# Looking for places to live in Eastern Canada, thinking of Halifax. Thoughts? Info?



## Jim Soloway (Sep 27, 2013)

My wife and I have been in Mexico for almost 6 months. We were hoping to find a place to live here but it doesn't look like it's going to happen. We were in BC for the last few years but it's way too expensive for us to buy a home there so we've been considering a few places in Eastern Canada. I'm pretty sure we could do the snow bird thing and skip at least three months of winter so the weather probably isn't that big a deal to us.

Montreal looks exciting but it's right at the top of our housing budget and I'm not sure I want to go back to real big city living. Halifax looks like it may be a good compromise with housing right in our price range and enough urban amenities

Any thoughts? TIA.


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## Robert1950 (Jan 21, 2006)

Do some research into the weather out there over the last year or so. It can be,... less boring , than Vancouver.


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## cboutilier (Jan 12, 2016)

We have good beer and donairs.


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## Jim Soloway (Sep 27, 2013)

cboutilier said:


> We have good beer and donairs.


We're sober vegetarians  What else do you have?


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## gtrguy (Jul 6, 2006)

Lots of beautiful nature, nice people, and a relatively low cost of living. Lots of great musicians, limited live venues.


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## Jim Soloway (Sep 27, 2013)

Robert1950 said:


> Do some research into the weather out there over the last year or so. It can be,... less boring , than Vancouver.


I've looked. I probably wouldn't consider it if I had to stay all winter but I think we can go somewhere warm for a stretch like December 15 to March 15. As for Vancouver, buying a home is so far out of our range that I doubt if we could buy a closet.


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## Diablo (Dec 20, 2007)

I wouldn't mind retiring out east some day, near the ocean...maybe Moncton. PEI is nice as well.


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## johnnyshaka (Nov 2, 2014)

Thoughts on Ottawa? Not too big and yet not too small. Plenty of amenities...1.5 hour drive to Montreal if that's a place you really like.


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## vadsy (Dec 2, 2010)

Jim Soloway said:


> We're sober vegetarians  What else do you have?


I'm very sorry to hear that,,. is it by choice?


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## LanceT (Mar 7, 2014)

Vancouver sucks anyway.

There are many lovely areas in this country that are worthy but for your winter caveat.


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## Jim Soloway (Sep 27, 2013)

vadsy said:


> I'm very sorry to hear that,,. is it by choice?


Vegetarian by choice. Sober since 1989 by absolute necessity.


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## Jim Soloway (Sep 27, 2013)

I should probably add that we've also considered Ottawa, Kingston, and Moncton. Halifax just seems to check the most boxes for me (especially for housing) while my wife likes tbe idea of Montreal.


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## gtrguy (Jul 6, 2006)

Quebec City is pretty fantastic too... especially if you're not spending the winter there. Another option to consider.


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## mhammer (Nov 30, 2007)

1) From what I've seen, visiting, and bringing our son back to school, Halifax/Dartmouth is a really nice place to live. I would say as high a quality of life as Victoria (where we lived for 4-1/2 years) although a wee bit snowier and cooler, being on the East, rather than West, coast. Dartmouth is cheaper than Halifax. Think of it like Esquimault is to Victoria. The suburbs are like suburbs anywhere, but "the peninsula" is lovely. Lots of small commercial properties available, so that means plenty of one-of-a-kind businesses. The new library is FABULOUS. I nice city for walking around in. Saturday mornings in the 3 farmers markets are wonderful. I loved Fredericton's farmers market on Saturday morning, but Halifax has 3 close to each other.

2) The Lunenberg county area is apparently an up-and-comer for folks past 50. Lunenburg and Municipality of Lunenburg, Nova Scotia Same weather, I gather. Not THAT far from Halifax. Don't know what your comfort range is with prices, but these seem pretty reasonable. https://www.point2homes.com/CA/Real-Estate-Listings/NS/Lunenburg.htmlhttp://www.lunenburg.ca/

3) Kingston is quite nice, although I think a bit pricier than the east coast. There's a LOT of ex-GTA folks who look for properties in the 1000 Islands region, and that tends to drive the prive up. Not quite Mexican climes, but anything close to Lake Ontario is generally minimal snow when we make our Ottawa-to-Orillia pilgrimage every Christmas break. Drive 25km north of the lake or St.Lawrence, and the snow returns. It's a bit like the difference between Duncan and Victoria.


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## butterknucket (Feb 5, 2006)

Kingston is very nice. 

Have you thought of the Niagara region?


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## cboutilier (Jan 12, 2016)

gtrguy said:


> Lots of beautiful nature, nice people, and a relatively low cost of living. Lots of great musicians, limited live venues.


Add in the shitty roads, and rusty cars and you've got it down to a tee.


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## Jim Soloway (Sep 27, 2013)

mhammer said:


> 1) From what I've seen, visiting, and bringing our son back to school, Halifax/Dartmouth is a really nice place to live. I would say as high a quality of life as Victoria (where we lived for 4-1/2 years) although a wee bit snowier and cooler, being on the East, rather than West, coast. Dartmouth is cheaper than Halifax. Think of it like Esquimault is to Victoria. The suburbs are like suburbs anywhere, but "the peninsula" is lovely. Lots of small commercial properties available, so that means plenty of one-of-a-kind businesses. The new library is FABULOUS. I nice city for walking around in. Saturday mornings in the 3 farmers markets are wonderful. I loved Fredericton's farmers market on Saturday morning, but Halifax has 3 close to each other.
> 
> 2) The Lunenberg county area is apparently an up-and-comer for folks past 50. Lunenburg and Municipality of Lunenburg, Nova Scotia Same weather, I gather. Not THAT far from Halifax. Don't know what your comfort range is with prices, but these seem pretty reasonable. https://www.point2homes.com/CA/Real-Estate-Listings/NS/Lunenburg.htmlhttp://www.lunenburg.ca/
> 
> 3) Kingston is quite nice, although I think a bit pricier than the east coast. There's a LOT of ex-GTA folks who look for properties in the 1000 Islands region, and that tends to drive the prive up. Not quite Mexican climes, but anything close to Lake Ontario is generally minimal snow when we make our Ottawa-to-Orillia pilgrimage every Christmas break. Drive 25km north of the lake or St.Lawrence, and the snow returns. It's a bit like the difference between Duncan and Victoria.


Really useful info. Thanks. (And Deborah thanks you too).


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## Jim Soloway (Sep 27, 2013)

butterknucket said:


> Kingston is very nice.
> 
> Have you thought of the Niagara region?


We have. It's possible but at least on the internet, Kingston did a better job of impressing my hard-to-impress significant other


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## mhammer (Nov 30, 2007)

Gananoque is kinda cute. You cantraipse through it via Streetview. We went to a literary festival there two years ago that we quite enjoyed. Home

Not a LOT of good places to eat, but both Kingston and Belleville aren't far away. A surfeit of Victorian era homes. Close to the Ivy Lea bridge that brings you stateside.


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## Mooh (Mar 7, 2007)

We liked the Bridgewater NS area when we visited several times. Also liked PEI a lot, in fact Mrs. Mooh all but begged me to return home alone and return with all our belongings. Several places along the St. John River NB, not far off the Trans Canada were lovely too.


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## Wardo (Feb 5, 2010)

I liked Kingston when I was at school there; big enough town but not too big and it’s a university town in the traditional sense.

Move to Toronto, even the most simple innocuous activity here is a race to the finish and every man for himself ... lol


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## mhammer (Nov 30, 2007)

Mooh said:


> We liked the Bridgewater NS area when we visited several times. Also liked PEI a lot, in fact Mrs. Mooh all but begged me to return home alone and return with all our belongings. Several places along the St. John River NB, not far off the Trans Canada were lovely too.


It's funny. The old highway, pre-mid-1990s, ran right beside the St. John River for much of the province. The new highway (near 20 years old now) steers clear of the St. John River for much of its length. Efficient movement through the province, to be sure, but you wouldn't know anyone lived in New Brunswick, outside of Edmonston and a suburb of Moncton. The good news is: less traffic through the riverside communities. The bad news is: less traffic through the riverside communities. Pretty, though.

I concur with Wardo about Kingston's size. I don't know what the "magic number" is, but there is a certain city size, when it becomes big enough to have all the amenities, culture, and vibrancy, but not so big that you dread driving across town. I liked that about both Halifax and Victoria, and it's true of Kingston as well. London ON is probably about the same. Personally, I found Belleville, Fredericton, and Brandon to be juuuuussssst a bit too small for my tastes.

I wonder if there is any national list/ranking of "best cities to take your dog for a walk in".


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## BSTheTech (Sep 30, 2015)

I think if you move to NB they give you a house. Check out PEI.


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## Kenmac (Jan 24, 2007)

mhammer said:


> It's funny. The old highway, pre-mid-1990s, ran right beside the St. John River for much of the province. The new highway (near 20 years old now) steers clear of the St. John River for much of its length. Efficient movement through the province, to be sure, but you wouldn't know anyone lived in New Brunswick, outside of Edmonston and a suburb of Moncton. The good news is: less traffic through the riverside communities. The bad news is: less traffic through the riverside communities. Pretty, though.
> 
> I concur with Wardo about Kingston's size. I don't know what the "magic number" is, but there is a certain city size, when it becomes big enough to have all the amenities, culture, and vibrancy, but not so big that you dread driving across town. I liked that about both Halifax and Victoria, and it's true of Kingston as well. London ON is probably about the same. Personally, I found Belleville, Fredericton, and Brandon to be juuuuussssst a bit too small for my tastes.
> 
> I wonder if there is any national list/ranking of "best cities to take your dog for a walk in".


This is pretty close Mark: 

The 6 Most Dog-Friendly Cities in Canada - Canada's best local & long distance moving company | Great Canadian Van Lines

BTW, Ottawa's included.


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## NorlinNorm (Dec 31, 2016)

Jim Soloway said:


> My wife and I have been in Mexico for almost 6 months. We were hoping to find a place to live here but it doesn't look like it's going to happen. We were in BC for the last few years but it's way too expensive for us to buy a home there so we've been considering a few places in Eastern Canada. I'm pretty sure we could do the snow bird thing and skip at least three months of winter so the weather probably isn't that big a deal to us.
> 
> Montreal looks exciting but it's right at the top of our housing budget and I'm not sure I want to go back to real big city living. Halifax looks like it may be a good compromise with housing right in our price range and enough urban amenities
> 
> Any thoughts? TIA.


A couple of my friends are in the same position, "retirement relocation project" a few positive comments on New Brunswick, remember this is only on housing cost other factors such as amenities were not discussed.
I prefer to move to a border town in Ontario (Sarnia, Windsor, Niagara Falls, Cornwall etc...
Big decisions coming fast!!


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## marcos (Jan 13, 2009)

The Niagara region would be one of the places i would look at. Weather seems milder than in Ottawa area, a few hours away from T.O. Dont know about housing prices though. Quebec city is probably one of the nicest cleanest places to live. Montreal is too big for my likings but its a vibrant city with a lot of nightlife. PEI would be another place i would choose just because of how pretty it is. Best of luck choosing.


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## Alex (Feb 11, 2006)

My father moved from Quebec to Sussex, New Brunswick in the late '90's and fell in love in with the maritimes. He retired about 7 years ago and moved to Halifax and absolutely loves it. He had an opportunity to move to B.C. and declined as the maritimes is home for him. He is a snowbird and travels plenty so doesn't get any winter exposure. A friend also moved to Bathurst for a few years and loved the area enough that he bought a place for summer vacation and possibly retiring. This is a few years back and the real estate pricing was so attractive, it was a fairly easy decision.

I went to school in Quebec City and the winters were harsh although many friends still live there today with their families.

All the best with your decision.


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## greco (Jul 15, 2007)

@Jim Soloway Welcome back! I have been reading some of your posts over on the Jazz Guitar Forum.

I have nothing to back up my suggestion. However, I found Quebec City to be the nicest Canadian city I have ever visited. Admitted, I prefer cities with a 'European flavour' and I like historical architecture. 
I have never actually "lived" in Quebec City and know very little about it in general.

I will also put a plug in for Kitchener-Waterloo and the surrounding communities.

Apart from housing costs, are there other criteria that rank high?

Cheers

Dave

EDIT:
This might be of interest to you...
https://www.guitarscanada.com/index.php?posts/659730/


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## Guitar101 (Jan 19, 2011)

If I had no ties to family and I was going away for the winter, I'd be looking at the coast of Newfoundland. Haven't been there yet but I love the multi-coloured houses, iceburgs floating by and the whales.


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## mawmow (Nov 14, 2017)

I used to live in Quebec for thirty years... Went to Rimouski for work and came back in Quebec area two years ago. In, fact, on south shore, Levis, since I did not want to live in "greater" Quebec area anymore : I do not like big cities noises... West zone of Levis is made of former little villages... Quiet suburbs now... All services are available in central Levis and nearby northshore Quebec. And you are already nearby Transcanadian Highway (two hours from Montreal).
Only drawback I could see : not sure English is talked much on the streets overhere.
Quebec is attractive but they just annouced yesterday they will launch their mobility megaproject...
After some years of road transformation nightmare, they are on the verge to begin a six to eight years of transformations of their major streets and boulevards, since the tramway is deemed to travel mainly (except two short tunnels) on the middle line !


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## Budda (May 29, 2007)

If you want quiet and quaint, what about Picton? You're avoiding a lot of winter so that shouldnt be a problem.


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## mhammer (Nov 30, 2007)

Kenmac said:


> This is pretty close Mark:
> 
> The 6 Most Dog-Friendly Cities in Canada - Canada's best local & long distance moving company | Great Canadian Van Lines
> 
> BTW, Ottawa's included.


Not that I have a dog, or plan on getting one, but thanks for that all the same.
I don't know if they still do, but for a while they had off-leash Sundays at the Arboretum in the Central Experimental Farm. You could practically see all those dogs mouthing Flounder's famous words from Animal House as they happily chased each other around.


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## AlBDarned (Jun 29, 2017)

The Maritimes are fantastic - the people so much friendlier than we big city types. Halifax is a great town. St. John is nice too.


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## Jim Soloway (Sep 27, 2013)

greco said:


> @Jim Soloway Welcome back! I have been reading some of your posts over on the Jazz Guitar Forum.
> 
> I have nothing to back up my suggestion. However, I found Quebec City to be the nicest Canadian city I have ever visited. Admitted, I prefer cities with a 'European flavour' and I like historical architecture.
> I have never actually "lived" in Quebec City and know very little about it in general.
> ...


Hi Dave

Thanks for the link. I'll definitely dive into that one as well.

I have the some of the same concern about Quebec City as I do about Montreal. I'm not sure I want to deal with urban congestion and after 6 months in Mexico, I'm not sure I want to be a linguistic outsider in the city where I live. That becomes accentuated by some of my other priorities.

I generally don't talk much about this but since I've already raised the subject of sobriety in this thread I may as well get to the point. I've been clean and sober for a very long time and that a very central part of my life. So one of my important priorities is a vibrant recovery community and preferably a strong NA fellowship. That's one of the reasons why language is an issue. 

Other than that I prefer moderate weather in the summer. We power walk and hike pretty much every day so good trails (preferably unpaved) are a huge plus. Good libraries are a priority. We don't eat out a lot so the restaurant scene is not a big deal to us (other than as a place to play music). Access to natural beauty is always a pleasure. Access to medical care is important. Will we be able to find a family doctor? Since we're planning to go away for much of the winter, access to international flights is important. We both prefer moderate politics (assuming such a thing still exists). And a sense of community and a concern for the common well being would be a welcome plus.


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## greco (Jul 15, 2007)

Budda said:


> If you want quiet and quaint, what about Picton? You're avoiding a lot of winter so that shouldn't be a problem.


 Yes, great suggestion IMO. Prince Edward *County *in general is certainly worth looking into. Not sure about the 'libraries' criteria being met there and you would have to travel a bit to get to an airport with international flights.



Jim Soloway said:


> Thanks for the link. I'll definitely dive into that one as well.


It is more of a giggle than anything and it does get quite silly in parts. Do'n expect anything very enlightening from it.


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## WCGill (Mar 27, 2009)

How about EASTERN ALBERTA?

745 Taylor Road SE, Medicine Hat, AB - ID MH0126663


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## vadsy (Dec 2, 2010)

WCGill said:


> How about EASTERN ALBERTA?
> 
> 745 Taylor Road SE, Medicine Hat, AB - ID MH0126663


where are you going to live?


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## Steadfastly (Nov 14, 2008)

cboutilier said:


> We have good beer and donairs.


My first donairs were in the Halifax Shopping Mall. A very nice Lebanese family ran a little place there.


I am from New Brunswick but lived in the Halifax/Dartmouth area for 6 years. The only downside I could see is sometimes you get a fair amount of dreary weather (fog, rain). The summers are also shorter than other parts of Canada that are further away from the Atlantic Ocean. The warmest the ocean gets is 44 C, so even June can be cool. If you don't mind that, you are fine. Fredericton would be a better choice for me but is quite a bit smaller than Halifax with a population of 65,000.


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## greco (Jul 15, 2007)

Steadfastly said:


> The warmest the ocean gets is 44 C


Do you mean 44 F ? ...and it would be more like 60 F according 1to this









These average ocean temperatures for Halifax are calculated from several years of archived data.


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## vadsy (Dec 2, 2010)

greco said:


> Do you mean 44 F ? ...and it would be more like 60 F according 1to this
> 
> 
> 
> ...


now now, STeadly used to be in the ocean business, he knows ocean temperatures and he knows that it is almost out of shrimp


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## Steadfastly (Nov 14, 2008)

greco said:


> Do you mean 44 F ? ...and it would be more like 60 F according 1to this
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Yes, thanks for correcting that. And that is amazing. When I lived there in the early eighties, the warmest it got was 44 F and that was in November. By April it was down to 41 F according to reports at that time.


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## cboutilier (Jan 12, 2016)

Steadfastly said:


> My first donairs were in the Halifax Shopping Mall. A very nice Lebanese family ran a little place there.
> 
> 
> I am from New Brunswick but lived in the Halifax/Dartmouth area for 6 years. The only downside I could see is sometimes you get a fair amount of dreary weather (fog, rain). The summers are also shorter than other parts of Canada that are further away from the Atlantic Ocean. The warmest the ocean gets is 44 C, so even June can be cool. If you don't mind that, you are fine. Fredericton would be a better choice for me but is quite a bit smaller than Halifax with a population of 65,000.


Fredericton is much quieter and less busy than Halifax, in my experience. Fredericton also gets waaayyyyy more snow. We rarely get enough snow in Halifax lately to even enjoy the finer parts of winter, except for this time 3 years ago.


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## RBlakeney (Mar 12, 2017)

I moved back to Halifax from Toronto about a year and a half ago, for similar reasons with housing.
I now have a 3 year old, 4 bedroom 3.5 bathroom house about a 10 minute drive from downtown Halifax, and my mortgage with property tax is about $300 less than my rent was on a one bedroom condo in dt Toronto.
This has been the best winter I think we have ever had with lots of plus temp days, and about 3 snowfalls that have lasted more than a couple days on the ground. There will be less to do than bigger city's, but still plenty. If you're sober vegetarians there are several vegan and veggie type restaurants that people seem to like.
The good thing about less to do is that you have more gear money. What else is there to say.


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## Steadfastly (Nov 14, 2008)

cboutilier said:


> Fredericton is much quieter and less busy than Halifax, in my experience. Fredericton also gets waaayyyyy more snow. We rarely get enough snow in Halifax lately to even enjoy the finer parts of winter, except for this time 3 years ago.


That is true. I like the snow and was always disappointed with the winters when I lived there. The only bonus with Fredericton is less fog and rain and warmer summers. I did like the Halifax area. Being near the ocean was very likeable for me.


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## WCGill (Mar 27, 2009)

vadsy said:


> where are you going to live?


Okanagan bound.


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## greco (Jul 15, 2007)

@Jim Soloway Can we get an update on the cities/locations that are placing 1, 2 and 3 for you folks at the moment? 

I know these can change at any time...just curious.


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## Jim Soloway (Sep 27, 2013)

greco said:


> @Jim Soloway Can we get an update on the cities/locations that are placing 1, 2 and 3 for you folks at the moment?
> 
> I know these can change at any time...just curious.


Halifax has a big lead, especially given the number of homes available in our price range. Kingston is second, Kelowna is third, Montreal fourth (mostly because we're not sure we could afford to live the way we'd like there). 

London's not on the list but only be ause we don't know enough about it. That could change as we learn more.

There's also still some possibility that we could still just ship our stuff to Mexico and stay here for a few years. I don't think we'd be willing to buy here. Basic law and order are just too fragile but Guadalajara really is an amazing city.


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## JazzyT (Nov 1, 2017)

WCGill said:


> Okanagan bound.


Hope you've started saving yer money!


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## LanceT (Mar 7, 2014)

JazzyT said:


> Hope you've started saving yer money!


I think he's hitchhiking. Greyhound anyway.


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## Jim Soloway (Sep 27, 2013)

cboutilier said:


> Add in the shitty roads, and rusty cars and you've got it down to a tee.


We've been in Mexico for almost 6 months. They take the art of shitty roads to unimaginable heights here. There are entire towns whose road systems were actually designed to be complete car wreckers. Seriously.

So I keep hearing good things about Dartmouth and a really nice condo right in downtown Dartmouth just came on the market. What do you guys have to say about Dartmouth (especially down town)?


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## mhammer (Nov 30, 2007)

Dartmouth is where the IKEA is now located.
There are a number of suburbs on the Dartmouth side of the basin, so don't restrict yourself to Dartmouth proper in your search for, or consideration of, "living in Halifax". Parts of Coles Harbour struck us as feeling a bit like North York (i.e., condos rathere than row houses)

Happily, it is now possible for folks to do Streetview tours of unfamiliar places. Perhaps some of those who know the north side of the basin a little better might recommend some streets to virtually stroll down.


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## cboutilier (Jan 12, 2016)

Jim Soloway said:


> We've been in Mexico for almost 6 months. They take the art of shitty roads to unimaginable heights here. There are entire towns whose road systems were actually designed to be complete car wreckers. Seriously.
> 
> So I keep hearing good things about Dartmouth and a really nice condo right in downtown Dartmouth just came on the market. What do you guys have to say about Dartmouth (especially down town)?


Downtown Dartmouth is quite nice. Dartmouth has a bit of a bad rap locally, especially the North end and a few other neighbourhoods. Mostly for crime incidents, but it hasn't been that bad in the last decade or so.


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## Scotty (Jan 30, 2013)

After visiting the East Coast several times, we both fell in love with the Halifax area. I especially like the South Shore. Mahone Bay Lunenburg area etc.

I know I can get some pretty big blast of snow but I take that any day over dreary rainy Vancouver winters. I'd actually prefer snow over low temperature rain

I also quite liked Saint John NB. My wife thought it was old and run down but I found it to be very interesting.


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## JazzyT (Nov 1, 2017)

Scotty said:


> After visiting the East Coast several times, we both fell in love with the Halifax area. I especially like the South Shore. Mahone Bay Lunenburg area etc.
> 
> I know I can get some pretty big blast of snow but I take that any day over dreary rainy Vancouver winters. I'd actually prefer snow over low temperature rain
> 
> I also quite liked Saint John NB. My wife thought it was old and run down but I found it to be very interesting.


Vancouver is rainy. Victoria is not!


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## Jim Soloway (Sep 27, 2013)

JazzyT said:


> Vancouver is rainy. Victoria is not!


Doesn't really matter ... we can't afford either of them ... can't even really afford Nanaimo either.


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## BSTheTech (Sep 30, 2015)

.


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## RBlakeney (Mar 12, 2017)

Jim Soloway said:


> We've been in Mexico for almost 6 months. They take the art of shitty roads to unimaginable heights here. There are entire towns whose road systems were actually designed to be complete car wreckers. Seriously.
> 
> So I keep hearing good things about Dartmouth and a really nice condo right in downtown Dartmouth just came on the market. What do you guys have to say about Dartmouth (especially down town)?


Depending on where the condo is it can be a very nice spot. It really depends what you're looking for.


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## Chitmo (Sep 2, 2013)

Jim Soloway said:


> We've been in Mexico for almost 6 months. They take the art of shitty roads to unimaginable heights here. There are entire towns whose road systems were actually designed to be complete car wreckers. Seriously.
> 
> So I keep hearing good things about Dartmouth and a really nice condo right in downtown Dartmouth just came on the market. What do you guys have to say about Dartmouth (especially down town)?


There are nice areas of Dartmouth but historically it hasn't had a very good reputation with regards to crime. So if you want a nice place at a price that seems unbelievable Dartmouth is a good go and is getting better, but if you change your mind resale isn't that great at the moment. I have been in Halifax now for about 12 years (Moved here from NL) Like any part of the country there are pros and cons. The housing market here is relatively cheap compared to other major cities in the country but property taxes are quite high. Income tax in NS is quite high as well. General cost of living here may be quite high as compared to BC as well (you mentioned living there previously) I lived out in Victoria for a year before moving to Halifax and just based on weather alone you can expect to pay at least 50% more to heat your home here and most common groceries are in the 20-30%more expensive range. On the up side of things being a vegetarian there is a lot of local produce to be had here and plenty of markets to get it from. Halifax also has a pretty decent music scene for the size of the city. Anyways, I can rant on for days.... If you wanna chat a bit or have questions you can shoot me a PM. I have owned 3 homes here now and like to think I have a decent knowledge of the area. I also have a business associate that deals in real estate and he is very good at finding what people want.


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## Scotty (Jan 30, 2013)

Chitmo said:


> There are nice areas of Dartmouth but historically it hasn't had a very good reputation with regards to crime. So if you want a nice place at a price that seems unbelievable Dartmouth is a good go and is getting better, but if you change your mind resale isn't that great at the moment. I have been in Halifax now for about 12 years (Moved here from NL) Like any part of the country there are pros and cons. The housing market here is relatively cheap compared to other major cities in the country but property taxes are quite high. Income tax in NS is quite high as well. General cost of living here may be quite high as compared to BC as well (you mentioned living there previously) I lived out in Victoria for a year before moving to Halifax and just based on weather alone you can expect to pay at least 50% more to heat your home here and most common groceries are in the 20-30%more expensive range. On the up side of things being a vegetarian there is a lot of local produce to be had here and plenty of markets to get it from. Halifax also has a pretty decent music scene for the size of the city. Anyways, I can rant on for days.... If you wanna chat a bit or have questions you can shoot me a PM. I have owned 3 homes here now and like to think I have a decent knowledge of the area. I also have a business associate that deals in real estate and he is very good at finding what people want.



I hope I'm not derailing the thread, but what is the job market like in the trades, primarily industrial (millwrighting, steel fab industry)


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## Chitmo (Sep 2, 2013)

Scotty said:


> I hope I'm not derailing the thread, but what is the job market like in the trades, primarily industrial (milkwrighting, steel fab industry)


I can't say for sure as I'm not in the particular field but the general sense that I have gotten is that skilled trade employment has increased here with the Irving contracts for the Navy.


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## Steadfastly (Nov 14, 2008)

Jim Soloway said:


> We've been in Mexico for almost 6 months. They take the art of shitty roads to unimaginable heights here. There are entire towns whose road systems were actually designed to be complete car wreckers. Seriously.
> 
> So I keep hearing good things about Dartmouth and a really nice condo right in downtown Dartmouth just came on the market. What do you guys have to say about Dartmouth (especially down town)?


I lived in Dartmouth for about two years back in 1979-80 and have a sister and other relatives living there. It has everything you would want in a city and getting around is quite easy with the new highways they have put in. With the harbour and the hills, there are few roads that run straight so you have to memorize the city to get to really know it. Of course, now we have GPS. It's a quick trip across the bridge to Halifax.


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## ronmac (Sep 22, 2006)

Hi Jim, if you ever want chat about moving to NS I am open to a telephone chat (PM me if you are interested).

I moved here from Toronto (to rural NS) and just went through the logistics with some family moving from Vancouver to Halifax, so may be able to answer some of your questions.


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## Jim Soloway (Sep 27, 2013)

Thanks to those of you who have offered to talk. I'll almost certainly be taking you up on the offer. Right now we're just starting to get packed up to leave Mexico and we're having a really hard time convincing ourselves that we shouldn't just move to Guadalajara. What a remarkable city.


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## Steadfastly (Nov 14, 2008)

There are other places south of Mexico where there are English speaking areas and you could live there year round. I have some friends living in some of those places and they love it.


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## greco (Jul 15, 2007)

Jim Soloway said:


> ...we're having a really hard time convincing ourselves that we shouldn't just move to Guadalajara.


This is not intended to add to your present level of understandable 'confusion' and the 'anxiety' related in making such an important and complex decision. 

I worked with a woman that had lived in Guadalajara and travelled extensively afterwards. She had wonderful memories of her time in Guadalajara and spoke very highly of it. I looked up pictures of the city on Google Images after you mentioned it earlier in this thread. Beautiful indeed!

I admire you and your spouse for taking on this task. An amazing adventure!


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## Jim Soloway (Sep 27, 2013)

greco said:


> This is not intended to add to your present level of understandable 'confusion' and the 'anxiety' related in making such an important and complex decision.
> 
> I worked with a woman that had lived in Guadalajara and travelled extensively afterwards. She had wonderful memories of her time in Guadalajara and spoke very highly of it. I looked up pictures of the city on Google Images after you mentioned it earlier in this thread. Beautiful indeed!
> 
> I admire you and your spouse for taking on this task. An amazing adventure!


Thanks. It really has been pretty amazing. The only thing that sucked was that my amp died almost immediately after entering Mexico. I've been playing through an Electro Harmonix headphone amp and a pair of ear buds for the last 5 1/2 months! I have two new amps and cabs waiting for me in Oregon to pick up on the way home. That's going to be a serious treat after all this time. And now we're going to start a new adventure. First back to BC and then probably 5 months or so to explore Eastern Canada. We'll see if some place speaks to us enough to actually make us believe that it should be home. (And we are definitely planning to be in Halifax during the jazz festival. I want to see Charlotte Day Wilson).


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## greco (Jul 15, 2007)

Jim Soloway said:


> We'll see if some place speaks to us enough to actually make us believe that it should be home.


I hope that "some place" SHOUTS to you!



Jim Soloway said:


> I have two new amps and cabs waiting for me in Oregon to pick up on the way home.


This is exciting and very well deserved/earned!

What are the brands/models of the new amps and cabs?

One of these...maybe?


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## Jim Soloway (Sep 27, 2013)

greco said:


> I hope that "some place" SHOUTS to you!
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Very close. It's one of these









I've also got a Buscarino Chameleon speaker cab (the original passive version), a Henriksen 2 channel head (the discontinued one), and a home made 1x8 cab from a friend on the jazz forum. So every thing is very small, very light and very task specific. It will be interesting to see what appeals to me once I plug in a guitar, and especially after I get back to Nanaimo and my blue Gosling. Pretty soon that's going to be the only guitar I own so I hope it plays well with at last some of the new gear.


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## greco (Jul 15, 2007)

@Jim Soloway Thanks. I was just guessing.

I'll be very interested in hearing your comments after you have spent time with your new gear.

I am still struggling with the controls on the Quilter Mini 101. 
I have read much of what has been posted about it on the Jazz Guitar forum (including probably most of your posts) and I'm close to what I'm looking for. I got the amp for an excellent price (IMO) so that helps..a bit.


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