Originally Posted by dbd33

Be careful with this. If the house is mortgaged and falls in value and the exchange rate moves against you, you could be stuck with a difficult bill to pay. There are lots of past threads on renting out a house and moving, have a read and be aware that the mortgage holder will want to renegotiate (not by reducing your rate).

Originally Posted by Neilclairep

Thank you, a very good point - but we have a minimal mortgage on our house (around 20%) so . It would need to fall by a massive amount to be stuck in negative equity- we are lucky in that respect thank goodness. Combined with the rental being double what our current mortgage is (when checking) hopefully we should be covered but defiantly something to explore further.

Originally Posted by confused_uk

We're going to do the same thing as you. Keep in mind as well that if you decide to move back to the UK you are liable for capital gains tax to the Canadian government on the difference in value of the UK house from when you arrived to when you leave, whether you are selling or not

Originally Posted by confused_uk

NS is a lovely place with friendly people & sense of community which (I feel) the UK seems to have lost over the years. It's a good place to settle as long as you have the job/income side of things sorted, the right attitude, & are someone who thinks they can adapt to the lifestyle there. The other stuff people complain about is just down to personal preferences. In the grand scheme of things does it really matter if you have to buy alcohol from a different store, err no, just accept that's how it's done there & move on. Don't let other peoples silly little niggles put a grey cloud over your plans.

Originally Posted by Neilclairep

Wasn't aware if that one - something to definitely factor in!

Originally Posted by Howefamily

NS is like marmite. You either love it or hate it.
And agreed, if you have a job/income it can be sweet. It doesnt have an aldi/waitrose/tescos and sainsburys all within 2 miles of each other because it doesnt have the population density of the south of England.
BUT it does have sobeys. superstore, pharmasaave, co-op, costco, M&W meat markets to name the ones that spring to mind. They all have deals, there is choice.

Personally I dont care that I cant buy liquor where I get my teabags. Its no biggie.

Neilclarerep - bring your ski stuff if you make it back in February :-)

Originally Posted by Howefamily

I hear you on your point here in what you were trying to achieve but I just want to say that we grocery shop very differently here to the UK. Back there we used to get Tesco home delivery and for the most part buy the same things each week and roughly spend the same. Here we mostly just buy what's on sale and go to Costco too. So we don't buy a weeks food each week but stock up on what we like when it's on sale and get our fruit and veg. Therefore out freezer and cupboards are fuller than they were in the UK all the time and it's not odd to buy 10 tins of beans because they are on sale one week, or three slabs of cheese.

Originally Posted by Neilclairep

Thank you all for your responses, I did a lot if thinking in the flight back from Halifax and will say I am a little deflated with the pack of positive responses.
A couple of things
1. I am really not bothered about costs or where I purchase alcohol - this wouldn't make or break my decision, whilst I appreciate it being pointed out there are pages dedicated to it :-(
2. Shopping - I realise I can't compare like for like and Canada has different offers and better offers - this is why I tried to look at those items NOT on offer in either Canada or UK to give worst case scenario. I can't so a full on camp at it use shop but instead did what I could under the circumstances (please let me know how you may have compared shopping costs ?)
3. Friendly Canadians and not taking the friendliness at face value - I am by nature very open minded, but and whether you agree or not is entirely your choice I do take people at face value until given reason not to.

I was entering into this with an open mind , trying to explore options and wanted view points of others - I hadn't expected the negativity around living in Canada (specifically N'S?)
PLEASE let's not live up to what others see the brits as - wingers (I suppose every nationality generalises)
I am happy to have the bad points, but I haven't seen any good points on this thread are there!!
:-( not great for supporting people I understand having to give all views but nothing good does this mean most will be moving back to the uk???

Originally Posted by nikki dreaming

Op, take all with a pinch of salt , yes there are things more expensive and some less so, if you are willing to adapt and change things then it all swings in round abouts.

I'm perhaps one if the minority but I am very happy in ns, as others have said work is key and this tends to be the driver for people to move from here from what I have seen with friends etc

Originally Posted by Neilclairep

Thank you and absolutely agree, the howe family have helped no end through personal messages and dandhill also have been upbeat (Christmas cake made me chuckle) just frustrated at other people's niggles as you rightly say - apologises for those that have been commented it wasn't aimed at you I just wanted both sides :-)

Originally Posted by graham the eggman

Little is cheaper and most is dearer, very small example, a haircut in Halifax cheapest was $25 in the UK I pay $9 and no tip expected or required.