Am i going nuts or would you be nuts to buy a house with no confirmation of PR in your pocket, or not even having started the process?

If you were on a TWP and just arrived, my instinct tells me you should not buy as i could be put on a plane at any time back to UK, as a result of not being able to work for another Canadian employer...until PR is achieved.

Secondly i would have a temporary SIN causing any bank to look down their nose at me, despite how much money i might be earning with a new job here.

So i might have to rent for two years, which is awful and expensive and wasted money as we all know... but who would saddle themselves with a mortgage knowing you have no other income options if you lost your job?

I'm marrying a Canadian in January who already owns her own house, we both have jobs and have been offered crazy mortgages based on our earning potential. But i'm still on a TWP, and until my PR is approved I wouldn't commit either of us to that risk until i was sure i had other alternatives.

Clearly the exception to above are those that are already PR approved and moving from the UK, able to reinvest those assets (if applicable) on a house here.

Or am i missing something, do tell

We have been in Canada since 2007 as TWP's. Bought a house in 2008 and just received PR a few weeks ago! We like to live on the edge

I bought the family home and a rental property in 2005 while in Canada as a Visitor, initially applying for Sponsorship/PR externally and then (following CIC errors) an in Canada application, receiving PR in 2007.

I've been in Canada since 2001 on TWPs (I bit the bullet and applied for PR in 2010). In that time I've had mortgages in Quebec, Ontario and Saskatchewan.

Getting the mortgages was not hugely difficult even with a "915.. " SIN.

Find a half decent mortgage broker and you should be OK.

We bought on TWP's.

I moved here and bought property as a visitor, then applied for a TWP several months later. I got PR 3 years after that. Oh, and I had a mortgage from day 1 too, with no income. The credit line paid it for a while

Put on your brave pants.

If your buying in Edmonton i would buy now!!!

Sorry if I'm being a bit thick, but whats a "SIN"?

Cheers

Chris

social insurance number.

Well everyone else i spoke to thinks it's a big risk if you're here on a TWP to buy a house with no PR. This means you cannot work for any other Canadian employer if you lose your job. Frankly i'm surprised at the comments above but i reckon they don't constitute the majority - based on most of the expats i've spoken to. Risk has it's place but not in this case, IMHO.

Yes I agree it's a risk. These days applying for PR through the SW route seems to take a relatively short time (less than two years). If you have a WP for two years, you may as well apply for PR asap, lessons the risk.

It is also possible to come here as PR's buy that gorgeous dream home and then sell up and return to England the following year, it happens.

In our case when we got here there was ZERO rental availability, people were sleeping in tents in the green areas, our only choice was to buy or be homeless, house prices were going up by thousands a day because of demand.

OH had been issued a 3 month TWP that would be extended on completion of an exam, I had been issued a 6 month visitors permit that would be switched on completion of OH's exam. We put a lot of faith in the system and what immigration was telling us and all the eggs went into one basket.

In hindsight, it sounds really foolish and times have changed, jobs are lost and WP extensions are being declined, I wouldn't recommend our actions to anyone, especially those of faint heart

Yeah that's a roller coaster. I've been here 2.5 years - my initial PR application was messed up by my employer in the final stages and i had to apply again through a completely different track. I also needed a new TWP to keep working as i was close to the 2 year expiry when i got that decision and it was a stressful winter...oh and i had just gotten engaged

I don't have any faith in the system and i won't be committing to anything until i see it in writing. I'm no longer renting as my fiancee has her own property so we're saving our pennies for our wedding in January. We could buy this summer - but again if i lost my job with o PR i wouldn't want hert saddled with an increased mortgage payment!

I wouldn't even be n Canada if i hadn't spent a long time living by the seats of my pants and taking risks - but now i'm here with my life the way i (almost) want it, i don't want to blow myself out of the water by being impatient.

Who knows who's right, all depends on your own circumstances

We didn't buy on our TWP (but we did still have a house in UK). If we had failed our meds, and had bought we would have had to return home leaving a mortage in canada which would nowhere near be covered by rent income; or we would have to have sold up (possibly at a loss). So we didn't buy, still renting , buying this summer.

Are the prices set to rocket here soon? Were looking at buying within the next 2 months.