Sara Dee

Hi folks

Just wondering if any of you are moving to Halifax or have recently moved there? Myself, my wife and 5 year old son are moving there in 4 weeks time & have never been before. We are going out on a 2 year twp and would be delighted if anyone could offer us any general advice - for example, where did you stay initially when you arrived? We are looking at serviced apartments but they seem really expensive. Have been looking on Kijiji but haven't found anything so far. At this late stage we will probably rent one of the apartments for a week and hopefully find something longer term when we get there.

If you have recently moved, how did the move go & are you enjoying life in Halifax so far? If you have children what are they enjoying about the area? Our son isn't too keen on moving (he will be leaving lots of cousins, aunties & uncles) so we're trying to sell it to him gently.... Theodore Tugboat & Atlantic Playland are working well so far!

Thanks in advance for any advice.
Dee

nikki dreaming

Hi Dee

There are a number of us here, if you are on facebook, ask to join this group, a lot of expats are on here who are either in NS or in the process of moving, great for information and also connecting with other people here for support etc once you make the move, lots of meet ups etc arranged throughout the year

http://www.facebook.com/home.php?sk=...748193973&ap=1

davidsk

We are going in two weeks.

Here is my experience about rental.

I agree that the short term furnished rental is VERY expensive.

Premiere Executive Suites is probably the best, but the most expensive.

Bear in mind if you rent less than a month, you need to pay 15% tax + 2% tourism tax.

Most rental companies don't do a short term rental, but here are a few that do.
http://www.premieresuites.com (nightly or weekly or monthly or yearly)
http://www.thepadpicker.com/ (minimum monthly)
http://www.executive-rentals.net/NSProperties.htm (minimum monthly)
http://www.prestige-suites.com/ (minimum monthly, we use it)

From information I gather, generally the price is 30-50% more expensive than the ones from the owners.

It is summer time, so you can sublet from the students till the end of August, but from the pictures, they don't look tidy.

Alternatively, you can rent for the whole year, then sublet to others when you want to move out or buy. I don't know if it is complicated or not.

Winston Green

Halifax is great and you are arriving at just the right time of the year. Everything starts to open up and get going. I recommend the harbour hopper for your son it is fun and a good way to see Halifax.
Can't recommend any accommodation as the place we stayed has closed now.

JandG

We moved here at the end of March and are currently renting a house in Royale Hemlocks, just off the Bedford Highway. It's not cheap, but it is a lovely property and we are perfectly located for everything we need right now. We managed to negotiate an 8 month lease, as opposed to the standard 12 month contract but I think we were quite lucky in that respect.

We rented unfurnished and bought furniture once we got here - we purchased a sofa and bedroom set new from Gallery 1 and everything else has been purchased through Kijiji or from the clearance sections of the local furniture stores...people will tell you that doing this is very expensive, but if you are patient and have an eye for a bargain you can get some AMAZING deals!!

A quick note about hunting for rental property via Kijiji - do bear in mind that you cannot email advertisers from the UK (you don't get a notification from Kijiji about this and you may be left wondering, as we were, why no-one is responding to your enquiries)! We only managed to get our property because the advertiser included their personal email in the advert....

My wife is now 39 weeks pregnant and we are looking forward to raising our daughter in NS...good luck with your Canadian adventure!!

R_AWhite

If your looking for a cheaper option you could try
www.universalgroup.ca/living/ocean-breeze
All depends on what you are looking for?

cxx

[QUOTE=JandG;9362492]
A quick note about hunting for rental property via Kijiji - do bear in mind that you cannot email advertisers from the UK (you don't get a notification from Kijiji about this and you may be left wondering, as we were, why no-one is responding to your enquiries)! We only managed to get our property because the advertiser included their personal email in the advert....
[QUOTE]

Is this new? We rented our house via Kijiji in 2009 and contacted a number of renters whilst we were in the UK. Our email account doesn't end .co.uk though.

davidsk

That is right. Kijiji only allows the local people post ads. However, you can contact their administrator to post an ad for you. That is what I did although it took a few days for them to process.

JandG

[QUOTE=cxx;9367707][QUOTE=JandG;9362492]
A quick note about hunting for rental property via Kijiji - do bear in mind that you cannot email advertisers from the UK (you don't get a notification from Kijiji about this and you may be left wondering, as we were, why no-one is responding to your enquiries)! We only managed to get our property because the advertiser included their personal email in the advert....
Nor does ours...we were emailing from a gmail.com address! Not sure if it is a recent restriction, but it definitely didn't work (although having said that, we met someone here who said they were trying to email Kijiji advertisers and their emails were being blocked (also from a gmail.com address)...

Sara Dee

Thanks everyone for your replies. We leave on Thursday. Have to apply for TWP at POE so once that has been taken care of i'll be able to relax!

davidsk, how are you settling in? JandG hope mother & daughter are doing well!

davidsk

We are good. We have been to Peggy's Cove, Duncan's Cove, Lunenburg. They are very nice.

We find the grocery in Halifax is much more expensive than in London. We spent about £300 a month in London, here we spend about $600 a month. Eating out is about the same as in London after conversion, $60 for two, just a main course with a non-alcohol drink + 15% tax + tips. Having said that, the food is good and more generous in term of the portion and ingredients.

The weather is mixed. It is foggy, rainy or sunny. But usually the same weather lasts the whole day.

The bus schedule is much less frequent than in London, every 30 minutes even in rush hours. However, the buses are half empty even in rush hours. So that is good.

The lunch shops are much less than in London. So if you work outside the downtown or the city centre, be prepare for your own lunch. The majority of people do so. They all get a small lunch bag.

davidsk

Also breakfast costs us $36. It costed us £10 for two. We got an amazing full monty with toast, tea / coffee and orange juice. We miss that!!!

DandNHill

[QUOTE=JandG;9368424][QUOTE=cxx;9367707] Hi, it's not the email address that causes problems but your IP address. There are all sorts of sites that don't accept emails from abroad, I found it a problem trying to contact schools as my emails to them were blocked!

booffy

just get a Canadian one..or US...

JSHalifax

Hi there, we have a couple of families arriving next week and we do provide accommodation I also can recommend some places for you as I work with plenty of landlords here in NS... sometimes it helps to have someone do some of the telephoning and ask the right questions, we also have some other families that are happy to rent rooms.I would be really happy to meet with you when you get here and we do have a network of people with families that we can get you to contact for support etc., I have just booked someone into the apartments at Mt Saint Vincent University which are rented out while the students are away you can contact me if you would like more help, we also can hook you with opening bank accounts etc....and in fact anything you might need help with
don't worry just don't make and quick decisions you can call me when you arrive or visit our website .