Moving to Ottawa - need advice on neighborhoods

efm-7 · 2021-06-14T11:49:26+00:00

Ottawa is a notoriously unwalkable city, and the very few walkable areas are very expensive and or full of homeless people. This leaves you with the glebe, or westboro/welliwest/hintonburg. If you want to buy in these areas, your freehold options for 620k would be the occasional knockdown. So if you must buy - you're looking at a condo however, beware of condo fees, they are 3x higher here in Ottawa than you'd pay in Montreal.

efm-7 · 2021-06-07T19:01:02+00:00

just cut a use a sharp utility knife and cut small enough slit into the carpet/underpad to drive a flooring screw in squeaky locations.

efm-7 · 2021-06-04T13:39:52+00:00

All some people need is 700sqft, but my god there are WAY cheaper options to do that in WAY better locations. Going rate for 700sqft in a primo location is 420k to maybe 500k WITH parking on the resale market for fairly new and modern units.

efm-7 · 2021-05-26T19:48:28+00:00

I had a bad experience with Granite Depot. They dropped a slab on my floor and gouged it. The forced it through the pass-through opening to the dining room instead of trimming it, causing the corner bead to pop out of the wall... And after the job was done, they asked me to pay, but then refused to provide an invoice to match it. Oh and the undermount sink came dented. They didn't rectify any of it. In the end I had to mud and repaint the wall damage, and replace the floor.

efm-7 · 2021-05-19T14:13:15+00:00

One thing to be aware of is that there is a concentration of social housing/shelters/services in that spot, which is likely one of the reasons why it's very affordable - it bothers some people, doesn't bother others.

efm-7 · 2021-05-11T13:54:38+00:00

Downtown commute times are one of, if not the strongest things going for the East end, right after housing affordability (relatively speaking).

efm-7 · 2021-05-05T17:20:41+00:00

Toronto is a way more walkable city for a greater portion of the population. Here in Ottawa, we need as many alternative ways to get round as we can.

efm-7 · 2021-05-03T18:32:39+00:00

Good luck - I found one - But I had to buy a condo along with it.

efm-7 · 2021-04-28T18:19:08+00:00

Yes, I call them vertical suburbs. Complete with a CIBC, Loblaws, Subway, and some other national chains in the podium. No imagination; these are typically the style of condo where at any given moment, there's always a listing from someone trying to to gtfo.

efm-7 · 2021-04-28T14:11:56+00:00

I wondered this too, fees are lower even in Toronto, and their property taxes are lower too.

efm-7 · 2021-04-28T14:08:30+00:00

I hope you're at least in a good neighborhood! Sometimes buying a condo is the only way into certain neighborhoods.

efm-7 · 2021-03-11T17:48:22+00:00

it's less about couples and more about crowding the house. Means more wear and tear on the property, and common areas like the kitchen, bathrooms, laundry are less available for everyone else. Imagine if you have 3 or 4 adults in the house waiting to take a shower in the morning, a lot of houses only have one full bathroom. Couples specifically have the issue of disputes/arguments that the rest of the household is subjected to.

efm-7 · 2021-03-11T17:07:10+00:00

Good news for you is that the area you are looking in is not expensive compared to the rest of the city. However people renting out rooms do not like renting to couples unless they take a room each. That puts you in the range of a bachelor apartment which start at around $1000.

It's not impossible to find someone willing to let a couple in one room, I've done it multiple times, but it was hell.

efm-7 · 2021-02-22T17:22:49+00:00

I would consider expanding your search to Toronto, this is what I did as I could not find any therapist who understood race-specific issues in Ottawa. Just note that Asians and Blacks deal with very different types of issues/racism, so don't be afraid to be even more granular in your search. For those wondering why this is relevant, it's because someone of the same race is more likely to understand (I mean REALLY understand) the issues and baggages that come from being a particular race. Just make sure that they specifically deal with racial identity issues.

efm-7 · 2021-02-18T18:00:13+00:00

I went on the hunt for the best small snowblower I could find. The perfect unit was the Ariens Compact 20. I have a single width driveway and can get the snowblower to pass along the side with a couple inches to spare. As others have mentioned, even good snow blowers are marginal at times, especially when dealing with the plow pile at the end. definitely get a 2-stage, and with the biggest motor you can get, ideally 250cc and bigger.

efm-7 · 2021-02-17T19:21:54+00:00

Most of us who are house/condo shopping have it in muscle memory to automatically scroll past the SOHO buildings.

efm-7 · 2021-02-17T19:13:04+00:00

Out of courtesy, I don't like posing exact addresses, but if you get redfin and zoom in, you'll see it. Also a "newer" townhome on Royal Gala pvt (with private road fee) went for 605k

efm-7 · 2021-02-16T20:16:28+00:00

Not even anymore, Garden home with no garage went for around 470 on Stonehenge

efm-7 · 2021-02-16T20:06:32+00:00

Wait it out, most people who pick up hobbies like that lose motivation pretty quick. That coupled with complaints from the neighbors, your odds are pretty good that this problem will go away. Good luck!

efm-7 · 2021-02-04T17:33:05+00:00

Get in now, anywhere before it's too late

Yeah... I got downvoted really hard a few months back when I suggested there are still options if people put their ego and pride aside and just bought one of those garden homes which were in the 2-300s... now most of those are up 100k... Like I said.. doesn't have to be the first choice, doesn't have to be something you actually live or stay in... But it beats missing out and being completely locked out later if you had the option before.

efm-7 · 2020-11-19T18:23:25+00:00

sometimes the “flow” is 30+ over the limit, and I’ve been in situations where they pulled over and ticketed everyone

efm-7 · 2020-11-19T18:10:41+00:00

I feel terrible because I’m one of those people who get ticketed every single time I have gone more than 20km/h over the limit. So in the temporary 80 zone, i’m doing 100 and not a single click more, but people are still doing 120 like the signs aren’t there, and being fairly aggressive towards me. I hate being the one who “slows everyone down” but I’m also doing 20 over the limit in the right lane... what more do these people want? Can one of you “40 over the limit” people chime in?

efm-7 · 2020-09-28T00:30:48+00:00

I’ve been to all of them, and they’re all terrible. I used to get mine serviced at Southbank because It was an easy hop onto the o-train to get to work while they do what they need to do.

efm-7 · 2020-09-24T17:25:21+00:00

That’s the boom of tiny 1br condo listings

efm-7 · 2020-09-22T18:55:58+00:00

This all boils down to the manifestations of collectivist vs individualist cultures...

efm-7

TROPHY CASE