MikeUK

I think its make s a big difference if you’re coming to a job, or coming and having to look for a job
The first is easy bring the bags as you already know what you’re going to be earning and can financially plan around that
The second required funds until you find somebody willing to employ you and you have no idea when that will be and how much you might make

bodgerx

Yeah this kind of reminds me in some bizzare way of those reports you get of an average wedding costing £12K and that couple struggle to afford it blah, blah..., as if that is some kind of requirement... you set a budget and take your choices.

iaink

To be fair, it was just me, and I had nothing I didnt mind leaving behind and replacing here (except the golf clubs...)

If you have a house to sell, contents you treasure and a family to satisy, and dont have a job lined up, then it complicates things enormously, and complications = expense.

Im not sure where the £25-30k number comes from, but if thats what people report, then thats what people report.

But I bet there is some fat that can be trimmed from that level of expense if you really need to.

Tangram

Shipping house contents, dog, people and Estate Agents fees for the UK came to about 16k pounds, $33k.

Ikatita

as to shipping vs selling everything/buying new:

-I am looking into that now.

I will want to take my books, that will make for about 20 boxes or so. Plus maybe some toys, another 4 boxes. Plus our bicycles. Plus the skis. Plus the clothes, maybe some 6 boxes. etcpp.

So, even if I don't ship the couch, the beds, the bookcases, I think, I might still need the 20 foot container anyway. Not sure how much of my "want to take anyway" thins fit into a Liftvan.

Just saying: if you have tons of books, like me, and a child, even with Ikea furniture, I think it's still wort to ship it. The thing about Ikea furniture is, that you get next to nothing when selling/dumping it. But it still costs you some to buy it again...

Anyway, just wanted to say thank you for this thread, and for the wealth of info on the forum -- I personally was very naive about the whole emigration process up until about a week ago (some two years into the process...)

Judy in Calgary

The thing about IKEA furniture is that, although it claims to be collapsible, it does not stand up all that well when it's repeatedly dismantled and re-assembled. I have personal experience of this.

But, with that having been said, I do like IKEA furniture. The fact that there is no IKEA store there is one of the disadvantages of Victoria, BC -- the place to which I am in the process of moving.

It might be useful for you to know, if you're not already aware of it, that there are IKEA stores in only the following areas in Canada:

• Vancouver, BC
• Edmonton, Alberta
• Calgary, Alberta
• Toronto, Ontario - several stores in outlying cities
• Ottawa, Ontario
• Montreal, Quebec

x

Katie76

Tee hee,.. no prob's with us then !!

I'm much more cheeky than sarky, honest.

I Love Ya Judy ! xx

the limey

Morning all,

I hope that the link below goes to the original post, if someone could tell me how to link to a thread easily that would be great.

..http://britishexpats.com/forum/showp...0&postcount=25

Anyway, my point was, for all those that are planning to rent out their homes over here when they go, what do you use as funding for the emigration?? savings? max out your cards? bank robbery?? great Aunt Maude and the missing toy trick????. I understand it can be as expensive or as cheap as you like, but £££ can still add up from the first moment of clarity to stepping into the new rented home in CA. We are thinking of renting our house out unfurnished for a period, just in case, which should cover the mortgage, so to begin with we do not have the equity to use as funds..I'm just trying to get Ideas.

Regards

Mark

Ikatita

well, in my personal case -- I live a poor French life, not a rich British life. Therefore, I rent my place here, and I do have a country home, which unfortunately belongs more to the bank than to myself.

So, to answer your question:
I plan to give up my rented appartment here, sell my country house here, so I am debt-free. Debt-free, however, does not equal money.

So, basically, I am planning to fund the move with savings, also the time until I find a job and the potential move back. Which means, that I would probably only last about 8 months without a job. And considering that on a potential move back, I would have to find a new job here, also, I would need savings for the move back.

Lucky Brits with their own houses.

G77

Also many across the border in the US for those within range.... which seems to be cheaper for the same items (of course you'll pay duty when bringing them back into Canada though, so might even out).

christmasoompa

We're amongst those who will be renting our home but all of our costs are being met by hubby's company i.e. shipping, transporting the pets, even flights and initial accommodation etc. But, if they weren't going to pay, then our only option would be to remortgage our house, we've got £300k equity in it so would have to release some I guess.

Hope that helps.

AmyDavid

We sold all our furniture to fund the first three months we were in Canada. In hindsight I would rather have bought all my furniture with us, but then we needed to do what we needed to do.

We rented furnished for the first three months that we were here and by then OH had been working and we were supporting ourselves that way.

So we became great friends with E-bay and the local carboot sales around us!

If we didn't have the furniture to sell (and a UK rental property which eventually sold 5 months after we arrived in Canada) I seriously doubt we would be out here now. We would have to have spent a year or so saving our money to help us get over.

Katie76

I forgot to mention that we also intend to re-mortgage, before letting out our home, otherwise we could never afford to make the move either.

London-England-Lads

We are heading over with about £25,000.00 - but neither of us have worked lined up yet ! So some of that is a safety blanket to pay the Canadian mortgage if thinks go wrong.

We have shipped most of our stuff as we have nearly 30 large boxes of books, 4 of DVD's, 4 of CD's, a Joey/Chandler Sofa and a piano. Shipping cost us £4500.00.

Flights were £1000.00
Dog was about £500.00
Reccie was £2000.00
Accommodation b4 we move into our home £1000.00

We brought a house so are lucky that its already there for us.

Of course on top of that we had the visa costs. Wow it does mount up! But it will be sooooo worth it.