[NefCanuck]

I drive up the 400 on weekends to see my dad. All I can say is when I started driving in '93 it was a milk run at 120km/h in the slow lane.

Nowadays, going up on a Saturday morning requires Rolaids for the indigestion I get from the cottage country yahoos who load up the minivan to bursting and weave their way to Barrie and other points north.

Trying the side roads is even worse, because everyone else has the same bright idea, meaning blasting down Weston Rd. to the 407 is no improvement...

NefCanuck

[mo_focus]

P-51,Jan 10 2006, 12: Wrote:Holy Heck, Mo's commute is pretty far, and you do that in 45-50 minutes?  That's not bad.  I guess it's only 25km, and I do 60 in the same time... but most of mine is at 140km/h on congested highways, surrounded by terrible drivers and a requiring a roof mounted machine gun... so I'd trade you any day. ;)
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Yeah i usually take the 400 South to Black Creek and then make my way down to Davenport. As for traffic 400S to 401 West gets very busy in the mornings. As long as you are going to either black creek or 401 East you are good. If you are serious abut living in that part of the town let me know. Obviously there is always short cuts that others dont know and it might help you shave some time off your clock. As for the machine gun idea, trust me, i have already looked into that. Apprerantly is illegal to have a gun on the roof top ;) damm freaking rules

[FociPhil]

P-51, i think youll be fine for an area like bolton if you are going to concorde/woodbridge area. North of Major Mac and your clear sailing, unless it a long weekend in the spring/summer/fall...then its pretty much stop and go.

[2001 ZTS]

Don't forget that things change over time, what is clear sailing today may be a disaster in 5 years. Driving the QEW through Oakville used to be clear sailing too not so long ago.

[FociPhil]

2001 ZTS,Jan 10 2006, 03:59 PM Wrote:Don't forget that things change over time, what is clear sailing today may be a disaster in 5 years. Driving the QEW through Oakville used to be clear sailing too not so long ago.
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very true, you might as well move to Saskatchewan, this place wont change in the next 10 years, and from what ive heard hasnt changed much in the last 10 years.

Except the native population.

The woodbrige/ Maple/ Concorde area has blown up like the world trade center over the last 5 years. And it s just getting worse.

Goes the GO train pickup in Bolton? cuz it goes to concorde and there are buses like mad everywhere there. that might be a good option for commuting.

[meford4u]

That's very true Andrew. You have to consider the time of day you will be travelling and whether this new job will allow you some flexibility in your hours, may they be at work or at home.
In my case, both my wife and I work midnights (12-8am) and the travelling is very light at that time of day. That's why we have the luxury of moving further away as it does not radically affect our travel time.
And don't be shocked by price sticker. It could be worse. I often wondered how people could afford the $400k+ houses on thier income. It takes work, but can be achieved. We are about to embark on a house that will cost us $500k+ but our carrying costs (mortgage and utilities) will only indebt us for another $500 a month. That's easily affordable to us as we were looking at the possibility of a new car with payments up to $1000 a month. Now were going to have to settle for the mustang and getting the cost down to $500 a month and break even.

Invest wisely and you real estate will benefit you in the end.

Don't let the price shock of housing be the final consideration for your move. You may not live in TO past 10+ years, but when you do move, that property should atelast grow by 50% and that would set you up nicely in the home of your dreams where housing prices are a little more realistic. Maybe in a nice suburban US location.

Or, you could move to SASK after that and buy the whole street! :lol:

[FociPhil]

meford4u,Jan 10 2006, 04:18 PM Wrote:Or, you could move to SASK after that and buy the whole street! :lol:
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No joke, dont laugh, you probly could.

[MAlby7]

P-51,Jan 9 2006, 01: Wrote:So, I'm being asked to go to TO for a job interview with a company with plants in Woodbridge and Concorde.

What's this area like up there?  How congested?  How crazy is the real estate?  Any new developments being built were you could get a new house?

I see it's right near the 400 and 407, so easy access to "cottage country", but the 400 must be a zoo on weekends?  I took the 407 through TO on Dec 23rd at 4:00, and it was pretty empty.  I'm surprised, from the 407 it looks like all farmland up there.  Is that true?
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I moved to Woodbridge just under 21 years ago. I was pretty much the first person in my subdivision. Highway 7 was a dirt road and Wonderland was just freshly built. Now it's as cluttered as Manhattan. Just kidding, it only gets really busy up here (streets not including highway) around rush hour and all day on the days before Christmas when shopping has to be done. Highway 400 North gets busy at Langstaff which is my exit so I never get stuck in the cottage country traffic. It's not as bad as people make it out to be. Everyone thinks that it's more congested than it is because some people only come through Woodbridge on the way up North and it's where they start to get stuck in traffic.

There are a bunch of new developments in the area not far from where I live in every direction. If you were to buy a used house on my street you're looking anywhere between $400,000 - $600,000 and they aren't really that big. my house is about 2700 sq-ft, 4 bedroom, 4 bathroom, double garage, finished basement. It suits us fine but there are gigantic houses not too far from me. About 2 minutes drive will bring you to "The National" Golf course (supposedly the best in Canada).

What will you like best about Woodbridge is the cars you will see. In the last summer I have seen the following cars in my area:

- 2 Ferrari Enzos, 1 of 6 Ferrari 575 Superamericas in Canada, Every other Ferrari available, Lambo Murcielagos, Gallardos, and Diablos, Bentley Continental Gt's, Porsche Carrera GT, and every other supercar available to North America. Porsche's and BMW's are as abundant as Civics.

If you have any other questions let me know and I'll answer them for you!

[mo_focus]

I’m just gona touch on one thing Malby said, the cars; you ask yourself well what the hell that has to do with you? Well after moving to this neighborhood I was very impressed to see all those fancy cars and seeing how rich ppl are in this end of the town. Instead of getting pissed at them bc they have more money then me. I'm trying to be like them. Not that I’m going to buy a Ferrari, but I want to do better in life. I'm going back to school, taking more courses and I want do well in life as well.

Sometimes it’s nice to see happy ppl around you, it will give you the confidence that hard working ppl do actually exist and hard work will pay off. Most of my neighbors are construction workers that work hard every day, at the end of the day they come home, take a shower and then drive their Bimmers/mercedes to go out. I know this will probably start some flame wars, but it’s just the truth.

Now just to make it clear, I have no respect for their kids. Those guys are a different story. Will touch that another day :)

[P-51]

Fast cars do nothing for me. They're rolling money pits, you can't use them to their potential on the streets, and they're too expensive to run hard on track. Those people are stupid for not just buying private planes. But that's another discussion.

I think I have pretty good starter info here guys. I'll ask again if I think of anything else. Thanks.

Sometimes I wish I could just win $1,000,000, not too much... Build a nice 2500 sq.ft. cabin in the woods at my parent's cottage (they have 16 acres across the road from the lake lot) and a 40x40 garage, buy toys for every season and enjoy life. Not too much to ask for. Up there, you could be pretty happy spending only $100,000 on a nice place.

[NOS2Go4Me]

P-51,Jan 11 2006, 07: Wrote:Fast cars do nothing for me.  They're rolling money pits, you can't use them to their potential on the streets, and they're too expensive to run hard on track.  Those people are stupid for not just buying private planes. But that's another discussion.

I think I have pretty good starter info here guys.  I'll ask again if I think of anything else.  Thanks.

Sometimes I wish I could just win $1,000,000, not too much...  Build a nice 2500 sq.ft. cabin in the woods at my parent's cottage (they have 16 acres across the road from the lake lot) and a 40x40 garage, buy toys for every season and enjoy life.  Not too much to ask for.  Up there, you could be pretty happy spending only $100,000 on a nice place.
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Agreed. You don't need a Ferrari to be happy. If you need a monster house and a Ferrari to be happy, you won't be happy for long after that. The notion of Icarus comes to mind here.

[P-51]

Well, things are progressing. 2 phone interviews, and they want me to head up there for a face to face now. We've been pre-approved to borrow up to $315k. Which is... pretty surprising.

[2001 ZTS]

P-51,Jan 20 2006, 08: Wrote:Well, things are progressing.  2 phone interviews, and they want me to head up there for a face to face now.  We've been pre-approved to borrow up to $315k.  Which is... pretty surprising.
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Not really surprising, the formula is 3.4 times your household gross which I assume is no less than.........calculator............315/3.4=.....$92G. Your place in Windsor is nice too, what's it going for these days?

[NOS2Go4Me]

P-51,Jan 20 2006, 08: Wrote:Well, things are progressing.  2 phone interviews, and they want me to head up there for a face to face now.  We've been pre-approved to borrow up to $315k.  Which is... pretty surprising.
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If at all possible, don't get too star-struck. Come in much lower and set yourself a ceiling below what your pre-approve is. Should your situation change down the road, you'll thank yourself.

[meford4u]

P-51,Jan 20 2006, 08: Wrote:Well, things are progressing.  2 phone interviews, and they want me to head up there for a face to face now.  We've been pre-approved to borrow up to $315k.  Which is... pretty surprising.
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Don't get too crazy with what the bank will give you. If you took what they will give you it would bury most people in less than 24 months. I am also in the process of moving and buying a new house and the bank told us with our downpayment of over $250k they would give us another $515k for a grand total of $765k for a new home. Yeah right.

I want to live in it not get sucked up by the fact I would owe every dollar I earned to be able to stay there.

Just be careful.

[P-51]

Andrew, that calc must be off, because it's more than that. It could be because of the way they calculate my US income. When I first got this house, they only valued my US income at 1.40, when it was 1.65 at the time. They were prophetic I guess. Maybe they're looking at an at-par dollar, or even worse in the near future?

I'm not worried about what they say we can get. We're excellent budgeters. We'll work that out ourselves. The chance of losing a job is always there, but it's just something you gotta deal with.

I know based on how this was figured, we'd have no problem. That number was based on the assumption we'd use equity from this house to pay off the Seadoo and S2. Those two monthly payments more than make up for the difference between what we're paying on the current mortgage, and the new one she's suggesting.

[P-51]

I'll be coming up Thursday night to meet with them on Friday morning, so this is progressing.

I've been doing more checking, and in line with what Andrew suggests, looked more locally in the Vaughan area. I'd consider getting rid of the WRX and biking into work if I could buy a house closer to work, and not have to commute.

In the Vaughan area, you're looking at $350k for a townhouse with single car garage.

Or, with a 30-40 minute drive from the country, you could get a 2500sq.ft single with a real lot and two car garage for the same price. Seems like a no brainer to me.

I even found one place with a 24x24ft garage, heated floor, hoist and 2 acres for less than $350k.

[Euro Ford Fan]

Rob it's too bad there isn't much down in the Niagara Region for you. House prices are still in control, we have lots of twisty roads to have fun on and two lapping tracks within a 30 minute drive.

FWIW Kristin and I just bought a 1500sqft Semi in Niagara on the Lake for $210.000

Best of luck and congrats again on being a Daddy!! Got the recaro baby seat in the WRC yet??

[P-51]

Sorry, that should have said: $350k for a townhouse, and STILL have to drive to work anyway. I can't find anything directly in Woodbridge. I don't it will only search "Vaughan".

Simon, those prices aren't too bad. That's about like Ottawa. It just sucks leaving Windsor where real estate is pretty much the cheapest out of an Canadian city.

Thanks! No, he's not big enough to fit in a Recaro yet. Those are only for larger babies, I think 20lbs+. I've already warned the wife though.

Also got me wondering "It's unsafe to put a baby seat in the front of a car because of the airbags. But... my Focus doesn't HAVE airbags anymore... " :)

[P-51]

Huh, won't let me search Woodbridge, so I have to GoogleEarth each house from Vaughan individually. Looks like I could walk to work from this place:

http://www.mls.ca/PropertyDetails.aspx?vd=...pertyID=4179958

Like, go out the back door, run across Pine Valley Dr. and be in the parking lot at work. Now that would be cool...

Google Earth shows this is near what appears to be new construction. Can anybody get me some info on this area for me, like... is it currently under contruction, builder's names and/or prices?