It's no secret that a big reason for our market going crazy in the spring and holding pretty strong through 2022, is the demand from out of province buyers. We've seen a huge amount of people making the move from Ontario to Alberta in the last few years, but now that they've lived here for a while, what do they truly like about it? I reached out to some of my past clients and took to some Facebook groups to find out.
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1. AFFORDABILITY
We'll get the most obvious thing out of the way - Alberta is overall more affordable than a majority of places in Ontario right now. The biggest factors contributing to this is the cost of housing, whether that be buying or renting, and the tax savings associated with that in comparison to Ontario.
2. ROCKY MOUNTAINS
People moving from Ontario love being so close to the Rocky Mountains, as a lot have never seen them before. We are only about an hour drive from Kananaskis and under an hour and a half to popular tourist places like Canmore and Banff. You can even get a small mountain view from a number of homes in the city.
3. FRIENDLY COMMUNITY
Something mentioned quite a bit was how much people appreciated how nice and friendly everyone was here in comparison to what they were used to. It was said that it was far more likely to see others smiling at them or holding the door open for them, and found that people seemed to be more giving and charitable. This could definitely have something to do with #1 on our list, when you're not spending 80% of your income on housing, it's amazing what that does to your mood.
4. LESS TRAFFIC
Those coming from the greater Toronto area loved how little traffic there is here. Now don't get me wrong, we do have traffic jams and people how grew up here might think it gets bad, but those moving from larger centres think our idea of rush out is almost laughable. At the busiest times, it can add 15 to 20 extra minutes to your commute, which doesn't even come close to what you experience in Ontario.
5. CAREER OPPORTUNITIES
Multiple people said they love how many job opportunities there are here and how much more money they can actually get paid for those jobs. I don't know what the employment situation is like in Ontario, but it was also brought up that it seems like there's a bigger focus on supporting small businesses. So if you're an entrepreneur, Alberta might be the perfect location for that venture.
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6. LESS HUMIDITY
I have a bonus reason for you, as a bunch of people told me they liked getting away from the humidity. This surprised me, as I assumed the dry air here would be a negative, but for most people it turned out, it wasn't.
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- Brad Walker
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