We may have bought a house (1) – the process

arrival, Househunting, ,

Yesterday evening we had our offer accepted on a modern townhouse in the Upper Beaches area.

The house was first listed on MLS on Friday, we saw it at an open house on Saturday and our realtor immediately started working on our offer and indicated our interest. He then presented the offer to the sellers and their realtor last night at 6.15pm, whilst we waited round the corner so that the contract could go backwards and forwards with minor adjustments (and lots of signatures!). Once it was finally accepted, we were invited to meet the sellers, which was lovely and meant that we got to see round the house again straight away! At this stage, the contract is only partially binding on us subject to conditions, which have to be lifted by Wednesday evening, but is binding on the seller.

Today we had to get a bank draft for the deposit and deliver this to be held in trust by the realtor. We also saw our lawyer to go through the legal requirements and costs. Tomorrow we will have the home inspection. This is similar to a home buyers report except that we and the realtor will walk through the property with the inspector and will have the chance to ask him questions. We also hope to have confirmation of our mortgage. These are the two conditions that we need to lift. Assuming these are fine, we then move to a binding contract (subject only to any legal issues that might emerge) and our lawyer starts his checks (similar to those in the UK).

If all is well, closing (completion) will take place between 30 November and 14 December, to be confirmed by 16 November.

A perfect Sunday in late fall . . .

Sightseeing, ,

We picked up breakfast-to-go at the Remarkable Bean (our favourite coffee shop on Queen St)  – great coffee, a roasted pepper and cream cheese muffin and a pear, walnut and blue cheese muffin.

An hour and a half or so of driving round Lake Ontario and we took off from the highway into the vineyards, fields and woodlands of the Niagara peninsular, soaking up the last of the fall glory before winter strips the trees.

fall-1-of-12-medium A vineyard in Niagara wine country, fall 2009
fall-10-of-12-medium Late fall 2009 (1 November)
fall-11-of-12-medium Late fall 2009 (1 November)
fall-12-of-12-medium Late fall 2009 (1 November)
fall-2-of-12-medium Late fall 2009 (1 November)
fall-3-of-12-medium Late fall 2009 (1 November)
fall-4-of-12-medium Late fall 2009 (1 November) - looking across from Niagara on the Lake to the US
fall-5-of-12-medium Late fall 2009 (1 November)
fall-6-of-12-medium Late fall 2009 (1 November)
fall-7-of-12-medium Late fall 2009 (1 November)
fall-8-of-12-medium Late fall 2009 (1 November)
fall-9-of-12-medium Late fall 2009 (1 November)
[Show as slideshow]

A quick lunch and wander in Niagara on the Lake, the first capital of the province and a lovely, small historic town, whetted our appetites for future visits, perhaps taking in the Shaw festival (as in George Bernard Shaw).

Then on down the Niagara Parkway, along the banks of the Niagara river, to catch our first glimpse of the falls before heading back.

dscn8453
dscn8451
dscn8452
dscn8445
dscn8446
dscn8439
dscn8463
dscn8436_0
dscn8437_0
dscn8468
dscn8443
dscn8470
The Falls Mascots The Falls Mascots
Niagara Falls - December 2011 Niagara Falls - December 2011
Niagara Falls Panoramic Niagara Falls Panoramic - from the Doubletree Hilton
Niagara Falls Panoramic Niagara Falls Panoramic - from the Doubletree Hilton
Horseshoe Falls - Niagara Horseshoe Falls - Niagara
Niagara Falls Panoramic Niagara Falls Panoramic - the Falls
Horseshoe Falls - Niagara Horseshoe Falls - Niagara (Gina)
American Falls - Niagara American Falls - Niagara
[Show as slideshow]
1 2

Driving towards downtown Toronto from whatever direction, the CN Tower already gives me a sense of ‘homecoming’ to our adopted city, especially when it is surrounded by gilded skyscrapers giving back the day.

Oh, and then we bought a house . . .

New Car!

arrival,

Our Car - Subaru Impreza 2.5i Sport I keep teasing Paul that this is his mid-life crisis car – its 2.5L engine purrs in a way that I am totally unaccustomed to!  I’ve certainly never known him brush the leaves off a car before.

On Wednesday evening we took possession of a brand new Rally Blue Subaru Impreza (this is Subaru’s signature color for their rally cars, hence the name).

Having considered both used and new cars, we came to the conclusion that this way we know what we are getting and hopefully reduce maintenance costs for the first few years.

We wanted a car that was not too huge but which did have at least hatchback space for transporting things as we will undoubtedly need to buy things when we find a house. Then there are all the outdoor activities we hope at some stage to try . . .

We also felt that it was important to buy a car that is designed to cope with Canadian winter. All Subarus have AWD (all wheel drive) and traction control. We bought ours with winter tires already fitted, hence ugly wheels for now – we have to wait for the spring for our alloys! (In Canada it is best to have two sets of wheels and tires; our dealer will change these over free of charge and store the set not in use) In addition to the niceties you would expect in the UK, we also have heated seats and heated windscreen wipers. (In taking the photos below, I realized that this car definitely smiles – can’t be a bad thing! Click to see the full version of the photos, which were taken in portrait rather than landscape mode.)

Our Car - Subaru Impreza 2.5i Sport Our Car - Paul sweeping away the leaves!

The guy who sold it to us (who juggles car sales with TV production) had an e-mail pinned above his desk from someone who had come back from a vacation to find her car buried under the snow piled at the kerb by the snow-ploughs. Whilst her neighbours looked on open-mouthed, she cleared her windscreen, dug her way into the driver’s door, then drove out of the drift! Whilst I hope we don’t need to do this, it is reassuring to have a car that copes well with snow.

One step nearer to becoming Canadians

arrival, ,

Hooray! Our PR (Permanent Resident) Cards arrived today.

This means we can now leave Canada and get back in without problems or further paperwork. It’s the nearest we will get to having Canadian passports for at least the next three years.

We will be able to apply for citizenship when we have spent a full three years out of four in Canada (this does not include any time we spend out of the country vacationing, on business or visiting the UK). We don’t have to apply for citizenship at this point; you can just have your PR card renewed every five years. But, of course, there are rights that citizenship confers that do not form part of resident status.

Our Canadian milestones (1)

arrival,

Until the last couple of days, I have not managed to keep our blog updated quite as well as I hoped. There’s a good reason for this; our feet haven’t touched the ground and my poor brain has been struggling to catch up with input overload, not to mention the change in time-zone and existing layer of fatigue!

Milestones to date include:

  • Arriving in Canada as landed immigrants (June 2009)
  • Setting up Bank Accounts
  • Getting a Rogers SIM for our mobile
  • Finding a Realtor (more than an Estate Agent – as buyers, we need a Realtor working for us and helping us negotiate a house purchase)
  • Meeting with a mortgage advisor
  • Getting our SINs (Social Insurance Numbers) – also in June (we are still waiting for our cards to arrive, forwarded by relatives to whom we had them sent)
  • Organizing a UPS mailbox as our initial address will be temporary (backed up by six months re-direction from the UK)
  • Arriving finally to begin life in Toronto (October 2009)
  • Meeting our Bank Account Manager and Branch Manager and sorting out the services we need (Canadian Banks still charge clients for various services, so it is important to set up the right kind of account and charging agreement)
  • Getting a safety deposit box at the Bank
  • Getting Library cards for our local library in the Beach
  • Paul’s first day at Tyco’s Markham (North Toronto) office – mostly he will work from home, but he has a hot-desk here. Markham is not realistically possible by public transport from here, so this first trip involved a hire car. The journey is similar to Paul’s commute from Wootton Bassett to Dorcan when he was in the UK.
  • Visiting Service Ontario to swap over out UK driving licenses for Ontario ones
  • Still at Service Ontario, using our new driving licences to provide the evidence of where we are living so as to register for OHIP (Ontario Health) coverage, which, for immigrants, comes in force three months (not 90 days) after landing.
  • Getting a new mobile phone because it was cheaper than buying a second SIM!
  • Looking for and buying a car (we pick this up tonight!)
  • Arranging auto insurance (horrendously expensive and without the benefit our UK insurance record, which we knew), with tenant insurance thrown in
  • Paul’s first Canadian conference a Stack Overflow Dev Day, for which he volunteered as a helper
  • Getting our first credit card (from the Bank) – this has surprised us as we had been given to understand that it is initially very difficult. We should have a further card shortly once American Express have checked out our UK history – they are the only credit card provider who will transfer such history from one country to another. Building a credit history as an incomer is important, so this is very helpful.

Hopefully life will now slow down a little and we can begin to explore what Toronto has to offer alongside moving our lives forward!