Where should I move to in the Kitchener/Waterloo area?
April 27, 2007 12:13 PM Subscribe
Taking a job in Waterloo, Ontario. Where should I live?
I'm in the process of accepting an offer for the job of my dreams in Waterloo, ON. I'm feeling out the market in the area, with a goal to rent an apartment. I was wondering what the community's experiences are with this area. In terms of cost of living, quality of life, access to amenities, crime rates, etc., where is the best place to live in the Kitchener/Waterloo area?
Bonus points for being within walking/biking distance from the University of Waterloo campus area.
I'm in the process of accepting an offer for the job of my dreams in Waterloo, ON. I'm feeling out the market in the area, with a goal to rent an apartment. I was wondering what the community's experiences are with this area. In terms of cost of living, quality of life, access to amenities, crime rates, etc., where is the best place to live in the Kitchener/Waterloo area?
Bonus points for being within walking/biking distance from the University of Waterloo campus area.
Best answer: Waterloo is a nice small city. By far my favourite part of town is right in the middle, Uptown Waterloo, centered at King and Erb streets; it has nice restaurants and shops, and beautiful Waterloo Park is nearby. So is the Princess cinema, a great place to see artsy movies, and also my favourite bar in the world, the Starlight, where you can go dancing on Friday nights. There are some nice old houses where you might rent a room, and a few apartment towers in the area. There will still be a lot of students around since the Laurier campus borders uptown, but I think that's a plus because it makes the area lively yet not overrun by students. The walk to campus is 15-30 minutes depending on where you are. It's an easy bike ride.
There are apartments around UW, but they tend to be geared toward students and thus will be less clean, and noisy in the evenings, especially weekends. Other parts of town are more suburban and less desirable in my mind.
posted by PercussivePaul at 12:24 PM on April 27, 2007
There are apartments around UW, but they tend to be geared toward students and thus will be less clean, and noisy in the evenings, especially weekends. Other parts of town are more suburban and less desirable in my mind.
posted by PercussivePaul at 12:24 PM on April 27, 2007
There is no where nice to live near the campus. It's all student housing for the most part. As noted above, Uptown Waterloo is probably as nice as you're going to get. There are a lot of nice lofts along king street worth checking out. I haven't been to the city in a year or two now, so I might be a bit out of touch with how its changed.
posted by chunking express at 12:55 PM on April 27, 2007
posted by chunking express at 12:55 PM on April 27, 2007
Best answer: Uptown Waterloo is nice, and close to both campuses. Alternatively, the Belmont Village area is close to Uptown and apartments/housing there is less student-oriented (lots of old homes and a few older apartment buildings, and gourmet/organic shops, etc.) -- I'd suggest you look in that area first (it's probably a 15 minute bike ride to UW campus from Belmont). Other than Uptown and Belmont Village, there are a lot of new subdivisions going up, but they tend to be pretty far from anything but public schools and supermarkets.
I've lived here for three years now, and for the most part it's good. Crime rate is low, the people are friendly, and Uptown is nice. The arts scene in the community is great, and the surrounding area is amazing in the summer for fresh produce markets. My biggest complaint is the smog (which can get extremely bad), and the general bicycle-unfriendliness of the city.
posted by drycleanonly at 1:02 PM on April 27, 2007
I've lived here for three years now, and for the most part it's good. Crime rate is low, the people are friendly, and Uptown is nice. The arts scene in the community is great, and the surrounding area is amazing in the summer for fresh produce markets. My biggest complaint is the smog (which can get extremely bad), and the general bicycle-unfriendliness of the city.
posted by drycleanonly at 1:02 PM on April 27, 2007
Best answer: Waterloo is nice, safe, and pretty boring, at least if you're expecting any kind of 'city' feel or amenities. If you're an avid biker, look for a place just west of King Street in Waterloo, for easy access to the Iron Horse Trail which runs along the old railway corridor, straight north from the Belmont area, through Waterloo Park, past the universities, and right into the Tech Town area (odds are, this is where your job is). Being near King St is a must if you don't have a car, as this is the main bus route and you'll occasionally need to hop on a bus to get up to the Conestoga Mall (to, say, buy a video game) or down to Kitchener (to shop at an ethnic food store or used book store).
One of the downsides? This place smells like pigshit for half the summer. Something to do with all the nearby farms.
posted by Gortuk at 1:42 PM on April 27, 2007
One of the downsides? This place smells like pigshit for half the summer. Something to do with all the nearby farms.
posted by Gortuk at 1:42 PM on April 27, 2007
Most places within a 20-minute walk of UW, perhaps except for the apartment buildings near Westmount/Erb will be overrun by students.
Yup, during the summer, Waterloo stinks, especially the new-ish subdivisions northwest of the universities like Clair Hills and Columbia Forest. However, they have reasonably inexpensive (and super nice) basement apartments and rooms for rent and they're well removed from student housing craziness. They're within bikeable distance from UW and close to supermarkets and an LCBO, but the transit service in the area is spotty. If nightlife is high on your list of priorities, perhaps those aren't the best areas.
Directly north of campus are some less student-oriented neighborhoods. There's a mix of low-rise apartments, basements and rooms for rent, but those areas are more bike friendly and the transit is better. The housing gets less sketchy as you get to the north-most ends of the residential areas (so, the north end of Albert Street or Northfield/Weber), but they're still no more than a 30 min bike ride to campus.
Uptown has about as much nightlife as you can get in Waterloo; it's no Toronto, but it's still definitely a lot of fun (especially Starlight!).
posted by thisjax at 2:28 PM on April 27, 2007
Yup, during the summer, Waterloo stinks, especially the new-ish subdivisions northwest of the universities like Clair Hills and Columbia Forest. However, they have reasonably inexpensive (and super nice) basement apartments and rooms for rent and they're well removed from student housing craziness. They're within bikeable distance from UW and close to supermarkets and an LCBO, but the transit service in the area is spotty. If nightlife is high on your list of priorities, perhaps those aren't the best areas.
Directly north of campus are some less student-oriented neighborhoods. There's a mix of low-rise apartments, basements and rooms for rent, but those areas are more bike friendly and the transit is better. The housing gets less sketchy as you get to the north-most ends of the residential areas (so, the north end of Albert Street or Northfield/Weber), but they're still no more than a 30 min bike ride to campus.
Uptown has about as much nightlife as you can get in Waterloo; it's no Toronto, but it's still definitely a lot of fun (especially Starlight!).
posted by thisjax at 2:28 PM on April 27, 2007
Best answer: Aye, you definitely want Uptown. I'm living north of UW this term, and while it's cheap, safe, and relatively close to the university, it's far away from groceries and anything interesting.
As for crime, anywhere in Waterloo is good. Stay away from Kitchener.
For my last two terms, I lived on King St. a bit north of Uptown. It was, nice but rather noisy (King St. is the main street). I walked or rode my bike to UW for the eight months I lived there.
Email me if you want any more info. I'd be happy to help out.
posted by smably at 2:34 PM on April 27, 2007
As for crime, anywhere in Waterloo is good. Stay away from Kitchener.
For my last two terms, I lived on King St. a bit north of Uptown. It was, nice but rather noisy (King St. is the main street). I walked or rode my bike to UW for the eight months I lived there.
Email me if you want any more info. I'd be happy to help out.
posted by smably at 2:34 PM on April 27, 2007
For a nice apartment in uptown you're looking at about $1200/mo (for a two bedroom) at the low end. That will keep you out of student dives though. There's a few "luxury" style apartment buildings in uptown that are bland but basically nice. There's some new exciting looking stuff scheduled to be built this summer on Regina St, which might be worth looking into. Ask about it at the Princess or GenX (independent video store). I suspect the guy building the new places is the Princess guy's business partner and the landlord at GenX (also on Regina). He's a decent guy, and seems to build quality buildings.
Don't rent from Bill Weber. He's got amazing looking loft apartments, but he does no maintenance and the walls are paper thin (really, I could hear our neighbours rolling paint).
Some friends of mine recently got a nice place in the Erb and Fisher-Hallman area, which is close to the school and apparently has some nice above-student places.
Ask around at your new job, let people know your looking for a place. The best way to find a place in this town is to hear about somebody who is leaving and get their place.
posted by carmen at 9:55 PM on April 27, 2007
Don't rent from Bill Weber. He's got amazing looking loft apartments, but he does no maintenance and the walls are paper thin (really, I could hear our neighbours rolling paint).
Some friends of mine recently got a nice place in the Erb and Fisher-Hallman area, which is close to the school and apparently has some nice above-student places.
Ask around at your new job, let people know your looking for a place. The best way to find a place in this town is to hear about somebody who is leaving and get their place.
posted by carmen at 9:55 PM on April 27, 2007
Best answer: carmen - I don't think your low end estimate is quite accurate. You can get a very decent two-bedroom starting around $800 - I know because I'm sitting in one right now. $1200 will get you into a three-bedroom, or one of the luxury buildings, but at that rate you may as well buy a house. You can check the listings at therecord.com for some examples of current housing prices.
I never had problems with Bill Weber, and the walls in my place (which he owned until last year) are as good as you can expect from a turn of the century building. If we're talking about landlords to avoid, I'm surprised no one's mentioned Terry Good. Infamous slum lord of KW, to the extent that no one was surprised when he got shot a few years back (but we were surprised it was a jealous lover instead of a former tenant). Avoid at all costs.
posted by Gortuk at 5:43 AM on April 28, 2007
I never had problems with Bill Weber, and the walls in my place (which he owned until last year) are as good as you can expect from a turn of the century building. If we're talking about landlords to avoid, I'm surprised no one's mentioned Terry Good. Infamous slum lord of KW, to the extent that no one was surprised when he got shot a few years back (but we were surprised it was a jealous lover instead of a former tenant). Avoid at all costs.
posted by Gortuk at 5:43 AM on April 28, 2007
Best answer: Gortuk, perhaps we lived in different buildings. Bill is great. Unless you have a problem. Or a parking spot that he said was yours on your lease and someone else's on their lease.
I was thinking "nice" in terms of on site laundry, dishwasher, large size and quiet for any kind of building, since the poster is not a student. Also, the price is cheaper if you go out of Uptown. The luxury apartments at William and Regina start around $1400 for their smallest two bedroom.
I've heard of people getting nice places for less, but more from having some kind of lucky break where a friend lets you know about a great deal. If you are trying to get an apartment for a specific date, and you want certain amenities, then you are going to have to raise your price tag, check out different areas, or settle for less. Since the poster didn't specify what kind of amenities they are looking for but did specify that they have a "dream" job, I gave a figure for the kind of apartment that professionals can spend several years in, enjoying.
For the record, when I was looking for places three years ago, the only places I could find for $800 were poorly renovated student dives. In a 4 month search, a small but cute house came up for $1000 that wasn't right in Uptown. But if you want Uptown and you don't have time to look around, $800 is a lucky break, not a fair expectation.
If you go out of Uptown, the price will be better. My friends who got a place at University and Fisher-Hallman are paying less than $1000. It's a potentially great area for someone who's working at the University and likes to bike. There's a grocery store right there, it's close to the University. It's a very short bike ride to St. Jacob's.
posted by carmen at 7:34 AM on April 28, 2007
I was thinking "nice" in terms of on site laundry, dishwasher, large size and quiet for any kind of building, since the poster is not a student. Also, the price is cheaper if you go out of Uptown. The luxury apartments at William and Regina start around $1400 for their smallest two bedroom.
I've heard of people getting nice places for less, but more from having some kind of lucky break where a friend lets you know about a great deal. If you are trying to get an apartment for a specific date, and you want certain amenities, then you are going to have to raise your price tag, check out different areas, or settle for less. Since the poster didn't specify what kind of amenities they are looking for but did specify that they have a "dream" job, I gave a figure for the kind of apartment that professionals can spend several years in, enjoying.
For the record, when I was looking for places three years ago, the only places I could find for $800 were poorly renovated student dives. In a 4 month search, a small but cute house came up for $1000 that wasn't right in Uptown. But if you want Uptown and you don't have time to look around, $800 is a lucky break, not a fair expectation.
If you go out of Uptown, the price will be better. My friends who got a place at University and Fisher-Hallman are paying less than $1000. It's a potentially great area for someone who's working at the University and likes to bike. There's a grocery store right there, it's close to the University. It's a very short bike ride to St. Jacob's.
posted by carmen at 7:34 AM on April 28, 2007
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posted by saraswati at 12:15 PM on April 27, 2007