Let's talk about one of the top cities to live in in Canada! Whitby Ontario was ranked top 25 out of 415 cities in the entire country!

In this video I break down - in great detail - the highest ranking Whitby Ontario neighborhoods that people are moving to. Discover average prices of homes, schools in the area, safety ratings, plus the most popular places to eat and play.

==========

[Transcript]

So you’re thinking about moving to Whitby Ontario? Well in this video I’m going to show you the top 5 neighboourhoods in Whitby Ontario and we’re gonna make it really exciting for you because 1st we’re going to hop in my car and I’m going to take you for a ride. I’ve taken extensive footage of each of these neighbourhoods so you can see them up close and personal. Then I’m gonna show you some of the different styles of homes, different price points, so whether you’re looking for a starter home or a forever home, you get a full picture of how far your budget can take you and get a better picture of what it’s like to live right here in beautiful Whitby Ontario. So without further ado, let’s get right in to it!

Hey if this is your first time to the channel and you want to know everything there is to know about living in Toronto and the surrounding areas like Whitby then subscribe below. Also tap the bell for notifications so you can be the first to know about the current market in Toronto. My name is Rochelle Manguino I’m a local real estate agent right here in Whitby and the surrounding Greater Toronto Area. For the last 7 years I’ve been helping people just like yourself move to the GTA and I absolutely love it. So whether you’re looking to move in 9 days or 90 days I’d love to hear from you! Give me a call, shoot me a text, send me an email, or even schedule a Zoom call down in the description below. I’d be happy to help you make a smooth move to Toronto. 

So let’s get in to this let me show you what Whitby is all about! Hop in my car and the first spot on our top 5 list that I want to show you is Taunton North. If you take a look at our map here you can see that Taunton North is closer to the north end of town. And just like its neighbours Pickering Ajax and Oshawa, the northern part of the city is primarily rural. But with this neighbourhood specifically, Taunton North it’s seen a large increase in population over recent years because of a large number of builders coming in to the area and transitioning it from a rural countryside to an urban community. That said there are quite a number of newer subdivisions being built, newer homes. So let’s head over to the area and see what the neighbourhood looks like. 

Welcome to Taunton North! You may’ve noticed from the drive thru here that the neighbourhood has  a lot of large detached executive homes, but also a bunch of more modest detached houses and townhomes in the mix too. The average price of a home here is $1.071 million dollars.

This home is at the average price point it sold for $1 million dollars even and it has 2+2 bedrooms and 5 baths. Whenever you see a listing that has +1 bedrooms, +2 bedrooms, that means they’re referring to either a den or a bedroom in the basement for example. Officially, in order to call a room a bedroom it has to have a closet and a window large enough to escape from if there’s a fire. Those are the rules about what constitutes a bedroom and so this house is a good example of that because it is a bungalow, where on the main floor you’ve got the 2 bedrooms. And then the +2 bedrooms those are actually in the finished basement of this home where because they are below grade level you don’t have the appropriate sized windows you need to actually call it a bedroom officially, but still added value because at the end of the day you still have a total of 4 bedrooms in the whole house so there’s your fun fact for the day!

And so that is also what a cool round million dollars can get you in this neck of the woods. But now I want to do is just drive up a little further up north, directly north actually of where we’re at now just about 5 minutes away I want to take you to the neighbourhood of Brooklin. Brooklin In my humble opinion is one of Whitby’s hidden gems. Not too many people have heard of this area which is good and it’s bad I mean it’s good because it might get overpopulated and won’t be a little secret anymore how beautiful and relatively affordable it is there but bad because everyone should know about it it’s very underrated and you’ll see why when I show you so that’s what I want to do is let you guys in on this charming little neighbourhood in Whitby. It’s the #2 spot on our top 5 list come hop in the car with me and let me show you Brooklin.

Isn’t Brooklin just beautiful? I love it here and what’s really unique about this neighbourhood here is its strong sense of community, because first of all that downtown core that we drove through with all the charming little shops and restaurants? That’s called Brooklin Village. And that whole area is designated an Ontario Heritage Conservation District. That means that property owners need a permit to make certain changes to their home, like if they want to extend their front porch or add an addition to their property, they’ll need permission from the city because they wanna make sure that the homes in the area and the overall look and feel of the community is consistent so they’ve done a great job of preserving its historical charm and you really do get a good sense of community with that. There are actually tons of events are held here throughout the year right here where I’m standing is where they host the Brooklin Christmas festival and the Brooklin Spring Fair. And then the Brooklin Farmers Market is a really popular weekly thing that goes on that brings everyone together as well which is really fun. Now in terms of housing, I’m going to show you what your average home here looks like. It is helpful to know that the newer section of Brooklin which is east of the downtown core where I’m at now, it has a more modern look to the homes there yet they’ve somehow managed to blend in that contemporary look of homes with the historic charm of the area it’s really unique I’m excited to show you so let’s go take a hike up the road and I’ll show you exactly what I’m talking about, let’s go.

So here’s where I’m talking about you get a nice mix of new and old. The homes in this subdivision are relatively newer around 20 years old but they’ve got this Victorian revival style to the brick and mostly siding exterior with Victorian accents like gingerbread trim you can see at the tops of the roofs there, and and gabled, triangular pitched roofs which were the predominant style from that time as well. 

This one here behind me it also has that whimsical charm you’ve got an inviting front porch and all siding clad exterior. This one is actually a townhouse, it has 3 beds, 3 baths, and recently sold for $744,000 dollars. What’s really beneficial about this set of townhouses unlike most townhomes in Whitby is that it is not a condo townhouse you don’t pay condo fees. So normally when you think of a condo you think of a unit inside a building and you have monthly condo fees you pay for the pool, security, building insurance, etc. What a lot of ppl don’t know though is that many townhomes are usually condos as well in that you have to pay your monthly condo fees to pay for things like water and garbage and whatever shared amenities are part of the complex say the the inner street for example or visitor parking you’re paying to have the snow removed and just to keep the overall aesthetic of the complex more uniform. But like I said this townhouse specifically does not have any condo fees. It’s a freehold which means you are responsible for the upkeep of everything on your property, the lawn, the roof, the backyard. But at the same time that does give you more control of any improvements you want to make to your place you know a lot of times condos will have rules about oh you can’t paint your door this colour or you can’t hang these objects from your window. That’s not the case here with a freehold and on top of that you do get to have more direction in terms of your budget and where your money actually goes. Now in terms of budget if you wanted to stay below the million dollar price point then I have a great area for you. The next neighbourhood on your top 5 list is where you’ll find a lot more options between the $750k and million dollar price range. You’ve got a good selection of a variety of different homes - what’s been selling the most most recently are townhomes that’s the most popular style here that’s been selling like hot cakes, but they do have larger sized semi detached and single family homes under the million dollar mark as well so let’s hop in my car and I’ll show you what this homes look like. Come with me and let’s head on over to the neighbourhood of Rolling Acres. 

Welcome to Rolling Acres! Quick breakdown on this lovely neighbourhood it’s actually the smallest neighborhood in Whitby in terms of land size but what it lacks in size, it makes up for in nearby amenities. Here you’ll find tons of shopping like grocery stores restaurants gas stations and big box retailers. There are also 3 schools in the neighbourhood including 1 catholic school and 2 public schools, but note that they’re all elementary schools offering kindergarten to grade 8 but there are several high schools just outside of the neighbourhood that are available to you as well.

Now I mentioned that here in Rolling Acres is where you’ll find a lot more affordable homes that are at a lower price point compared to other neighbourhoods in Whitby. The average home here is $1.02 million dollars which is about average for the city but like I said you can still find a lot of great options under the million dollar mark, a perfect example being this charming house behind me here. This one recently sold for $807,000. It’s a detached home as you can see with 3 bedrooms and 2 baths. The homes in this area are great for growing families because this one here for example has a finished basement so that gives you extra room for the kids to play or for additional storage space if you need it, I mean we could all use more storage right. But then like a lot of the homes here you can also see that house has an extra long driveway where you can park 3 cars which is convenient for larger families as well. In terms of location you’re close to great schools. There’s a website out there called areavibes that ranks schools in Canada based on student test scores. Here in Rolling Acres the average school score they gave a rating of 77.8. That’s higher than the overall Whitby schools score of 74, the overall Ontario schools score of 67, and that’s also 18% higher than the national average so great place to raise a family, you’ve got tons of amenities nearby and you get to benefit from more affordable housing compared to nearby neighbourhoods in the area.  

By the way if you are getting value out of this video so far then please don’t forget to give me a thumbs up and make sure you also subscribe to my channel as well so you get all the insider info you need to make your move to Whitby or anywhere in the GTA an easy and informative one. Alright next stop on our top 5 list is Williamsburg. It’s a great neighbourhood for growing families as well because it’s more densely populated a community which means you’re naturally going to have more kids in the mix which is nice if you have kids yourself it’ll be easy for you to just step outside your front door and have a bunch of playmates for your kids to hang out with and you’re going to see a lot parks and recreational activities in the neighbourhood as well so let’s go for a ride there right now. Hop in my car and I’ll show you #2 on our list, the community of Williamsburg. ich makes the location ideal for commuters. So let’s go for a ride in my car again and I’ll take you for a tour let’s go.

Location wise Williamsburg actually sits along the Lynde Creek Greenbelt so that forms sort of a green buffer around this neighbourhood. And then the Heber Down Conservation Area is just up north that’s where you’ll find plenty of nature trails, you can go out for a picnic, and even go fishing or camping on the grounds as well. You’ve also got Highway 412 and the 407 are close too making it easy to hit your 400 series highways if you’re wanting to travel in to Toronto or elsewhere in the GTA. Now Let me flip my phone around and i’ll show you the residential pockets in this neighbourhood. 

Welcome to Williamsburg! Like I mentioned this area is ideal for families because you’ve got a more densely populated community. If you’re looking at the population per square km then Williamsburg actually has 3322 residents per square km, and that’s compared to 943 residents per square km in all of Whitby so that’s more than triple. That said you are going to find a lot of multi-family dwellings in the neighbourhood, like towns and semi-detahced houses. But again you also have a lot more homes with kids in the family. Just to throw a few more stats at you that are helpful to know. Williamsburg in fact in terms of families with kids at home they’re sitting at 61%, whereas in the rest of Whitby only 55% of families have kids at home so you’ve got a slightly higher percentage here. You’ve also got more married couples in this neighbourhood, 77% compared to 74 and 71% in Whitby and Ontario. And you’ve got a slightly younger population here as well, the median age being 38, compared to 39 and 40 in Whitby and Ontario.   So again, great place for younger families and you’ve got a range of housing styles to choose from. 

The street that I’m on now has a good mix of singles, semis, and towns. On this side here you’ll find your single family detached houses. These homes in the last few months have sold for an average of $1.1, 1.2 million dollars. And then on the other side of this street literally just right across the street you’ve got a good, long row of townhomes that’ll likely go for anywhere between 850 and a million dollars, depending of course on its size, features, and finishes. But again, great variety of homes to choose from, you’ve got a ton of great options available to you. But now, it’s time to head over to the #5 spot on our top 5 list. I’m gonna take you to the beautiful shores of Lake Ontario. I want to show you Whitby’s lakeside community we’re going to head down south to the neighbourhood of Port Whitby. Just so you know we are going to pass by an industrial pocket of the city on the way there. Port Whitby is also bordered by parkland and conservation areas to the east and west which will make for an interesting drive so  let’s head on over there right now I’m excited to show you Whitby’s lakeside community let’s check the place out together. 

Welcome to Port Whitby! I’m at the Port Whitby Marina and if you want to capitalize on being in a lakeside town, then this area is for you. Situated next to the shores of Lake Ontario, housing around here comes with beautiful views of the water and access to a number of fun activities and amenities. Whitby actually has over 10 kms of waterfront trail so you can enjoy daily sunrises and sunsets along the water. The port itself is actually an award-winning facility with over 400 boat slips on the harbour so you can dock your boat there after you’ve enjoyed some rides on the water. There’s the clubhouse around the corner with a bunch of restaurants and shops you can walk to. And the marina also hosts a bunch of different events throughout the year, their biggest one being their Canada Day celebration where they throw fireworks, live music and have activities for the kids. Now let’s go check out some of their real estate. 

The dominant housing style here in Port Whity are high rise condo units. Over the last 12 months over 80% of the real estate sold here has been 1 and 2 bedroom condos in these buildings here that overlook the water. So a typical unit in your average building in this neighbourhood is going to run you anywhere between 5 and $600,000. The most recent sale in the neighbourhood was in this building. It was a 1 bed, 1 bath between 5 and 600 sqft on the 4th floor that sold for $535,000. So that’s quite typical in today’s market you’re looking at about $100 per square foot. Parking is included in that price and that unit I’m talking about specifically sold after 2 days on the market. 

Here’s the thing guys pre-pandemic the Toronto market was seeing average days on the market around 20-25 days. But now you guys know that homes are selling like hot cakes it’s a totally different market, the average number of days on market for a home in Whitby is 8. Homes are selling for anywhere between 10 and 20% over asking, often times even more so it can be a tricky market to navigate if you haven’t been in the scene in a while. You want to make sure you’ve spoken with a lender and have your pre-approval in place so that you come in with a strong offer as soon as you find a place. You want to be ready to make moves and decisions quick because of the short number of days on market competition is quite fierce these days as there are a bunch more buyers than there is inventory and that’s why you’ve got short days on the market for any given home because people want to buy a house and they want to buy now. So if you’re one of those people, whether you’re looking to move in 9 days or 90 days give me a shout. I’d be happy to help you through the process beginning to end everything from making sure you have your mortgage letters in place to showing you the best homes in the best neighbourhoods for you and your family.  Whether it’s Whitby or elsewhere in the GTA give me a shout I’d love to hear from you. 

Give me a call, shoot me a text, send me an email or schedule a Zoom all my contact info will be down below. I want to make sure your next move is a smooth and easy one. Until then thanks for watching everyone! My name is Rochelle Manguino your local greater Toronto area Realtor. I can’t wait to see you around town!

Everyone knows that Toronto is one of THE best places to live in the world. But where’s the best place to live in Toronto? I ranked all of the city's most popular neighborhoods that people are moving to, comparing everything from housing to amenities to VIBE. Check out every neighborhood you NEED to know in Toronto Ontario.

==========

[Transcription]

So you’re thinking about moving to Toronto? Well the nice thing is that you have plenty of neighborhoods to choose from, each with their own personality and vibe but with so many options where do you even begin? Stay tuned because I’m about to drop the most popular areas of the city that people are moving to including a neighborhood that was rated by Vogue magazine as the second coolest neighborhood in the world! So make sure to stick around to the end and I’ll let you know which one that is. These are the top 7 rated neighborhoods to move to in Toronto Ontario. Hey if this is your first time to this channel and you want to know everything there is to know about living in Toronto then welcome! My name is Rochelle and I’ve been a real estate agent here in Toronto for the last 7 years helping people just like you! make the move to Toronto Canada and I love it. So if you’re looking to move whether it’s in 9 days or 90 days I’d love to hear from you - you can give me a shout - all of my contact is in the description below - but for now the best way to give you a better understanding of these neighborhoods is to show you where they are on Google Maps, so let’s hop in my computer and I’ll show you around! So welcome to Toronto! If you don’t know already let me tell you this city is huge. If we’re looking at the entire Greater Toronto Area - that’s made up of the city of Toronto itself plus all of these surrounding suburbs but today I’m just going to focus on Toronto proper here within these red borders.  If you are interested in other popular suburbs that may be more affordable or family oriented then make sure to go through my channel I have tons of videos like this this and this that walk you through those but for now I’m just gonna zone in on the city of Toronto itself, and I’m going to start on the east end to the the 1st neighborhood on our top 7 list which is the neighborhood of The Beaches

1. The Beaches Now normally when you think of Toronto the first thing that comes to mind is not a beach. But that’s what makes this neighborhood so popular is that it’s one of only a few beaches in the city and so in the warmer months this place does get very very busy. Aside from the beach itself which sits along the shores of Lake Ontario here. The Beaches is known for 3 things: the Boardwalk, which stretches 3 kms along the beach, the indie shops, restaurants and bars along Queen St. which are fun, colorful and eclectic, and then the housing, because the Beaches neighborhood has the largest variety of architectural styles than any other neighborhood in Toronto. Together, these 3 things make for a chill but vibrant lakeside vibe that thousands of Torontonians and tourists flock to to get some sun, hang out and have a good time. Now let’s travel further down west here to Riverdale.

2. Riverdale Riverdale is best known for being home to Greektown and East Chinatown. Greektown is also commonly referred to as The Danforth - people use these names synonymously when they refer to the area because The Danforth (circle east of Broadview)  this road just east of Broadview is the heart of Toronto’s Greek community. Tons of delicious restaurants line this street - you want souvlaki, moussaka, add some tzatziki to your life then the Danforth strip is where you want to be. And then East Chinatown here. This by the way is not the main Chinatown of Toronto - that Chinatown is part of downtown, but this area I’m talking about on the east end of the city is also known for having some of the best chinese food with a good stretch of bakeries, grocery stands, and eateries. People also love this area not just for the cuisine, but because you’re close to major highways and roads - like the DVP, Lakeshore, and the Gardiner, making commuting in and out of the city a breeze. Now I am going to continue to make my way downtown but before that is another very popular part of midtown Toronto, up here to the neighborhood of Davisville Village. 

3. Davisville Village This part of town appeals to a lot of people  singles, families, couples without kids. Mount Pleasant West for example this area is primarily residential you’ll see people walking their dogs, hanging out at the park  but you’re surrounded by these commercial strips offering you can see here and all these other trendy, artisanal shops. Then I move just here to Yonge and Eglinton this is a very happening part of town it is bustling with tons of shopping and dining everything from tacos to ramen to jerk chicken. But what really draws people aside from the activity is the good mix of housing available. You could rent a studio on top of a storefront along Yonge I used to stay at this cute little place on top of the AllState Insurance store we’d sleep on the rooftop and wake up to billboards and the sun just blazing on your face it was such a nice setting, you’ve got plenty of highrise condos where you get great views of all the action and activity, and then down here along Yonge and St. Clair you’ll find larger, more upscale homes with an affluent address so basically tons of housing options to choose from all in a very lively, busy part of town. Now,  let’s head on over back downtown closer to the west side actually because here you’ll find a lot of very popular neighborhoods and probably one of the most popular ones is here Kensington Market.

4. Kensington Market If I could sum up Kensington Market in 3 words it’d be hipster, artsy, and eclectic. It’s honestly one of Toronto’s most unique and iconic neighborhoods because of its color and community feel, and altogether has this boho, vintage indie vibe you’ve got all of these trendy bars, specialty grocers, book stores, record stores, thrift shops. The houses here are fun too you’ve got a a lot of Victorian style homes so they have that old world charm, but then you’ve got market stalls right out their front doorstep which really puts them in the center of all the modern day action. And the people that live here come from all ethnicities and backgrounds, Kensington is actually one of the most culturally diverse areas  in all of Toronto. I want to show you another fun neighborhood which is here West Queen West and even Trinity Bellwoods. 

5. West Queen West/Trinity Bellwoods West Queen West is the neighborhood that Vogue magazine ranked as the second coolest neighborhood in the world everywhere from Tokyo to Mexico City, this Toronto neighborhood has just outranked them all because all along Queen Street here the street is completely lined with everything from offbeat street fashion shops to boutique stores and everything between but it’s got style. And then just up here you’ve also got Trinity Bellwoods which has everything from art galleries to hole in the wall coffee shops. Housing is fun here too you’ve got a lot of century homes close to all this shopping, art and design studios, live music venues. Anything that speaks to your creative interests you can basically find here, like Graffiti Alley here is basically the greatest free art exhibit in town. It’s a laneway that stretches several blocks long and makes the perfect backdrop for photography or Instagram selfies. The art is always changing here too and so if you’re lucky you might be able to catch some of the local graffiti artists in action - it’s all legal and encouraged here by the way. The Drake hotel here and the Gladstone hotel next door these are 2 iconic landmarks that fuse art and hospitality. The Drake by the way has nothing to do with Drake the rapper who did coincidentally grow up here in Toronto and still has one of his mansions in Bridle Path, another area of the city that’s home to some of Canada’s wealthiest residents, but 2 different things don’t get them mixed up (and yes I did just say don’t get a hotel and a person mixed up ok next up on on top our top 7 list. 

6. Roncesvalles Not too further down west is this neighborhood here that nobody knows how to pronounce. Ask half of the locals and they’ll call it Roncesvalles, the other half will argue that the last s is silent - Roncesvalle - but I think everyone can agree that the easiest thing to call it is Roncy that’s the name it goes by for most of the community so that’s just a quick tip if you do make your way here and want to blend in with the locals then you would call it Roncy but this neighborhood culturally, is known as the centre of Toronto’s Polishcommunity, with tons of Polish businesses and shops lining Roncesvalle Avenue, this street also hosts the largest Polish Festival in North America. All in all it’s this nice European, small-town feel with warm and inviting people. You’re also right next to High Park. High Park is not only Toronto’s biggest park, but at 400 acres it’s one of the largest parks in North America. It’s often compared to New York’s Central Park. It has a zoo, hiking trails, beautiful gardens, a public pool, sports facilities, picnic areas, you can see here it’s waterfront so very scenic, and all around just a great place to spend an afternoon. And then last but not least on our top 7 list is The Junction.

7. The Junction This is a hip, eclectic neighborhood where its main street Dundas West here is alive with businesses, bars, independent food stores you can see here but then if you move just over here to St. Clair West, you’ll get more of a suburban feel with these big box stores like The Home Depot, Canadian Tire, and this large shopping plaza here Stock Yards (Weston and St. Clair) has your Winners, HomeSense, Old Navy. And then everywhere outside that in between you’ve got these beautiful brick century homes amongst tree-lined streets with people from all backgrounds, young families, urban professionals the Junction is perfect for anyone who wants to be part of the action but where it’s not too loud or lively just a nice happy medium between city life and suburbia.