Paradisefound

Hi and welcome to BE.
In answer to your question I would sell. I was telling all my friends and family back in 2002 to sell up before 2005. Some did and are happily renting paying less than a mortgage and having got a good price for their property. Some didn't and trying to sell having reduced the price considerably or staying and seeing any gains in their property falling away. I told my mother back in 1998 not to sell her house, because it would triple in price in the next 3 years. She sold and then watched the next couple of buyers make a fast profit over the 3 year period.

destinationnovascotia

A year or so I would have agreed with you, but if I were not planning on moving to Canada for another year or two I would not be selling now in the current market. People who want to move this year may have no choice, but if you are not even planning a recce until next year, probably moving out at least a year after that, I would wait a bit longer. For those who are in it for the 5 year queue (if such a thing exists), the market will be bound to recover by then.

Paradisefound

I am currently trying to persuade my sister not to purchase a property in Guernsey, but leave the cash in the bank and live off the interest or invest in other housing markets instead. She is going to ignore me for sure and go ahead. I have told her that she will see her hard earned cash start to dwindle and to come to me in 5 years from now and show me a profit.

I think for those moving to many parts of Canada this year any UK losses will be balanced by steady future gains and where possible getting a good exchange rate.

destinationnovascotia

Good exchange rate....now there's a fantasy for sure

Emmjay

Hi and Welcome. Any advice you need ask away, everyone on here very friendly.

Do not know about NB but in Bridgewater Nova Scotia, which is on the South Shore, the Michelin Tyre company is big, so might be possibility for OH.

I have just started process too and am neurotic, scared, and have loads of doubts, but i am assured this is normal.

Good luck with everything

Emmjay

loza789

Hello there,

My boyfriend and I are hoping to be in Toronto next summer and I'm really looking forward to it.

We have a house each so have decided to sell one and go on interest only payments on the other for 12 months to save as much as possbile, then we intend on renting it out and covering the whole repayments with the rental income. We can then sell if we decide to buy over there. The propery market is so slow at the moment it will take a while to sell and no interest account will earn what can be made when the market picks up.

Not sure this is of any help. Good luck and I hope you make it

sallymouse

Oh if only we had a crystal ball. Mind you if I did, I wouldn't be worrying about the price of my house, I'd be minted

Paul_Shepherd

Hello Sallymouse,

Welcome to the forum! Im sure you will be spending a lot of time on here!

The point about sending off your forms - that sounds pretty normal to me, no stage of the application seems to be less than a month or two waiting. My forms were sent off end of Feb 05 I didnt get my AOR until Aug 05.

As I said in another post - unfortunatly for new applicants it now seems processing times for skilled wroker route PRs has gone up considerably, and some people are trying to get a job offer before hand, but if you know what your up against and have built it into your plans, get on with your life whilst yourapplication is in, it isnt so bad.

As for your when/what to do with your house dillema... I can sympathise with you there, infact with everyone in our positon. but you have plenty of time to think that over, pehaps you should wait and see? Im interested to know what Paradisefound says about this as I am in the opposite sitiation to yourself, my case is nearing completion I really dont know what to do, I will post another reply to him/her on that.

Oh and the "oh my God what are we doing" feeling as far as Im concerned is very normal... I get it often and its been 3years for me! but then quickly say to myself....you will always have that "what if" feeling if you dont.... that normally balances things up!

All the best

Paul

Paul_Shepherd

Hello Paradisefound..

As you may have read, in my post to Sallymouse... I am also in a dilemma with regards to what to do with my house, my case is nearing completion, I will hopefully get my PR around the end of the summer (but you can never tell) I hope to land in September as part of a holiday, return to the Uk to tie things up and say my goodbyes, then head out to Canada early next year...

Now... I apologise for the ramble in advance!.........I really dont know what to do, basically do I sell? or do I let it? until I see what happens in the property market here? you seem to know what you are talking about, do you work in the property market? Selling my house at the moment in the current climate seems financial suicide. Its all relative if I were buying somewhere else in the UK but selling in one enonomy when its towards its bottom and buying in another... its not so straight forward.

Now the bit that concerns me....

.......if I sold now towards the bottom of the market, and prices started to increase whilst I was in Canada, it didnt work out, and for some strange reason I wanted to return to the Uk - by that time I could have lost a significant amount of unrecoverable capital and not be able to afford anything even half decent! Soooo im strongly considering letting it, my outgoings intially in Canada will be very low as I will live with a friend, by doing this it gives me a chance to see what the housing market is going to do?

You said that - "I think for those moving to many parts of Canada this year any UK losses will be balanced by steady future gains and where possible getting a good exchange rate." - are you saying that if I sold here now - and invested in property in Canada - the Canadian property market is more stable and has a steady growth so any losses I made here would balance out? Just to let you know Id be settling in Ontario - Burlington Oakville area.

I shouldnt be thinking this when I havent even moved to Canada yet! - but I cant help it - I always try to look to the future, and cover any eventualities, which can be a big disability and a worry when trying to make a decsion!!

Maybe its just a gamble anyway that no one know what to do?

Apologies again for the ramble and if ive put anyone to sleep, I do try to keep things short but it never seems to happen!

I would very much appreciate you opinion on this Paradisefound, or anyone elses?

Thanks

Paul

loza789

Hello Paul,

I work in accounts and have spoken at length with financial advisors about this and they have all suggested the same thing, renting my house out for as long as I can to recoupe equity. Some agencies will even pay whilst the house is empty (for a small cut in rent). Any rental income will cover the mortgage and give me a little extra income, and should I decide to come back I have something to fall back on or I can sell later and use the money buying in Canada.

The way the housing market changes so rapidly, it's bound to pick up and if you can survice financially without the sale money for a shor period, I have been advised to do so.

I hope this helps. Wishing you a happy move

Loz

Paradisefound

Hi Paul,

I have been in Property development from 16 yrs old and I have spent my life watching the property market in the UK. I would take a look at the property graphs. Property sales are down to the 1997 levels at the moment. My feeling is and was quite a few years back that from 2004 the housing market would drop substantially and then level out, possibly going back to pre 1980 times of steady markets. The cost of renting is much less than many mortgages, maybe it will become a place where people rent rather than own, after all whats the difference until the mortage is paid off. There are other factors involved in this decline in house prices compared to those in the past.

I am not familiar with the Ontario housing market, but I think it is one of the areas that is not seeing large increases, but is still seeing prices increasing steadily.

I think the exchange rate is going to carry on in the 1.90's CAD for the rest of the year. I think the end of 2007 was the last time to see any chance of 2.00 CAD or above. The best exchange rate I have seen was 2.35 and fortunately exchanged the most amount then. I spent last year watching rates to exchange further amounts, but I knew I had to exchange by the end of the year no matter what.

I personally would sell up in the UK and look to invest in Canada, looking at the two markets over the next 5 years. I dont think selling a property is about price, but finding that person that wants to buy your property. I think it is more about a shortage of buyers, stemming from prices going up to 200.000 average and substantially reducing the amount of first time buyers entering the market. I would watch the exchange rates and move if they go anywhere near 2.00CAD.

Paradisefound

I know the housing market in Bradford very well. Do they mean that the little extra rental income left after not only paying the mortgage, but all other costs will make up for the decrease in value? I don't think the housing market changes rapidly, but takes its time to change direction.

Does the centre of Bradford look good now after all the inner city investment?

Paradisefound

Hi Paul

Congratulations on sticking with this route we would have just been behind you, around April 2005 when we applied. I couldn't stand the wait and came over on a visitors visa and then transfered to the NS Community Identified Stream and gained residency Aug 2007. Good look with your move to Ontario, I hope to take a drive up there sometime this year. Most of my neighbours are from there.

loza789

Hi Paul,

My house is mortgaged at around 80% of it's value and the rental income I could get would cover the mortgage, agent fees ect... and give me approx £70-100 on top. My boyfriend and I are working two jobs and saving every penny so we don't need the sale money to start up. Besides, if it all does wrong we have something to come back to. The best thing is to find a decent agent to handle it all for you.

You never really know what the housing market is going to do and if your intend that Canada is a one way ticket then maybe selling is a good thing. For us, we want to rent for a while to make sure it's the right move and then once settled sell the house and use the equity to buy out there.

Bradford has had a lot of money thrown at it, but it's still not great. Leeds is getting better all the time and so is and mega expensive to live, people are now buying in Bradford and commuting.

Good Luck

christmasoompa

We're doing exactly the same thing as we can also rent and cover our mortgage with money left over so that's what we'll do.

We're lucky as our house has increased in value by £250k since we bought it 4 years ago so the market would have to dip a hell of a lot for us to be in negative equity!! So we've no intention of letting it go.

Another reason for us is that our tiny village school (40 pupils, absolutely excellent and like having private education without having to pay for it!), which my daughter currently goes to, would only take the children if we lived in the village so if we return we want to be able to come back to a house there rather than somewhere else. And houses in our village just don't come up very often!