Bought a House!

Before we came here, we did a lot of research on the housing choices available here and the locations to live in. However, coming from a country like an India, you cannot really make a true judgement on which area to live in. The distances like I keep mentioning in several pieces in my blog are huge in Canada. To get around you definitely need transportation of your own, so the location you choose will depend on whether you drive or take public transport.

If you rely on public transport, then the choices are extremely few, if you are on a tight budget. Like with everything you buy, you have to pay a premium price for a premium product, however, with a common sense approach you may be in a position to find the right product at the right price. It is a personal choice and often advice in this area is very generic.

Things to factor in when choosing a location is purely convenience, proximity to schools, parks, shopping, recreation facility, friends, family, hospitals, doctors and several other things that you would like to add to the list. We took into account all of these things and made a choice to buy in Brampton, a small city West of Toronto and very close (driving distance) to the people that we stayed with.

While we tried to get everything right from the people that we spoke to and the advice that our real estate agent gave us, you will always make a mistake in some place and overlook something important. For us, which may not be true for you given your personal needs will be the kind of street that you live on. Our street is a cosmopolitan and has easy access to the major routes and all the items that I mentioned above. However, since it is a little lane off a major road, snow removal in our area is extremely delayed.

This is a major factor if you do not drive and have to walk to a bus stop. In the biting cold and this is something most people moving to Canada will never have experienced unless they have lived in areas closer to the North Pole, a street free of snow is very important. This is because as the snow melts and gets converted into ice, landing on your backside can do you serious damage.

Good luck on your home search and if you are like us, do make your choice on an area to live in after considering some of the things that I mentioned above. Therefore, start your home search in the winter rather than fall or spring as it will give you a true picture of how the streets are cleaned during those heavy snow storms.