Monday, March 08, 2004
Page count today = 527
I seem to have bitched about all the things I don't like about Canada. Let me tell you straight - it really is great here, and I'm in no mind to return to Britain. The people are friendlier than anywhere else I've been, the scenery is just as pretty as any other place you care to mention, and life feels like it's going somewhere, rather than you're just existing for the hell of it.
The drive into Guelph this morning was very scenic. The sky was overcast pure white, and there was a sprinkling of snow on the ground, maybe an inch. It had settled on the trees, making the entire landscape appear black and white. Shame we didn't have a camera in the car. It was a wonderful way to start the day.
We went house hunting on Saturday, and saw a few houses in Guelph that were not right for us. Kitchen was too small, or the back yard wasn't private, or too run down and needed a lot of time, effort and money spent. We decided on Sunday to cast our nets a little wider, and we've been given a lead that there are a few houses in southern Kitchener near the 401, within our price range. We'll check them out this weekend coming.
As a landed immigrant, I can get a mortgage without having a job, if I put at least 35% down as deposit. This is handy, as we're assured that financing is in place now if we find the house of our dreams and have to put an offer in straight away. At least one bank has said "Yes" to us, and rather than approach many lenders, we'll likely go with that one bank. It seems that if you get too many credit checks on your name, it adversely affects your credit rating, so one mortgage offer is fine, especially as it appears to be at the lowest rates we've found so far.
Buying/selling a house in Canada is a lot different from doing it in Britain. Some bits are better, some worse, but the whole process is done in writing to agreed timescales, so that much takes out a bit of worry and uncertainty. There's also a central service, listing all properties for sale, called MLS. You can search the database of houses for sale, specifying price range etc. For example, if you wanted to search in Guelph, you'd go to the Guelph MLS. Not a bad idea :-)
I got my Maple Leaf card in the post - it's my Permanent Resident status card, proving that I have the permanent right to live in Canada, as long as I stay here at least 3 years out of any 5. Once I've lived here for 3 years, I can apply for citizenship, so come 14th February 2007, I'll be lining up at the CIC, application form in hand!
Just to let you all know that life here isn't sucky. It's great, and I'm really enjoying it so far.
I seem to have bitched about all the things I don't like about Canada. Let me tell you straight - it really is great here, and I'm in no mind to return to Britain. The people are friendlier than anywhere else I've been, the scenery is just as pretty as any other place you care to mention, and life feels like it's going somewhere, rather than you're just existing for the hell of it.
The drive into Guelph this morning was very scenic. The sky was overcast pure white, and there was a sprinkling of snow on the ground, maybe an inch. It had settled on the trees, making the entire landscape appear black and white. Shame we didn't have a camera in the car. It was a wonderful way to start the day.
We went house hunting on Saturday, and saw a few houses in Guelph that were not right for us. Kitchen was too small, or the back yard wasn't private, or too run down and needed a lot of time, effort and money spent. We decided on Sunday to cast our nets a little wider, and we've been given a lead that there are a few houses in southern Kitchener near the 401, within our price range. We'll check them out this weekend coming.
As a landed immigrant, I can get a mortgage without having a job, if I put at least 35% down as deposit. This is handy, as we're assured that financing is in place now if we find the house of our dreams and have to put an offer in straight away. At least one bank has said "Yes" to us, and rather than approach many lenders, we'll likely go with that one bank. It seems that if you get too many credit checks on your name, it adversely affects your credit rating, so one mortgage offer is fine, especially as it appears to be at the lowest rates we've found so far.
Buying/selling a house in Canada is a lot different from doing it in Britain. Some bits are better, some worse, but the whole process is done in writing to agreed timescales, so that much takes out a bit of worry and uncertainty. There's also a central service, listing all properties for sale, called MLS. You can search the database of houses for sale, specifying price range etc. For example, if you wanted to search in Guelph, you'd go to the Guelph MLS. Not a bad idea :-)
I got my Maple Leaf card in the post - it's my Permanent Resident status card, proving that I have the permanent right to live in Canada, as long as I stay here at least 3 years out of any 5. Once I've lived here for 3 years, I can apply for citizenship, so come 14th February 2007, I'll be lining up at the CIC, application form in hand!
Just to let you all know that life here isn't sucky. It's great, and I'm really enjoying it so far.
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