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TOP 5 NEIGHBORHOODS TO MOVE TO IN WHITBY ONTARIO 2022
 

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.


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[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!




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EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT WHITBY ONTARIO | Living in Whitby Ontario


Whitby Ontario was ranked top 25 out of 415 cities in all of Canada and in this video I’m going to walk you through WHY on Google Maps.

That way you can see all the different things to do in Whitby, the most popular neighborhoods, plus all the sights and sounds of this epic Toronto suburb.


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[Transcript]


Hi in this video we’re going to talk about one of the top cities to live in in Canada! Whitby Ontario was ranked top 25 out of 415 cities in all of Canada and I’m going to walk you through why on a map. That way you can see all the different things to do in Whitby, the most popular neighborhoods, all the sights and sounds of this epic Toronto suburb, and we’re gonna get in to it, right now. 

Hey if this is your first time to this channel and you want to know everything there is to know about living, working, eating, sleeping, playing, the good and the bad of toronto ontario and the surrounding areas like right here in Whitby, then subscribe below and tap the bell for notifications so you can be the first to know about the current market in Whitby Ontario. My name is Rochelle Manguino for the last 7 years I’ve been helping people just like you! Make the move to Toronto Ontario and I absolutely love it. As a real estate agent here I want to help you make that move. So whether you’re moving in 9 days or 90 days be sure to give me a call, shoot me a text, send me an email, or even schedule a zoom call and i’ll be happy to help you make a smooth move to toronto ontario. So in this video as I mentioned I’ll be walking you through Whitby ontario on a map.. I’ll answer some of the most popular questions I get about Whitby - Is it good place to live? How safe is it? Let’s hop in to my computer and I’ll show you around.

Alright so here we are taking a look at Whitby which you can see is highlighted right here. Right off the bat the biggest highlight of Whitby is that it is a lakefront town you are sitting on the shores of Lake Ontario so a lot of points of interest will be along the water. Whitby has over 10 and a half kilometers of waterfront trail, including the Port Whitby Marina with over 400 slips so you can dock your boat. You’re surrounded by restaurants and shops that 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, they have live music and activities for the kids.

If I just head up Victoria Street, a quick 5 minute drive will take me to the entrance of Lynde Shores Conservation. This is one of the most popular places to visit in all of Whitby. The waterfront trail passes through this conservation. They’ve got a trail system that’s really well marked, you can bring your dog there, the trails are wide and open. On any given day you’ll see wild deer and even turkey, and a lot of people even bring seeds to handfeed the birds. At the southernmost tip here there’s a paddle launch so you can bring your kayak or canoe on to Lake Ontario. 

Now if I Zoom out you can see that Whitby is bordered by Ajax to the west, Oshawa to the east, and the town of Scugog to the north - isn’t that a fun name, Scugog. Now if I Zoom out even more you’ll see that Whitby is just east of Toronto. So if you actually take the 401 that would be your main highway to get to the city. That would be about 45 kilometers away or less than an hour drive. At first glance it might make more sense to take Kingston Road all the way here but keep in mind this is not a highway. It is a major road so you are going to get a lot of traffic lights and any Google Maps search you do is going to tell you that the 401 is the best way to get to downtown Toronto.

Now I mentioned that MoneySense Magazine named Whitby as one of their top cities to live in all of Canada. Why? What makes this town so special? Well first of all it is great for families. Here in the neighborhood of Williamsburgthis community specifically was actually ranked the best neighborhood for Families. 61% of families here in Williamsburg have kids, school test scores are high, very low crime rates in fact Whitby crime rates are 41% lower than the national average which makes the entire city as a whole a very safe place to live. The average price of a single detached home here in this neighborhood is about $1.1 million dollars, with townhouses - the most popular housing type in this community specifically they’ll run you closer to the $900,000 dollar mark. Baycliffe Park here right in the middle of the neighborhood is phenomenal it’s also known as the rocketship park because they’ve got a huge rocket ship structure that’s about 2 stories high you can climb up and slide down. Smaller playground for toddlers, a splash pad with sandpit area and then a jogging path that goes all the way around the park. Families from all over the town come to this park because it’s very nice they’ve got 4.7 stars out of close to 650 reviews on Google. 

So great place for growing families you have great starter homes to choose from. If you want to check out this neighborhood a bit more in detail, I do have another video here that rhymes off the top 5 neighborhoods in Whitby that people are moving to. You get drive-bys on the streets so you can see the homes up close and personal. We go through neighborhood demographics, schools in the area, all so you get a good picture of what it’s like to live in Whitby. 

But Whitby isn’t just for kids and families, it’s great for singles, too. If I just head on a little further south to the neighborhood of Bluegrass Meadows. This area was voted the Best Neighborhood For Singles and young professionals now that’s based on people living here between 25 and 34, what employment opportunities they have, housing affordability and local nearby amenities. If I zoom in here you can see a ton of different shops and restaurants on either side of Thickson Road are 2 pretty large shopping plazas. You can see here let me just zoom in I’ve got Toys R Us I’ve got the LCBO Healthy Planet Taco Bell. And then on the other side of Thickson you’ve got bad boy it’s, uh, they’re all located at Whitby Mall there’s photo plus there’s Talize the thrift store, Bank of Montreal, the list goes on and on and on so it’s absolutely amazing.

Then if we just move a bit further down Thickson Rd right where it meets the 401, you can see Durham College. Durham College’s Whitby campus was actually designed because the province projected an increasing demand for green jobs in Ontario, so they built this campus to  train students in renewable energy which is very exciting for the future of our ecosystem. And then just across the street on the other side of the highway you’ve got the Thickson Ridge Power Center. This is where you’re going to find a lot of your big box stores, so your Home Sense, your Home Depot, Bou Clair, Best Buy, La-Z-Boy Furnishings, pretty much everything that has to do with your home. If you’re moving here for the first time and need to furnish, decorate, or build your home, this plaza will probably be your first stop on the list.

Now on that note, if you are considering moving to Whitby Ontario it would be helpful to know what the housing market looks like here. Overall, Whitby has a great selection of homes at a wide variety of different price points. Everything from bachelor apartments to towns, semi-detached, and even large, luxury estate homes along Lake Ontario, there are tons of different options in Whitby to suit your budget and your lifestyle. 

If we move along to downtown Whitby, this is where you’ll find the most affordable real estate. The average price of a home in this neck of the woods is $830,000 dollars. Which is amazing because being downtown Whitby means you get easy access to some of the most eclectic, vibrant, and fun shops and restaurants in all of Whitby. Right around here at Dundas and Brock this is where you’re going to find everything from Nice Bistro Restaurant, your Downtown Whitby Dentistry, Whitby Barbershop, The Vault Gastropub, just a whole bunch of different shops and restaurants like I mentioned. 

And what I personally love about downtown Whitby is that it sort of has that mini-downtown Toronto feel. You get these unique mom and pop type shops, there’s a hustle and bustle to the main streets here the vibe is a lot different here than in the rest of Whitby here it’s a lot more busy, and loud, you’ve got public art sprinkled around the place like graffiti on the walls of buildings but not the kids vandaliizing the streets type of graffiti I’m talking beautiful displays of creative art like this and this.. So all around very cool place to be and just a different energy than the rest of town. 

Then on the other side of the spectrum you’ve got the equally impressive yet most expensive part of the city, which is the neighborhood of Brooklin. So you’ll notice that Brooklin is surrounded by Green space. Whitby overall the southern half is where you’ll find a lot more development, densely populated residential communities mixed in with industrial and commercial space. Then the northern half here is considered more rural. But, tucked in right in the middle of all this nature and greenery is honestly one of the best hidden gems inthe local businesses are run out of historic homes, you’ve got restaurants with locally sourced ingredients, pubs with patios and happy hour, hardware store all of Durham Region, this neighboorhood here Brooklin - Brooklin, is known for its historic charm. A lot of s, yoga and dance studios, so many boutique and unique shops. Now the whole downtown Brooklin area is designated an Ontario Heritage Conservation District - that means, if you were to move here and and wanted to make certain changes to their home, say you wanted to extend your front porch or add a side entrance to a finished basement, then you’re going to need permission from the city but with that comes the opportunity to live in the nicest part of town that preserves its historic charm and has a great sense of community. And Brooklin also happens to be the safest neighborhood in Whitby as well. The average price of a home here is 1.1 million dollars - which might seem like that’s still on the high end, but if you compare it to the city of Toronto, 1.1 million might get you something like this. So would you rather have this or this?

So all in all Whitby Ontario is a great place to live, work, and play.  According to Areavibes.com Whitby has an outstanding livability score of 89 that is a very excellent score. A lot of young people, millennials, gen X, gen z even they’ve been moving out of Toronto and into the suburbs like Whitby lately. Great place to raise a family because it’s much less hectic than Toronto, but you still get that cultural flavor in areas like downtown, and lakefront life in neighboorhoods like Port Whitby, and close to tons of shops and amenities in areas like Williamsburg and Brooklin. 

 So if you’re considering moving to Whitby Ontario, whether you’re moving in 9 days or 90 days give me a shout I’d love to help you out! Give me a call, shoot me a text send me an email or even schedule a zoom call down in the description below. We can jump on a Zoom just like this show you the areas that you’re interested in and kind of walk you through those so you can get a better idea. Hopefully I get a chance to work with you help you out. Any way I can. It’s what I love doing.  I’d love to help you make a smooth move to Toronto. Until then, don’t forget to subscribe to my channel, and check out this video about the pros and cons of living in Whitby. So with that being said, until next time see you around town. Thanks for watching! Bye for now!



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The Pros and Cons of Living in Whitby Ontario | The Good and Bad of Whitby Ontario
 

Moving to Whitby Ontario but you don't know where to start? In this video I cover all the pros and cons of living in one of Canada's top rated towns. Learn everything from housing affordability to ethnic diversity... a must watch before moving to Whitby Ontario!

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[Transcript]

Hi there. This video is all about the pros and cons of living in Whitby Ontario. So stay tuned. Hi there. My name is Rochelle Manguino I'm the founder and creator of living in Toronto. I am also a local real estate agent with EXP Realty right here in Whitby Ontario. So if you're new to my channel, then welcome. I am here to let you know everything that you need to know about living, working, and even having fun in the greater Toronto area. So make sure you subscribe to my channel and hit the notification bell as well, so that you get notified every time I drop a new video, I do so every week where I give you guys all tips and strategies for purchasing or selling your next property. Anything that has to do with real estate in the greater Toronto area, I've got that for you. So let's get right into it. I'm about to drop the top three pros and cons of living in Whitby Ontario. So today I'm gonna give you everything that you need to know about moving to Whitby whether you're relocating for work, you're raising your family. You're retiring here. Or you're just looking for a change of scenery, then I'm gonna break it all down for you, the good, the bad and the ugly so that you have everything that you need to know before moving to Whitby.

So let's get right into it. I'm gonna start with the pros of living in wi me starting with number one, which is that housing is affordable. So when I talk about affordable housing in Wii, I'm talking in relative terms, I wanna make that really clear because if anyone knows anything about affordability in housing, in the greater Toronto area, you guys know that the GTA is very expensive. And so home prices in Whitby, which is part of the GTA will also be expensive as well. But we want to look at it in relative terms. So Whitby compared to other areas is relatively less expensive than other areas in the GTA. So that's your number one pro. And now I wanna talk about a little more about that in terms of the distance of Whitby from Toronto. So if you're looking at downtown Whitby to downtown Toronto, that's an easy 50 kilometer distance, which is about a 40 minute drive, but that also makes it very attractive for commuters who live in Whitby who want or need to to commute to Toronto for work. It is a very affordable option because you still have that sort of slow pace, suburban lifestyle where housing is less expensive than other areas in Toronto. You're still close to the city of Toronto. Yet you get to benefit from affordable housing in Whitby. If you are one of those commuters who are traveling from Whitby to Toronto or vice versa, the best way and what a lot of the residents in Whitby are doing is they're taking the go train because that avoids all of the traffic and congestion on the 401, the 401 being your main highway or direct access point from Whitby to Toronto. So despite its ideal location to Toronto people are really flocking to Whitby to purchase real estate. And the reason why is because you are so close to Toronto, but you still have affordable housing options. And that's the number one pro of living in Whitby is that you got to benefit from all of the city amenities, but still remain, you know, relatively less expensive in price in terms of your housing options.

Now with that said, I do actually have a video right over here that you can check out that outlines all of the different neighborhoods or all of the more popular neighborhoods in Whitby. You get an idea of the different price points in today's market, so that you get a good overall picture and actually a real street level view of what it's like to live any given neighborhood inside Whitby Ontario.

All right. So my number two pro of living in whitby Ontario is that it is very family friendly. Whitby is a really, really safe city to live in. So according to area vibes.com Whitby is actually 89% safer to live in than all other cities in Canada. So even despite Whitby's proximity to cities like Oshawa, so Oshawa is its neighboring city. They share a border and Oshawa is really known for having a high crime rate. And I actually talk about that in another video that I did about Oshawa Ontario, but despite being really close to that city the crime rate in whitby is actually really extremely low. In fact, the city's average crime rate is actually 37% lower than the national average. So that's how safe this city is. So that being said, it is a really great place to live and even raise a family. Because when you talk about what's nearby in whatever neighborhood you live in and Whitby, you are going to be surrounded by tons of trails and recreational activities, parks, and splash pads and all of that good stuff.

But what I wanna talk about next with you is actually the education system in Whitby because that just speaks to how family friendly and how safe Whitby is. So when it comes to safety and your kids specifically Whitby has a great school system. The Fraser Institute, they do a whole bunch of studies about different schools and different areas and what schools are good and what aren't. So they actually rank Whitby schools outrank these schools compared to their counterparts in all other parts of Canada. So for example, Fallingbrook public school, which is located in Whitby was actually rated by the Fraser Institute as one of their top 100 schools. In Ontario, there are two school boards in Whitby there's the Durham district school board, and then the Durham Catholic district school board. So you have both options there. And in fact, the Durham district school board headquarters are actually in Whitby giving the local schools in the area a lot more oversight, making them even more safe. And if you are looking to send your children to private schools, then there is actually a very prominent boarding school called Trafalgar Castle which is in Whitby. It is internationally recognized for having a really reputable university preparation program.

So I don't even know where to begin, but I think I'm gonna start at, uh, the Port Whitby Marina because that area is just magical and there's so much to do there because you are at the port so you're along the shores of lake Ontario.Whitby is a Lakeside city and you get access to there's a launchpad. If you wanted to bring your boat in the warmer months. Golfers can go out and hit the links at a number of different courses in and around the town Whitby is also home to the Whitevale Golf Club which is a world class members only golf club. If your interests lie more in the slopes rather than the courses, then you'd be happy to know that whitby has a lot of great skiing options available for you as well. You've got ski dagmar which is located in Whitby. They have a 12 run hill and they also have a charming, small, little cozy cottage sort of chalet that you can warm up in as well. Now there's also Ski Lakeridge which is also a year round facility. So you can do the skiing, snowboarding tubing in the winter time, but in the summer months or when the weather is, uh, you know, a little bit warmer then you also have access to hiking trails, cycling trails.
So no matter the weather, the season winter, spring, summer, fall, Whitby has you covered when it comes to enjoying the outdoors.

All right. So next I'm going to get into the cons of living in whitby because I think it is important, even though there are negative aspects about the city. I do want to touch on them and I think it's important to do so, because if you are considering a move to wi Ontario, then it would be good to know everything about it, the good, the bad and the ugly, just so that you know what to expect moving forward. But before I get into that, I do want to say that if you liked what you've watched so far, you're getting a lot of value from this video. Then please subscribe and like this video, but subscribe to my channel and also hit the notification bell as well, because then you'll get no notified every time I drop a new video as it relates to living and working and having fun in the greater Toronto area. All right, let's go.

So now I want to talk to you guys about the cons of living in Whitby Ontario. The first con that you guys need to know about are high property taxes. In fact, Whitney actually has one of the top five property taxes in all of Ontario.So sitting at 1.12%. So that was a property tax rate in Whitby in 2021, 1.12%. That's compared to 0.6% in the city of Toronto. So pretty much double what you would pay for the same home in Toronto, but there is a trade off there because if you are purchasing, you know, apples for apples, the same home in Toronto, you're gonna spend a lot more on the price of that home, but it compensates even though homes in Whitby are a lot more affordable.You are paying that significantly higher property tax. So again, while this may not be a factor that'll make or break your decision to move to Whitby, it is something that is important to consider with that said your best plan of action is to actually speak with a mortgage broker so that what they can do is actually they'll take a look at your budget and what they can do is lump some your monthly mortgage payments. So your monthly mortgage payments, your insurance and your property taxes into one payment. So that you know what to expect, you know how much is coming out of your account every month and you can budget accordingly. Okay.

So the second con about living in Whitby is that there isn't a lot of ethnic diversity. So the population are primarily white English speaking residents, but you do have, so statistically 17%, it's kind of a low number, but 17% of whitby residents are a visible minority. And so while it may, you know, it may not be a con to everyone, but if you are looking for ethnic diversity, then wihitby you might find lacking in that. However, and this is a big, however, regardless of your race, your ethnicity, whatever the case is, Whitby does aim to make all of its residents feel welcome. So if you plan on calling Whitby home, rest assured that no matter what your background is, you will feel safe. You will feel secure and included. And you will feel welcome to whitby.

So that sort of correlates with my third con of living in Whitby is that because there isn't a huge diversity in ethnicity, you aren't getting a lot of ethnic food options either. So con number three, There's a lack in food diversity. So, I mean, there are a lot of great restaurants. Um, I'm not putting wihitby you down as a foodie city at all, but if you are a foodie like me, then you might find yourself a little disappointed in the lack of food options available to. So there are a lot of great restaurants, dining, cuisines to choose from, but it isn't that diverse, you know, the odd Italian restaurants here and there, Chinese restaurants here and there, you know, the more popular cuisines, but in terms of diversity, in other cultures and exploring their cuisines, you aren't gonna get a lot of those options in Whitby. So what a lot of residents are doing, who are looking for more diversity, they're actually traveling to outside of Whitby so to neighboring areas like Oshawa, um, which is right next door to Whitby, or even a little further west out to Pickering or even Scarborough. It is a bit of a commute, which is why this is a con, but there are other options available within a good, like 15 kilometer radius that we can go to so that we can explore those different cuisines and suit your taste buds.

So there you have it. Those are your three cons of living in whitby and truth be told they aren't really that bad. And if you agree and you're considering moving to Whitby then I would love for you to give me a call. I can tell you everything that you need to know about moving to Whitby. So give me a shout. I would love to hear from you.And like I said before, if you found value from this video so far, then like this video, subscribe to my channel. I drop new videos, helping buyer, sellers, and investors every single week. If you're looking for more information about what it's like to live anywhere in the greater Toronto area, and you want to make a move to the GTA, then give me a shout.Subscribe to my channel, hit the notification belt, and I will see you at my next video.

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