Geordie Lass

Hey everyone

Is there any expense in Canada that you wouldn't even think about until you got there? I am talking serious expenses here.

We are doing like for like comparisons (hence my questions on medical expenses and schooling yesterday) but I just wondered if there is anything we are not thinking of.

Obviously I am not talking about the difference in the cost of food etc - that's minimal and I know there is no Council Tax out there....

But is there the equivalent of Stamp Duty on buying a house? This is the kind of expense I am talking about....

Is there anything screamingly obvious that would potentially bite you on the bum that a British person might not even think about/know about until they were resident in Canada?? or is there anything that is ridiculously more expensive than it's British counterpart?

Cheers!

xx

christmasoompa

Bank account charges and having to pay to receive a text message or phone call on your mobile!

As for ridiculously more expensive, do a quick search for threads on car insurance and chicken. That should do you to start with.

As a general rule, cost of living is said to be about the same as in the UK - some things cheaper, some things more expensive, so it evens out in the end. So hopefully that should help you budget a bit, and there are lots of threads on the cost of living and regular monthly expenses if you want to do a quick search.

pacepeter

With us it was the cost to get my wife to be a Canadian RN think about $7500 then the cost for PR another $2500 which is the total cost

R I C H

No council tax, we get to pay property tax instead.

Realtor commissions tend to be much higher. There are no 'set' industry commission rates - commission rates are negotiable. Some reasonable averages are Ontario, 5%, in Alberta 6% for the first $100,000 and 3% on the balance, and in BC 7% for the first $100,000 and 2.5% on the balance of the selling price.

In BC there's Property Transfer Tax upon purchase. The tax rate is one per cent on the first $200,000 of the property's fair market value and two per cent on the remaining fair market value.

Aviator

Property Purchase Tax
Add sales tax to every price you see in store
Avoid orthodontics if you can

Siouxie

And vet bills

Geordie Lass

Thanks everyone for the heads up on things I wouldn't even think about to ask about!

Re Vets bills - do they not do insurance like they do over here? We've found that to be invaluable with our last dog.

jericho

You'll probably have to put down deposits to get your utilities set up- they typically average around $200 per utility.

iaink

As far as one off costs go I cant think of anything major, its the month in , month out, year in , year out ownership costs that get me.

Property maintainence costs are surprisingly high I find, I wasnt planing having to replace roofing, siding, window units etc as much as Ive had to. If you are not handy then it will cost even more.

Car and home insurance is a constant annual sore point too. Plus my monthly equalised heating oil payment is going up from $150 to $200, despite work done to further insulate the house.

Howefamily

we used to have vets insurance for our cat in the UK at GBP6 a month, I have heard that to have the same thing here is about $40 a month, not sure if true as havent got to it yet - am scared to!

R I C H

Never been convinced about the value of pet insurance. You're effectively betting that your pet's going to be sicker than average in order for it to make economic sense.

Geordie Lass

Rich - we got it for our last dog because he was a rescue and from the minute we got him he had problems with his tummy. Could only ever eat one sort of dog food and anything else (whether human food or dog food bar rice and chicken) used to make him poorly. In the last 6 months of his life vets bills amounted to over £2000. Without the insurance that would have been a hard hit.

We now have a puppy who is so stupid she will eat anything... literally... doesn't have to be food either.... she's managed so far without having any interventions and that's after eating a tea-light candle and half a shoe...

Siouxie

My dog was diagnosed with diabetes on Monday, plus a really nasty bacterial infection. Cost of urinalysis, swab analysis, blood testing and antibiotics $446.67.

She has to go for Glucose curve testing on Monday to ascertain the level of insulin she will need - takes between 12 and 36 hours. The cost is going to be between $500 and $1000 plus hst.

As she is only 3 it's a bit of a shocker!

Wish I had pet insurance now, for sure.

iaink

Seems about right from memory.
http://www.pcfinancial.ca/english/pet-insurance/pet

Personally I never saw the point of subsidising other people who dont want to make the "hard choices" when there 9 year old lab gets an expensive tumour. If we just had the one cat rather than 3 I'd maybe feel different about it.

Vets here will fleece you given the opportunity is my impression. Some are OK, sadly the reasonable one near us retired.

edmontonian

Chicken?