Advice on Edmonton..

[Unfair Advantage]

What are some of the best areas to look at for renting? (Work would be located around 18th street)
What type of rental rates am I looking at? (1-2 bedroom, would prefer something with a garage)

I would like to be in a clean, upscale area.

On another note...

How is traffic around the Edmonton area?
How much snow do you generally receive?
How is the summer life?, lots to do, check out?

Any other advice, positive or negative I would appreciate also.

This would be an engineering position, and I would be making the drive out from Ontario.

Thanks!

Note: I have also posted this in fouled plug

 

[C-man]

I'd advise you to run away very fast....but eh
you want a place on the south or southwest or west. anywhere else is garbage imo.
generally about a foot of snow with a little bit of base if were lucky.
if your working on 18st (what ave?southside or northside?) youd probably want a place deep south, near ellerslie road or soemthing.
if you want to rent a house(garage) you could find a decent place for 2000 a month but itll have more then 2 bedrooms.
you can rent at most newer apartments with 2 bed/2 bathroom for around 1200-1500/month.

traffic absolutly blows in edmonton. period. all seasons. theirs to many immigrants here that dont know how to drive.

but one good thing is sledding in the best mountains ever are 6 hours away(valemount, blueriver golden...etc)

anymore questions i'd be glad to help. but if you have time to wait i would, within a year housing is going to come down big time.

 

[devil]

i'd find a place reasonably close to where you want to work. 18st could be sort of north side, all the way to the south side.

i live way north in castledowns and i like the area, nice and safe, never have to worry about my stuff, really nothing bad that i can think of. But, for most jobs, its a minimim 25 minute drive, or when i'm working in Nisku its 45 minutes to get to work, and an hour+ getting home.

traffic sucks pretty much everywhere.

If you go even an hour or 2 north to around athabasca i find there is a lot more snow. last christmas we had nothing worth talking about around edmonton, and in athabasca i was riding in 2-3 feet of powder at the cabin. i ussually don't bother though, i just go to the mountains.

i agree, wait a bit and housing costs will hopefully go down.

 

[GKR]

C-mon guys traffic is getting bad here but compared to Ontario (depending on where) it may be a cakewalk. Summers are really good, lots to do here. Snow is unpredictable but there is always good snow to be found if you are willing to drive a bit. Best mountain riding there is can be done on the weekends with a drive as stated. Same thing with housing, it may be very comparable to Ontario and things are a little softer here than they used to be. If your looking for work in Engineering, this is the place to be.
Edmonton has changed over the last number of years and is not the smallish feeling, safe as a small town it used to be, but it is still a very good place to live compared to alot of larger centres. The nice thing is that you CAN actually live close to work. If you are out on the East end (18th st) you might want to check out Sherwood Park or even Ft. Saskatchewan. They are suburb communities that are very nice places to live.
Good luck!

 

[Alberta Boy]

C-mon guys traffic is getting bad here but compared to Ontario (depending on where) it may be a cakewalk. QUOTE]

Statement of the day! I just moved from Edmonton to Toronto... Edmonton's worst is comparable to the best days in TO! 30 km drive to take 4 hours???? You do the math!

 

[Lococoin]

I'd advise you to run away very fast....but eh
you want a place on the south or southwest or west. anywhere else is garbage imo.

Don't listen to this guy, he clearly has drank too much of the southside kool-aid and can't think clearly.

You will find nice areas and bad areas in every part of the city. There are lots of nice areas in the Northeast and Northwest. Your best bet is to do some driving in from different areas in rush hour to and from work and decide from there. There seems to be lots of rentals around since things are slowing a bit.

 

[Unfair Advantage]

Thanks for the replys so far!

With regards to work location it's at 7450 - 18st, so I guess this would be in the south end?.

I would like to get into something that is fairly close to work with as little of traffic as possible. As mentioned the traffic here in Ontario is pretty bad where I am from, have spent many many hours sitting on the hwy, going walking speed. Trying to get away from that.

I'm leaning towards renting a 2 bedroom duplex with a garage. Some areas I have looked into are Leduc, Devon and Stony Plain...All seem to be withen 30 minutes of my works location...How are these locations?

Having the mountains so close is also something I am looking forward to. Going to have to get a sled with a real track size now!

I Appreciate all your advice and replys!

 

[Lococoin]

That is the southeast. You can find lots of places to rent in millwoods, sherwood park, and the northeast side of edmonton. All of those places would be a nice short commute.

 

[Lococoin]

I would try to find something closer than Leduc, stony plain or devon. All of those show 30 minutes drive on a map, but with the highway 2 traffic to devon/leduc, and the west leg of the anthony henday with the traffice lights and no overpasses, it will be a much much longer drive. Check out the areas i suggested above.

 

[GKR]

Sherwood Park would be good, Beaumont even better. Not very big so I'm not sure how much availability there would be but it would be 15 minutes from work. There are good neighborhoods on the Southeast side of Edmonton too, you'll just have to check them out.
Here's a couple Beaumont links to get you started.
http://www.beaumontrealty.ca/
http://http://www.rentboard.ca/rentals/index.aspx?s0=1&locid=52
Cheers,
Gary

 

[Lunch_Box]

I would vote for Sherwood Park, lived in the area all my life and couldn't be happier. It's 2 minutes east of the city and is surrounded by the whitemud, yellow head and hendy so getting anywhere in the city is pretty easy.

 

[Lococoin]

I agree, just hate the bedroom community commute. Man does it back up! Of course it backs up everywhere these days

 

[deaner]

Beaumont is an awesome place to be. Very quick commute to where you are looking at working. AB boy has a sweet place for sale down the street from me!

 

[Dragin]

I see no one is mentioning the lack of decent snow the last few years!

 

[isistwinteryet]

I lived in beaumont, but for drive time, I would pick sherwood park, if you are an engineer you should be able to afford the high prices outhere, if you want to rock out in the am and have time to wind down in the pm after work, Beaumont is the place to be...very comparable pricing to sherwood park...please note that I live in Grande Prairie...couldnt afford to live in the metro area

 

[Alberta Boy]

Beaumont is an awesome place to be. Very quick commute to where you are looking at working. AB boy has a sweet place for sale down the street from me!

Thanks... hell of a price too! Just put $30,000 into upgrades... well below market... plus there are some cool guys in the neighborhood with some sweet toys!

 

[poorman]

Thanks... hell of a price too! Just put $30,000 into upgrades... well below market... plus there are some cool guys in the neighborhood with some sweet toys!

Hey Alberta boy.....moved from Alberta to T.O as well so if you need a ridding partner out here let me know. Also left my Summit in Edmonton so I can still make those trips out to the hills.

Ron

 

[Alberta Boy]

Hey Alberta boy.....moved from Alberta to T.O as well so if you need a ridding partner out here let me know. Also left my Summit in Edmonton so I can still make those trips out to the hills.

Ron

Cool... where about do you live? I am 2 blocks from the CN tower right now but bought a place in Newmarket (North on the 404). I doubt that I will buy a sled here... if anything, it will be one for the water! I wouldn't mind just being on a sled while I am out here as the trips to the mountains will be few and far between. I could find a rental etc out here I guess.

Braden

 

[Unfair Advantage]

Sherwood Park would be good, Beaumont even better. Not very big so I'm not sure how much availability there would be but it would be 15 minutes from work. There are good neighborhoods on the Southeast side of Edmonton too, you'll just have to check them out.
Here's a couple Beaumont links to get you started.
http://www.beaumontrealty.ca/
http://http://www.rentboard.ca/rentals/index.aspx?s0=1&locid=52
Cheers,
Gary

Thanks for the links Gary, I have sherwood park on the list of places to check out and I'm going to add Beaumont too. Seems there isn't to many listings for the Beaumont area though?.

 

[Unfair Advantage]

I would vote for Sherwood Park, lived in the area all my life and couldn't be happier. It's 2 minutes east of the city and is surrounded by the whitemud, yellow head and hendy so getting anywhere in the city is pretty easy.

Great to hear first hand expereince!. What is the "whitemud", "yellowhead and hendy"...Hwy's?

Thanks!