Pickering / Ajax Real Estate Blog

Yourhome.ca

Moving from the city to the suburbs is a decision often made by growing young families looking for bigger yards or retirees looking to escape the hassles of city life in search of a quieter lifestyle.

But for Lisa, a young urban professional working for a large retailer, after seven years living in some of the trendiest neighbourhoods of Toronto’s west end, it was just time to get out of the city. Tired of fighting traffic, she also yearned to find a true sense of community. She was also questioning whether home ownership was really for her. For the last four years she has lived in a condo townhouse she purchased in the Junction area.

Her experience with owning a home was that there was a lot of associated costs on top of the mortgage that were often hard to plan for — a return to renting was becoming part of a bigger plan. She decided a move to the suburbs might present a more appealing lifestyle. Ideally, it would be a small town with character; perhaps an apartment in one an established community with access to hiking trails and none of the headaches of daily city traffic.

“I used to take the TTC to work until the fares went up, then I realized that for $2 more a day I could drive to work. But then I found I was often driving through construction along narrow streets and it’s just frustrating,” she says.

Lisa, who grew up in Brampton, realized she wanted to live in a smaller community with more open spaces. She sold her condo at a fairly good point in the market, although admits she may have missed the peak by about a month.

She looked northward to York Region and after checking out Newmarket, decided the town of Aurora with a population of about 53,000, had more the feel she was looking for to call home.

“Newmarket didn’t resonate with me. I was looking for a smaller town and discovered things like a regular famers’ market in Aurora,” she says.

But while she decided on Aurora, she realized that because she didn’t really know the area well enough she would rent, not buy.

“I met with a financial planner and decided that based on my current financial situation and the costs associated with selling and buying I would wait. There are a lot of costs associated with home ownership,” she says. “Now I get to see if I’m really comfortable here and scope out the various neighbourhoods before making a commitment to buy again.”

She started looking online for an apartment using the classified section of the local newspaper and discovered Aurora didn’t have much in the way of traditional rental accommodation. It took her a while to find a suitable apartment and landlord that would accept her two cats.

“It became a bit of a journey. There wasn’t much in the way of standard apartment buildings and I have pets and it was difficult to find anyone who accepted them,” she says.

But she kept looking and finally found a home; the lower level of a raised bungalow in north Aurora. The landlord was fine with her two felines and the house was located in a mature neighbourhood — one of the priorities on her list. It’s also five minutes from walking trails and close to transit, should she need to get into the city.

Along the way it also became apparent that Lisa would be able to transfer from her job in Toronto’s downtown core to a location opening in Newmarket. Now her commute to work is about 10 minutes.

“I’m very happy with the place I got. I drive past horses on my way to work; it’s fantastic,” she says. “I no longer race against traffic every day.”

And when she wants to go into the city, it’s about a half hour drive, or she can take the GO bus.

“I would never really have imagined in a million years that I would be living here — there are a lot of things I love about city life, but I no longer have an interest in fighting traffic. I just found the infrastructure didn’t really support all the people coming into the city every day,” she says.

Living in Aurora, Lisa says she notices other differences day-to-day.

“People say ‘hi’ on the street. I have time now to go to the gym and I certainly don’t miss the pressure of the traffic,” she says.

Lisa’s not sure how long she will rent for, but says she’s not in a rush to dive back into buying a home. For now she’s getting to know Aurora and its different neighbourhoods. She likes the design of the townhomes in the area and may buy again, eventually.

But for now, she likes the simplicity of coming and going from her rented bungalow.

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Contact the Jeffrey Team for more information  -  416-388-1960

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