ray1968

Before you bought/rented your current house what type of accomodation did you have , stay with friends, rental, long tern hotel ?? and how was it arranged


We are currently working (advising really) with a relocation company for expats so any answers would be appreciated - thank you

dbd33

One week in the Delta Chelsea funded by my new employer. The cost, and that of the airfare, being repayable if I chose to leave within two years. Fortunately, I was fired.

ray1968

what happened after the first week at the delta?

Madmac

Two weeks at the Holiday Inn Express, Guelph funded by ourselves. Then into current rental home.

I miss the free cinnamon rolls.

Alberta_Rose

We found a furnished rental on Homerent.ca, that was only available for 2 months, but had the right # of bedrooms and would let us bring the dog! It was available at just the right time for us, and by the time that lease ran out we'd arranged an unfurnished place (negotiated down to 7 months let, it was advertised as a year's term) and our furniture arrived same day!

If only we'd managed to finalise our house sale, we'd probably have bought rather than taking on the second rental.

Biiiiink

We stayed here ---> http://www.rentcanada.com/wre/har170f.html for 2mths, booked for a month and extended weekly as needed, nowhere near as horrible as it looks on their website

Atlantic Xpat

Mrs AX who had returned to Canada some months before I landed had found and furnished a basement rental appartment through the local small ads. We lived there for ohh 4 monthsish before we bought our current palatial abode.

Novocastrian

When we arrived the first time, it was by car from Southern California with a six-week-old baby in the back seat. We entered Canada at Saulte-St.-Marie (it's a long story) and drove south down 400 until we reached Toronto, then the Lake near High Park. (Had to stop somewhere).

We checked into a motel on Lakeshore Bld, got the local free paper and made some calls to small ads from the neighbourhood. Two days later we moved into a rented 2nd floor flat on Garden Ave, a stone's throw from the Park.

Easy-peasy.

Piff Poff

We were dead lucky the Realtor we met on vacation in 2004 (who incedently was instrumental in my hubby getting his job offer) kept in touch with us and when we arrived in 2005 he and his family put up with my hubby for 2 months and all 3 of us for a further month, he was by then no longer a realtor but still had good connections, we are now firm friends (he moved from England as a teenager about 25 years ago). Whilst he was estranged from his missus he stayed with us - they are back together and working through their problems we can only hope that they figure out a compromise. Very lovely people

Novocastrian

Further to my tale... as I said we had a baby with us. In California, we'd had to move out of our apartment several months earlier because children were not allowed (so much for Murkin freedom).

When we called the landlady of the Garden Ave flat, I said we had a kid with us, would that be a deal-breaker? She laughed out loud (well before the internet) and said , well I have four. Come on over. We're still friends (24 years later).

Woodstock62

We rented a 3 bed townhouse for 3 weeks then moved in with friends for a week till we picked up the keys to our new house

Novocastrian

The second time we arrived, (as I said, it's a long story) we had already bought a house on a recce four months earlier, and timed the landing for the day before the closing date.

R2D2

We pre-arranged(from the UK) a 3 month unfurnished rental condo, with private landlords. We did this by having a contact over here who mailed us the local paper and we looked at the ads. We phoned the landlords, asked our contact (a realtor) to act as a go between and risked taking it unseen.
Yes, it was a risk, but we figured 3 months wasn't forever. Luckily it was lovely and our landlords went out of their way to help us. Lent us camping stuff, pots/pans, and even came with the keys and a bunch of flowers when we got there.

Souvenir

Our move was a military relocation, so pretty much everything was arranged and paid for by the government. We spent the first two nights in the Novotel in Toronto, then a week in Montreal, before living in the Oakville Ramada for about a month. We had a military house waiting for us in Oakville but nothing to put in it until our container arrived.

TheVickers

we stayed with my SIL and her family for 6 weeks until we had found a house and the sale went through.

They were also able to ferry us around getting our SIN cards, OHIP cards etc sorted.

Jo x