Glaswegian

I live in Alberta, which is over the rockies, emptier and cheaper to live in than BC.

Life is higher quality on a lot less money than the UK - bigger house, two vehicles, lots for the kids to do. I also know people who have moved to Alberta from BC, who say there is less to do here.

It always surprises me how many people set thier hearts on a specific province of Canada without having visited it.

All I can do is echo the question:

Pretty Flowers

I was chatting with my mum about Burlington/ Downtown Toronto last night as I can't decide where I would like to move to. For either I can use the equity in my flat and buy a decent apartment in a really good block (porterage, gym and swimming pool) or a three bed two storey house in a good area. I am in shock about how cheap property is in Canada. Strangely though my relatives over there think property is expensive....

Lostris

Unfortunately, Copperpot, we are in the same situation here. 3 bed semi "worth" £200,000 in the opinion of estate agents.

However, if we moved to BC we would rent out our property in Kent, UK just in case we ever wanted to move back or simply just as an investment, pension fund for old age!

Guys, as i have stated in several posts/thread on this forum. I lived in Kamloops when my parents emigrated to Canada as a child. I have very fond memories of BC. Unfortunately my parents moved back to the UK after 3 years.

This may be one of the reasons why i am so set on BC as my new haven

But of course my husband and I fully intend to go over to BC, Alberta AND Ontario to look around as things have no doubt changed much over the years. And i'm talking about 20 years !

iaink

I can understand that, when I came over everything seemed very cheap (comparing to UK) but now after a few years the GTA seems poor value compared to areas further out. Prices in the cites are certainly going up faster than canadian wages.

Even here in Quinte property prices have risen sharply in the last 4 or 5 years as more and more people cash in their city properties to move out to the quieter life. In the GTA you dont get much change from $300k for a pretty uninspired property, whereas here that will buy you waterfront or a 5000sq ft mansion with a large parcel of land. An average house here is about $150k, which wont get you much in the cities. Of course the key is finding a decent job out here away from the large cites. Kind of like the Okinagen, it sounds lovely, with milder weather, but what do people do for a living there?

Iain

flashman

I suggest that you also get better value for money in Canada for many items.

For instance, a $150K house in Canada is better than a 150K pound house in the UK

joggerjo

It is not easy here in the Okanagan to find your ideal job but I don't think it is anywhere. People do have this impression that there is NO work here when of course there is as many of us live here!

An engineer of some sort I know through a friend has not been able to find work in Vancouver since he came here in January. Another family I know came to the Okanagan a few months ago and got a job in Kelowna in weeks and yes it was a proper job!

JJ

flashman

This area seems to be changing into a "Retirement Community". People are selling their higher priced homes in the GTA and downsizing for a more relaxed lifestyle.

Other communities have specific characteristics too which affects work opportuniuties and house prices. For instance, I understand Canmore, Alberta is popular with the skiing crowd who have recreational properties which keeps property prices up and any available work is mainly in the hospitality area

iaink

Not sure I would class it as a true retirement community yet, although a lot of people from the GTA are retiring out here for the obvious benefits, Belleville also seems to be sucessfully expanding its industrial and business base all the time, creating a reasonable number of jobs in manufacturing and call centers.

Iain

kesteven

This is our first time on this site and it is proving really helpful hearing from people who are in a similar position to us in that you are thinking about relocating to Canada and indeed those of you who have made the decision and gone for it. We are a couple with two young children looking for a better way of life rather than remaining in the UK. We are thinking about applying under the skilled worker permit process- getting the letters from ex employers is taking a long time- we are undecided about getting an immigration lawyer and how long the process takes. Suggestions and past experiences would be very much appreciated.

MikeUK

I aways love the property is cheaper in Canada thing....

What people need to keep in mind is...

Point one.. the house is made cheaper, its a simple timber frame with a felt roof.. and will require a lot of up keep as its gets older... It won't last a life time..and the roof will need replacing every 5-7ish years, and god help you if you get insects in the wood....

Point two.. land is much cheaper here... the further out of town you go it reduces to almost nothing... along with the services...

You gets what you pay for..........

iaink

Canadian construction techniques have been developed to work with the weather environment here, and to utilise the available natural resources. Every brick built place I have seen here suffers to some extent from spalling of the bricks from the freeze thaw action. I'd much rather have a siding covered timber frame with a good amount of insulation in it than spend the extra for brick. The newer brick built houses are just timber frame with a different set of clothes anyway, and the same is true in the UK now anyway. Give me a cheap crappy quality home in canada that I can afford over an fantastic quality terraced house I cant afford in the Uk anyday.

PS If your roof lasts only 7 years you need to sue someone. 20 years is a reasonable lifetime. I have never heard of any serious insect damage in Ontario, just the odd bit of rot, that is easy enough to replace.

Voyager970

Dingbat DITTO
We have recently signed to an outside agency called Cranstoun Drug Services to oversee the referall of addicts from within the prison to outside agencies. We have Drug reduction units within the prison, we have drug referall units within the prison, we have a methadone programme, we have a detox programme, get the picture guys, need I say any more. All to help the poor addicts. Who pays for this service, us the taxpayer, It really pisses me off the amount of help that these people get, and for what, to get libertated from jail and they end up back on the junk again. I see it time and time again, a con gets the jail who has a £100 habit, he then gets the jail for say 6 months, comes into jail gets all the help he can get and then gets out and thinks he can still go and take his £100 of junk into his veins. NO NO NO !!!! Overdose time.
The rate of turnover within the establishment is that 80%, yes 80% of people will re-offend. I am sick and tired of seeing the same faces in and out of the prison. Most of them are jailed for drug related crimes.
I to have to accept that the treatment offered here does not work, although the politicians and the Scottish Executive will say differently.

GGGGRRRR really hacks me off
Anyway my tuppence again
Eddie from a rather sunny Glasgow today.

Voyager970

We are in the same boat as yourself, applying under the skilled workers programme. Me the wife and 3 kids ages 12,11 and 2. After many months of deliberating my wife and I have decided to use an emmigration lawyer based in Toronto called Abrams and Krochak.

Web site is http://www.akcanada.com/index.html

They come higly recommended and I think it will be the best £1000 that we will ever spend, if they get all our documentation correct and help us into Canada. Process will take up to 2 years due to the amout of people applying. Have a good look at this forum, it is packed full of experiences, ideas etc.

Enjoy

gooding

[QUOTE=Lostris]Ok so getting back to the subject of life in UK compared to Canada (BC for example).

Hi Lostris,

I too hail from Kent, I went to Chatham Grammar Scholl many moons ago.
I never liked Chatham then.......
We are having a house built on Vancouver Island, beautiful place
However like has been said befoer whe mad a couple of trips over, and fell in love. The area we were going t chose based on info gained from Internet turned out to be nothing like we would have imagined. Prices are very cheap compard to here. We are looking for a quality of life most of all.
Drink ,drugs, etc etc is over here to. It just depends if you chose to live that sort of live, or live in some areas. i grew up totally oblivious to it, yet look back and realise it was always around me. I just chose to take a different path.

Look at some of the websites for real estate, mind you as we found some grand looking houses on the net, were often, not what they seemed.

We chose to have a house built on a plot of land, We traveled around asked lots of questions spoke to locals, estate agents. Even looked up statistics on the net about certain areas we were looking at. There is quite a bit of info to be had, if you have the time to look.
But so go and look at areas,
I don't care if we make a mistake, about emigrating. it is better than spending the rest of it wondering "what if?."

MikeUK

I understand... but I feel quite often that many come over here, take one quick look at the houses here in Canada and see a big beautiful house and just because its covered in Brick they think its just like in the UK but bigger…
My gripe is not comparing like with like.. and making out Canada to be some kind of housing utopia .. the houses are built to suit the Canadian landscape and your right with all the freeze thaw…
The standard of electrical wiring is much lower than would be allowed in the UK.. it works.. but again you get what you pay for.. same goes for the plumbing same size pipe through out and no allowance for water pressure variation.. never shower whist anything else is running.
With the roof thing.. My neighbour in London had the water drain down one the side of his roof which meant one part wore out much faster than others and was often replacing it.. you need to remember a lot of Canadians fix their own roofs from ‘Home Depot’ so suing isn’t an option.. you buy cheap and fix cheap.. you fix often

Canadian housing is OK if you’re competent at DIY and can fix it up to what you want..
But like you say its better to have a cheap house you can afford, than to dream of one that you can’t… but to dream that that cheap house is anything else is naïve..