Buying property without work
Aug 18th 2003 | 8:01 am
#16
Loving it here!
Joined: May 2003
Posts: 1,198
From: Vancouver, BC
Re: Buying a house
Originally posted by Smokey
Hi Sheryl,
Do you mean that the buyer A's realtor charges their client 6% even though there is no property to sell and the seller B's charges their client the same???
Certainly in Hicksville here my realtor won't charge me for purchasing a property but the 6% is split between both realtors. No wonder there are so many realtors in Ontario.!!!!
Pat
Hi Sheryl,
Do you mean that the buyer A's realtor charges their client 6% even though there is no property to sell and the seller B's charges their client the same???
Certainly in Hicksville here my realtor won't charge me for purchasing a property but the 6% is split between both realtors. No wonder there are so many realtors in Ontario.!!!!
Pat
It can be darn fast here! From seeing the house to moving in took us 5 weeks
and it could have been quicker - but we needed to give a months notice to the landlady!Good Luck
Clare
Aug 18th 2003 | 8:01 am
#17
BE Enthusiast
Joined: Feb 2002
Posts: 695
From: Swift Current, SK
Re: Buying property without work
Jackie,
I'm not sure if they will let you stay for a period of a year...think its six or nine months without a visa at all then I think you might need a visitor visa. It took in all about two years to get in on PR and most of that was waiting for our interview which they have mostly abolished so I don;t know how long it now takes. Have a look at www.cic.gc.ca it'll give you all the rules and regs.
Before we got the call up, we were on the verge of going to New Zealand. As we didn't qualify, we were going as students so it makes sense to check out ALL the categories...just in case! Maybe time to consider a new career??
Theres also several yahoo groups and joining one called britaintocanadaimmigration might be helpful too.
Just a last point though. Yes, it did take us a long time to get here and to be fair we wern';t going to come at first but I'm glad we did and in the permanent way too. It means WE can choose where we live not some bureaucrate or silly laws. Its worth perservering - there's a lot of opportunity that there isn;t in Britain...go back????...you'd have to be kiddin, matey!!!
Pat...off to the sun in our 30ish degrees without having to go to Spain!
I'm not sure if they will let you stay for a period of a year...think its six or nine months without a visa at all then I think you might need a visitor visa. It took in all about two years to get in on PR and most of that was waiting for our interview which they have mostly abolished so I don;t know how long it now takes. Have a look at www.cic.gc.ca it'll give you all the rules and regs.
Before we got the call up, we were on the verge of going to New Zealand. As we didn't qualify, we were going as students so it makes sense to check out ALL the categories...just in case! Maybe time to consider a new career??
Theres also several yahoo groups and joining one called britaintocanadaimmigration might be helpful too.
Just a last point though. Yes, it did take us a long time to get here and to be fair we wern';t going to come at first but I'm glad we did and in the permanent way too. It means WE can choose where we live not some bureaucrate or silly laws. Its worth perservering - there's a lot of opportunity that there isn;t in Britain...go back????...you'd have to be kiddin, matey!!!
Pat...off to the sun in our 30ish degrees without having to go to Spain!
Originally posted by lambchops
Thanks for tip Mel. I'll check her out.
Pat
Was recommended either Oakville or Burlington as you seem to get more for your money and they are nicer places to live......apparently.
We'd like to buy instead of renting for obvious reasons but even renting has it's drawback as most rentals are for a min 1 yr with references.
I'm an optimist but after reading what I have on this forum it seems to be difficult to either get PR or there is a load of red tape attached if you genuinely want to visit Canada for a year and can support yourself without working What do you think? Is it easy to feel discouraged or should I just be the eternal optimist and hope things are different for us? Who knows.......
Ah well.....back to the keyboard....my phone company are well pleased with me this month. Cheers mate.
Have one for me
Jackie
Thanks for tip Mel. I'll check her out.
Pat
Was recommended either Oakville or Burlington as you seem to get more for your money and they are nicer places to live......apparently.
We'd like to buy instead of renting for obvious reasons but even renting has it's drawback as most rentals are for a min 1 yr with references.
I'm an optimist but after reading what I have on this forum it seems to be difficult to either get PR or there is a load of red tape attached if you genuinely want to visit Canada for a year and can support yourself without working What do you think? Is it easy to feel discouraged or should I just be the eternal optimist and hope things are different for us? Who knows.......
Ah well.....back to the keyboard....my phone company are well pleased with me this month. Cheers mate.
Have one for me
Jackie
Aug 18th 2003 | 8:06 am
#18
BE Enthusiast
Joined: Feb 2002
Posts: 695
From: Swift Current, SK
Re: Buying a house
Thanks Clare, thought I'd lost the plot a bit!!
Pat
Pat
Originally posted by ClareBC
You pay the fees as the seller. When you buy your relator is the buyer's agent and gets his/her commission from the fees paid by the seller.
It can be darn fast here! From seeing the house to moving in took us 5 weeks and it could have been quicker - but we needed to give a months notice to the landlady!
Good Luck
Clare
You pay the fees as the seller. When you buy your relator is the buyer's agent and gets his/her commission from the fees paid by the seller.
It can be darn fast here! From seeing the house to moving in took us 5 weeks
and it could have been quicker - but we needed to give a months notice to the landlady!Good Luck
Clare
Aug 18th 2003 | 1:01 pm
#19
Forum Regular
Joined: Aug 2003
Posts: 103
From: Exeter, Devon
Re: Buying a house
Whoops, made a bit of a boo boo there! Yes, you're right. When we sold our house, we had to pay 6% to the realtor but did not have to pay anything to the realtor for buying another place.
However, another point I should make is this. We were told that if we didn't have any real status here when we sold, there would be a non-resident's tax applicable of around 25% of the total price. Yikes! As I am a Canadian citizen, I was okay, but we had to prove that my other half was applying for his permanent residence status and provide a tax return as evidence of his intention to stay.
So if somebody were just to stay for a year and not get any status, they would possibly have to pay this extortionate tax when it came to selling their home and moving back to the UK.
Hope this makes sense. Sorry about any confusion... Sheryl
However, another point I should make is this. We were told that if we didn't have any real status here when we sold, there would be a non-resident's tax applicable of around 25% of the total price. Yikes! As I am a Canadian citizen, I was okay, but we had to prove that my other half was applying for his permanent residence status and provide a tax return as evidence of his intention to stay.
So if somebody were just to stay for a year and not get any status, they would possibly have to pay this extortionate tax when it came to selling their home and moving back to the UK.
Hope this makes sense. Sorry about any confusion... Sheryl
Aug 19th 2003 | 2:19 am
#20
BE Enthusiast
Joined: Feb 2002
Posts: 695
From: Swift Current, SK
Re: Buying a house
That's an interesting point that I didn't know and perhaps anyone who's thinking of coming here should check out the taxation in Canada. Personally I'm on a steep learning curve with this one and am getting more and more horrified as I learn more. Talk about not having your eyes wide open! Itsa a scary concept as the onus is on you to get your tax return done (and get it right) . Definately not like Britain!
Pat.
:scared: :scared: :scared:
Pat.
Originally posted by rooster
Whoops, made a bit of a boo boo there! Yes, you're right. When we sold our house, we had to pay 6% to the realtor but did not have to pay anything to the realtor for buying another place.
However, another point I should make is this. We were told that if we didn't have any real status here when we sold, there would be a non-resident's tax applicable of around 25% of the total price. Yikes! As I am a Canadian citizen, I was okay, but we had to prove that my other half was applying for his permanent residence status and provide a tax return as evidence of his intention to stay.
So if somebody were just to stay for a year and not get any status, they would possibly have to pay this extortionate tax when it came to selling their home and moving back to the UK.
Hope this makes sense. Sorry about any confusion... Sheryl
Whoops, made a bit of a boo boo there! Yes, you're right. When we sold our house, we had to pay 6% to the realtor but did not have to pay anything to the realtor for buying another place.
However, another point I should make is this. We were told that if we didn't have any real status here when we sold, there would be a non-resident's tax applicable of around 25% of the total price. Yikes! As I am a Canadian citizen, I was okay, but we had to prove that my other half was applying for his permanent residence status and provide a tax return as evidence of his intention to stay.
So if somebody were just to stay for a year and not get any status, they would possibly have to pay this extortionate tax when it came to selling their home and moving back to the UK.
Hope this makes sense. Sorry about any confusion... Sheryl
Aug 19th 2003 | 4:44 am
#21
Just Joined
Joined: Aug 2003
Posts: 2
From: Whitby, Ontario
I got here 6 weeks ago and bough a house inthe first fortnight. I opened a bank account with HSBC and the gave me mortgage staright away without either myself or my wife working. They took a 35% deposit and held a years payments to one side. As soon as we have employment they will release those funds back into our account. The hunt for employment still goes on...
Aug 23rd 2003 | 2:15 pm
#22
Just Joined
Joined: Aug 2003
Posts: 16
Bought my first home in Alberta last week...
Without credit rating (As I am new to Canada), I was forced to put up a 35% down payment even though I have a job and monthly upkeep of my mortgage is well below 33% (the magical figure) of my monthly salary.
Dont have to pay my realtor for buying. It's the seller's responsibility of paying the commision and it's around 7%.
As far as my understanding about tax.
You have to pay local city tax yearly based on their accessment. A good guess will be 1.5-2% of the property value you pay for. This is the "school tax, road maintenance tax etc for the area"
If you are not resident of Canada, you will be liable to "property gain tax". The amount of up to 25% you GAINED from selling the property will be taxable. NOT the principle amount you pay for the property.
If you are buying a NEW house, you have to pay the GST+PST(if applicable)
Without credit rating (As I am new to Canada), I was forced to put up a 35% down payment even though I have a job and monthly upkeep of my mortgage is well below 33% (the magical figure) of my monthly salary.
Dont have to pay my realtor for buying. It's the seller's responsibility of paying the commision and it's around 7%.
As far as my understanding about tax.
You have to pay local city tax yearly based on their accessment. A good guess will be 1.5-2% of the property value you pay for. This is the "school tax, road maintenance tax etc for the area"
If you are not resident of Canada, you will be liable to "property gain tax". The amount of up to 25% you GAINED from selling the property will be taxable. NOT the principle amount you pay for the property.
If you are buying a NEW house, you have to pay the GST+PST(if applicable)
Aug 25th 2003 | 10:37 pm
#23
Banned
Joined: Jun 2003
Posts: 114
From: Hades (yorkshire)
Re: Buying a house
Originally posted by Smokey
That's an interesting point that I didn't know and perhaps anyone who's thinking of coming here should check out the taxation in Canada. Personally I'm on a steep learning curve with this one and am getting more and more horrified as I learn more. Talk about not having your eyes wide open! Itsa a scary concept as the onus is on you to get your tax return done (and get it right) . Definately not like Britain!
Pat.
That's an interesting point that I didn't know and perhaps anyone who's thinking of coming here should check out the taxation in Canada. Personally I'm on a steep learning curve with this one and am getting more and more horrified as I learn more. Talk about not having your eyes wide open! Itsa a scary concept as the onus is on you to get your tax return done (and get it right) . Definately not like Britain!
Pat.
We had the reverse scare when we moved back to the UK. We couldn't believe that the people trusted the government to "do" their taxes. Every year we have cringed at not be able to control our own taxes!!!!
:scared: :scared: :scared:
Aug 26th 2003 | 8:22 am
#24
Forum Regular
Joined: Aug 2003
Posts: 136
From: Manitoba
we always contact the tax office that deals with my husbands taxes and verify the correct amount was paid, you nearly always find you overpay and they will go back 5 years, we always get a tax rebate from them every year but the tax office will not tell you that you are owed money from them unless you ask.
Sep 4th 2003 | 7:49 am
#25
Thread Starter
Forum Regular
Joined: Jun 2003
Posts: 37
From: Edinburgh, UK
Hi Hovis
Sorry not been on-line for a while but what you've said sounds really encouraging. Can I ask which area you live in?
Fortunately we are likely to have quite a bit of equity from our house in the UK so was thinking of buying a house outright but it's good to know that you can get a mortgage by paying 35% deposit even when you have no job and you never know we might need the spare equity if work is hard to come by.
Did you go to Canada through PR or just visiting?
Good luck with the job-hunting
Sorry not been on-line for a while but what you've said sounds really encouraging. Can I ask which area you live in?
Fortunately we are likely to have quite a bit of equity from our house in the UK so was thinking of buying a house outright but it's good to know that you can get a mortgage by paying 35% deposit even when you have no job and you never know we might need the spare equity if work is hard to come by.
Did you go to Canada through PR or just visiting?
Good luck with the job-hunting
Sep 4th 2003 | 7:50 am
#26
Thread Starter
Forum Regular
Joined: Jun 2003
Posts: 37
From: Edinburgh, UK
Thanks to every1 who has posted a reply to this query. Hope it helps others....certainly has helped us a lot.
Cheers
Cheers
Sep 5th 2003 | 1:20 pm
#27
BE Enthusiast
Joined: Aug 2003
Posts: 625
From: UK-Switz-US-Canada-Ireland
A quick question - has anyone been able to obtain a mortgage with only 5% to 10% deposit or is 25-35% the norm? I'm thinking more of waiting a couple of years before buying so should both be working by then and would have about 5% saved up roughly. I thought this was OK but I'm beginning to wonder now!!
