trouncer

It may sound trivial but can I ask, when I move over, would I be ok to take stuff like a load of stuff like shower gels, aftershave, soaps, lotions, cosmetics and toiletries ? or are these not allowed ? A lot of is expensive stuff you see given as presents.

Also, how have people managed to sell off all there furniture and belongings ? I want to take as little as possible but don't know how to sell it off and gain some money on the way to help us get by when we land.

Also are beds (and matresses) very expensive in Canada/Vancouver ?

Finally, For a canadian mortgage of, say, $100k, what sort of wage would I need to be earning to be able to live reasonably (nb:$100k would not be the price of the house/apartment, just the mortgage as I hope to put down a certain amount and leave about $100k as a mortgage ?).

Has anyone else done this as well (mortgage) ?

We'll be hopefully going very soon at the begining of the year (2008) so any sensible advice, comments or help would be much appreciated - Thanks to all

shoshana

Re what to take...what I did when moving from OZ to the UK was get quotes to ship all the big stuff, books/dvd's and wedding presents, of course most of the clothes etc as well. But in that load was bathroom gels etc that we had, so should be okay to take, check with your shipping company.

Shipping costs are based on volume - and it worked out cheaper to ship than buy all new of the big stuff (mind our furniture was not that old also), ie lounge suite, super king bed, table/chairs x 8, bedroom suite etc, so for us was worth it as all the other stuff was included in the cost.

But if your going to sell, second hand furniture doesnt sell for much, try ebay, local shops/papers etc. Also word of mouth, if you do a list with pics and prices 'ono' and email out to work/friends/family - give to local shops to put up etc...moving sale ! That is what we did .... got close to wire with a few larger things, and I ended up giving away some items to charities - but in the end got rid of it all.

Good luck

Jay Bird

Hi!
Stuff like your cosmetics and smellies - fine, but don't try to bring them on the plane in your hand luggage. Pack 'em in boxes and include in your shipment.
You will never make enough money selling your furniture in the UK to enable you to buy new over here - we ended up selling a beautiful dining table and chairs for £20 the night before we moved out - people want a bargain - sometimes even nothing is too much! I wished we'd brought more - but that's life. I have found furniture over here expensive and not to my taste - but that's my experience and not everyone will agree. We brought one or two large things - bed (virtually new) and Victorian bookcase (antique), and all our personal things - books, bedding, CD's, tools etc.......there are loads of threads about this if you do a Search.....see the orange bar at the top? Everyone's experience is different.
Once we had bought our house we decided to buy just a few new things - fridge, TV (why, I don't know because the programmes are rubbish), sofa (a Lazyboy thing so we can at least watch rubbish in comfort )- and the rest we have furnished through yard sales, thrift and consignment stores, and saved loads of money.....and had fun doing it this way.
Good luck - just remember, if a particular item means a lot to you - bring it!!

TiggyP

We eBayed all our furniture before we left! A lot of furniture here is pretty grim and old-fashioned (I guess that's the American influence!) but you can also get some really stylish, albeit expensive stuff if you look hard enough.

And there's always IKEA...

Piff Poff

Bring as much stuff with you as you possibly can! We didn't and regretted it.

We spent over $1000 on just the mattress (not including a box) and it is no way near as comfy as our 500 pound one cost us in the UK.

We also didn't factor in the size of the houses, with a basement family room you do need to think of extra furniture. You also need to think your european tastes may well differ greatly from Canadian tastes and you may just want something to tide you over until you find new stuff.

Hope this helps
Happy New Year

YYZlover

Exactly! Friends of mine started up a hotel. They couldn't decide what beds to use so let the customers decide and did a survey. Different manufacturers in different rooms. The one that came out tops was the cheap bed from IKEA.

I love IKEA stuff.

trouncer

Thanks for everyone who answered. Your comments and advice is much appreciated. The general consensus seems to be take as much as I can with respect to the difference in style of furniture and cost. Also, the difficulty of selling/getting rid of stuff seems to be a problem.

I understand what a difficult thing it is to sell good quality furniture and pieces that cost a lot, for a few pounds and I think I'd rather take it with me if this is the case. Especially if it is expensive to buy over there and the style is not too great (unless you're willing to spend a lot of money).

I was trying to use up all my expensive smellies although it seems from what people say, I may be able to store this in the stuff I take over. But will lthey not search or question me what's in the stuff I'm transporting over ? Do you put all stuff like that in a separate box and label it ?

Also, anyone able to answer my mortgage question ? Basically, how much would I need to earn (salary) if I had a mortgage of $100k in Vancouver ? It's so I can find out if I will be able to afford such an amount or budget accordingly.

Lisa_W

Hi

We brought everything over and are glad we did as it would have been expensive to replace. I also brought over "smellies" which I had stored up - (due to "Buy one get one free" etc type offers which I am always taken in by!!). I left them in one of our cupboards and the removal company just packed them in one of the boxes and they were fine when they got here.

I have to say I am still being taken in by the "Buy one....." offers so the stock pile is still getting bigger - guess I am just a compulsive hoarder!!!!

JonboyE

Absolutely, if it's not falling apart bring it. You get next to nothing for selling second hand in the UK, and your Canadian house is likely to be much bigger so you are going to need more, not less, furniture.

I also agree that, unless you are spending silly money, IKEA mattresses are as comfortable as you will find.

Jay Bird

I packed all my stuff in large boxes and clearly labelled each box as I went along with a general idea of contents; you don't have to itemise each thing. I then numbered each box and wrote a list as I went along (ex-civil service training comes in handy!). I gave a copy of the list to my shippers, which speeded up the process of loading. Keep your list handy for when you arrive here - customs at the airport may want to see it. Hang on to it again for when you actually collect them.....it all sounds complicated, but having that paperwork really makes things so much easier.
When we collected our goods they didn't even look in the van - they just looked at my list and the papers from the airport, extracted a few dollars - about $12, and I can't even remember what it was for, but some admin fee or other.......so always have a few dollars with you..and away we went.

As to your mortgage question - sorry, no help there.

Good luck

JonboyE

If we assume monthly property taxes and heating costs of $200 each (total $400) you would need a gross monthly household income of $3,555 to qualify for a $100,000 mortgage. This is an annual salary of $42,660 or two salaries making up this amount. It further assumes you will have at least a 25% downpayment, and are borrowing at the bank's standard rate.

Monthly payments on a 5-year fixed mortgage at 7.59% would be $737.60 for a 25 year amortization. If you have more than 25% to put down, and a permanent job, you will be able to negotiate the payment down a bit - a borrower in good standing should be able to secure a 5 year fixed mortgage for 6% or even better.

If you don't have a permanent job the bank may ask for 35% down.

Edit: if you are buying a condominium this will affect the calculation as there will be monthly fees associated with this. All the major bank's have a calculator on their website so you can work out what you can afford. I used Scotiabank's here. Click on the "What can I afford" link.

Jay Bird

Hello again
just thinking about your mortgage question - have a look at the following link - it may help

http://www.cmhc-schl.gc.ca/en/co/

Judy in Calgary

SHIPPING LIQUIDS / FLUIDS

I don't believe in shipping liquids / fluids along with one's household goods. If a container of aftershave or whatever was to break and if the contents were to stain or otherwise wreck one's furniture, one's insurance company most likely would not compensate one.

Several people on this forum have stated that they have shipped liquids / fluids, and they have stated that their shipments have arrived safely at the other end.

Fine. If you want to take the risk, take it.

But I would rather read my shipping company's instructions and the fine print of my insurance policy. Whenever we've moved, the shipping and insurance companies have always stipulated that they would not reimburse us for damage caused by leaked liquids / fluids that we'd insisted on shipping.

WHAT FURNITURE TO SHIP

I agree with the other posters who have told you that good quality furniture in Canada is expensive for someone who is earning a Canadian income in Canadian dollars.

OTHER WEBSITES ABOUT SHIPPING

Also read Canada Border Services Agency's website entitled Settling in Canada: Information on importing goods for people intending to settle in Canada.

If you're not already familiar with the concept of the Goods To Follow form, I suggest you read the Wiki article on it.

MISCELLANEOUS SHIPPING TIPS

A couple of quick tips. If you are shipping anything that has been used outside (garden tools, bicycle, patio furniture, etc.), you must scrub it clean before shipping. Customs officials don't always inspect shipments, so you might get away without cleaning your outdoor stuff. However, during one of our moves customs officials did inspect our garden tools, so I was relieved that I had scrubbed them.

If you are shipping a petrol (gasoline) powered lawn mower, drain it of fuel before shipping it.

MORTGAGE

I seem to remember reading somewhere that your mortgage generally can be three times your annual income.

Before I hit the "Submit Reply" button, I previewed my post and saw that oldbag had posted a message while I'd been typing mine. The Mortgage Calculator page on the website to which she'd provided a link states:

The first rule is that your monthly housing costs should not exceed 32% of your gross monthly household income. Housing costs include monthly mortgage payments, taxes and heating expenses. If applicable, this sum should also include half of monthly condominium fees.

Secondly, your entire monthly debt load should not be any more than 40% of your gross monthly income. This includes housing costs, and other debts such as car payments, personal loans, and credit card payments.

FORUM TIPS

It would be helpful (to the rest of us, if not to you as well) if you read the Wiki article entitled Tips on using the forum.

Hope that helps, and Happy New Year.

JonboyE

And, just to prove it:

[(737 + 400) / 3555] * 100 = 32%

trouncer

Just to let you know, it'll be Vancouver we'll be moving to. From what I've seen on the MLS site and what we may get from selling our house here in the UK, we will only be able to afford a condo in the area's we want to move into (Westend, False Creek, Coal Harbour, Yaletown). Even then, the condo's are very expensive (eg. 1 bedroom condo's at around $400k). If we manage to cover (say) $300k of that, then it would leave us with $100k as a mortgage. With this, we will use our day to day living and savings to pay the monthly mortgage until we get jobs (fingers crossed we get jobs soon when we land).

JonBoyE : Thanks for the calculations. Really useful. However, at 50yr my amortization will be more like 10yrs. However, the monthly payments should be offset by the amount (three quarters) we put as a down payment although , as you say, there will be maintenance fees on top of that. What's everyones monthly out goings anyway on average ? (eg. food, heating, amenities, leisure etc.).

Having said this, we are both in our 50's and just HOPE we can get jobs without there being any 'ageism' issues (by the way, any comments and advice on this issue would be more than welcome too).

Going back to the furniture point. I take it many of you have moved into much bigger houses/places than what you had in the UK (or wherever) an so would have the room when bringing everything over. I would actually be downsizing. So with this in mind, do you still think it best to bring everything ? My initial thoughts are 'yes' as 'oldbag' said above, I'd hate to sell good furniture for just a few quid. Anyone else been in this situation (downsizing) when they moved over ? (specifically to Vancouver in the area's mentioned).

Also, can anyone recommend any outer 'NICE' area's of Vancouver where our money may buy a more pleasant, 2 or 3 bedroom house (as opposed to a condo), but not too far out of downtown ? eg. near coffee houses, shops and resturants, etc. Would be so grateful for the advice.

(BTW, Lisa_W. I'm a bit of a hoarder in that sense too which is part reason I asked if it was ok to bring over. Looks like it should be ok.)

Thanks for all the replies. It was really good to get responses so quickly. Oh and happy new year guys.