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Might as well start a new post cause this thing is changing direction.

Due to the rediculous house prices in the GTA, I've begun looking at living in the Innisfil area. There are some new developments that look pretty nice, with reasonable house prices.

The area seems very rural, lots of trees, probably clean air and water. Trails of every sort going all over the place. Looks pretty good. I'm an outdoorsy guy, and this area really appeals to me.

What's it really like up there? Anybody drive down the 400 daily? The job is at the 400 and 407. Mapquest says 50 minutes, and we did it in 43 to the exit for HWY 7 off the 400. On Sunday with some actual traffic and a snowstorm...
Expect 10000 feet of snow.

didnt barrie/surrounding area get 70cm?

the 400 is usually a mess during the day. not much worse than the 401. but if you get caught behind an accident. expect a 3 or 4 hour delay.
P-51,Feb 6 2006, 12: Wrote:Might as well start a new post cause this thing is changing direction.

Due to the rediculous house prices in the GTA, I've begun looking at living in the Innisfil area.  There are some new developments that look pretty nice, with reasonable house prices. 

The area seems very rural, lots of trees, probably clean air and water.  Trails of every sort going all over the place.  Looks pretty good.  I'm an outdoorsy guy, and this area really appeals to me. 

What's it really like up there?  Anybody drive down the 400 daily?  The job is at the 400 and 407.  Mapquest says 50 minutes, and we did it in 43 to the exit for HWY 7 off the 400.  On Sunday with some actual traffic and a snowstorm...
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Rob, my GF's brother lives in Innisville, it's a pretty nice area he lives just off Lake Simco so it's great in the summer. Any weekend in the summer and your drive will be up to 3hrs on a Friday night. It is a little out there nothing too particularly continent since you’re so close to Barrie why not check the Southern End. There are lots of developments off Molson Park Drive.
scoobasteve,Feb 6 2006, 05:13 PM Wrote:Expect 10000 feet of snow.

didnt barrie/surrounding area get 70cm?

the 400 is usually a mess during the day. not much worse than the 401. but if you get caught behind an accident. expect a 3 or 4 hour delay.
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Sometimes i could make the drive real quick. But like scooba said, one phuck up on the 400, and your screwed for a couple hour.

The only time youll have a problem is bad weather, other then that its decent.
Accidents and weather can happen on any highway. So... is this just a general warning, or is the 400 particularly bad? How often are we talking? From what I saw, it looked fine. Like, on Friday I drove down the 400 from Oak Ridges to 407, between 9 and 9:30AM. The traffic was "light" by my definition. Rolling at 120 with lots of room.

So what's the deal?

The locals said that when the 400 gets clogged, you can take the back roads to get around. There's tons of farmers roads in the area.

Simon, we did look at those southern areas too. Lots of stuff off Molson on the west, and Big Bay on the east. I just kinda lumped southern Barrie/Innisfil together since they're only 5 minutes appart.
Now is not summertime and everyone heads up north to the cottage. That's when traffic gets insane. And by insane, on a Friday long weekend, the worst time possible. a normal trip from 401 to Barrie is about 45 minutes tops. On this particular Friday it can easily be 2.5 hours with no accidents.

The 400 is particularily bad. Mainly because there is no alternate that is reasonable. Those farmers roads are becoming more and more well known. I wouldn't count on them.

But other than traffic being a PITA usually just Firdays 4 months of the year, Innisfil is a very nice country area.
P-51,Feb 6 2006, 01: Wrote:Accidents and weather can happen on any highway.  So... is this just a general warning, or is the 400 particularly bad?  How often are we talking?  From what I saw, it looked fine.  Like, on Friday I drove down the 400 from Oak Ridges to 407, between 9 and 9:30AM.  The traffic was "light" by my definition.  Rolling at 120 with lots of room.

So what's the deal?

The locals said that when the 400 gets clogged, you can take the back roads to get around.  There's tons of farmers roads in the area.

Simon, we did look at those southern areas too.  Lots of stuff off Molson on the west, and Big Bay on the east.  I just kinda lumped southern Barrie/Innisfil together since they're only 5 minutes appart.
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400 accidents dont usually get cleaned up as quick as say the 401... I know one thursday afternoon... it took me 4.5 hours to get from Mississauga to Molson Park dr (barrie)
Snow belt... double what North Bay gets, easy. Get a loader to clean that out.

Serious.

Nice place, but it's turning into mini-Toronto (or at least mini-Etobicoke) quickly. Find a nice spot to settle in and hold it.

I have an old high-school buddy living there, and he and his wife paid STUPID amounts of cash to be in the newer subdivisions with a detached house.

Might want to consider a semi.
2.5 hours on long weekends only wouldn't be the end of the world I guess. I could leave early on those days. What about every other Friday during the summer? Not 2.5 so.... 1.5?

I lived through 3-4 hour commutes in the morning for 2 months after 9/11.

Snow, yeah, got it, need a snow blower. :) Surprisingly, I saw lots of people shoveling on Sunday. Odd.

House prices are great up there, so I'm not sure why you think they overpaid. $250k for a nice detached to start, up to $350k for something really nice on a 50' lot backing onto protected wildlands.

That compares with $350k for a small, slightly dumpy old house in Woodbridge. Or $300k for a small bungalow with no back yard and under powerlines all the way up in Bradford.
He's comparing it to $125 for a house in NB. Who wants to live in NB?
Ah, gotcha. Wow, I didn't think anything was cheaper than Windsor.

I was looking in Quebec last year, just out of curiosity, 1-2 hours north of Ottawa. Realized we could sell the house and buy a place up there, cash, and just get a mechanic job or something like that and have the same amount left at the end of the day.

Crazy the differences in housing prices.

Even more crazy, is salaries in GTA don't seem to compensate this.

I just don't get it.
http://remaxoa.mls.ca/PropertyDetails.aspx...pertyID=4080110

north bay typical ( I should move there and buy the street and taunt Adam all day long)
haha, meford.... just buy this house and be the king of north bay


7 Bedrooms


I wonder how much that would cost in the gta.
scoobasteve,Feb 6 2006, 06:16 PM Wrote:haha, meford.... just buy this house and be the king of north bay


7 Bedrooms


I wonder how much that would cost in the gta.
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Only if it comes with Nos as my trumpeteer. I need a grand entrance everytime I enter a room.

Da da da daaaaaaa!
P-51,Feb 6 2006, 01: Wrote:Accidents and weather can happen on any highway.  So... is this just a general warning, or is the 400 particularly bad?  How often are we talking?  From what I saw, it looked fine.  Like, on Friday I drove down the 400 from Oak Ridges to 407, between 9 and 9:30AM.  The traffic was "light" by my definition.  Rolling at 120 with lots of room.

So what's the deal?

The locals said that when the 400 gets clogged, you can take the back roads to get around.  There's tons of farmers roads in the area.

The problems really are the summer weekends, when the weekend warriors overload the SUV's and hit the 400 to head north. In the summer the run from the 407 where I get on to Major Mackenzie, which is normally a 15 minute run can take upwards of an hour esp. if any events are happening at Canada's Wonderland <_<

Winter weather on the 400 can go from nice to undriveable in a flash esp. in & around Barrie owing to the lake effect snows from Lake Simcoe. Something to think about...

The problem with local roads is that they're just that, dinky little two laners that become jammed solid the minute the 400 goes to hell and in the winter they're nothing more than death traps...

NefCanuck
north bay is too clsoe to sudbury home of PAPROACH is he in jail or something havent seen or heard from him since he got divorced I hope wont happen the ZTS <_<
scoobasteve,Feb 6 2006, 06:16 PM Wrote:haha, meford.... just buy this house and be the king of north bay


7 Bedrooms


I wonder how much that would cost in the gta.
[right][snapback]168768[/snapback][/right]

That's literally right across the street from friends of ours. Really sweet place.

Meford... either quit talking s*** and actually do it, or STFU. I'm getting tired of you continually baiting me and I'm also getting tired of it being conveniently overlooked. Then again, when I'm on at least one mod's Ignore list... it's a tad hard to get treated fairly here.
NOS2Go4Me,Feb 7 2006, 07:35 AM Wrote:
scoobasteve,Feb 6 2006, 06:16 PM Wrote:haha, meford.... just buy this house and be the king of north bay


7 Bedrooms


I wonder how much that would cost in the gta.
[right][snapback]168768[/snapback][/right]

That's literally right across the street from friends of ours. Really sweet place.

Meford... either quit talking s*** and actually do it, or STFU. I'm getting tired of you continually baiting me and I'm also getting tired of it being conveniently overlooked. Then again, when I'm on at least one mod's Ignore list... it's a tad hard to get treated fairly here.
[right][snapback]168824[/snapback][/right]


nites***
P-51,Feb 6 2006, 07: Wrote:I was looking in Quebec last year, just out of curiosity, 1-2 hours north of Ottawa.  Realized we could sell the house and buy a place up there, cash, and just get a mechanic job or something like that and have the same amount left at the end of the day.
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:blink: I'm looking around here in Ottawa, and couldnt beleive the price differences just across the border. 1500sq/ft house is litteraly 50-70K cheaper in quebec.

But then I looked into it some more.

In my tax bracket I lose 24% of my pay RIGHT AWAY.

Property taxes & Car insurance is cheap, but then your looking at $250.00/every 2 years for license plates, $100/year for Quebec License plate INSURANCE (You have to get the quebec insurance ontop of your own). Then their is the old "Welcome to Quebec" Tax, which is literally:

"Heres my $600.00".

"Heres you tour guide book of Quebec, Welcome to Quebec!!" :rolleyes:

Then, for me to enter the cars in Quebec, all 3 of them need a safety check, and etest before being registered in the Belle Province.

I'm gonna stay in Ontario. :lol:
meford4u,Feb 7 2006, 09:06 AM Wrote:
NOS2Go4Me,Feb 7 2006, 07:35 AM Wrote:
scoobasteve,Feb 6 2006, 06:16 PM Wrote:haha, meford.... just buy this house and be the king of north bay


7 Bedrooms


I wonder how much that would cost in the gta.
[right][snapback]168768[/snapback][/right]

That's literally right across the street from friends of ours. Really sweet place.

Meford... either quit talking s*** and actually do it, or STFU. I'm getting tired of you continually baiting me and I'm also getting tired of it being conveniently overlooked. Then again, when I'm on at least one mod's Ignore list... it's a tad hard to get treated fairly here.
[right][snapback]168824[/snapback][/right]


nites***
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SKEET SKEET SKEET!!!


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