snowqueen

Hi all

Seeing as we are hoping to move over 'proper' in the summer with our house hopefully sold, I was wondering what were the chances were of finding a good range of property for sale at that time. Here in Ireland, the season for selling property basically winds up early June and doesn't get going again till September. While we know we may have to rent to start, I suppose our biggest concern is if we are in a rented house when the kids start school and then we buy, that the kids will have to move schools. We would ideally like to find something to buy (even if it's just that the offer is accepted) by September. How have others managed this? What is the best way, and can you rent a place short term?

Thanks
Snowqueen

JezHarper

Have you decided on a location? Have you decided on schools for the kids? It might be worth looking on MLS.ca and contacting one of the realtor in the areas you are considering as each area may have different 'Seasons'.

Where in Ireland are you?

snowqueen

Thanks Jez, we are in Dublin. We are planning ot go over in April to suss out schools/areas etc. We are not 100% sure of location as it depends where my husband gets a job, but we are probably going to concentrate our search in the North York area of Toronto and maybe up as far as Barrie. My impression was the schools are pretty good everywhere once you hit a nice area, but obviously we'll do more research when we're over.
Snowqueen

skigordi

I wuld say the high season for buying and selling is basically April through October and is usually pretty dead over the winter. Having said that I hear january was a good month base don the mild weather.

I'd strongly advise getting in touch with a good realtor in the area and talking through the options for renting and buying. If they know your timescales and requirements they will be a huge help (and be free for you as a renter and/or buyer)

I can recommend an excellent realtor in Newmarket who helped us before and after we arrives. PM me if you want the name and contact details

Gordon

R2D2

We've noticed a big increase in properties going up for sale in the last couple of weeks. And there was plenty of choice in the summer when we were looking to buy. On the subject of rental properties, we lined a 3 month rental condo ready to move straight into after landing, and we did this by contacting landlords directly via the phone from the UK. We had a contact in Alberta who posted us local papers where these rental properties were advertised and took it from there. We were lucky to get such a short term rental though as most 'houses' are min 6 months. You can get short term 'holiday lets' aswell although you'll pay for them ! We had looked into companies in Edmonton that rented you a house per week, but they wanted almost as much for a week as we paid a month for our Condo. There are Aparthotels too, but again can be pricey.