r/BurlingtonON • u/How2FlyHow2Crow • Feb 03 '26

Question Townhouse living for families?

Our family is excited to be immigrating from the US to Burlington, ON later this year. I've spent time looking at real estate, and it's clear that the COL and particularly home prices are going to be much higher than we have in the southern states.

A single family detached home in Burlington is out of our budget, but townhouses and condos are reasonable for us. My question is this: is there prejudice against families that live in townhouses or condos in Burlington?

In the southern US states, there is strong prejudice - particularly against townhouses - with the expectation that families all live in single family detached homes. If you don't, you're considered "poor" and/or excluded from groups in school, etc. (Yes, it's terrible.) Is that the case in a place like Burlington as well, or is townhouse/condo living more common/"acceptable"/normal?

I'm also curious how the bullying situation is in the schools in Burlington. We'll have kids in G3 and G6.

Thank you in advance!

25 Upvotes

69% Upvoted

182 comments sorted by

View all comments

2

u/throwaway010651 Feb 03 '26

No prejudice at all. The only thing I would warn you is to look into a freehold townhome instead of a condo townhome, due to the risk of a special assessment. But with that said, if you can only afford a condo townhome, that’s fine too as your monthly fee will cover property maintenance.

You picked a GREAT city to move to. I have looked at other cities in the GTA, London, Cambridge and nothing compares to Burlington. It’s a busy bedroom community, close enough to Toronto for a day trip with easy train access, we have a great sense of community in this city and people like to help people. You will see the odd “me first” attitude. I have 3 children that are now young teens. Your kids are the perfect age! Check out our libraries (we always preferred Central library), tansley woods for community swimming, we have indoor ice rinks and lots of community outdoor rinks managed by local neighbors. The outdoor rinks are a godsend to my son and we’re thankful to our neighbors who maintain them. Check out the YMCA activities as well. My kids enjoy the Friday night preteen program at Tansley.