Tuesday, May 18, 2010

Real Estate in Verdun/Point St. Charles/N.D.G

If you were sending a friend to live on "the Island", where would you suggest they buy a place to live? It needs to have easy access to McGill, yet be affordable for middle to low income families. An english population would be desirable as well.

3 comments:

Les F said...

Not knowing what Montreal is really like to live in anymore,I would suggest the people rent a place for at least 6 months.& determine what areas they really prefer first. If they should end up deciding that Montreal is not the place for them, then it's easier to pack up & go,without having to unload a house.
Once they decide on staying they would by then have abetter feel ,as to where they would like to hang their hat for awhile...Look into also house swap too, as there usually are people who would be willing to escape their home city for another ,for a little while too. There are a few House Swapping sites around........... Good Luck HF&RV

Les F said...

http://montreal.sublet.com/
http://www.4homex.com/

beverley abbott said...

Well, having moved back to Montreal recently, I first purchased a condo at Notre Dame and Mountain Sts. It is a very handy location to walk everywhere (although it is uphill from there to St. Catherine St. but I hated it there. I ended up in Verdun where the real estate prices are a bit lower. I bought a first floor condo in a triplex and I love it. Verdun is so convenient to get to McGill Metro Station where I work part-time. It takes me 20 minutes all told. I would suggest that they check out Verdun - keep it close to a Metro station. Verdun is not Westmount so do not expect it but it is quiet, has lots of restaurants (some expensive ones) and no bars (that is probably what keeps it quiet). There are grocery stores, dollar store, drug stores - everything. I wish I had rented for 6 months like Les sugggested as I had to pay realestate closing costs and land transfer tax twice. So it is better to know where you would like to live. Verdun is not Anglo but mixed French and English. N.D.G is still more English however but I hate taking buses so unless you live by the Metro (the one Metro station) one has to take a bus. But that is just me. Hope this helped a bit. Also there are a lot of co-ops (like condos) in Montreal and apparently they are not as recommended (you own a part of the whole complex rather than your own unit, and if one person renegs on mortgage payments you could be liable as there is one large mortgage).