Downtown vs Suburbia living?

[phd1969]

What is your preference and why? I'm still deciding where I should purchase my new home. I'm a young guy with no responsibility other than my dog and it's either between a 1 bedroom condo or a 3-4 bedroom townhome in the burbs.

[chinaboy1021]

depends on where you work and play.

personally, i'm totally down for a studio apartment or loft @ lakeshore. i like the nightlife downtown and contemporary homes.

[phd1969]

Work doesn't really matter because I work at home and my desk is 3 steps away from my bed. I did however work in The Market for people familiar with Ottawa and absolutely loved the atmosphere. Plus girls love guys with downtown condos.

[UrbanPoet]

get the condo. If its in a desireable hood you could rent it out or sell it when you need a bigger home.
yuor a young guy... so you wanna go for the life style (y)

[adobedream]

if it was just a dog and myself a dt condo would be perfect, however i have the wife and baby girl and we're in 'sauga now... I did put up a bit of a fight to stay dt though. (i lost obviously)

[hugh_da_man]

live downtown

Then it's an easy cab ride or walk whenever you gotta take "someone" "somewhere".

[jm20]

Two choices:
1) live DT and enjoy a promiscuous lifestyle
2) live in 'Sauga, enjoy a promiscuous lifestyle, and sublet your home for $$$

I'd choose the latter, but I am biased.

[wali]

Downtown is the most depressing place you could live in Toronto - unless off course you're insensitive and rich with some serious self-image issues. ;)

[lkn4deals]

Two choices:
1) live DT and enjoy a promiscuous lifestyle
2) live in 'Sauga, enjoy a promiscuous lifestyle, and sublet your home for $$$

I'd choose the latter, but I am biased.


i think that not only are you 'biased', but a little delusional about mississauaga

[AloneInACrowd]

I live downtown and it'll be really wierd to live anywhere else. I'm used to be able to walk anywhere I need. Grocery store, Movie Store, Convenience, Resteraunts, Hair Dresser are all within walking distance. While anything else is a TTC ride away :D

[felixdd]

Downtown, definitely.

Property price more stable (I think).

[kilarney]

Things to consider:

Do you like commuting via Highways or arterial roads or even the bus?
Property tax can be higher in downtown compared to suburbia
Management fee from Condo unless you rent
3-4 bedroom townhouse? Are you going to rent the rooms to earn $$$?
Do you like nightlife?
Some condo might not be pet friendly like the one next to mine

Personally I like living in my neighbourhood right now (North York Centre), close to amenities, North York Civic Centre, TTC Finch/North York Centre/Sheppard Yonge within walking distance, ok nightlife, office towers etc.

If you like Downtown, there are all those new developments along King West such as Liberty Village...

[Sajjad]

What about the condos in Mississauga, near Square 1?

[Bullseye]

I live in Burlington, and it's a nice city, but we only live here because we have a child, and plan to have more. If we were childless and staying that way, we would definitely have bought in the big city. For the OP, I would say buy the condo...what do you need 3 bedrooms for? We have people like that on my street, 2500 sq ft homes, but they live their by themselves! Why pay all that money for the house, property taxes, heating, etc when you don't need it?

'Property tax can be higher in downtown compared to suburbia'

It's actually quite a bit cheaper, the burbs all have higher multiplier rates than Toronto. Toronto residents also get many services for free that we have to pay for.

[Carbo]

HE LIVES IN OTTAWA

Read the thread, enough about telling him to move to "sauga" and stuff about Toronto. Centre of the Universe syndrome

[Bullseye]

HE LIVES IN OTTAWA

Read the thread, enough about telling him to move to "sauga" and stuff about Toronto. Centre of the Universe syndrome

The debate is the same, though, really, isn't it? Downtown vs. suburbs is the issue, doesn't matter what city.

[Sajjad]

HE LIVES IN OTTAWA

Read the thread, enough about telling him to move to "sauga" and stuff about Toronto. Centre of the Universe syndrome



Work doesn't really matter because I work at home and my desk is 3 steps away from my bed. I did however work in The Market for people familiar with Ottawa and absolutely loved the atmosphere. Plus girls love guys with downtown condos.

KEYWORD: DID....NOT DO.
You read the thread.

[phd1969]

I still do live in Ottawa, I was referring to where I was working because I now work at home as opposed to downtown so commute to work is not an issue that I should factor.

[keanefan]

house with a backyard is better for the dog.

house is quieter.

living in a condo, you might have to deal with your neighbour's noise

I prefer a single home rather than a duplex, a townhouse or 2 houses attached. Much more privacy (no neighbour noise) and safer (don't have to worry about your neighbour accidently starting a fire)

if you have a backyard, you can bbq

living in a house, you might meet your neighbours

if you plan to marry and have kids, a house is better

[go leafs]

Downtown Ottawa is great with the market... lots of restaurants, a grocery store, bike trails etc. You might not even need a car, which would free up a large part of your income (just use RFD deals when you need one ;) )

There are a bunch of new developments all over downtown. http://charlesfortdevelopments.com is one of the better builders. You can check out this thread on another site for a list of recently built, proposed, and under construction projects. http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/showthread.php?t=29558&page=43

This is one of the best sites for info
http://www.condosottawa.com/

[twinstars]

I would say look at your near term plans....if you plan on staying single for a while, then I would say go with the condo, no point paying for all the extra space if you don't need it. Of course, that is unless you don't mind renting the place out and sharing your home with others, in that case, it is a good investment idea to buy a home and sublet to others.

If you plan on starting a family in a couple of yrs, then I would definitely say just go for the home, it will save you the hassle of moving again later.

[phd1969]

Downtown Ottawa is great with the market... lots of restaurants, a grocery store, bike trails etc. You might not even need a car, which would free up a large part of your income (just use RFD deals when you need one ;) )

There are a bunch of new developments all over downtown. http://charlesfortdevelopments.com is one of the better builders. You can check out this thread on another site for a list of recently built, proposed, and under construction projects. http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/showthread.php?t=29558&page=43

This is one of the best sites for info
http://www.condosottawa.com/

I was looking at the new Hudson development by Charleston but it is too much in the downtown core and I would have no place to walk my dog. Right now I'm looking at Opus by Ashcroft or Dwell by Domicile. They are not in the Market but near Elgin which has a very similiar vibe. I'm a big fan of Domicile and what they did with the Argyle Studio, it's a beautiful space.

[jm20]

HE LIVES IN OTTAWA

Read the thread, enough about telling him to move to "sauga" and stuff about Toronto. Centre of the Universe syndrome

Ok all funny business aside, I think someone is jealous that they live in the boonies ;)

[FastFokker]

I live downtown and enjoy it.. it's more alive, you're close to things, there's no long commute from the suburbs, along with the thousands of other cars commuting from the suburbs.

I think it's healthier too, as you can just walk (and prefer to as parking is a biiatch) to local businesses for things. In the sub's you're forced to drive your butt everywhere. The ONLY thing I don't like about living in the downtown area (that I can think of off hand) is the sirens from police/ambulance/fire.. there's probably one waking me up in the middle of the night about 3-4 times a week.

[kingfencer]

i like the burbs, its quite, but driving to downtown when you want to do stuff sucks, stuck behind a crowed dvp everday.

[Audiogenic]

If you get a condo, make sure its not a 1 or 3 bedroom as they both don't sell as easy as a 2 bedroom does. You also don't want to be on a very high floor (under 8th) as heat rises plus it's a much longer walk down in case of a fire not to mention longer wait times for the elevator. Last thing is make sure you aren't close to an elevator or the garbage chute.

[mattpiloto]

I prefer living on the edge of town (Edmonton), but I have a family. The only thing I don't like is the drive in to work everyday. To be fair, Edmonton traffic is fairly light. When I can I ride my bike. If I were single though and planned to stay that way for awhile, I'd likely get a condo closer to downtown, for all the reasons everyone else listed.