Quote:
Originally Posted by Daryei
I'm hoping to be under 800K, but will consider going slightly higher if I need to. It's meant to be a 'forever home', and will need to house 2 kids (through their teens) and 2 adults who want to maintain their sanity.
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All right... $800 we can work with. You should be able to attain a 2,000 ish sq ft + 1000 sq ft developed basement (10 yr old vintage) with that kind of price, especially if you are willing to go duplex (which can be fine). You come from London where this will seem like a bargain and palatial!
Here's a great map from the Herald, showing the walkability of Calgary:
http://www.calgaryherald.com/news/da...ing/index.html
Hillhurst/Sunnyside is indeed the best of both worlds - very walkable, markets, K-12 schools, rinks, outdoor pools, parks, 15 min flat walk to downtown, family friendly. (Yeah, I'm a little biased). However you'll get a bit more bang for your buck if you go to the west of Crowchild into West Hillhurst / Parkdale. Just don't get too close to Crowchild (east or west of it) as the expansion could be 10-20 years out). Parkdale is indeed quite nice but doesn't quite have the retail of Hillhurst. As someone mentioned above, the areas north of the ridge but south of 16th Ave (Banff Trail, Crescent Heights, Briar Hill, Maybe St Andrews to some extent) are also super nice and have great accessibility via LRT.
I spent a lot of time in Varsity growing up - the Estate areas are bonkers expensive. Might as well be in Hillhurst. Giant lots but anything in your range is going to date back to the 70's. It's that stupid up there.
PM if you have any questions (no I'm not a realtor)
(Rule No. 1 of house hunting in Calgary - everyone says where they live is awesome - not unlike Central London. I think psychology calls it post purchase cognitive dissonance.
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