I Sell Houses Here for a Living. Here’s Where I’d Actually Live.

I Understand Why People Live in Moncton. Personally? Heck No.

If convenience matters to you, Moncton makes complete sense. Restaurants, shopping, services, transit and pretty much everything you need for normal day-to-day life are right there. If you don’t want to rely heavily on a car, I’d probably point you toward Moncton before I pointed you anywhere near where I live.

Personally, though? Heck no.

And before somebody from Toronto comes for me, yes, I understand that what we call traffic in New Brunswick is probably adorable to you. I still don’t want to sit through 17 lights at lunchtime.

My job is people. I talk to people all day, meet people all day and walk into strangers’ houses all day. I love what I do, but when I get home, I want quiet. I want to feel like work ended somewhere before I pulled into my driveway.

If I had to stay closer to town, I’d consider Dieppe. I like the French and Acadian feel, the trails and some of the neighbourhoods. Riverview has also surprised me. I never really understood the appeal until I started working there more. Now I get it. You’re basically across the bridge from Moncton, but it still feels like its own community.

I understand city life. I sell city life. I’ll happily help you buy city life.

Would I choose it for myself? Not a chance.

Shediac? Ask Me Again in Five Years.

This might be the opinion that gets me in trouble because everybody seems to love Shediac. And I understand why. Water, beaches, restaurants and that coastal New Brunswick lifestyle people picture when they decide they’re moving east.

I want to love Shediac more than I currently do. But right now, I wouldn’t personally choose it.

There’s so much growth and construction happening that some of that coastal-town feeling has temporarily disappeared for me. I’ve had relocating clients specifically excited about Shediac before we got there, and sometimes I can almost physically watch the enthusiasm leave their body once we’re actually driving through it.

Especially in summer.

I understand why the growth is happening, and I’m not saying Shediac is going downhill. I actually think the opposite. Which is why my answer is: ask me again in five years.

Right now, if I want a beach day, I’m probably driving straight through and heading toward Bouctouche.

And to be clear, I LOVE the ocean. Give me basically any body of water and I’m happy. I just prefer a river for everyday life. I want to throw the paddleboard in without turning it into a full-day production.

I Chose Inconvenience on Purpose.

I live in Sainte-Marie-de-Kent, and there is basically nothing here.

We have a gas station. 😂

If I want groceries, restaurants or most normal things, I’m driving toward Saint-Antoine or Bouctouche. If I’m going into Greater Moncton for work, I’m usually driving around 45 minutes before I’ve really started my day.

Sometimes that absolutely sucks. I’m not going to pretend I skip through wildflowers every morning while woodland animals deliver my groceries. You have to plan things. Forgetting something in town is annoying.

But I chose it.

I like back roads. I like space. I like quiet. I like neighbours who somehow know who can plow your driveway, who owns whatever piece of equipment you suddenly need, and which 90-year-old man can apparently still fix anything.

And I love being close to the river. I can throw my paddleboard in the vehicle, drive basically down the road and get onto the Bouctouche River. That is worth more to me than being seven minutes from Costco.

Bouctouche gives you more convenience while keeping a lot of what I love about living out here. Restaurants, groceries, beautiful scenery, the beach and dunes, then back roads and country almost immediately. If Sainte-Marie sounds a little TOO country, Bouctouche would probably be one of the first places I’d talk to you about.

There are also places like Grand-Digue, Grand-Barachois, Shediac River and Rexton that relocating buyers may barely know exist. Sometimes the place that fits you best is somewhere you didn’t even know to search.

If You Gave Me $750,000 Tomorrow, I Know Where I’d Spend It.

If somebody handed me $750,000 tomorrow and told me I had to spend it on my own home somewhere in southeastern New Brunswick, I’d start around Bouctouche, through Kent County toward Rexton, or at the right riverfront property around Shediac River.

If I’m spending that kind of money, I want something for it.

Water. Acreage. A garage. Privacy. Hell, give me a guest house too.

You could show me a beautiful new build in a subdivision and I can appreciate it. I sell those houses. I understand why people want them.

But if that same budget can potentially put me in a big house on the water with land, a garage and nobody directly beside me?

That’s not even a decision for me. I’m heading toward the water.

That’s really what this whole article comes down to. Neither choice is better. I just know what I value, and apparently one of those things is not spending $750,000 to look out my kitchen window directly into somebody else’s.

Don’t Tell Me Where You Want to Live. Tell Me How You Want to Live.

This is probably the biggest thing I’ve learned from working with people relocating to New Brunswick. Sometimes they arrive with a town already picked. They Googled it. They watched videos. Their cousin told them Shediac is beautiful. Someone in a Facebook group told them they HAVE to live in Dieppe.

Then we get in the car.

That’s when things change.

Because where you live isn’t really about which town has the prettiest tourism page. It’s about what you want a regular Tuesday to feel like.

Do you want to walk to dinner, or finish work and disappear onto a river? Do you want neighbours and activity around you, or does seeing another house from your kitchen already feel too close? Would a 45-minute drive make you miserable, or would you happily do it if you loved where you came home to?

I drive farther. I plan my errands. I don’t have everything five minutes from my house.

And I would choose it again.

So if you’re moving to southeastern New Brunswick and have no idea whether you belong in Moncton, Dieppe, Riverview, Shediac, Bouctouche or somewhere you’ve never even heard of yet, don’t pick the town first.

Tell me how you want to live.

I can work with that.