Hi:

I'm relocating to Kitchener/Waterloo area from Vancouver in about a month and am wondering if anyone can recommend which neighborhoods to consider relocating to or to avoid. From pictures I've seen at this site, it all looks great, interesting architecture.

Thanks for the help,

Rob

We dont have any real areas to avoid. Cedar Hill neighbourhood downtown is bad crime wise, and its quite decayed, but its not some hardcore ghetto. For every dirty house there is a an equal amount of nice ones in the neighbourhood. Apart from that, nothing here is bad. Theres lots of low-income housing projects, but they're safe, clean, and are fine to live in or near.

As for places to live, its pretty much all the same. The inner parts of the city are nice old houses and now lots of lofts. Midway out is highrise/lowrise apartments and small single family homes. The outskirts are ugly suburban type homes.

Are you looking for anything in particular to be near by? Or any areas, like downtown or out in the new ugly subdivisions?

Hello... could you let us know what price range/ what type of neighbourhood?

I can instantly name you some ideas... and I am a tough critic when it comes to neighbourhoods.. I will do my best to get you somewhere you want to be :)

Old Beechwood (I think that's what it's called, the area around university/westmount with all the poet's names and Indian tribes for streets) is nice, but you gotta earn big bucks! If you are a home-owner from Vancouver, I'm sure you can buy a mansion here ;)

Rob
I just relocated out from Kits Beach area to come finish up at UW, so welcome to Waterloo Region. You just might be the 500,000th arrival. LOL Anyway, as far as where to live it really depends 1 - do you have a car? and 2 - What area your working. Please don't say RIM. LOL It's all high tech and insurance it seems. KW has the lowest unemployment in Ontario, so all the best with the new job.

Anyway, I like the Westmount (pretty close to borderline between the twins, Waterloo and Kitchener) area as your inner-urban and streets like Union and Glasgow running near Belmont Ave have a nice ambiance and character to them. Belmont is like a village like street with shops. Its not exactly 4th Ave (kits) but its nice, quiet and close to Uptown Waterloo. The homes in this area are beautiful too. Lots of curvy tree lined streets lined with character buildings.

If you have a car and like the newer 'burb' areas. Laurelwood by Laurel Creek Reservoir is a smart, very new area - good if you have children, Beechwood to the west of UW is nice, slighly more established. Doon in Kitchener if you like golf, nature trails and have the cash (Todd Bertuzzi lives somewhere in this area). Lakeshore in Waterloo is nice too but it can be a mix of suburban with students. Overall a comfortable middle class area though.

I also like Uptown Waterloo and dare I say .... and I know some of you might drop your rag over this.... Downtown Kitchener!! It has some pretty smart areas too. Much of it is going thru a major transition but the rents are way cheaper than Waterloo.

I like the leafy streets and Victorian homes the core or inner-urban areas offer. In Kitchener, The Civic District and 'certain parts' by Victoria Park are nice. Uptown Waterloo overall is fine. The key with Kitchener is see and then rent. Even with Waterloo its best to do the same; especially once again if you have kids. If your single apartment living in the core might be best.

There really is nowhere in Kitchener or Waterloo approaching Hastings & Main seedy, not even by Toronto worse standards. Think Point Pleasant / Vancouver City Hall / Kingsgate Mall area on East Broadway. You know how that area was slightly seedy but its coming up...well that as bad as its gets. Its pretty tame.

** The biggest hazzard you'll have here is getting FAT after 6 months of Tim Hortens on every corner.

However, be warned KW is bloody expensive compared with regional cities like Hamilton or London. The rents here, while less than Vancouver are only slightly less than suburban Toronto. In this town rents $$$ get lower the further away you get from UW. There's an apartment complex on University Avenue - Richmond Square I think its called - rents for Bachelors run like $800 a month. In Kitchener the same thing is $200 cheaper.

Rooms $400-500 is the general norm. Flats $600-$1000. Houses - check the paper as I have no idea.

Rob - go to Chapters and pick up the MapArt "Kitchener-Waterloo & Cambridge" metro map. The city has its own metropolitan guide which might come in handy. I bought mine at Chapters Robson / Granville in Vancouver, otherwise get one from one of the Travel Bookshops on West Broadway or 4th Ave, Kits.

Kitchener-Waterloo Tourism can even send you an info pack for new residents complete with map if you call them. Just check the City of Kitchener website for the tourism link or call 1-800-265-6959.

Good luck with the move. Just read the others suggestions, get that new resident pack, map and you'll be set.

Its too bad you can't get The KW Record at Vancouver Library. Even a great specialty newspaper place on Broadway & Granville I loved didn't carry it. Check it out online as I believe it will be your best source when house hunting. There's also a renters guide thats available once you get into the city.

Best of luck
Greg

I can't help you with what neighborhood to move in, I'll leave that to the K/W forumers. But I will tell you for a city its size, the Kitchener/Waterloo area is very safe according to Canadian statistics, it's always near the bottom of the list. :) Congrats on your move.

pick Waterloo over Kitchener... Waterloo is simply nicer.

There are many nice places to live in the surrounding country, if thats what you prefer. It doesn't take long to get into the city.

Tri-City guy just gave out a very nice review IMO.

Tri-City guy just gave out a very nice review IMO.

What am I chopped-liver??? :D

I thought my review was short and concise; a bite-sized snippet in tune with todays short attention spans... :(

^^ Okay, you had a good point when you suggested he look for housing outside of Waterloo too. That is where my sister lives - in a new subdivision of Heidelberg to the northwest of Waterloo. What a beautiful neigborhood - big homes on big lots. Lots of professionals out there, and the surrounding countryside is wonderful with Mennonites in their horse-drawn buggies around. One of the country's more intriguing places. Here are some aerials of the countryside:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v221/ocean20/new-1.jpg

The area is hillier than it looks.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v221/ocean20/Waterloo.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v221/ocean20/new-2.jpg

The above shows a nice sugar maple wood lot in the fall. This is the type of wood lot where the Mennonites make maple syrup.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v221/ocean20/new-6.jpg

The above is a typical Mennonite farm.

^^ Okay, you had a good point when you suggested he look for housing outside of Waterloo too. That is where my sister lives - in a new subdivision of Heidelberg to the northwest of Waterloo.

Yer shittin me... first you say your family is from Wellesley, now you have a sister in Heidelberg. My fiance is from Hiedelberg, and I'm from Linwood. Small world.

Yeah, the Waterloo region is beautiful... probably the nicest landscape in southern Ontario (not including escarpment areas). The problem is, it's hard to convey what these places are like by posting jpegs on the net...

WOW. That countryside is beautiful ocean.

WOW. That countryside is beautiful ocean.

can anyone tell me what's wrong with this sentence? ;)

Yer shittin me... first you say your family is from Wellesley, now you have a sister in Heidelberg. My fiance is from Hiedelberg, and I'm from Linwood. Small world.

Yeah, the Waterloo region is beautiful... probably the nicest landscape in southern Ontario (not including escarpment areas). The problem is, it's hard to convey what these places are like by posting jpegs on the net...

My mother was raised near Wellesley, and my father was raised near West Montrose.

I always agree that London is a much more attractive city than KW, but KW's countryside is prettier than London's. I would also say that KW's countryside is southern Ontario's nicest landscape (not including the Niagara Escarpment).

Then Waterloo has the Mennonite farmers - those guys are cool.

This reminds me of a few decades ago when a friend (a business student at WLU) told me that he was working at a bank in Elmira. I suggested that he must like it out their because of the rural environment. He said, "not really, they come in with maple syrup on their money and pig shit on their shoes". :hilarious

WOW. That countryside is beautiful ocean.

Okay, here is more. Can you make out what this is? Some of the best countryside is north, northwest and northeast of Waterloo.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v221/ocean20/new-5.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v221/ocean20/new-4.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v221/ocean20/new-3x.jpg

My mother was raised near Wellesley, and my father was raised near West Montrose.

I always agree that London is a much more attractive city than KW, but KW's countryside is prettier than London's. I would also say that KW's countryside is southern Ontario's nicest landscape (not including the Niagara Escarpment).

Then Waterloo has the Mennonite farmers - those guys are cool.

This reminds me of a few decades ago when a friend (a business student at WLU) told me that he was working at a bank in Elmira. I suggested that he must like it out their because of the rural environment. He said, "not really, they come in with maple syrup on their money and pig shit on their shoes". :hilarious

I know many people from Heidelberg! And they know everrryyone that lives around there... haha ... small world after all! ..(considering how small Heidelberg is!)

Thanks to everyone who posted, lot of good information here. Some of you have asked me to be more specific regarding what we're looking for...

My wife and I plan on renting until the spring/summer, want to become familiar with the area before looking at buying a house. For now, we want to rent a one bedroom apartment somewhere. My wife will be working at the Grand River Hospital and I will be looking for work (anyone knows any opportunities for HR or an Employment Counsellor please let me know!). It sounds like Waterloo is nicer overall but I have noticed that the rents are somewhat comparable to Vancouver. We are looking to spend no more than 760 a month or so for a one bedroom. We don't need to live near UW. Our main concern is being a nice, quiet area. Right now we live in the Marpole area of Vancouver, and while not being a bad neighborhood by any stretch, we're a little tired of endless sirens, car alarms, police showing up at neighboring buildings and a lot of transient tenants that occasionally cause a lot of noise/problems.

Again, thanks for all the help.

Rob

RIM - the high tech powerhouse in Waterloo - has 3 HR jobs available:

http://client.njoyn.com/cl/xweb/XWeb.asp?tbtoken=ZV1RShJYRm04FnUCRFRRZlVUd2BbfExYAyNUTikIDWZFXjFtKkQZdxABB0dcGQ%3D%3D&chk=dFlbQBJY&Page=joblisting

RIM (Research In Motion) is located adjacent to the University of Waterloo.

RIM is hiring by the hundreds, and has been for many years.

Some links you might find useful, although they are highly promotional of K/W:

http://www.waterlootechjobs.com/why.aspx

http://www.therecord.com/living_here/index.html

Check this out for sure:

http://www.relocatecanada.com/kitchener/

Note the "Easy rental" link.

Waterloo (especially Beechwood) is a nice, almost "rich" neighbourhood if you can afford it, move there. But Kitchener (considereed a ghetto by people from Waterloo) really isn't a ghetto, areas close to Waterlo are really nice too. I guess the closest to any "ghetto" we have is Paulander lol.

^^ I'm from Waterloo, and most people from Waterloo don't consider Kitchener to be a ghetto, a little rough around the edges, but not a ghetto.

It's not a ghetto when using the real definition of the word, but its a shitty place compared to Waterloo.

It all depends on what part of Kitchener you are talking about. The area around the Westmount Golf Club - in Kitchener - looks very nice to me. Does it look shitty to you?

Perhaps not. We have nice areas too, and bad ones. Cedar Hill, Belmont Ave/near by areas, our ugly social housing projects in the Fairview/Chicopee area. Not like you can't walk these 'bad' areas in fear though.

^^ Okay, you had a good point when you suggested he look for housing outside of Waterloo too. That is where my sister lives - in a new subdivision of Heidelberg to the northwest of Waterloo. What a beautiful neigborhood - big homes on big lots. Lots of professionals out there, and the surrounding countryside is wonderful with Mennonites in their horse-drawn buggies around. One of the country's more intriguing places. Here are some aerials of the countryside:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v221/ocean20/new-1.jpg

The area is hillier than it looks.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v221/ocean20/Waterloo.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v221/ocean20/new-2.jpg

The above shows a nice sugar maple wood lot in the fall. This is the type of wood lot where the Mennonites make maple syrup.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v221/ocean20/new-6.jpg

The above is a typical Mennonite farm.

That's breathtaking

Kitchener is not ghetto at all compare to Hamilton's standard...lol
I used to live near courtland avg. in Kitchener that area is pretty good or area near Fairview mall is not bad either (yes, downtown kitchener is old, well it's downtown) but i recommend Waterloo (my parents lives there) it's new, cleaner than Kitchener but Kitchener is not bad at all. Or come to Hamilton....lol

What a place for a clean movie scene of romance and a romantic pop song being played at the same time, either a man chasing a beautiful girl, kind of like Bollywood, or just hanging around with each other. I am talking about this place!! What a city. Ce n'est pas un ville, il s'appelle la campagne, n'est pas? Anyways.....it's colourful, beautiful, and I sometimes wish that this place was just perfect with nobody getting angry and stuff, no sin, just perfect. This must be what heaven looks like huh? LOL!! Je ne vis pas là, mais je l'aime. J'habite près.

It looks like a better setting for "Ann of Green Gables" than PEI itself.

Well, this is Waterloo with its Mennonite farmers - one of Canada's more intriguing areas.

...that helped me with moving to Kitchener. We ended up, for now, around the Fairview Mall area. We both grew up in Calgary, this area is very familiar. Maybe we reacted to the quick convenience of services and available parking compared to the situation in Vancouver, who knows?

I have noticed that there is a noticeable difference between Kitchener and Waterloo --Waterloo has a more upscale, high-tech, white collar feel to it while Kitchener is more blue-collar. I'm not sure how Cambridge fits in, more similar to Kitchener but I can't comment extensively, haven't been here long enough to say.

It seems like the biggest problem with the downtown area, besides the obvious decay in parts of downtown Kitchener, is that no-mans-land between the core of King St. in Kitchener and the main stretch of King in downtown Waterloo. I find it odd this area was not developed completely decades ago, it seems a natural thing to do --most major streets that cross from one municipality to another in other cities I've been to, do not have this kind of a gap.

Anyway, I've found people in Kitchener to be really friendly and my wife's coworkers, most of them who have moved from the prairies have commented on it as well.

Thanks,

Rob

Waterloo has a more upscale

So true. I was driving down Weber Street, and the moment you cross the line into Waterloo, the road goes from full of pot holes, cracks, tar, and light grey to a perfect newly paved black road.

I don't know if I ever mentioned this, but I love some of the Waterloo region's countryside. It's nice. I've taken my bicycle through that area from my home before and know it. Kitchener is more blue-collar than Waterloo/Cambridge, but when I compare it to other cities I have been to, it definitely makes it look like a white-collar city. Waterloo, yup, is the more upscale of the tri-cities, not to mention full of intelligent technology workpeople, kind of like myself, a computer programmer, except they have a job, and I don't. :)

Congrats on the move, btw, rmorrison75, glad to hear you enjoy it. I rarely go to K/W for anything. My sister recently got a permanent job with child and youth work in Waterloo.

Hi, We recently moved into Kitchener and are thinking about buying a house soon. Can anyone fill in more information about the Cherry Hill neighborhood. My only real concern is with safety since we have a 3 year old.

Any advice would be much appreciated. Thank you!

Belmont Village area is nice, I used to go there from time to time but when Vincenzo's relocated to King and Allen St. there was no need to go anymore.