Living in Airdrie

[Superflyer]

So we are looking at buying a house and we are interested in Airdrie. I read through the four other threads but the newest one was from 2009 so I am starting a new one. The biggest strike against Airdrie in those threads was getting downtown but now the have the ICE bus which would actually work perfect for me.
So can anyone tell me some updated pros and cons for living in Airdrie?

[Brotato]

Pro: Inexpensive

Con: It's Airdrie.

[Swayze11]

Just recently moved there, overall its been pretty good. We bought through a builder and have had a pretty good experience.

Pros
- Cost
- Not as busy
- Every essential you need is there

Cons
- The drive. It isn't bad but isn't great.
- No Bestbuy/Futureshop even close (con for me I guess)
- Really windy for some reason.

PM me if you have any other questions.

[Sliver]

Why do you want to live in a parasite community? How much less expensive are houses there than in Calgary, which is a better city in every way imaginable? What does Airdrie have that Calgary doesn't?

I'm blown away people choose to move there. I can't for the life of me think of a single good reason. Say the houses are 15% cheaper - I'd rather have a house 15% smaller in Calgary for the same money if it was a decision driven by personal finances.

Seriously, not trying to be a dick, but I can't see any reason why anybody would live there. It doesn't even have its own water supply FFS. That's Being a Human 101 - live by a source of water.

[malcolmk14]

Are you a single young professional? Married? Do you have kids?

If you have kids and your wife primarily stays home, Airdrie isn't so bad. As long as you're willing to give up those extra two hours a day in a commute.

A social life will be a lot more difficult to upkeep as well, unless you already have friends in Airdrie or you don't mind sacrificing the crazy amount of time it will take to see your friends.

[Locke]

I dont like Airdrie, but then again, if all you ever want to do is work, commute, and stay home then sure, its a great place.

I know people who live in Airdrie and its fantastic, you barely ever have to see them because they work in Calgary all day, commute home, and they're not coming back for the weekend and I'm not driving all the way to Airdrie to go to a Boston Pizza or watch a movie at their place.

So, if no one likes you, its great because living in Airdrie is social suicide. You only have to see people on their birthdays, but you can ween yourself off of that too with a liberal enough application of ignorance.

[Locke]

Originally Posted by malcolmk14

Are you a single young professional? Married? Do you have kids?

If you have kids and your wife primarily stays home, Airdrie isn't so bad. As long as you're willing to give up those extra two hours a day in a commute.

Oh no you didnt!! 2 Hours a day? Its only 20 minutes, everyone knows that. Airdrie to downtown is only 20 minutes, maybe 10 if you drive a plutonium powered DeLorean.

[Superflyer]

Originally Posted by Sliver

Why do you want to live in a parasite community? How much less expensive are houses there than in Calgary, which is a better city in every way imaginable? What does Airdrie have that Calgary doesn't?

I'm blown away people choose to move there. I can't for the life of me think of a single good reason. Say the houses are 15% cheaper - I'd rather have a house 15% smaller in Calgary for the same money if it was a decision driven by personal finances.

Seriously, not trying to be a dick, but I can't see any reason why anybody would live there. It doesn't even have its own water supply FFS. That's Being a Human 101 - live by a source of water.

The main reason is that both my wife and me grew up in small towns in BC and we are getting tired of the "big city". Airdrie works the best for us out of all the "parasite communities"
It really is not about the price of houses it is just the area.

Originally Posted by malcolmk14

Are you a single young professional? Married? Do you have kids?

If you have kids and your wife primarily stays home, Airdrie isn't so bad. As long as you're willing to give up those extra two hours a day in a commute.

A social life will be a lot more difficult to upkeep as well, unless you already have friends in Airdrie or you don't mind sacrificing the crazy amount of time it will take to see your friends.

Married and have 2 kids. We both work but she works just off Stoney so it is actually a shorter commute for her from Airdrie then it is where we are now.
As for a social life all our friends and family live in the north of Calgary so with Stoney it is not to bad to get to them. The only exception is my brother who lives just past Memorial so a little trip down Deerfoot is OK to see him.

As for the commute looking at the ICE times it will be about 2 hours round trip but right now commute is a little over an hour so the extra 45 minutes is not that brutal.

[malcolmk14]

In the summer at 5:30 in the morning driving 135 km/h it is only 20 minutes to downtown!

Seriously though I grew up in Airdrie and many of my friends still live there. It's not as bad as people from Calgary say it is, and it's not as good as people from Airdrie make it out to be.

Schools are fine, growing up there as a teenager/young adult was fine, if your wife works on the north end of the city she wont have a problem with the commute.

Commuting to downtown in the winter is hell, you'll wish you were dead, and your social life will suffer, even if you don't think it will. Want to go out for dinner and have a couple bottles of wine on date night? It's now a $65 cab ride instead of a $15 one.

As a 25 year old single guy with no kids I would not move there, but I certainly wouldn't rule out the prospect of living there again when I settle down and have kids, provided I don't work downtown. It just depends on your lifestyle.

[YYC in LAX]

Originally Posted by Locke

Oh no you didnt!! 2 Hours a day? Its only 20 minutes, everyone knows that. Airdrie to downtown is only 20 minutes.

LOL, bulllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll####.

[Red]

Originally Posted by Locke

Oh no you didnt!! 2 Hours a day? Its only 20 minutes, everyone knows that. Airdrie to downtown is only 20 minutes, maybe 10 if you drive a plutonium powered DeLorean.

It's over 30K from A Town to DT Calgary.
20 minutes? To Country Hills maybe.

[chemgear]

Originally Posted by Superflyer

Airdrie works the best for us out of all the "parasite communities"

Airdrie isn't a parasite community?

That aside, you'd have lot of flexibility if you were cool with an existing house. Nearly half of the ones on sale there are unoccupied.

[jayswin]

Originally Posted by YYC in LAX

LOL, bulllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll####.

whooosh!

[jayswin]

Originally Posted by Locke

Oh no you didnt!! 2 Hours a day? Its only 20 minutes, everyone knows that. Airdrie to downtown is only 20 minutes, maybe 10 if you drive a plutonium powered DeLorean.

Originally Posted by Red

It's over 30K from A Town to DT Calgary.
20 minutes? To Country Hills maybe.

The fact that he said "maybe 10 if you drive a plutonium powered DeLorean", should have been the biggest hint that it was sarcasm.

[Flame12]

I just moved out to Airdrie in April I love it so far but I work at home and the other half is working at a school here so no driving to Calgary. But knew my neighbors names first day i got here in Calgary never did know them.

[Oliwa]

Wow. For alot of you mentioning Airdrie is like bringing up Edmonton. What's with the hate? I grew up here, still live here. I think it's a great city. The whole part about people complaining about driving in to Calgary is bogus. Also dat water tower.

[Northendzone]

Originally Posted by Superflyer

The main reason is that both my wife and me grew up in small towns in BC and we are getting tired of the "big city".....

i sometimes have trouble wrapping my head around the "tired of the big city" concept.....i live in New Brighton and the majority of services I require in in Mac Towne or on 130th - so while I live in Calgary, I don't feel the need to stray far from my community for most stuff, so in essence I am living in a small community.

i have no direct commnetary on living in one of the parasite communities outside calgary....

[burn_this_city]

I always considered Airdrie a suburb of Calgary. It's not really that far out that it even seems like a separate town. I laugh at that top prospects Ty Rattie video where he says he was born in Calgary but grew up in Airdrie, like its some small town in the middle of nowhere.

[Superflyer]

Originally Posted by Northendzone

i sometimes have trouble wrapping my head around the "tired of the big city" concept.....i live in New Brighton and the majority of services I require in in Mac Towne or on 130th - so while I live in Calgary, I don't feel the need to stray far from my community for most stuff, so in essence I am living in a small community.

i have no direct commnetary on living in one of the parasite communities outside calgary....

Yeah a newer community does have all the ammenities but right now we live in an older community with a single corner store. If we want anything we have to go out and get it.
We are also looking at communities in Calgary like Panorama, Evanston, Harvest Hills etc. so it is not like we are just focusing on Airdrie. That is just the biggest change for us so I wanted opinions on Airdrie.

[Red]

Originally Posted by Northendzone

i sometimes have trouble wrapping my head around the "tired of the big city" concept.....i live in New Brighton and the majority of services I require in in Mac Towne or on 130th - so while I live in Calgary, I don't feel the need to stray far from my community for most stuff, so in essence I am living in a small community.

i have no direct commnetary on living in one of the parasite communities outside calgary....

It's because in the big city you have small yards, cookie cutter houses, narrow streets etc.

Living in Luxtone is like country living.