Re: Is it really better in Canada?
 

Why do people seem so concerned about the rate of exchange? In Canada, a dollar is a dollar. Don't forget; when C$ was at $2 to the UK pound, your average Canadian salary of around $42,000 was only worth 21,000 UK pounds. Now at C$1.61, it is worth around 30,000 UK pounds. So you see, Canada is moving-up in the economic scale. If you want to live somewhere you will get a lot of local currency for your pounds, then I suggest you try Costa Rica, or some other Central American hovel!

Re: Is it really better in Canada?
 

Because many people come to Canada hoping to trade up their UK property equity to a larger house and a nice car in Canada. Exchange rate has a large influence on the how far your lump sum will carry you. I suspect that in many cases that makes far more of a material change in their "quality of life" than changes in their month to month salary makes possible, that just maintains what they have bought into.

The down side to the surging loonie is that all those raw materials and manufactured goods that drive the canadian economy, lumber, oil, etc etc, will become increasingly expensive to produce (in $CDN) compared to what they can be sold for (in $US)...and thats not good for anyone here in the long term.

Re: Is it really better in Canada?
 

Good point!

Still, if people are emigrating just to get a large house and a fancy car, they are probably not looking at the big picture. When we arrived in 1998, we moved into an apartment for two years; it would have been stupid to jump straight into the property market, when you don't even know if you will like it here! When we purchased, we bought a 1968-built, brick bungalow and spent a large part of the past ten years doing-it-up. If we had bought one of the shiny, new $400,000+ homes on the outskirts of Calgary, we would have gone belly-up -- especially after having been made redundant from my first job!

As for missing foreign travel, you are now right next door to one of the most popular destination coutries for Brits! And Hawaii is just a four-hour flight away for those of us lucky enough to live out-west.

And if anyone thinks I am looking at Canada through rose-tinteds, it took me about 8 years to start to settle into my new life and home.

Re: Is it really better in Canada?
 

You`re probably excluding 90% of the posters on here with that statement.

Re: Is it really better in Canada?
 

Everyone's circumstances are different. I invested in property from day 1 and haven't suffered because of it.

Re: Is it really better in Canada?
 

In retrospect In 1998 (when the poster came) it would have been prudent to use as much leverage as possible to buy as much real estate as possible.

Re: Is it really better in Canada?
 

Hmm, I may be wrong, but most people buying a house are buying it to live in, the investment side is secondary, and funds for additional, secondary properties are uncommon AFAIK.

If you buy in the right spot, great, but if you buy in the wrong spot and want to move 6 months later to what local experience has guided you to as your dream locations, the realtors commission and associated moving/ closing expenses are going to eat any profit you made on a short term buy in a hot market, aren't they?

Granted, rent is money you wont see again, but commision costs here are not insignificant, so renting for a while is perhaps not a bad idea.

Re: Is it really better in Canada?
 

As is interest on the mortgage :)

Re: Is it really better in Canada?
 

Dont remind me:(

Re: Is it really better in Canada?
 

Can't answer for all but a poor exchange rate gives me less c$ to live off until I find a job, which with a less than 'jobs aplenty' situtation makes moving riskier - irrespective of property aspirations..(for me moving from cheap yorkshire to not so cheap BC, than is another pressure on the rate).

family, change & why not being my reasons for moving - just am a little more nervous now on financial buffer to settle in with than 2 yrs ago:blink:

Re: Is it really better in Canada?
 

Ooh look! 20-20 rose-tinted hindsight!! A BE first?

Off topic a bit, but I think I heard that the people who run mls have agreed to open it up to discount agents and even sale-by-owner listings?

I'm too lazy to google.

Re: Is it really better in Canada?
 

Hmmmm, now that you mention it, i've just reminded myself too :thumbdown:

Re: Is it really better in Canada?
 

I did say with hindsight;)

I think the mls deal is some kind of flat listing fee. Not looked into it further though.

Re: Is it really better in Canada?
 

Yes you did. ;)

I suppose I have to google it after all. I ask you!

Re: Is it really better in Canada?
 

Ooh, another UK v Canada thread.

The reason I'm commenting was because of the question about whether Canadians are more sophisticated. Hahahahahahaha, er..... no. Some of the drivel that people find funny here blows my mind.

I had a friend of mine visit me from the UK recently, one of the things she said when we were having dinner at Lake Louise was: "Wow, people here are so.... unsophisticated." And coming from someone who lives in Walsall that was a pretty amazing statement!

I know Vancouver, Toronto and Montréal are more upmarket than Calgary but really the thing that always doubles me over with laughter is when there's a story in the paper about what a wonderful place Waterloo/Kitchener is to live and work in. If you think that concrete jungle is wonderful, God help you.

Sometimes I talk to people from the UK here and they generally moan about the TV, food, soccer, whatever and I do wonder why the hell they moved here. I hate soccer. I hate British TV. I'm okay with the food but I know where to get it here. I moved here because I actually preferred the culture and also one of the other major reasons was way lower taxes. I worked out I'm better off here than I would be in Arizona by a fair margin (higher taxes, plus no healthcare), so imagine comparing to the UK. I'm okay with dull. Dull means less stress and I'd rather be less stressed frankly.

We can sit here and compare navels all day but really the only truly major downside to living in Canada compared to the UK are the winters. But in Canada the summers are usually better so it's a trade-off.

Yeah the banking system is a bit crap here and the healthcare isn't quite as good but I'd rather have lower taxes (and I'm pretty unhealthy) and I can put up with POS terminals that never work properly. It's all swings and roundabouts, I think dentists here are generally better than in the UK.

If you want to be a Canadian (or Albertan at any rate) just learn the following phrases: "Fer sure" and "Purrrfect" and say them at least every other sentence.