ribblerider

Hi,

So my wife has been offered a relocation package with her work to Toronto, Ontario. It's meant to be at least for a couple of years, but to be honest I think it will be longer than that and with the possibility of PR. We have a young family so there should not be much of an upheaval for them. We visited Toronto last week to see the City and also to get the kids accustomed to what Canada is, because if we said one day we are off to Canada, they wouldn't have a clue of what we were on about and may be daunting but that's nipped in the bud. All in all, they enjoyed their trip away and liked the place.

My wife's work will be in the City centre, however, I do not think I am inclined to live in the city and would rather live in the suburbs. Some areas have been recommended to us (open to other suggestions as we have no idea yet):

Oakville
Ajax
Pickering

The Beaches and North York were also recommended but as far as I can see from street view, pretty much looks like City dwelling to me. Also I gather some of these inner city areas are crazy expensive! Up to 45 - hour commute is our limit and probably by public transport. I think when we first come across we will get 6 months in a place, to give us time to get familiar with areas and choose a property to rent. On that note, one child will be school age so it may be that he is at one school for that period then changes when we do go to another area.

We have a dog too but I have already found some really useful posts on this forum. Very informative and thanks to the authors.

Our house, it is likely we will rent it out when we are away (I am going to let a letting agent run with it). In terms of all our furniture, I plan to cut down on some items, but things like home office furniture, beds etc may come with us, if wife's relocation package will cover the cost of a shipping container etc. Plus I have two push bikes I want to bring over for cycling!

My car... no point keeping it. Will sell that, because if I kept it here sitting, it will just depreciate in value and probably end up being sold anyway. Shame as I love my Volvo! But at least then, a pot to buy a motor over there.

So all that needs to happen now is my other half accepts if she is happy with it then the ball starts rolling!

Thanks

Twitcher1958

If you’re looking at living out in the suburbs, one of the first obvious thing to consider is your wife’s commute either end. Driving is becoming more and more a nightmare - so how convenient for Union in Toronto is her office? And what would you consider reasonable at the other end? Have a look at the GO network and see which towns are well served besides Oakville, Pickering and Ajax and how easy it is to get to the suburb station. We live in Whitby which is slightly further out than Ajax and it has a good regular bus route to Whitby GO, then the GO service is regular into Union and costs under $20 return. A lot depends on how many days a week she’ll be travelling in as to what’s acceptable.
When we first came over, we contacted a local realtor who took us around a few properties to get a feel for what we could buy or rent, and was a good source of info on the locality. You’ll find most realtors here are more helpful than perhaps you’re used to.
Schools to reflect their neighbourhood and there doesn’t tend to be the same demarcation of good and bad ones as is often the case in the UK.

ribblerider

Yeah my wife's work will be near Union station, like a 5 - 10 min walk if that. She won't be in the office 5 days a week, more like 2 - 3, same arrangement as she has now. Workwise myself, the company I work for, I am currently working from home and they have projects in the US, on the eastern seaboard so going to see if I can transfer to those or if they are happy for me to keep doing what I am doing, albeit with a 5 hour time lag. Most of our current team are spread out anyway. We have someone who is based in Greece, hence Canada shouldn't be an issue hopefully.

Yes, GO train station locations will be central to location choosing. We'll be in the suburbs but not way out in the sticks (although I'd go for that! )

Kryten

Congratulations! Hope you have a great experience. Sounds like you have done some good research already. My tuppence (FWIW) as we did the same a little over 20 years ago now. Great idea to rent for six months, but you might want to consider renting nearer your wife's work. I know it will then be in the city, but it will give you a central base to explore from. There is quite a distance between Ajax and Oakville.

We first rented in High Park, just west of the city and a subway ride downtown well within your 45-60 min time frame. There tends to be quite a lot of rental property there, but I agree its not cheap, although you might save a bit on transit costs and maybe gas. And there is loads to do for little ones in the city. I've met a lot of people who gradually migrated out from the city: they live downtown when they are young with no kids, move to places like High Park which are more suburban when they start a family, then end up further afield as the kids grow up.

We too shipped a lot of furniture over here, but it took six weeks to arrive! Not sure what the timescales are today. We rented an empty place, but fortunately I had a relocation package that covered a couple of trips to Ikea to get some cheap furniture to tide us over. We didn't mind too much as we were out sight seeing and exploring all the time.

As regards to renting out your house in the UK, make sure your agent is worthwhile. Ours was rubbish, and once the place became empty they made no effort to find new tenants. It might be easier now to find new agents, but 20 odd years ago, it was lots of telephone calls back home. We ended up having to sell.

ribblerider

Yes my other half will get some sort of relocation package so that will cover us for most things. We decided to keep our bed, dining table etc, but the kids beds we'll just sell on and get them new ones from an ikea trip. I plan to get rid of a fair bit of old furtniture and start afresh with new stuff.

Yes, that's one of the attractive things about Toronto and Canada in general for the kids, a lot more on offer than here and a great variety in sporting activities, not just football!

20 years! Do you still rent your old house out?

Kryten

No we had to sell it, because the agent was just lazy and didn't do anything to promote it. Because we still had a mortgage and we were renting it was killing us, so we sold. If you ever do sell while over while here and are transferring the money over, I'd recommend going to your bank to negotiate a preferential exchange rate.

There is a lot of footie here too. :-) Toronto is a melting pot of cultures, and football binds them all.

Kingsboy48

If you transfer funds from the UK the best way to do it (IMHO) is to use Wise. They offer good rates, low fees and quick service. If you transfer a large amount (e.g house sale funds!) speak to them and they'll offer better than publicized rates.

dbd33

When I worked within walking distance of Union, I tried living near the Clarkson GO train. Clarkson has express service to Union. I found that to be an immeasurable pita and moved to an inner suburb, the Beach, where I lived while the children attended high school. The advantage of the inner 'burb was an easy commute for me (bicycle, almost no roads involved) and freedom for the children; they could go anywhere by tram whereas, in the outer 'burbs, such as Oakville, they need driving everywhere and, as they experiment with drink and drugs, they'll be driving home.

There's a lifestyle choice there but, consider this, a friend listed her house in Oakville for sale last Wednesday and sold it on Thursday. She said it went so quickly and for so much as it is within walking distance of a publicly funded IB school. In Toronto, because kids can work transit, they can attend a wider range of schools; mine went downtown. Houses may be generally cheaper in Oakville but perhaps not the desirable ones.

Anyway, it's Oakville, ffs, what if you want to walk to a pub?

ribblerider

Ha with young kids rarely get to a pub! Can't remember the last time I've been to one! XD.

ribblerider

Thanks that's good to know. I know some folk who went before and banged funds onto a Revolut card then converted to Canadian $ as and when needed. Not sure if there is limit on how much you can load cards up for though.