By Carolyn Ireland the Globe and Mail

Sean and Rebecca O'Hara were taken aback when they arrived at their new house in west-end Toronto to find a neighbour had dug up their tree.

"I hope you don't mind," the neighbour said. He had moved it to another part of the garden to protect it from getting run over by the moving van. Then he offered to replant it in the original spot.

The O'Haras, who gave up their big house, big commute, pool and yard in suburban Caledon, Ont., for a more compact house and lifestyle in Bloor West Village, admit to being astonished by the congeniality of city neighbours compared with those they left behind.

"I thought people in the city would be more into their own thing," says Mr. O'Hara. "It's the very opposite to what I thought it would be."

The O'Haras were looking for a more lively environment for their three children, who range in age from 9 to 17.

"You buy the lifestyle here," says Ms. O'Hara. "This neighbourhood has a huge sense of community that we were unable to find in suburbia."

For real estate agent Nutan Brown of Royal LePage Real Estate Services Ltd., the circumstance the O'Haras describe is becoming surprisingly familiar. She helped find properties for two other families this summer who gave up monster homes in the suburbs for houses one-third to one-half the size in Toronto. Ms. Brown was struck by how similar their stories were: In each case the parents had grown weary of commuting, consuming, cleaning the pool and driving their kids to friends' houses.