justthewife Posted February 20, 2011 Report Share Posted February 20, 2011 My husband has an interview at UofC, and if he isn't accepted this year he still plans to transfer to Calgary to work on a second BA as there are no more classes available for him to take here in Medicine Hat. So we know we need to find a place to live in Calgary. The problem is that I am unfamiliar with Calgary. So when I'm browsing rental ads and an apartment is in this neighborhood or that neighborhood I have no idea if a: it's a good neighborhood or b: if it's near the university (soooo appreciate the ads that indicate they're near UofC but plenty don't say anything about what is nearby). So basically my question is this: in what area/neighborhood would those familiar with the city recommend? It's my husband, myself, and our two-year-old. We're a one car family so ideally we'd like to be within walking distance of either the school or a bus/train that will quickly get husband to class so I can use the car to do grocery shopping, errands, etc. But we're flexibile and the main thing is, of course, being able to actually afford our rent. I've been browsing Kijiji and Craig'sList but if there's another website I should be utilizing please let me know. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Here'sHopin Posted February 20, 2011 Report Share Posted February 20, 2011 Hi there, Definitely check out these: Foothills Village (east of the hospital) It's directly across the street from the Foothills Hospital They have walk-up units with 2 or 3 bedrooms and usually outdoor, covered parking A lot of medical students/hospital staff live here because it's so close; you can leave 5 minutes before class starts and still be on time! They have their own in suite washer/dryer which is an added bonus They are privately owned but a lot of people rent them out to students so you may be lucky enough to find one There isn't a lot of green space but there is a park near the complex Parkdale (south of the hospital) This is a quiet neighbourhood just down the hill from the hospital You can usually find houses to rent; some are newly renovated and are amazing and some are older with lots of character If you rent a house, you'll have the luxury of having a backyard The trees are tall and beautiful You'll be close to many walking paths and the sites of the river which is beautiful any time of year St. Andrews Heights (east of the hospital) This is another quiet community east of the hospital You might be able to find some houses to rent in this area too University Heights (northeast of the hospital) This is where I live; I love it because it's close to both campuses (main U of C campus and the Health Sciences classes where all the medical classes are held); it doesn't take me more than 15 minutes to walk to either campus There are several Boardwalk rental communities in the area (Patrician Village, which are 1- and 2-bedroom family apartments with a courtyard of green space near by; Boardwalk Heights, which are 1- and 2-bedroom apartments in a 17-storey highrise; and Northwest Pointe, which are 1- and 2-bedroom walkups) There are also other smaller apartment complexes to rent in this area as well as many houses This is the closest community to the strip mall across from the hospital; it has stuff like a pharmacy, The Keg, a dry cleaners, Wendy's, gas station, Macs, pharmacy, bakery, deli, post office, etc. This is also the closest (of the above-mentioned communities) to the Banff Trial C-Train station; it's about a 10 minute walk east (you have to walk across the McMahon Stadium parking lot and then you're almost there) Those are the communities that are within walking distance... which is great because the buses can be unpredictable in the winter months, especially around snow storms. The buses run very near all of the communities above so you can pretty much get anywhere if you are desperate! Search Kijiji and http://www.rentfaster.ca . To narrow it down, I'd recommend searching within a 1-km radius of the hospital. (Postal code of the hospital is T2N 2T9.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
medtech Posted February 20, 2011 Report Share Posted February 20, 2011 I've heard living in Calgary is very expensive. Is that true? What are average rent prices (ie. a room to your self but share bathroom and kitchen). I know this well vary by neighborhood, so lets just say foothills and your renting with 2 or 3 people Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobs Posted February 21, 2011 Report Share Posted February 21, 2011 I'm not in med school (yet!) but I work at the Foothills Hospital, which is next door to the med school. Here's my opinion! St. Andrews Heights and Parkdale are great communities, and very close to campus/the hospital, but they are pretty expensive if you guys are looking for a single family dwelling. Personally, I live in a condo near Mount Royal University, and I LOVE the location. There's a bus stop 2 minutes outside my door, and it takes 12-15 minutes to get to the med school/hospital on the bus (I arrive right next to the Health Sciences building). There are also tons of parks (Glenmore Park, Weaselhead Natural Area), schools and recreation opportunities nearby, and it is easy and quick to exit the city and head west to the mountains from this part of town. I grew up 5 minutes away, and, I am biased, but I really love this part of the city. I'm in a 1 bedroom condo, but there are 2 bedrooms in my building and the adjacent developments. All in all, it's a great area of town - very central, very easy to access downtown, shopping, entertainment, etc., and very safe. There are a number of young families in my building, and a mix of students and retirees. It's a nice, quiet spot! Rent in my building seems to hover around $1000 - $1300 for one bedrooms, from what I have seen. Not sure what the rent is for 2 bedroom units. Edit: In case you are looking at rental ads, the 3 buildings in my areas are called Trafalger House, Laurel House and Morgan. There's another building down the road called Gateway Garrison Green, but it is more expensive and about a 7-10 minute walk from the bus stop. Here's a google map of where my neighbourhood is located. My community is called Lincoln Park. Several other choices nearby where I live, and within walking distance of easy bus routes are: Garrison Green, Garrison Woods, South Calgary, North Glenmore Park, and Lakeview. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hwynne Posted February 21, 2011 Report Share Posted February 21, 2011 Hi there! I'm a Calgary-ian looking to rent my property, fully furnished 2 bedroom apartment/duplex in the NW of Calgary. The area is called Ranchlands and though it may not be directly across the street, the time it takes to get to the hospital is really not long at all. Using the main road "Crowchild trail" gets you down to the hospital area very quickly. My boyfriend was in the hospital for 4 days and I was back and forth multiple times daily with not much trouble at all. The rental is also directly across from a bus stop and a few minutes away from the c train station located in the great Crowfoot business area which is very useful since it has things from various grocery stores (safeway/co-op), a movie theatre, registry office, starbucks, plenty of restaurants, car dealerships, hair salons and the list can go on. If you would be interested feel free to give me a call or reply on here! My number is 403 472 9835 and my name is Hannah. You're welcome to come check out the place just to have a look if you'd like to get a feel for the area which personally, I love. It's a safe, quiet neighborhood near schools with trails and parks and easy access to main roads! oh! and the monthly rent is 1150 and the shared utilities are very reasonable (especially over the summer!) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
justthewife Posted February 21, 2011 Author Report Share Posted February 21, 2011 Thanks so much everybody. This is really detailed information! I appreciate all the answers you've given. It's looking like it may be unreasonable for us to be as close to the hospital/campus as we'd prefer as we can't afford a $300+ increase in rent (we currently pay $700 month + electric). I've seen places available in our price range on Kijiji but I'm guessing that if I went back and looked at the ads again none of them would be in these locations. However, knowing is half the battle, and now at least I have an idea of where we'd ideally want to rent. Thanks again for the info! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Erk Posted February 23, 2011 Report Share Posted February 23, 2011 In Calgary you can actually live quite far from the hospital and get there very easily. I live in Renfrew, which is on the worst days a 45-minute bus ride away and usually more like 20 minutes. The rent is a bit lower out here (the basement suite below us is 800/month, 3br, all utilities) and it's in the middle of some of Calgary's best parts: a short walk from downtown, a reasonably upscale neighbourhood with lots of young families and not too many rabblerousers, 5 minutes' walk from Bridgeland and 20 from Kensington... there's just so much stuff in walking distance of our house that I don't really mind that my daily commute is a little long, because everything else is faster. We used to live in the Banff Trail area, which is a student neighbourhood about 20 mins' walk from the hospital. We kinda hated it: rent was high for what we got, there was nothing in the neighbourhood that wasn't geared for college students, and our neighbours basically had a party going on every night. What I'd recommend is: -don't go onto the east side of deerfoot. It takes way longer to transit from there and it tends to be seedier. -don't go further south than about Glenmore Trail (just for transit reasons) unless you're right on the train line. If you look at Google Maps, anything north of Glenmore and south of Deerfoot is probably game, but once you find an appealing place you can use google maps' 'go here by transit' feature to determine how long it's going to be for your husband to get here. Also, be very careful about exploring ads under $800 in Calgary, especially on craigslist and kijiji. There are a lot of scams in that range. Just a heads-up. We've had extremely good luck with http://www.rentfaster.ca, it seems to be pretty popular in this city. It also has a map search feature which is easier than trying to remember all the dozens of neighbourhoods with decent access to the hospital. Once you find a neighbourhood you like, you could always come post it back here and get advice from calgarians who might know the region better. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobs Posted February 24, 2011 Report Share Posted February 24, 2011 What I'd recommend is:-don't go onto the east side of deerfoot. It takes way longer to transit from there and it tends to be seedier. -don't go further south than about Glenmore Trail (just for transit reasons) unless you're right on the train line. If you look at Google Maps, anything north of Glenmore and south of Deerfoot is probably game, but once you find an appealing place you can use google maps' 'go here by transit' feature to determine how long it's going to be for your husband to get here. Also, be very careful about exploring ads under $800 in Calgary, especially on craigslist and kijiji. There are a lot of scams in that range. Just a heads-up. We've had extremely good luck with http://www.rentfaster.ca, it seems to be pretty popular in this city. It also has a map search feature which is easier than trying to remember all the dozens of neighbourhoods with decent access to the hospital. +1. This is all great advice! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
justthewife Posted February 26, 2011 Author Report Share Posted February 26, 2011 So, let's say by some stroke of luck we were able to find the perfect house to rent, in our budget, in the Hillhurst/Sunnyside area. Is their good transit from their to Foothills Hospital? I just stumbled upon their community center website while doing a search for community gardens in Calgary and it seems like a really fantastic place to be community-wise. Did you know they have a community orchard? Are there other places like that in Calgary? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Erk Posted February 26, 2011 Report Share Posted February 26, 2011 Hillhurst/sunnyside is an awesome part of town. I don't know about community orchards, but most of the communities on the Northern side of the river are very good, although Bridgeland has a bit of seed in around the intersection of Edmonton Trail and Memorial Drive, mainly because (sadly) it's very close to the homeless shelter there. I find Renfrew and the Northern part of Bridgeland around 1st ave NE to be very friendly, neighbourhoody places with a strong community element as well. As for transit, Hillhurst/Sunnyside is pretty excellent. Sunnyside is right on the train line, although that requires a transfer to get to the hospital. Hillhurst, particularly West Hillhurst, is very close to two or three different bus routes... #20 and #40 I believe both go through that area, and I think there's another one that comes in from downtown. I'm not sure as I've never lived there and I could have the routes a bit wrong, but when I drive through that area on my way to Foothills I am often stuck behind the bus Also, West Hillhurst is home to the fabulous Dairy Lane Cafe. If you live close to there you may wind up wasting a lot of money on brunches. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
justthewife Posted February 26, 2011 Author Report Share Posted February 26, 2011 Thanks Erk. I see from your siggy that you're in the same spot as my husband, no interview at UofA, interviewing at UofC this very moment. Good luck! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
justthewife Posted March 6, 2011 Author Report Share Posted March 6, 2011 Is Thorncliffe a good area to live? Google maps says it's a 15 minute drive from Foothills (an hour by bus, ugh). But is it generally a safe, nice area for a family? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Erk Posted March 8, 2011 Report Share Posted March 8, 2011 Is Thorncliffe a good area to live? Google maps says it's a 15 minute drive from Foothills (an hour by bus, ugh). But is it generally a safe, nice area for a family? It's not a bad part of town, to my knowledge, although it's out of my usual range. However, it can be a real pain in the arse to get anywhere from that part of town. Nose Hill Park is close by on one side, and the airport on the other, each of them forming a blockade to east-west travel so that the area isn't served by many large roads. You have to rely on relatively minor streets which can get clogged. Like I said though, it's not in my usual stompin' grounds so I don't know for sure. I don't think I would move out there if I were in your situation though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alliwantismed Posted March 8, 2011 Report Share Posted March 8, 2011 I was browsing through rentfaster.ca and found some nice condos in the Spruce Hills area. Do lots of med students live here? How is commuting? Anyone care to make any additional comments on this neighbourhood? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigfootspartan Posted March 8, 2011 Report Share Posted March 8, 2011 Thanks so much everybody. This is really detailed information! I appreciate all the answers you've given. It's looking like it may be unreasonable for us to be as close to the hospital/campus as we'd prefer as we can't afford a $300+ increase in rent (we currently pay $700 month + electric). I've seen places available in our price range on Kijiji but I'm guessing that if I went back and looked at the ads again none of them would be in these locations. However, knowing is half the battle, and now at least I have an idea of where we'd ideally want to rent. Thanks again for the info! Keep an eye open, you'll be receiving tons of offers for places to rent once you get the acceptance letter. I found a place through the facebook U of C class of 2013 group, shared basement suite in Parkdale for $480 a month. Literally a 10 minute walk to class, and that's when we're slacking. Don't forget that parking will cost a ridiculous amount if you end up having to drive, so I'd highly recommend somewhere with a close bus route or a short walk. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
justthewife Posted March 8, 2011 Author Report Share Posted March 8, 2011 Keep an eye open, you'll be receiving tons of offers for places to rent once you get the acceptance letter. I found a place through the facebook U of C class of 2013 group, shared basement suite in Parkdale for $480 a month. Literally a 10 minute walk to class, and that's when we're slacking. Don't forget that parking will cost a ridiculous amount if you end up having to drive, so I'd highly recommend somewhere with a close bus route or a short walk. Why will getting an acceptance letter make a difference in finding a place to rent? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Erk Posted March 8, 2011 Report Share Posted March 8, 2011 Why will getting an acceptance letter make a difference in finding a place to rent? I'm guessing current 3rd years giving up good places probably pass them down. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dashley Posted March 9, 2011 Report Share Posted March 9, 2011 Once you get accepted you join the facebook group (right away) and the list serve (closer to when school actually starts though) and people post adds through there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
justthewife Posted March 9, 2011 Author Report Share Posted March 9, 2011 Ok, but how many of those places are suitable for a family versus a single student? It just seems risky to me to assume something will fall into our laps should he get in this cycle. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hking03 Posted March 10, 2011 Report Share Posted March 10, 2011 i'm not sure if this has been suggested already, but http://www.padmapper.com is a pretty wicked tool to use to find apartments/housing... if you put calgary alberta in the seach tool it shows you pretty much everything listed on the different sites for rentals (craigslist, kijiji and others) and i believe it also has an option for spotcrime... it tells you the crime activities in that area (not sure if it works in canada). anyways, that might give you more to look at and show you where everything is in the city. good luck! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pubert Posted March 13, 2011 Report Share Posted March 13, 2011 Killarney would be a good area to take a look at. It's one of those areas that is on the upswing with quite a few brand new homes mixed in amongst some older homes. Rent prices are a little bit lower than other areas nearby so its good value. It is close to everything and you can get to Foothills quickly on the bus (I think it's the 2 and the 17) or even quicker by car. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jamessteil Posted April 14, 2011 Report Share Posted April 14, 2011 Hi - I have a place in Parkdale that I'm looking to rent out to a quiet male, September 2011 - May 2012. For anyone who is looking-ahead, you might be just the one. It is a reallllly nice bsmt suite, with a beautiful landscaped garden, and a nice lady upstairs who is a Physio. I'd like to leave it furnished, and plan to live in the house myself over the summers (I'll going to be in the US working on a PhD). You would be welcome back in future years. I don't think $1,000/month is out of line. Utilities are reasonable - $100/month (your half). James. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jamessteil Posted April 14, 2011 Report Share Posted April 14, 2011 Hi - I just stumbled upon this bulletin board, and I see there is a reference to a facebook group? I'm on facebook, but don't use it - can someone steer me (and my request) to this group? I can assure you, whoever gets this place will be a happy-camper, and I'd like to offer it earlier rather than later. James Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
justthewife Posted April 14, 2011 Author Report Share Posted April 14, 2011 Threadjacking to advertise your rental. You stay classy, Jamessteil. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bloh Posted April 16, 2011 Report Share Posted April 16, 2011 Most of parkdale is a good location. It is just below the hill where the school is so it's likely a very short walk to the school. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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