London-England-Lads

To start of with OMG – how much did we love it!

Have to say that this fact finding trip was amazing, have such a better idea about the whole thing now and can’t wait to move over!

Firstly HSBC were so wonderful – we are premier customers anyway in the UK and if anyone is seriously thinking of moving over to Canada in the near future. I highly recommend them. Not only were our bank cards waiting and our banking history/ credit rating on their system, but we were already approved for a 60% mortgage (which could be upped to 80%, but also a substantial line of credit (overdraft) -which for us could be life-saving. Both of these were at a more reasonable interest than in the UK.

Secondly, Realtors …… well what can I say Jeff Vedan – your our man !!! I have to say I knew they worked harder than our estates agents in the UK, but how hard ! Jeff spent 7 days with us and took us not only all over Toronto looking at properties, but also showed us all the great nooks & crannies, great coffee shops and restaurants. I know this is his Job, but we did feel he went the extra mile for us.

The interesting difference which surprised us between house selling here in the UK and Canada (well Toronto, at least), is that what ever the property is on at (asking price) is normally a lot lower than the finishing price. Realtors, on the whole I think try to undervalue a property to generate multiply bids. These multiple bids are then presented by your realtor to the seller and his realtor on a set evening and the most attractive bid wins. This helps to stop gazumping, which has to be a good thing, but it does mean you can lose a bid on conditions or amount of dollars bid.

We looked at 3 main areas – The Beaches, Danforth and High Park. We went on a recci and ended up bringing home a unusal souvenir …….. A home – not a house, a home ….. as soon as we went in, it felt right.

It’s a few stops away from Greektown on the amazing subway system they have here, the neighbours are great (one of them is one of Jeff’s best friends). There is a granny flat which would be great if Simon’s Mum decides to come over, or will make a great media room, games room and Gym.

We have also been able to get a better notion of mobiles (Cells), job opportunities, taxes, driving in Canada and the cost of food which even with tax is not as bad as I had feared.

Should anyone need a great realtor in Toronto, I would recommend Jeff, even when it looked as if the home was going to fall through (Seller was being too greedy), 2 hours before we were about to get on the plane back to England he was so supportive, even though his hope of getting a sale through us was slipping away.

At the end of the day – things just slipped into place, as we were boarding the plane and we are now proud home owners of the following home !!!! It’s a blank canvas – but it has sooo much potential and I get my wood burning fireplace.

We will probably have to rent it out for the 1st year, but thats not a problem !



TBC

Judy in Calgary

Fantastic news, LEL. Very happy for you.

Novocastrian

Good job. There's nothing like house shopping with a return ticket in the realtor's face. We did that when we came back to the GTA some time ago.

I'm sure you'll be ecstatically happy next to Greektown.

Srta

Congrats, thats a great family area. Lots of really good restaurants, shopping centers like Gerrard Square with a Home Depot/Zellers which should come in handy Plus the real estate in the area is going through the roof, a very good investment.

Zoe Bell

many Congrats. look forward to our invite!

Ben W Bell

Yes. We want our invite. Glad it worked out for you, and it was nice to meet you both.

Arris

Glad you both had a great & successful recce trip ...... & buying a house too

We did a similar thing. Went on a recce trip last autumn & bought a 4 acre lot which was definitely not on the agenda

With all the waiting we've ahead, it's great knowing we have our own piece of Alberta waiting for us & i'm sure you'll find the same, knowing you have a lovely home waiting for you both

All the best with everything,

Arris

Member123

What an excited post...well done LEL.

We also bought two lots in Saskatchewan on our reccie..its a crazy feeling

I thought you had brought home Souvenir when I first read the title

And your house has such character...lovely, well done.

Rob4BC

Nice one Guys - really great character home and the area sounds wonderful (googled).
Keep us posted.

Rob.

tom17

Congrats!

We did a similar thing. We were on holiday in Toronto in Jan/Feb this year - just a relax, see friends and see what the market was like.

We too flew back as the proud owners of a yet-unbuilt house which sparked off the move

kazbob

Congratulations . We did exactly the same thing in August - went over to NS for a holiday and viewed some houses, walked into one and just knew straight away that it was for us. So we also came home with a new purchase!

Karen

The TWs

Congrats! That's wonderful news! We're heading over in 28 days and I can NOT wait to find our new home!

Hooray!

ann m

And how happy you sound - congrats on a busy, informative and fruitful trip - house looks great, well done and wishing you much happiness in it, once you 'arrive' for good ....

live to ski

Glad the hard work and worrying looks like it is paying off

Congrats - the house looks lovely and I am rather envious of the wood burning fireplace!

dbd33

<giggles> locally Gerrard Square is known as the Welfare Mall.