Moving from Monsey to Montreal

amother

Bisque

Tue, Jan 19 2021, 6:46 pm

amother [ OP ] wrote:

isn't the healthcare system entirely different than In ny? Dentist cost a fortune , no private insurance

Health care would be a good reason to make the move. You get a RAMQ card that you can simply use almost everywhere, and pay nothing. The only exceptions are dental and optical care. Dental is covered until age 10, optical care until 18. Many people have cheap supplemental insurance to cover dental and the occasional private treatment you might want. I sometimes use a private clinic for X-rays when we don't want to sit in the ER. It costs me between 50$-150$.

amother

Copper

Tue, Jan 19 2021, 6:52 pm

I seriously considered it for a while. Jobs is a serious concern for me. Many jobs in my husband and mine profession would want us to speak French, which neither of us do. He has Canadian citizenship and so do our children, so that part would be easier.
Regarding schools: If you belong to a chassidus that has a school you're fine, if you're otherwise very chassidish you should be ok as well. I'd personally just send to the Bais Yakov.
The above were my main thoughts. I was coming from Brooklyn, so housing wouldn't be a huge adjustment but if you're coming from Monsey, in order to get a big house on a private property it would probably be around a million. (I may be off about this, all my family's houses there are over a million, but they're considerably wealthy. I was looking into buying a flat, and it was about 600,000.)

amother

Bisque

Tue, Jan 19 2021, 7:00 pm

amother [ Copper ] wrote:

In the chassidishe neighbourhood, Outremont, this is only possible if you are uber-wealthy. Private homes on small lots go for 2.5 million+. There has been a slow drip of families (mainly Belz) who have been moving out to Cote-St-Luc, where housing is way more affordable. In Outremont, most families live in apartments (one floor of a duplex/triplex). Larger families often live in a first floor and basement in order to have more space. Such RDC's with finished basements are selling for a million now. On the upside, Outremont has a park on almost every block, as well as lovely lanes behind the homes. Kids have a lot of space to play.

amother

Papaya

Tue, Jan 19 2021, 7:04 pm

Hi! As Montrealers we are pretty welcoming! But just bear in mind that the winter is very cold and long. Meaning socially it's a bit hard on sahm. Men have it easier as they go to shul.
Housing is very expensive especially in the chassidish area. Small and old homes (my house is over 100 years old!)
The health care system is not so bad. We do have good doctors and it's almost all covered by medical insurance from the government. Dental is not covered but I still pay way less on this then my siblings in NY and NJ pay on medical insurance!

But family allowance is amazing bh. It really helps us get through the month.

Shopping is not a big deal. Most things can be bought here. If not when we go visiting NY we do g and g and small other things. But not because you can't buy it here.

Chassidus is a big thing, where do you belong? As that will help you get part of the community easier.

Best is our lifestyle pretty laid back, a few steps back from NY, makes for much more enjoyable life. No running or huffing.

Good luck with your decision!