Relocating to Toronto
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- megE
Hey Torontonians,
I'm curious what are nice, decent, safe, and lesser expensive areas to look for housing in downtown... the job is at Dufferin St & Liberty St. I'll most likely have some soft of metro pass, but I wouldn't mind being able to walk or bike to work. I would like to be close to some sort of park or dog park... if possible.
I'm casually scanning craigslist looking at prices, but not really knowing what I'm looking at....
I'm trying to find something that's $800 all inclusive with utilities (optimally)...
Help? :\
- neue75_bold0
personally I preferred the east end of queen street, Riverview area.. it's about a 30 min commute by tram to king and dufferin and you might be able to find something in your price range... If you wanna stay in the west, around ossington & queen or dundas is a decent area... bear in mind I haven't lived there in about 6 years...
- sorry, it's Riverdale, not "viewi"neue75_bold
- idiot!Hombre_Lobo
- sleepyfatso0
Everyone there is asleep now. Have to wait till the morning for an answer. Early city. There is a great breakfast place called Bonjour Brioche somewhere in Toronto, you should go there for brunch.
- on degrassi, in riverdale..neue75_bold
- I lived a 3 min walk from there for 5 years, only ate there once...neue75_bold
- I don't eat breakfast so, it was kinda wasted on me..neue75_bold
- How come you left?sleepyfatso
- I hated toronto... not many career options, too close to america ;)neue75_bold
- Gotcha. I live in Newfoundland now. On an island just like you...sleepyfatso
- weren't you in the uk for a while?neue75_bold
- Yeah, Lived there for 7 years. Going back for a few months for work in Feb thoughsleepyfatso
- megE0
Thanks I'll bump this in the mornin' :)
- Gucci0
Decent, safe, lesser expensive ≠ Toronto.
$800 all in sounds a tad cheap.How big a space are you looking for?
- _niko0
I know of a beautiful loft 30 feet from the beach with an amazing lake view that my boss is trying to rent out. It's $1400 though. Also on the east end though.
- _niko0
...wait you don't have a suitcase full of money hidden in a couch that you're trying to smuggle out of Thailand do you?
- exador10
there's a place at Queen and Noble. Barton Rugs. they have a small set of about 4 apartments above the store. all of them are amazing. Lived there for several years back in the 90's.
It's steps from Dufferin, so that's a plus for ya, and the area is amazing (Parkdale sure has changed man....used to be a hellhole back in the day, but now it's awesome).
If you've ever heard of the blog www.yougrowgirl.com she and her hubby live there on the top floor...so you can probably see some photos of the patio garden atleast on her blog....
the appartments are super nice, clean and probably within your price range.
it looks funky from the back parking lot, but trust me...it's like camoflage....very nice inside...
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&…from teh front (oh it's next door to a really nice cafe, so that's a plus too)
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&…- Parkdale, awesome?
* does triple takeneue75_bold - It is way the fuck out there, but definitely a nice location...DoktorDavid
- the Gladstone, The Drake etc...when i lived there it was all cracked out..now it's become a destination....exador1
- Parkdale, awesome?
- 80fts0
East of downtown along Queen or Dundas is cheaper than the west, and a bit more mature. Leslieville, Riverdale. You won't get much for $800 unless you are ok with a basement apartment.
You might also look into the Annex. Student area in the west, south of Bloor. You could find a basement apartment there for $800 I bet.
And you might look in Parkdale or on Roncesvales in "West Queen West". It's an uber trendy area crawling with hipsters and the homeless. You could find a total dump there for that much, and it's pretty close to your work.
The Gay Village is pretty cheap, right downtown and lots of fun. Parts of it are really seedy though.
A last resort would be the Beach but that's getting pretty far east and a bit too close to Scarborough where, I hear, if you spend too much time, you start calling everybody 'guy'.
My first place was three years ago in Little India. Big one bedroom for $900 plus. Great food, but it's a bit of a dead spot in the winter and a drag for public transit. You basically have to transfer twice to get anywhere. You want to avoid that, it's a major time vampire. Try to live somewhere where you can take one line directly to work. Also, a good rule of thumb is if there's a streetcar line on a street, there's a good amount of 'life' like cafés and bars etc.
- utopian0
Bon Voyage Meg...
- megE0
I don't need a ton of room - it's basically me, a dog, a couch and my computer. (this is depressing, I move way too often) and I'm ok with living in a basement as long as it's safe...
*bump for morning folk :)
- Tungsten0
You probably won't find anything other than a basement for 800, and that may not even get you into good neighbourhood. If you can stretch your budget to $1000 you could probably find a nice bachelor in the Annex or High Park / Roncesvales. You'll see alot of listings for the King and Jamieson area that seem really cheap, but there's a reason for that (and if it's cheap, it's not really in Liberty Village).
- MrDinky0
Annex would fit your budget.
I dont like the area between East of Young or around Young in downtown. Gets sketchy at night. Going west is always better, in my opinion. Queen West around Trinity park would be lovely.
- pylon0
Meg, If you're working in working in Liberty Village (King and Dufferin) there's loads of places for fairly cheap in the area, which called Parkdale once you're east of Dufferin. It's a pretty decent, if sketchy, area and because Toronto's transit system is complete bollocks it's best to live near work, or live and work near the subway — the streetcars are slow as hell.
Queen street, just north of you has become real hipster central in the last ten or so years. If you're just moving to town it's probably not a bad idea to be around all that; galleries, gladstone, drake, etc etc.
If you don't find the perfect place to say, just sublet or rent month-to-month somewhere for a while and once you've got a better idea of how the city works then start looking for better place in earnest.
- Totally agree. Parkdale is a great place to be but has become a bit trendy through gentrificationscrap_paper
- mrblack0
yup, I agree with pylon...I live on the edge of Parkdale, just north of Queen and Gladstone...Parkdale isn't really that sketchy, and there are a lot of great restaurants and bars in the hood...
- OSFA0
Yay! so you got the job! ;) Congrats again. Now, why settle for $800? Instead go to the mall, spend $250 on slutty clothes and find a rich guy ;) Preferably a lawyer, since you like those hehe.
- exador10
not sure if Dinky already posted this one, but here goes...
http://toronto.en.craigslist.ca/…
http://maps.google.com/?q=loc:+1…
- ross0
a friend of mine is looking for good people to rent out an apartment above his coffee shop that is abotu to open...
its on dundas near Roncesvalles. email me if youre interested, and i can send you their number...
prolly a 8 minute bike ride to king and dufferin... parks and stuff around for dags.
parkdake is really close and quite cheap.., a little crackwhoreish, but ive never ran into any problems there, or felt unsafe...
- megE0
Thanks everyone!
Yes, got the job, signed the papers tonight :)
I'm stoked (minus the moving again... I hate that part)
- http://www.viewit.ca…
is usually pretty good for apt. hunting in torontopolyestercorp
- http://www.viewit.ca…