nikki dreaming

No we are not going to give up. It's only money as they say and whilst it would be nice to come over with some savings if we don't have it then so be it we will have to rent for the first couple of years or so rather than buying.

Once we are both in work and we have PR then we may be able to afford to put a deposit down on a house in Canada and obtain a mortgage for that property on the salaries we gain in Canada.

We have dropped price by 10k yesterday and will see what happens.

Our current view on this is that we will not keep dropping it to get a sale, we will look to rent out as the last resort and then re asses in a couple of years hopefully when we are in Canada. This way we may have a chance that the market has picked up again and we can look to try and re sell at this point. Even if market hasn't picked up at least we have given it a chance to sort out rather than taking a silly offer now just to get rid.

nikki dreaming

Nice house in the New Forest Hampshire/Dorset border going if your interested

Novocastrian

Hmm. So you don't intend to visit a lot then?

dbd33

Easy access to ponies? That'd be an easy sell at home.

dbd33

No.

MB-Realtor

Real Estate commission is negotiable, you will find you can get it a lot cheaper than that.

nikki dreaming

yes, but not here in the UK it seems

MB-Realtor

If you wanted the same level of service that a UK Estate Agent provides from a Canadian Realtor you would pay about the same (between 1.5% & 2.5%), that would be an exclusive listing (not on MLS), advertised on the Web and in local papers. The Realtor though would most probably do all the showings, and still manage the Contract & the Conveyancing, which UK agents don`t do.

You would not get the exposure that the `MLS` gives a house, so the house may not sell as quickly or for as much as it could have.

MarkG

Probably worse, I'd say; I believe wage inflation in 1990 was at least twice today's levels, so the real cost of debt dropped significantly faster as wages rose.

Also, with interest rates at 10+%, most people couldn't afford to take on such massive debts relative to incomes in the first place.

MarkG

I believe most hydrogen today is produced from... natural gas. So it's hardly a win anyway.

Though there may be some decent prospects of producing it from water with solar power, either directly with heat or indirectly with algae.

Mikey B

List on MLS for $995 and do the showings yourself....

www.portcullisrealty.com

I agree realtors here do way way more than in the UK but still nowhere near enough to justify the ridiculous 4-6% they charge for it and I have yet to meet anyone that thinks otherwise but maybe I live in my own little bubble.

A more realistic commission would be the order of the day and I personally see it going that way in Canada including a lot more of for sale by owner type sites, its already starting to happen over the last couple of years including realtors having to lower their commission rates from the 6-8% I hear they used to get.

Time will tell, in the meantime Ill forgo the use of a realtor thanks, not worth the money.

pusky123

I wouldn't be so sure about rates not going up that much. I know people who are still on fixed rate mortgages of 4%.

Now the fixed rates are beginning to expire theyre staring at least 6% in the face, and none too happy.

Thats something like a 25% increase in your mortgage interest, assuming you can even get 6%.

sinope

I don't think house prices will fall too much, certainly not like the 80's recession. There just isn't enough housing to go round and, with Barratt et al suspending work on a number of new housing projects, this isn't going to change anytime soon. The housing market is stagnating though, and with inflation running at around 9.4% I can see why no one can afford to move. We're not allowed to have pay rises either.

Atlantic Xpat

A suitable 649 win would see the AX's with property on both sides of the pond, splitting their time between the Newfoundland House, the UK house and the yot somewhere in the Caribbean.

Back on topic I fear for those relying on vast chunks of equity to fund the big house in Canada. (which, when we are honest, is one of the attractions of moving.) There will be a definite shift away from BC & AB to lower cost housing markets for those that still make it.

Incidentally the Guardianista's amongst you will have missed Jeff Randalls recent column in the Torygraph on the woes affecting UK housebuilders now holding their hands out for a government bailout in a rather Canadian way. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/mai.../ccjeff118.xml

dbd33

Not us, we've followed Julie:

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage...cle1290858.ece