming such a thing still exists). And a sense of community and a concern for the common well being would be a welcome plus.
 
#30 ·
I used to live in Quebec for thirty years... Went to Rimouski for work and came back in Quebec area two years ago. In, fact, on south shore, Levis, since I did not want to live in "greater" Quebec area anymore : I do not like big cities noises... West zone of Levis is made of former little villages... Quiet suburbs now... All services are available in central Levis and nearby northshore Quebec. And you are already nearby Transcanadian Highway (two hours from Montreal).
Only drawback I could see : not sure English is talked much on the streets overhere.
Quebec is attractive but they just annouced yesterday they will launch their mobility megaproject...
After some years of road transformation nightmare, they are on the verge to begin a six to eight years of transformations of their major streets and boulevards, since the tramway is deemed to travel mainly (except two short tunnels) on the middle line !
 
#35 ·
If you want quiet and quaint, what about Picton? You're avoiding a lot of winter so that shouldn't be a problem.
Yes, great suggestion IMO. Prince Edward County in general is certainly worth looking into. Not sure about the 'libraries' criteria being met there and you would have to travel a bit to get to an airport with international flights.

Thanks for the link. I'll definitely dive into that one as well.
It is more of a giggle than anything and it does get quite silly in parts. Do'n expect anything very enlightening from it.
 
#38 ·
We have good beer and donairs.
My first donairs were in the Halifax Shopping Mall. A very nice Lebanese family ran a little place there.


I am from New Brunswick but lived in the Halifax/Dartmouth area for 6 years. The only downside I could see is sometimes you get a fair amount of dreary weather (fog, rain). The summers are also shorter than other parts of Canada that are further away from the Atlantic Ocean. The warmest the ocean gets is 44 C, so even June can be cool. If you don't mind that, you are fine. Fredericton would be a better choice for me but is quite a bit smaller than Halifax with a population of 65,000.
 
#43 ·
I moved back to Halifax from Toronto about a year and a half ago, for similar reasons with housing.
I now have a 3 year old, 4 bedroom 3.5 bathroom house about a 10 minute drive from downtown Halifax, and my mortgage with property tax is about $300 less than my rent was on a one bedroom condo in dt Toronto.
This has been the best winter I think we have ever had with lots of plus temp days, and about 3 snowfalls that have lasted more than a couple days on the ground. There will be less to do than bigger city's, but still plenty. If you're sober vegetarians there are several vegan and veggie type restaurants that people seem to like.
The good thing about less to do is that you have more gear money. What else is there to say.
 
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