dinoffc

Hi you lot!

Have got an offer today on our house which for all is very very low we just want to accept and start our new life in canada. My husband, myself and our three young children landed in Toronto last October to activate our PR status - then we returned to the UK to continue selling the house. We spent three months travelling across Canada in 1998 seeing BC, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Quebec and Ontario and loved every bit of it and have since been back on several occasions to SW Ontario.. However, our heart is telling us to go to Nova Scotia (where we have never been before ever but from reading all of many of your discussions just feel we would love it!) We had planned to land in Halifax last year (for a land-to-activate-visas-come-recce) but Zoom went bust on us so we landed in Toronto instead. If we accept the house offer we could be Canada bound by July - kids could register for new school term in September, we'll have the summer to find our feet etc. We haven't accepted the offer yet (only found out two hours ago so I thought I would turn to you guys!) and don't know if we are just getting cold feet generally about the move or whether it's because we are dead set on going somewhere we have never been to before in our entire lives!!!

We are quite laid back, very family orientated, not generally stressed about much and our kids and us love the outdoors, BBQs, gardening etc. Nova Scotia is screaming to us to come and live there! We're not looking for work until we get there and are not bothered what we do - can turn our hand to most things and as long as we have another money to feed and clothe the kids and spend loads of great weekends camping and swimming and sledging etc we feel we should just do it!

We won't have enough to buy a house outright so would probably look to either rent for a year or so or put say 50% down and mortgage the rest (although this is scarey if work doesn't materialise....) We love the look of Porters Lake (would love to hear from Amydavid...) and Lake Echo and Hammonds Plains and Lawrencetown. I guess we want to be within 30 mins from Halifax, near the beach or lake and close to good elementary schools. and would need a 3 bedroomed place.

So - I am just voicing my thoughts out loud cos I know many of you have been here and know what we are going through.....Our children are all for it (the rest of our family on both sides aren't....they seem to think we are gonna become hillbillys somewhere,live in a tree and regret every single day we live outside Great Britain (which has lost the 'Great...')

Over to you guys - please please help us!!! Have any of you just landed somewhere without a 'recce' trip and how did it go? We know of people from the kids school who emigrated to BC 18months ago without ever having set foot in Canada before and they are loving it loving it loving it. But NS is calling........BIG STYLE - do we listen to our hearts and just go......

Help!

Tangram

What work are you looking for ? This will definitely help you pay for that mortgage.

Nicola N-A

Hi dinoffc, I can't help you with what you should or shouldn't do - down to you guys!! But I am in Cole Harbour, with 3 kids - never came to this part before we moved although I had been to the south shore on a short reccie. Feel free to pm me if I can help with anything.

Good luck x

Joe_Sleepy

Hi,
We're just outside Herring Cove, south of Halifax, lots of property around NS in general & house sales are slow so you may get a bargain. We looked at over 100 houses before we decided on the one we have. As for whether or not you should just go for it.. only you can make that decision..

dinoffc

Hi Tangram - my husband is an operational manager for the London Underground so background is in logistics -staff supervision, administration, general management duties really. He's quite happy to do anything he can get to start with really but i guess settling near Halifax makes sense as more jobs.

dinoffc

Hi Nicola N-A - thanks for your good luck wishes - I will PM you!

dinoffc

Phew - 100 houses! And is that all through the one realtor (it's all different over there isn't it?). Will one realtor go to all the areas you want or did you find a different one for each area? Can't wait to start looking though

destinationnovascotia

You should speak to poppy2. They moved here last year without ever having been to Canada and are loving it.

We moved here last year and are living in Musquodoboit Harbour (just a bit further along the shore from Porters Lake) and we really like it here. Our reasons for coming were similar to yours - open space, family values etc - and we have not been disappointed. We really love it here and our only regret is not coming sooner.

destinationnovascotia

Depends on the realtor. Ours (Carla) would, and she used her different contacts in realty to get the local info on the areas, schools etc. [email protected]

Joe_Sleepy

Yes we just used one realtor for everything, we did it over two trips. She was great and showed us all the areas we were interested in and suggested a few more we hadn't thought of. Turned out to be a total flake when it came to negotiations and purchase so I really can't recommend her but she was great when we were looking..

chumley

no recce trip for me just packed a couple of bags and 2 dogs and here we are one year on, love every possible thing about NS

no regrets have to pinch myself each and everyday as cannot believe I live in such a beautiful and special place

Immigration is a major major stressor though but If I had gone/still going through that anywhere else I would have lost the plot entirely


for you, having already got PR your stress levels might just go all the way up to zero in NS

huge luck

Snort

You dont say how old the kids are, NS is great, HRM has the benefits of a reasonable city in easy reach but wonderfull countryside 10 mins drive out of it. Must admit we recce'd it which helped us sort out in our heads where we needed to live. The choice of areas is huge with prices for all pockets, BUT you sound like a very family orientated couple, if like us your kids education is of paramount importance then you may consider checking out the school catchment areas and then buying your house in that area, its a good way of honing and focusing your choices. Its not like UK you have to send your kids to the school in your catchment area. A word of warning some schools are better than others.

We found by looking for somewhere to live in this way we could really concentrate on all that area had to offer.

If you want to pm me Ill give you my contact details we can talk about areas, and schools. We currently live in one of the areas you mentioned, it is idylic.

dinoffc

Thanks guys - we're getting a great all round response from people - with both positive and negative views.

Chumley - everything sounds fab for you - well done!

Sleepy Joe - thanks for help with realtors - I can't wait to see 100 houses (just plain nosey that's me!). Actually have not really looked around Herring Cove, Portuguese Cove, Ketch Harbour etc so that does, expand our search area.

Snort - our kids are 7,6 and 4. If we come over this summer they will be 8,7 and 4 for new school year (kindergarten for youngest and Grades 2 and 3 for other two???). Thanks for your help - I will PM you.

dinoffc

[QUOTE=dinoffc;7512857]Sleepy Joe - thanks for help with realtors - I can't wait to see 100 houses (just plain nosey that's me!).

Oops sorry Sleepy Joe - I meant Joe_Sleepy!!!

nikki dreaming

Hi

We head to NS in 7 weeks, cant wait, we have 2 children 6 and 2, it is very family focused and the people are amazing. We are moving to Colchester region.

Good luck with your plans