Goodbhoy

I have not yet moved to Canada but still in the UK.
I will be moving to the Toronto area in the next few weeks. (Everything going well)

I am employed by a Canadian company in the UK and will be transferring to Canada through an internal vacancy. I have no intentions of returning to the UK in future and I am moving my wife and 2 children (and dog and cat!) with me to Canada.

My company are taking care of all the visas, work permits, etc as well as providing relocation allowance. (Which is normally something like 6 months rental)

I have currently seen a few properties on the internet which I like in Bolton and Nobleton areas. (For around 1800 Canadian dollars/month - don't know how good this is)

I don't feel comfortable staying in other peoples houses as you are constantly worrying about and damage. I would dearly love to purchase our own with a mortgage so we can truly settle in the area and start to live a Canadian way of life.

Would it be possible to get a mortgage in Canada this soon? We have no bad credit history in the UK and have fairly secure employment.

Where would be the best location to live as I will be working in Concord. Ideally, I would like to live on/near a lake where I may be able to have a boat and do some fishing as well as skate in the winter. (Just a little bit of a pipe dream view of Canadian life - if it exists)

I don't really have a great deal of funds to put down as a deposit on a property but will be earning around 90K in Canadian dollars per annum.

Should I be looking at opening up a Canadian bank account before I move so as I am not constantly being charged currency fees transferring from UK pounds to Canadian dollars and back again?
What are the main banks in Canada or Toronto area?

Any help would be appreciated.

Thank you.

Tirytory

Good luck with your move! I can't answer questions about Toronto area, but the rent sounds good to me.

Credit rating isn't transferable, so it doesn't matter if it's good in the UK you have to start again here. On the subject of mortgages, unless you're coming over on PR or a Citizen then mortgage companies see you as a flight risk I guess and require a hefty deposit. We secured a mortgage on a temporary work permit but it took us a while, we had 20% deposit and my husband has a job which is perceived by mortgage companies as a good sort to lend money too.

Tbh in Toronto I'm guessing you would want to make sure you bought in the correct area anyway what with commuting/schools and that will take a while to discover so renting sounds very sensible despite the slight risk with small children.

Welcome to BE btw!

JamesM

All of the 5 major banks offer "programmes" for new immigrants to open accounts, get a visa and start building a credit rating. Their ultimate goal is to get you onto one of their mortgages.

Banks are necessary evils. I use Scotiabank although like Barclays back home they are nothing special. The other major banks are CIBC, TD, BMO and HSBC.

With regards to credit I would assume the better your credit rating the better the mortgage options available. I was deemed to have reasonable credit after reliably paying off a credit card every month for 12 months.

There have been many threads on banks before. I suggest you rent initially and pick the bank with the highest concentration of branches in your area. ATM's aren't free in Canada unless you draw cash from your own branch.

They are predicting a harsh winter so renting is sensible as you may well want to go home once your 6 month's free rent is done......just sayin......

Tirytory

Ha ha last night I was reading sone article a Canadian friend posted on about the need to stock up on dried milk and bread....

Goodbhoy

Thanks for all your help everyone.

SchnookoLoly

When we were speaking to the banks about mortgages, most of them said as new immigrants we'd need about 25-30% down payment and then it wouldn't be a problem.

If you are interest in looking at West GTA (Misssissauga, Oakville, Burlington, Milton) I can recommend an estate agent. Send a PM if you are interested.

MarylandNed

The "big 5" are Scotiabank, CIBC, TD, BMO and RBC (not HSBC).

Goodbhoy

Thank you.
I have been using realtor.ca to look for properties but please let me know if you have a better alternative.

The areas I was looking at were further North as I will be working in Concord area.
Been looking at Bolton and Nobleton where I seen some nice properties for rent.
Never been to the areas, obviously, but they seem to be ok.
They are near highway 400 for commuting.

MarylandNed

I also think renting before you buy is a good idea. I think it's important to get a feel for the different areas in the GTA before making a decision on where to live. I'd rather discover that I'm renting in the wrong area than find out I bought in the wrong area. From your post, it looks like you're looking for something a bit more rural (correct me if I'm wrong). Concord itself is a fairly industrial area so you're probably unlikely to want to live there.

I used to work not too far from Concord (on Alness St. just south of Steeles). I lived in the city (Yonge/Eglinton) because my wife worked downtown. I was able to use public transit (subway & bus) to get to work and the good thing was that I was going in the opposite direction to most people during my commute.

We didn't have any kids when we moved to Toronto so you have that to consider. Unless they go to private schools, where you live determines which public school your kids go to (don't be confused by the term "public school" - in Canada it means what it says whereas in the UK a "public" school is actually closer to a private school!) So any move could mean pulling them out of one public school and into another.

Goodbhoy

Rural would be nice. I currently live in a rural location in the UK.
Yes, I will need a public school and College for the kids.

If I was being really fussy, it would be nice to live on or near a lake or river.

Tootlepootle

We were able to secure a mortgage whilst still linking in the Uk. If you have a letter of employment setting out your salary etc it can be done. An independent mortgage advisor organised ours. We were able to get property with only a 5% deposit, helpful if your equity is tied up in the UK. A lot will depend on your salary obviously. We were only on a work permit but my husband was offered a permanent contract which might have helped.

JamesM

HSBC is bigger than them all by market cap.

Thanks for that.

itsasmallworld

As others have said your credit rating pretty much starts from scratch when you arrive in Canada. It is however helpful to establish a personal relationship with a bank. We went with TD bank. They will want to see letters from your employer providing as much information as you can, visa status, salary etc. We have a personal contact (a very very nice lady) at the bank who we saw frequently when we first arrived, and are still in regular contact with.

We live in Sarnia, 3 hrs from Toronto, so our house prices are much lower. We had a deposit of 50% of the asking price. The banks like to see a good deposit towards a house but otherwise we had very little issues sorting out a mortgage. In fact you can sort it all out before you buy and have a pre-arranged mortgage.

Take the advice and rent for a while. If your kids are young it will not be a problem for them. 6 months will fly by.

Good luck, it all sound very exciting.

R I C H

Largest by market capitalization is irrelevant if there's no convenient local branch. HSBC might be the largest foreign owned bank in Canada, but it's 7th largest in terms of branch presence.

HGerchikov

As Tootlepootle says it is possible to get a mortgage with 5% down provided you come from a country with the credit bureau system, otherwise it's 10%. I think there is a strong case for renting first though.