seanyg

The estate agents we're using (over here in the UK) are charging a really low fee of 1.5%, sole agency. I negotiated this down from 3% as we've used them before, but I heard that Canadian realtors charge upwards of 5%?? (don't quote me on that, it's just what I heard somewhere).

Anita

snowboardboy

That also sounds low to me as a software dev he might perhaps want to look at the big $ industries like banking, gas and oil?

Tangram

We will agree to disagree. I have seen no evidence of anything different happening here but that is personal opinion and experience, and that of my Canadian colleagues - put it on MLS, wooden board outside, send a few flyers out and charge 6%.

irishsamx

This site is getting more like ANGLOINFO all the time (full of negative comments).

PARADISEFOUND AND ONTHEBOATOUT were VERY helpful to us and the advice they gave us was honest and priceless.

We live in FRANCE and have lived in ENGLAND and IRELAND for years.....
In June we came out to NS for a Recci and have been researching it for a year now.

NO ONE can tell me it is more expensive in NS.
On the whole you CANNOT put a price on the QUALITY of LIFE.

They have it made in NS, NO it is not perfect but to me it is the closest there is to it

BUT WE DON'T WANT THE PLACE OVERCROWDEED WITH BRITS NOW, DO WE??
IT'S NOT COSTA DEL SCOTIA

val50

having lived in NS for 3 years now as well as France, I can tell you it's more expensive in NS
How can you get a clear picture of what life is like in a country that you've never lived in if you only want to know the positives?
The quality of life we have in NS is nothing like we had in Normandy - one reason I spend most of the year back in France.
My OH was offered double the salary he was on in France to get him to move to NS, but we are really no better off. Heating, food, medical, university fees are all more expensive than they are in France. So are house taxes, personal tax, provisional tax. If you have young children, then childcare is also a cost to consider. Add to that the lower holiday allowance, longer working hours etc. I can also tell you, you will not get the level of healthcare in NS that you get in France - and I am talking from personal experience there. Great if you or the rest of the family don't get sick, but if you do then you'd better be prepared.
I'm not questioning the integrity of members of the forum at all, as I think any information offered on here has to be a good thing - but how do you know the information you've been given is honest and priceless if you've never lived in NS? Anyone with business interests is going to give you a glowing report, tell you what you want to hear.
Any recci is good but actually living in a place is a completely different thing.
I wish I could share some of the pm's I've had from people who moved to NS after reading all these glowing reports but found the reality when they got here so completely different.
If NS works for you, that's good, but the forum is open for everyone to share their views, whether they are positive or negative.
I know of 2 people who don't post on here anymore because they were scared away, felt like they'd failed because they couldn't make it in NS. I think that's a pity, as hearing about their negative experiences might stop others making the same mistakes.

dbd33

I've been a contract programmer in Canada (though not in Winnipeg) since 1986 though much of my income comes from royalties on programs already written. I think contracting is better paid than permanent work and it has the considerable advantage that the taxes are lower (averaged over ten years my deductions Tax, CPP, EHT, yadda yadda have been 17% of gross income; income varying from a low of $120k). That said, contract rates in Toronto are about half what they are in London.

I don't know what the going rate for jobs in Winnipeg might be but as someone who pays more than $40,000 a year in alimony I can assure you that the recipient doesn't think it a viable income for two people living mortgage free in Toronto. Winnipeg would have to be very cheap indeed to make that a living wage.

SAW 04

What are you talking about? NS has proved to be far more expensive for us in the past 3 years with the exception of property prices. As an example I spend around $200 a week on groceries here and up to 80GBP there. I have just received my oil budget payment plan estimate of $450 per month for this coming winter. If I remember correctly natural gas cost us about 80GBP every 3 months there. Be kind enough to back your statement up with some facts please

NovaGirl

There are many valid comments on this thread about life in Nova Scotia, not negative comments just reality!

Please consider the information here especially that of those members who have not sugar coated things.

I have lived in the Maritimes for 2 years & although some of the experiences mentioned here have not been my experiences, i can honesty say they have been the experiences of not just Brits but locals too.

I hope you use this valuble info to form a real life view of living in Nova Scotia.

Good luck!

NovaGirl

SAW 04

But this is the whole problem with certain members. Its very easy to paint a picture that NS is a nirvana for Brits. The reality is very different. Sure, the quality of life IMO is far better but it comes at a price. Generally we earn less, pay more tax, have less vacation time and pay far more in daily living expenses. These are the facts that certain posters are not sharing with prospective newcomers.

Paul Wildy

The thing with property taxes is that they are based on a 2-part formula. 1 the property value and 2 the multiplication rate for the area.

So in NS where property is cheaper the multiplication rates are higher instead. Of course the municipality still needs to collect roughly the same amount of money from everyone to cover the cost of services regardless of the general level of house prices.

The same is true even within Nova Scotia. So for instance in an area like Canso, where property is dirt-cheap, the rate is $2.30 per $100 of value whereas in Halifax suburbs it is half of that. So you get away with paying less for your house but the municipality still collects the same amount from you as someone living in a much more expensive area.

Paul Wildy

Agree. Nova Scotia is fantastic in many respects but not if you are poor and there are many brits who move here and at some stage have what I term a "reality collision". It is usually financial in nature. Yes house prices are low (compared to many parts of the world) but wages are lower too and things (food, tax, heat etc) are still all fairly expensive. So everything seems fine to begin with when you have a financial cushion from selling a house in the UK and banking some equity but after a few months you sit down and think about how much money you are going through in outgoings and alarm bells ring.

This situation is especially acute in people who move to remote rural areas where wages are lower still. So you might have bought a victorian mansion for $50k in Oxford or Amherst but the property tax and heating costs will be substantial and your other living expenses wont be any less than someone living and working in Halifax. A lot of people moving here manage to postpone this day of reckoning for a year or two because they plan not to work initially and instead embark on a project like renovating their mansion for the first couple of years (living off savings and equity from their house sale in UK). So, in other words, they arent really living in the real Nova Scotia in an economic sense - they arent earning a local wage so are sort of sheltered from the true cost of things. But eventually (except for the genuinely rich) everyone has to try and earn an income here and then it hits them - they arent making ends meet and have to move (either back to the UK or to somewhere they can earn more).

The above situation is one of the reasons that a little I'm sceptical about the NS PNP Community Identified stream - it enables you to move here without a job and embark on some other sort of venture instead that isnt really economically viable, like renovating a victorian house or opening a cute little gallery in a remote rural area. People would actually be much safer economically if they did come here with job offers.

I know all this sounds a bit depressing and I dont want to shatter anyone's dreams but I hope it does prompt people to give some careful thought to how they will support themselves financially and whether they can really achieve the kind of income in NS (through employment or self-employment) that will provide the kind of lifestyle that embodies the dream.

dazzlerdaz

A very good piece of advice ! Well done sir !

irishsamx

I am very sorry you feel that way Val, you are obviously in the wrong country, maybe you should move back to France if that is where your heart is.

I do not want to know only the positives! what use would that be? and I am insulted that you would imply that. I have only the interests of my family and I want them to be happy.

If anything I am being more realistic then some other BE members as I am prepared to accept the bad points about NS and embrace the good points.

The remarks I made were lighthearted, I feel you have changed the tone now.
It was the remarks made about PARADISEFOUND and OUTONTHEBOAT, I found offensive.
Very narrow minded to presume such things about people unless you have evidence to prove it, very dangerous game to play if you ask me.

I have had my fill of France now, this is the second time we have tried it and although I like many things about the place, it is very hard.
My husband has a well paid job, but still we struggle every week to make ends meet.
There is no such thing as a 35 hour week here, most work double that, on the black if they have as they can't survive otherwise. We know many French who struggle to pay their tax's. Not the best country for Self employed either.
Holiday allowance, what holiday allowance ? The first holiday we have managed since we came here was the recci to NS. The cost of living has increased every year and is slowly catching up to the UK. Personal Tax is high, Electricity (even when you don't use electric heaters is disgraceful and as EDF have the monopoly on this you have no chance, if your late the chances are they come and turn it off (even if you have kids!) we have seen this happen. Our car is on it's last legs but the cost of a car here is pathetic! The cost of food, don't get me started!!!!
Meat alone is expensive, unless you want to live on Pork, which when in SEASON is dirt cheap. Since moving here I have eaten roast beef maybe 3 times................................What it cost in France for a small roast I could feed a family of 6 in NS on T bone steaks.
Medical is excellent here, but NOT FREE EITHER,I had my third baby here and they were fab.

I did NOT say NS was perfect, and it is not better either but YES from the THOROUGH research I have done and the Recci , I feel I am qualified to make an adult decision on where is best for my family to live.
There are always advantages and disadvantages to every place inc, NS, France, England etc.
On the whole they usually balance out, what will cost you more on one thing, will cost you less on another. It all depends on what you want and the price you are willing to pay, if you have to question it, then maybe it is not for you. I am more than willing to take the chance.

When we bought our house here it was a ruin, the price we paid back then, for that same price I can buy now a 4 bed house in a good sized town in NS, with maybe just a little fixing up to do.
My husband was delighted with the pay offered in his job there and only a short drive to work too!!

When we visited NS, we ate like Kings, the food is fab and the choice and prices in the Supermarkets was great.

OH and the advice I have been given by many including PARADISEFOUND and OUTONTHEBOAT was priceless thankyou very much.

As it lead directly to many valuable contacts, and no they did'nt try to sell me a house, as for that I am not even looking in the same County.

What really sold us on the place though was, how friendly the people are in Nova Scotia, I have been and lived in many many different places and never met such nice, warm and genuine people. There is no price too high for that.

That is why we want to move there, maybe we could ALL learn a thing or two from them and be bit politer to each other!!

NovaGirl

You get any Victorian type Mansion round Amherst for $50K your heating bill will be astronomical

Insurance might be low as at that price your property will be worth very little

Maybe once you have totally renovated & installed an effective heating system, windows, part of the roof etc things might look a little more rosy

We have enjoyed living in Amherst, i have been pretty ill & i have been lucky that in our small town the hospital in terms of my needs have not been closed on certain days weekly.

We have had good medical care, a faster level of service than that in the UK but that isn't the case for everyone here.

Earlier in this thread Simon Legree has commented on healthcare on the North Shore, if you have children or ANY health issues please accept what he has said as it is true & has been the case for sometime.

This might help http://www.amherstdaily.com/index.cfm?sid=160838&sc=58

I am due to have surgery soon, but not at our local hospital, it has been made clear to me by medical staff that the best surgeons for my situation are in Halifax. People i know from Truro & New Glasgow have also been sent to Halifax. This may not always be the case, but this is how it is for now.

NG

Big Stevo

Consider my dreams shattered!!