Liana

My driveway is a double width,30 foot in length and I have 50 foot lot frontage sidewalk to clear. Cost is $35 to $60 for snow amounts from 5cm to 25 cm and over that amount, which we can get regularly, is a"fair hourly rate"-we get the nor'easters here and the "white hurricanes".

iaink

As ever "it depends"

Location Location Location may be a cliche, but that doesnt mean its not true.

People in the UK see the market flatening out again in the short term. Calgary went up 55% on average last year alone.

Waterfront is a finite commodity in canada, they arent making any new waterfront property. I was talking to a realtor on Saturday who bought a run down 3 bed on the lake here for 85k in 1999, which after renovation is now valued at $1.25M!!! In the mean time my $100k house is probably worth $150k now over the same period.

My brother had his house in Surrey (UK not BC) valued by his wifes employer for relocation purposes, and all he heard while they were going round was "tusk tusk, you wont get back what you spent doing that up"

Im afraid generalisations about the UK property market dont always work.

yonk

Not convinced.....particularly Alberta. My UK property didn't go up 56.4% last year & if you rent property out now, you will get less than 5% return (on average, depends on location), easier to put it in the bank.

You can buy something nice in Edinburgh for 400k....

TrishP

Well, as stated in my post, maybe you will need to consider moving to a smaller place - boohoo for you. 4500sq ft is totally excessive unless you have a family of about 8 kids!
Don't slate Canada as an expensive place to live - you've CHOSEN to buy a huge house, just accept that huge costs go along with that!

Right, I'm off as I've had enough of this materialistic nonsense!

sysclp

Natural gas which is also heats our hot water. Just got my annual settle up bill with the new levelized rate based on the last 12 months. We keep the thermostat on 68 in the winter and 73 in the summer. The house seems to be quite well insulated and keeps the heat in well in the winter.

iaink

Still no one with anything positive to add to the Toronto list?

iaink

It must be. Unfortunatly there is no natural gas supply out in the Boonies where I live

Its curious that you can get a real product like gas delivered for $35 a month, but the Electric and phone company take more than that just in administration before you get any real service from them...or so it seems anyway

sysclp

That sucks. My in-laws still have oil and a 1950's vintage (i.e. barely if not at all insulated) house and pay a fortune for their heating. They are quite tight with their money and can't seem to grasp the concept that upgrading to natural gas and adding in insulation would pay for itself in a year or two.

mjanovitz

Not been on here much myself lately to be honest, do have a look now and again but not so much with the posting. I think if i had a $1m house I would sell it and buy a new $450,000 house about 40km outside Toronto and invest, save, spend the remainder. Actualy went to see some show houses last weekend for between 330 and 450, they were very nice, my parents in law were astonished by them and they have a nice house in the UK.......i think they may be a bit jeaslous if we end up with something similar!

I'm fine by the way, just sat on balcony in the Sun having an hours peace and quiet while Ethan has his afternoon nap.

Mark

Buchan6

Having been here albeit a mere 3 months I can say that I agree with Liana's comments on the costs particularly the limitations in building up savings once you're into the payed in / spending $CDN phase. Its for this reason that we are seriously reconsidering whether to stay mopre than a year.

It appears that a lot of people do not want to hear the truth re Canads especially when it is -ve, and therefore pass this advice of as "winging Brits".

That said the writer should also understand that a lot of people both UK & Canada would kill for 400K Sterling as equity to buy a house with.

mjanovitz

I have not actually used our air conditioning that much yet. We only put it on if the little one looks like he is getting a bit warm. Consequently our bills have been quite low. $75 for hydro and water and got a gas bill today for $12. I quite like the heat though.

That said it was nice messing around in the splash park at Toronto Zoo with Ethan last week.

Mark

Liana

May I ask what is materialistic nonsense? My house is no bigger than many of those houses in say, Mississauga- 3 stories includes a basement that we can access and we have built this ourselves - hard work. I am not complaining about my house size- 1500 sq ft per level but others seem to be. I was pointing out the expenses that are part of the misconception which is what this thread is about. I gave my house expenses for those who wish to move here - it is an urban myth that it is a cheap place to live. Canada, per individual, is the largest user of oil/gas in the world. Expenses keeping a property going are not cheap here. Restaurants here are now more expensive than the UK. A two course meal for 4 with a bottle of wine in a modest restaurant is anywhere between $100 and $300 . In the UK in similar restaurants it is half that price and it is much harder to earn the money to pay $100 than the 50 pound equivalent in the UK.

iaink

4500 sq ft IS a big house. No ifs ands or buts. I agree though in general, keeping a house here is expensive for fuel, and a big house will cost more, but thats your choice to live in a big house. There are plenty of small houses too if thats your choice. I doubts its much cheaper if any to keep a house in the UK in terms of taxes and general upkeep, but I havent done so recently.
Anecdotal evidence from family and friends indicates Im better off here, especially as I enjoy our large 3/4 lot. Canadas climate is obviously not like the UK, so alowances need to be taken.

$100 is reasonable for a meal for 4 with wine, 20 bucks a head plus 5 for the wine. $300 would take a fancy restarant here, but you can pay a lot to eat IF YOU WANT. What you have less choice in is eating at £10 a head or less in the UK if you want to, and thats much easier in Canada for a family than in the UK.

I dont know how easy it is to earn equivalent lifestyles UK vs Canada. Canada is no longer the cheap haven it used to be, but the UK has moved onwards and upwards too, and property prices alone are enough to keep me here, without factoring the much improved lifestlye I am afforded here. I dont think I would be earning that much more (if anymore) doing this job in the UK than I do here, but obviously that depends in large part on what you do for a living.

The great thing about this forum is it throws up topics like this for discussion, and people thinking about taking the plunge can at least read some real world experience and make their own informed decision.

mjanovitz

To be fair I would say eating out here is cheaper (in Toronto) compared to the uk(Chester), can't speak for anywhere else. We have paid £80 in the UK at a nice restaurant for main course, wine and dessert for two. Last week I paid $170 here for something similar for 4. Standard of food, service and decor was very similar but felt it was better value here.

I agree it is not a cheap place to live. once we are both working, from our basic salary we will not have loads of money spare, but he never had in the UK either. We will however hopefully have more to show for it once we buy a house, i.e. a bit more room, a garage or two. (never had a garage in the UK on our £150k house!!) Plus the climate is great....ice cold, boiling hot, amazing thunder storms. There is more to living here than the cost of living.

Liana

Thank you for your post- you can tell from my posts that I am not young. All my children have graduated and the next step in our life is where to find an affordable place to retire to. My equity seems a lot but is nowhere near what we would have had if we had emigrated to Australia or stayed in the UK. I have cousins living in modest semi-detached houses in both London suburbs and nice places in the north, that are worth more than my property. We are checking out living costs constantly but we have to stay here now because this is where we work and one does not change jobs at our stage in life.I don't whine and I have put up with up and down property markets for decades now- lost tens of thousand on our property in Calgary after living there 5 years and consequently could only afford to build our own property after that. My input on this thread was my facts as over the years it is shocking how living costs have risen. We are still here because ultimately it is hard to move when one is middle aged. Do it when one is young or old.The rest of the time life has to be consistent especially when there are children involved. But those who are interested come and try Canada - especially if you like winter sports and beautiful majestic scenery, and see for yourselves the costs of living here. And best of all, Canadians from all different backgrounds are very nice people.