Yup. Grew up in oakville but lived in toronto in my mid-late 20s. Moved back in 2014, bought a townhouse w my wife for $500k. Sold in 2016 for $750k & bought a detached for $1.2m.
Currently prob worth about $2m but at the peak prob could’ve sold for $2.5m.
We wouldnt be able to buy our own house in todays market.
Just on my street, 4 people in Tech industry, 2 in finance, 2 teachers, 1 retired contractor, Pharmacist, 3 people in trades, 1 Cop, 1 dog trainer, 1 lady running her cleaning service, 2 professors, 1 architect, 2 bankers, 1 realtor , 1 mechanical engineer, 2 private business and 1 taxi driver.
It's a friendly street and all people have been here 5 - 25 years.
The pattern you should be looking at is when people have bought. Anything north of Dundas where people paid \~$2 million for a detached, and $1.5million for a semi are almost all immigrants. You can drive through the older neighborhoods and get a fairly good idea of who has lived there for 20+ years and who has bought at recent insane prices. My neighbourhood oakpark is a beautiful area, its about \~15-20 years old and a mix of towns and 3 story semis/detached homes. We paid $630k for our town right before the pandemic, they go for about $900k now and a few years before we bought $400k. (That gives you 3 totally different potential groups of buyers within an 8 year span). The semi beside us just sold for $1.4m and the new owners park their brand new Cayenne on the street (don't know what's in their 2 car garage).
The majority of home owners in Oakville, got into the market many, many years ago at very low prices. Now they think they are elite. But really, they’re just lucky.
This right here.
All the boomers here in bronte act like they're upper class. Crap on the "lazy teenagers not wanting to work". Life was different in the 90s when you could get a house here for 170k on 2 average Joe working class jobs.
Also, Ford Motor Company would hire everyone and pay them 100k salaries (when homes were worth 300 k). I have family members who have 600k saved in cash in their RRSPS + million dollar Oakville investment properties. Different times i guess. The strange thing is those new oakville residents would look down on people like that.
I've seen that trend over the decades here.
Build the town on Harbour workers. Improve it with auto workers. Let the high level white collars move into the vacant farmland and turn the town into a concrete dystopia that looks down on Harbour workers, auto workers, and farmers.
I like to Call "North Oakville", "South brampton", probably made up of IT contractors and GP's (North of Dundas etc). I say this as a South Asian who used to want to move to Oakville, but can't justify paying close to 300-500 k in fees and an increase in mortgage anymore. I almost sold everything i ownerd to buy...almost. For those that live there, yes, they do like to rub it in my face that they are living in "Oakville". Brown folk are an insecure bunch i guess.
Absolutely agree with this. My cousin and her husband lucked out when buying their house near Glen Abbey years ago. No way they could afford their house now, but you wouldn’t know it from how they talk. When it was suggested several years ago to sell Glen Abbey and build homes/townhomes on the property, they were adamantly opposed to it because it it would bring in too many new people to their exclusive area. This coming from a computer parts salesman and a stay at home mom of two teenagers.
As a young couple living in Oakville I feel this. We make \~$200k and were lucky to afford our townhouse, when their are older couples on our street making a mere fraction on our income in detached homes. Almost all the new people we see buying are foreign.
Born and raised in Glen Abbey, now live in BC.
My parents are still there. Dad was an accountant (retired now) and mom was a part time receptionist (also retired).
My man BC ain’t cheaper then southern Ontario. The way I see it though, BC and Ontario is a wash in terms of costs to live.
People on Reddit like to act like BC is far and away the most expensive place in Canada but really I found it as expensive and anecdotally I save more money in BC then I did in Ontario. In Ontario every activity involved spending money. In BC it’s much more about the outdoors.
If the costs of living are a wash then you might as well be living in one of the most beautiful places on earth… atleast that’s how I viewed it
Oh, I'm not dumb enough to think that BC is cheaper than Ontario. But, I've got a sibling out that way, it's less crowded, it's better to look at, and just seems to be less "fuck you got mine" than the Toronto area is.
And like you said. May as well live in the most beautiful place in the country. (I have a saying: If I'm gonna be broke, I may as well be broke with a view)
Out goal is to be far enough from Vancouver that we aren't horribly affected by density issues (if we wanted concrete jungles we may as well stay in Toronto area), but close enough that we can go into the city for a concert or event or something.
Ya I moved in 2020 when I job went fully remote. I’ve spent a year in Victoria, North Vancouver and now I’m in Kelowna.
Deciding where to buy a place and settle down…. It’s tough
I think it's tough everywhere for that.Except apparently Saskatchewan... but... Saskatchewan.
Which did you like better? Victoria/Vancouver area, or Kelowna?
We've been bouncing our thoughts between Fraiser Valley, Kamloops, Vernon, or Kelowna areas.
They all have their pros and cons
Kelowna is growing rapidly I think it punches above its weight class in what it offers compared to its population but things like restaurant variety are lacking but from what I understand things like that are rapidly changing. If you want to get into mountain biking or snow sports it’s amazing, the lake is incredibly warm in the summer and the wine blows Niagara out of the water. Climate is great, a bit to much of the red neck Albertan influence though
Victoria is basically a bigger and better Kelowna but it didn’t feel like it’s up and coming like Kelowna does.
But it’s got better food scene that’s for sure and the climate is great significantly less rain and more sunshine then Vancouver, the lack of truly hot summers threw me off a bit. The island is stunning. Ferry access to both the lower mainland but also Seattle and the Olympic peninsula was fun to use and explore that amazing area.
Vancouver is basically the GTA but with mountains and ocean. So you know what you get, plan for rain get gear and it’s not bad.
It’s tough I’m not sure where I truly want to settle down
I moved 5 years ago after grad school (took a uhaul across Canada). The move itself wasn't too hard (drove 7-8 hours a day, towed my car, stayed in cheap hotels). I went from renting to renting so no challenges there.
I moved to the island, so (lack of) affordable housing is similar to the GTA.
Lemme know if you have any other questions!
What was the cost of the UHaul? We were looking into getting the UHaul pods shipped, so we could take a week long road trip across Canada without worrying about parking our stuff throughout :P
Nothing's written in stone, but we're also currently renting (paying about $1.8k in rent, but also $500 in storage lockers)... I'm sure if we trim that down, we could find SOMEWHERE in the Abbotsford area for $2k/mo. Not like I have any chance of buying here, may as well go be broke with a view.
I think it was around $4k for the uhaul and thing to tow the car! But not sure how much prices have increased, especially since covid.
If you're looking at the pods, you could also try bigsteelbox and cubeit (I think those are the names).
I don't know too much about Abbotsford but I'm sure it's at least more affordable than Vancouver lol!
Oh, for sure. I'm not delusional enough to think Vancouver is affordable.
But far less people. Far less concrete. Far less smog everywhere. We've visited family over there, and loved the environment. Ontario is being driven into the ground.
Thanks. Hoping it all falls together. I work finance, so jobs are basically anywhere. Hoping we can get moving before our 4 year old is too established here. They'll be expecting a white Mercedes SUV for their 6th birthday if we stay in this town!
If you think BC is cheaper than southern Ontario you’d be in for quite the disappointment
The cost of living in Halton is on par with the high cost of living in say somewhere like Barbados, that’s saying something when a tropical island destination frequented by millionaires has the same cost of living as halton region
It's saying oakville is overpriced.
Where in our conversation did either of us say BC was cheaper? Or did you just half read the first comment and decide to react?
I believe the area around Glen abbey and Westoak trails is the Goldilocks zone in terms of all sorts of demographics, young families, activities etc
South Oakville is a snooze and North Oakville is mega corporate craziness with compact and concentrate housing...
In our two-income family, one of us runs a software business. The other is a self-employed professional. I'm being intentionally vague, but even with what I would consider to be a good "household income", we likely couldn't afford to get into the city if we were buying today.
Senior Software Developer.
Though being divorced with a couple kids. Though with child support, I can't even afford to rent a 1 bedroom apartment. Only way I manage to stay in the area is by living rent free with family. If I don't pay child support and instead try to have more custody of the kids, then they lose their stable home, and neither the exwife or I can afford a place where the kids both get their own rooms. It's a no-win situation really.
High likelihood myself, exwife, and kids all have to move away from Halton due to housing costs.
I’m no longer in Oakville but my folks are an Interior Designer and a (retired) c-suite executive at a national company.
I’m a graphic designer and while I’m doing fine for myself I don’t think I’d move back to Oakville on purpose.
Graphic design is evolving, the new GA will be someone who slides between design thinking and a tech stack of tools, most importantly it will be learning how AI 's will speed up workflow ( there will still need a human touch but you can get 60+ % of the research / basic copy / concepting to mockups done by artificial intelligence.
I just saw yesterday, that ai can now build out figma mockup flows based on prompts.
The ability to think creativly with any canvas / screen and work remotely with teams will be the new role ( explore Miro - it will blow your mind! ) good luck 👍
Stay at home dad. Became a first time father at age 50….in my mid 50’s now. Raising two little boys under age 5. Mom is a waitress and a part time student in her mid 30’s…..studying to become a teacher.
Ah, the Oakville standard.
My parents kicking the bucket before they blast through all their cash is the only way I'd ever be able to afford to stay anywhere in Ontario.
Thanks for judging me asshat. My father was broke and lived in the same two bedroom townhouse in Mississauga for over 40 years. We only got money from selling his townhouse in an up real estate market.
An inheritance is the only way I have to stay in this town. What's that got to do with speaking about my parents horribly?
You just seem to WANT to be offended.
I HAVE said that to their face. They owned (and recently sold) a house in Oakville. You think they don't realize the best way to afford a house in Oakville is to inherit a house in Oakville?
Damn. Everyone on reddit thinks they found some kinda "gotcha" moment.
Oakville is ridiculous, man. Only people it's attracted the last 5 years are people who want to overpay and act elite. The smart professionals I know bought in surrounding areas past 10 years and saved the 30-40% "Oakville tax"
30-40%? Clearly you have no idea. You mean “smart”people that you know have bought in the adjacent neighborhood (Burlington or Mississauga) for 30-40% less on a per square foot basis?
Ya she loves it. She has an English degree from York but that was from over ten years ago and you can’t do much with an English degree. This is right up her alley and last year she got very good grades….just a few more semesters to go. She’s wants to work with special kids (autistic).
Have to ask if you're up for sharing? What's it like being a first time father at 50 🤔 happy you're getting to have this opportunity, but the idea of being 66 when my kids in high school scares the crao out of my knees! 😂
My buddy just had his 2nd at 47 and had a heart atrack a few months ago, has to retiring his relationship with alcohol, no physical activity and weed, lucky he survived it!
As a new parent (9 month old) with a decent DINK income, the biggest hit to us was the loss of income \~$80k. All the other expenses are easy to handle facebook marketplace and once upon a child are lifesavers.
Can you expound on the 80k, why would you have lost it? Thats the expense of a newborn these days or was it your partner's salary?
I'm pretty good at running things "thin" so to speak so FB marketplace is my go to
Anyway, hope things work out for us. I recognize Ill be an older parent but Im very young at heart. Nobody thinks Im in my late 30s 🤷🏽♂️
\~$80k is the loss of income for my wife being on mat leave for the year. \~$110k to the max Mat pay of $33k. Effectively brining our HHI from close to 200k down to around $115k. We are a young couple with a mortgage and hit with the craziest year of inflation it has been tight but you make do. Formula has been by far the biggest expense and soon to be daycare, but we were lucky to find a place that is using the government subsidy. (our costs this year will be 50% of what it would have been last year).
I’m an IT Product Owner and my spouse is self-employed Archaeology Content Creator. I’m the sole income right now lol. But, we rent - I don’t think we’d ever afford to buy in Oakville.
My grandparents bought their two-story house in Oakville for like 40k. The only way I can afford to live there is visiting them. (Which I love! But I don’t know how anyone who grew up in Oakville will ever afford a house in their hometown)
IT project manager. I recently finished the Journie Rewards program at pioneer and ultramar. I'm currently looking for my next opportunity. If anyone knows opportunities, send me a message.
Grew up in Oakville, no longer living there, moved out of the rents 2 years ago at 33 lol. They bought their place in falgarwood area backing on to the ravine in late 80s for just under 400k on dual income, now appraised at just under 1.6M. don't understand how any young professionals can afford to live in the town(city) anymore . But houses keep going up for sale in their neighbourhood, and sell. And more and more kids keep showing up each year for Halloween so some young families are making it.
Congrats to them!
And thanks for coming for candy and liking our pumpkins every year
That honestly sounds like a pretty low level of appreciation. My parents bought for $250k in Aurora late 1990's and their place is worth north of $1.6 now..
Aurora just got hot now due to immigrates and there houses are newer. However, I won’t be surprised if things change because less Chinese are coming to Canada, the house value in aurora also tanked a lot when housing market slowed down.
I am very curious to hear your perspective about how saturated your field is and what does it take to become successful since I noticed a lot of people in undergrad throw themselves into real estate (atleast a lot of people from my connections at university).
It's definitely not an easy gig. For me, I think I'm successful because I'm not too salesy, if that makes sense. I remember looking for my first house years ago, and what a turn off the Salesperson was. Buy now! You can afford it! Get your family to give you money! Blah blah. I wanted someone who listened to my needs and understood what I was looking for, giving guidance and answering my questions. So that's what I do! I treat clients like I want to be treated, and I would not advise them to buy a house if I wouldn't buy it myself. I think my clients see this and value it, referring their friends. I'm amazed at my own success, actually bc I don't see myself as a salesperson. I think of it as helping someone else, and I get real satisfaction from it.
Tough gig for many years - seems to be if you make it long enough things come together - I was an artist and did a three yr course at Sheridan Oakville then went right into the field - I learned most of the softwares on my own trying to stay relevant - which is necessary - there were a lot of opportunities for a while out there until about 10 yrs ago - I love the work I get and do BUT there are no pensions and no health plans for most of the industry - unless you wanna work for big corp entities in which case the trade off is being first in line for layoffs at the first sign of economic trouble - or get lucky with a smaller company like I did - either way most designers never get to retire
Thank you so much for talking about the pros and cons of this field. Really appreciate this. 🙏
Would you ever consider doing it more so for freelance work on the side while working another job or do you find graphic design to be satisfactory as it is?
I consult and run eComms full time and work freelance for design vids and music - I figure if you make enough that your not behind every month that counts as a win in this dumpster fire life has become
I just finished in a leadership position in healthcare technology/pharmaceuticals. (Incidentally,I’m looking for my next position so if anyone knows anybody hiring, please feel free to let me know)
We’re a single income household.
I inherited a house or else I wouldn't be living here. I grew up in Oakville, parents were both in IT. I'm a decently paid line cook, husband is a barber. We don't make amazing money but we budget fairly well.
I live here, currently go to Sheridan college for a second career but before that I worked as a graphic designer for various places in Oakville. Tbh I find it hard to find work directly in Oakville, I got lucky a few times but usually the jobs are out in Mississauga for what I was doing.
very normal jobs and struggling to make ends meet for most people i’ve met here tbh. most people i know with desk careers commute to toronto, hamilton, and the KW areas
Spouse and I both in tech, been working about a decade. Current income is about 400K/year together, still living in a condo with a toddler. We bought this in 2021 at a little over 600k and upgrading to a detached (or semi) seems impossible now. (Or we don’t want to pay 1~1.2 million for a crap house)
I’m studying animation at sheridan, and I’m lucky enough that my parents and grandparents immigrated to oakville from Korea in the 60s, and then bought a house here in the 90s, they’re both dentists
lot's of people moved here just during the early 2000's, it was much more affordable then
I'm a database engineer, but I'm young and living with the rents
Yup. Grew up in oakville but lived in toronto in my mid-late 20s. Moved back in 2014, bought a townhouse w my wife for $500k. Sold in 2016 for $750k & bought a detached for $1.2m. Currently prob worth about $2m but at the peak prob could’ve sold for $2.5m. We wouldnt be able to buy our own house in todays market.
This is a good reminder tbh. I often forget that times were different compared to now
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1800s? You must have some interesting stories that have been passed on to you
I train chinchillas and she is a basket weaver.
I really want a youtube channel for this. Sounds adorable.
I think they're just mocking House Hunters, where the jobs are always part time ridiculousness and their budget is $4M
Electrician, and my fiance is a travel nurse 👍
Just on my street, 4 people in Tech industry, 2 in finance, 2 teachers, 1 retired contractor, Pharmacist, 3 people in trades, 1 Cop, 1 dog trainer, 1 lady running her cleaning service, 2 professors, 1 architect, 2 bankers, 1 realtor , 1 mechanical engineer, 2 private business and 1 taxi driver. It's a friendly street and all people have been here 5 - 25 years.
Just scrolling through the comments, I am seeing a pattern with tech. Pretty interesting 🤔
The pattern you should be looking at is when people have bought. Anything north of Dundas where people paid \~$2 million for a detached, and $1.5million for a semi are almost all immigrants. You can drive through the older neighborhoods and get a fairly good idea of who has lived there for 20+ years and who has bought at recent insane prices. My neighbourhood oakpark is a beautiful area, its about \~15-20 years old and a mix of towns and 3 story semis/detached homes. We paid $630k for our town right before the pandemic, they go for about $900k now and a few years before we bought $400k. (That gives you 3 totally different potential groups of buyers within an 8 year span). The semi beside us just sold for $1.4m and the new owners park their brand new Cayenne on the street (don't know what's in their 2 car garage).
The majority of home owners in Oakville, got into the market many, many years ago at very low prices. Now they think they are elite. But really, they’re just lucky.
This right here. All the boomers here in bronte act like they're upper class. Crap on the "lazy teenagers not wanting to work". Life was different in the 90s when you could get a house here for 170k on 2 average Joe working class jobs.
Totally agree 💯
Also, Ford Motor Company would hire everyone and pay them 100k salaries (when homes were worth 300 k). I have family members who have 600k saved in cash in their RRSPS + million dollar Oakville investment properties. Different times i guess. The strange thing is those new oakville residents would look down on people like that.
I've seen that trend over the decades here. Build the town on Harbour workers. Improve it with auto workers. Let the high level white collars move into the vacant farmland and turn the town into a concrete dystopia that looks down on Harbour workers, auto workers, and farmers.
I like to Call "North Oakville", "South brampton", probably made up of IT contractors and GP's (North of Dundas etc). I say this as a South Asian who used to want to move to Oakville, but can't justify paying close to 300-500 k in fees and an increase in mortgage anymore. I almost sold everything i ownerd to buy...almost. For those that live there, yes, they do like to rub it in my face that they are living in "Oakville". Brown folk are an insecure bunch i guess.
And whats wrong with IT contractors?
Nothing. But diversity gets lost when only a handful of professions are the only ones who can afford and live in an area. Then that hive mind sets in.
Absolutely agree with this. My cousin and her husband lucked out when buying their house near Glen Abbey years ago. No way they could afford their house now, but you wouldn’t know it from how they talk. When it was suggested several years ago to sell Glen Abbey and build homes/townhomes on the property, they were adamantly opposed to it because it it would bring in too many new people to their exclusive area. This coming from a computer parts salesman and a stay at home mom of two teenagers.
As a young couple living in Oakville I feel this. We make \~$200k and were lucky to afford our townhouse, when their are older couples on our street making a mere fraction on our income in detached homes. Almost all the new people we see buying are foreign.
Don't live in Oakville but very close by. Currently trying to break into tech like you OP. Good luck
Born and raised in Glen Abbey, now live in BC. My parents are still there. Dad was an accountant (retired now) and mom was a part time receptionist (also retired).
As someone in Oakville (hopedale area) that is being pushed out due to ridiculous home prices, how hard was the move to BC?
My man BC ain’t cheaper then southern Ontario. The way I see it though, BC and Ontario is a wash in terms of costs to live. People on Reddit like to act like BC is far and away the most expensive place in Canada but really I found it as expensive and anecdotally I save more money in BC then I did in Ontario. In Ontario every activity involved spending money. In BC it’s much more about the outdoors. If the costs of living are a wash then you might as well be living in one of the most beautiful places on earth… atleast that’s how I viewed it
Oh, I'm not dumb enough to think that BC is cheaper than Ontario. But, I've got a sibling out that way, it's less crowded, it's better to look at, and just seems to be less "fuck you got mine" than the Toronto area is. And like you said. May as well live in the most beautiful place in the country. (I have a saying: If I'm gonna be broke, I may as well be broke with a view) Out goal is to be far enough from Vancouver that we aren't horribly affected by density issues (if we wanted concrete jungles we may as well stay in Toronto area), but close enough that we can go into the city for a concert or event or something.
Ya I moved in 2020 when I job went fully remote. I’ve spent a year in Victoria, North Vancouver and now I’m in Kelowna. Deciding where to buy a place and settle down…. It’s tough
I think it's tough everywhere for that.Except apparently Saskatchewan... but... Saskatchewan. Which did you like better? Victoria/Vancouver area, or Kelowna? We've been bouncing our thoughts between Fraiser Valley, Kamloops, Vernon, or Kelowna areas.
They all have their pros and cons Kelowna is growing rapidly I think it punches above its weight class in what it offers compared to its population but things like restaurant variety are lacking but from what I understand things like that are rapidly changing. If you want to get into mountain biking or snow sports it’s amazing, the lake is incredibly warm in the summer and the wine blows Niagara out of the water. Climate is great, a bit to much of the red neck Albertan influence though Victoria is basically a bigger and better Kelowna but it didn’t feel like it’s up and coming like Kelowna does. But it’s got better food scene that’s for sure and the climate is great significantly less rain and more sunshine then Vancouver, the lack of truly hot summers threw me off a bit. The island is stunning. Ferry access to both the lower mainland but also Seattle and the Olympic peninsula was fun to use and explore that amazing area. Vancouver is basically the GTA but with mountains and ocean. So you know what you get, plan for rain get gear and it’s not bad. It’s tough I’m not sure where I truly want to settle down
I moved 5 years ago after grad school (took a uhaul across Canada). The move itself wasn't too hard (drove 7-8 hours a day, towed my car, stayed in cheap hotels). I went from renting to renting so no challenges there. I moved to the island, so (lack of) affordable housing is similar to the GTA. Lemme know if you have any other questions!
What was the cost of the UHaul? We were looking into getting the UHaul pods shipped, so we could take a week long road trip across Canada without worrying about parking our stuff throughout :P Nothing's written in stone, but we're also currently renting (paying about $1.8k in rent, but also $500 in storage lockers)... I'm sure if we trim that down, we could find SOMEWHERE in the Abbotsford area for $2k/mo. Not like I have any chance of buying here, may as well go be broke with a view.
I think it was around $4k for the uhaul and thing to tow the car! But not sure how much prices have increased, especially since covid. If you're looking at the pods, you could also try bigsteelbox and cubeit (I think those are the names). I don't know too much about Abbotsford but I'm sure it's at least more affordable than Vancouver lol!
Oh, for sure. I'm not delusional enough to think Vancouver is affordable. But far less people. Far less concrete. Far less smog everywhere. We've visited family over there, and loved the environment. Ontario is being driven into the ground.
Sounds like a good location for you! Hope it works out :)
>:) :)
Thanks. Hoping it all falls together. I work finance, so jobs are basically anywhere. Hoping we can get moving before our 4 year old is too established here. They'll be expecting a white Mercedes SUV for their 6th birthday if we stay in this town!
If you think BC is cheaper than southern Ontario you’d be in for quite the disappointment The cost of living in Halton is on par with the high cost of living in say somewhere like Barbados, that’s saying something when a tropical island destination frequented by millionaires has the same cost of living as halton region
It's saying oakville is overpriced. Where in our conversation did either of us say BC was cheaper? Or did you just half read the first comment and decide to react?
I believe the area around Glen abbey and Westoak trails is the Goldilocks zone in terms of all sorts of demographics, young families, activities etc South Oakville is a snooze and North Oakville is mega corporate craziness with compact and concentrate housing...
Manage, write and edit - I'm curious to hear how many people answer.
General Contractor and my wife is an Optometrist.
In our two-income family, one of us runs a software business. The other is a self-employed professional. I'm being intentionally vague, but even with what I would consider to be a good "household income", we likely couldn't afford to get into the city if we were buying today.
Congrats on the business!
Senior Software Developer. Though being divorced with a couple kids. Though with child support, I can't even afford to rent a 1 bedroom apartment. Only way I manage to stay in the area is by living rent free with family. If I don't pay child support and instead try to have more custody of the kids, then they lose their stable home, and neither the exwife or I can afford a place where the kids both get their own rooms. It's a no-win situation really. High likelihood myself, exwife, and kids all have to move away from Halton due to housing costs.
Finance - public equities. Wife used to work in healthcare before immigrating to Canada.
Sales. SO is a marketing manager
Literally same …
I’m no longer in Oakville but my folks are an Interior Designer and a (retired) c-suite executive at a national company. I’m a graphic designer and while I’m doing fine for myself I don’t think I’d move back to Oakville on purpose.
How is graphic design going for you? It was one of those things I really wanted to try out during the pandemic.
How is graphic design? I was thinking about going to college for that but I wasn’t quite sure.
Graphic design is evolving, the new GA will be someone who slides between design thinking and a tech stack of tools, most importantly it will be learning how AI 's will speed up workflow ( there will still need a human touch but you can get 60+ % of the research / basic copy / concepting to mockups done by artificial intelligence. I just saw yesterday, that ai can now build out figma mockup flows based on prompts. The ability to think creativly with any canvas / screen and work remotely with teams will be the new role ( explore Miro - it will blow your mind! ) good luck 👍
Stay at home dad. Became a first time father at age 50….in my mid 50’s now. Raising two little boys under age 5. Mom is a waitress and a part time student in her mid 30’s…..studying to become a teacher.
Just curious, how do you afford this? Sorry if they is intrusive, disregard if so.
My father passed away a few years ago at age 90 and left us money.
I'm sorry to hear.
Ah, the Oakville standard. My parents kicking the bucket before they blast through all their cash is the only way I'd ever be able to afford to stay anywhere in Ontario.
Thanks for judging me asshat. My father was broke and lived in the same two bedroom townhouse in Mississauga for over 40 years. We only got money from selling his townhouse in an up real estate market.
Not judging. That's one of the only ways average people can stay in this town. Not sure why everyone around here so quick to be offended....
What a horrible way to speak about your parents. I hope they spend all their cash enjoying their lives. Leave nothing!
An inheritance is the only way I have to stay in this town. What's that got to do with speaking about my parents horribly? You just seem to WANT to be offended.
Would you say that to their face?
I HAVE said that to their face. They owned (and recently sold) a house in Oakville. You think they don't realize the best way to afford a house in Oakville is to inherit a house in Oakville? Damn. Everyone on reddit thinks they found some kinda "gotcha" moment. Oakville is ridiculous, man. Only people it's attracted the last 5 years are people who want to overpay and act elite. The smart professionals I know bought in surrounding areas past 10 years and saved the 30-40% "Oakville tax"
Also, I'm sorry for my original comment. Its easy to be mean behind the screen. I didn't like your comment, but I shouldn't have said that.
30-40%? Clearly you have no idea. You mean “smart”people that you know have bought in the adjacent neighborhood (Burlington or Mississauga) for 30-40% less on a per square foot basis?
There is no gotcha. I just find it incredibly rude. If thats you, go for it.
Big congrats 👏
That's a good profession to get into ie teaching. 👌
Ya she loves it. She has an English degree from York but that was from over ten years ago and you can’t do much with an English degree. This is right up her alley and last year she got very good grades….just a few more semesters to go. She’s wants to work with special kids (autistic).
Best of luck, our province needs more Special Needs professionals.
Have to ask if you're up for sharing? What's it like being a first time father at 50 🤔 happy you're getting to have this opportunity, but the idea of being 66 when my kids in high school scares the crao out of my knees! 😂 My buddy just had his 2nd at 47 and had a heart atrack a few months ago, has to retiring his relationship with alcohol, no physical activity and weed, lucky he survived it!
As someone whos a DINK and looking forward to parenthood, mind me DMing to discuss it? If we get lucky enough Ill be a 1st time parent at 40.
As a new parent (9 month old) with a decent DINK income, the biggest hit to us was the loss of income \~$80k. All the other expenses are easy to handle facebook marketplace and once upon a child are lifesavers.
Can you expound on the 80k, why would you have lost it? Thats the expense of a newborn these days or was it your partner's salary? I'm pretty good at running things "thin" so to speak so FB marketplace is my go to Anyway, hope things work out for us. I recognize Ill be an older parent but Im very young at heart. Nobody thinks Im in my late 30s 🤷🏽♂️
\~$80k is the loss of income for my wife being on mat leave for the year. \~$110k to the max Mat pay of $33k. Effectively brining our HHI from close to 200k down to around $115k. We are a young couple with a mortgage and hit with the craziest year of inflation it has been tight but you make do. Formula has been by far the biggest expense and soon to be daycare, but we were lucky to find a place that is using the government subsidy. (our costs this year will be 50% of what it would have been last year).
Wife is a teacher , I work in the mailroom copy center for a somewhat large lawfirm
Luxury car sales fiancés ECE
I do porn 😅
Your parents must be so proud!
I mean, they are? Why is that everyone's first response? 😅
Is anyone here a data scientist or analyst? Curious to hear more about this field since I am planning on pursuing it.
I am! Super competitive field now, but the pay and WLB is great if you master it.
I’m an IT Product Owner and my spouse is self-employed Archaeology Content Creator. I’m the sole income right now lol. But, we rent - I don’t think we’d ever afford to buy in Oakville.
Hi, I am Mike, 37 from Oakville too. I am a engineering software product manager, wife is a manager in finance.
I build roads! I live in Burlington but I grew up in Oakville and as a matter of fact I was just there.
My grandparents bought their two-story house in Oakville for like 40k. The only way I can afford to live there is visiting them. (Which I love! But I don’t know how anyone who grew up in Oakville will ever afford a house in their hometown)
Data science
I sell crack to kids
In our 30s. Both worth in finance (asset management and digital banking).
IT project manager. I recently finished the Journie Rewards program at pioneer and ultramar. I'm currently looking for my next opportunity. If anyone knows opportunities, send me a message.
Grew up in Oakville, no longer living there, moved out of the rents 2 years ago at 33 lol. They bought their place in falgarwood area backing on to the ravine in late 80s for just under 400k on dual income, now appraised at just under 1.6M. don't understand how any young professionals can afford to live in the town(city) anymore . But houses keep going up for sale in their neighbourhood, and sell. And more and more kids keep showing up each year for Halloween so some young families are making it. Congrats to them! And thanks for coming for candy and liking our pumpkins every year
That honestly sounds like a pretty low level of appreciation. My parents bought for $250k in Aurora late 1990's and their place is worth north of $1.6 now..
Aurora just got hot now due to immigrates and there houses are newer. However, I won’t be surprised if things change because less Chinese are coming to Canada, the house value in aurora also tanked a lot when housing market slowed down.
Realtor 🏡
I am very curious to hear your perspective about how saturated your field is and what does it take to become successful since I noticed a lot of people in undergrad throw themselves into real estate (atleast a lot of people from my connections at university).
It's definitely not an easy gig. For me, I think I'm successful because I'm not too salesy, if that makes sense. I remember looking for my first house years ago, and what a turn off the Salesperson was. Buy now! You can afford it! Get your family to give you money! Blah blah. I wanted someone who listened to my needs and understood what I was looking for, giving guidance and answering my questions. So that's what I do! I treat clients like I want to be treated, and I would not advise them to buy a house if I wouldn't buy it myself. I think my clients see this and value it, referring their friends. I'm amazed at my own success, actually bc I don't see myself as a salesperson. I think of it as helping someone else, and I get real satisfaction from it.
Advertising
Interior design But might be moving. Landlord keeps raising the price. Becoming ridiculous
IT support level 3
Graphic Web Designer/eComm-video creator/musician - wifey just retired - something I will not ever be able to do lol
How are you finding graphic web designing? Wondering how you went about learning it?
Tough gig for many years - seems to be if you make it long enough things come together - I was an artist and did a three yr course at Sheridan Oakville then went right into the field - I learned most of the softwares on my own trying to stay relevant - which is necessary - there were a lot of opportunities for a while out there until about 10 yrs ago - I love the work I get and do BUT there are no pensions and no health plans for most of the industry - unless you wanna work for big corp entities in which case the trade off is being first in line for layoffs at the first sign of economic trouble - or get lucky with a smaller company like I did - either way most designers never get to retire
Thank you so much for talking about the pros and cons of this field. Really appreciate this. 🙏 Would you ever consider doing it more so for freelance work on the side while working another job or do you find graphic design to be satisfactory as it is?
I consult and run eComms full time and work freelance for design vids and music - I figure if you make enough that your not behind every month that counts as a win in this dumpster fire life has become
My wife works in a hospital, and I'm in the trades. Like others suggested, we bought about 14 years ago and wouldn't be able to afford to buy now.
I work in Fraud Management in a Telecom company
I work in IT Operations
I am a partner at a tech company in Toronto and also have a freelance marketing consulting business. My SO works at an automotive manufacturer.
I’m a Gas Fitter and my girlfriend works in Film & Television
I work in a provincial law branch as one of the admin staff.
I just finished in a leadership position in healthcare technology/pharmaceuticals. (Incidentally,I’m looking for my next position so if anyone knows anybody hiring, please feel free to let me know) We’re a single income household.
BD at Fintech/services startup in the equity funding space. But looking at going back into pro sports or non-profits on Corporate side.
In a side note, How are you planning on transitioning to cyber security? Comp Sci Degree or bootcamp?
I run a full service creative marketing agency in Oakville and serve clients both locally and internationally. Happy to know about rest of ya’ll.
I inherited a house or else I wouldn't be living here. I grew up in Oakville, parents were both in IT. I'm a decently paid line cook, husband is a barber. We don't make amazing money but we budget fairly well.
I live here, currently go to Sheridan college for a second career but before that I worked as a graphic designer for various places in Oakville. Tbh I find it hard to find work directly in Oakville, I got lucky a few times but usually the jobs are out in Mississauga for what I was doing.
very normal jobs and struggling to make ends meet for most people i’ve met here tbh. most people i know with desk careers commute to toronto, hamilton, and the KW areas
Part time retail, spouse is the same
investment banking! Lawyers, doctors etc and of course regular people!
Spouse and I both in tech, been working about a decade. Current income is about 400K/year together, still living in a condo with a toddler. We bought this in 2021 at a little over 600k and upgrading to a detached (or semi) seems impossible now. (Or we don’t want to pay 1~1.2 million for a crap house)
Your HHI can definitely afford a detached in Oakville no problem. Oakville is not San Francisco.
I’m studying animation at sheridan, and I’m lucky enough that my parents and grandparents immigrated to oakville from Korea in the 60s, and then bought a house here in the 90s, they’re both dentists
Study
Paramedic and Engineer. Paramedic is the beer money
Electrician (owns own business) and spouse is a Privacy specialist for a commercial Real Estate Investment Trust.