# Moving to Toronto



## Cian5000 (Jul 1, 2011)

Hi All,

My family and I will be moving to Toronto from the UK just before Christmas and I was hoping some British or Irish expats could give me some pointers.

My company will be putting us up for the first couple of months in an apartment but we will need to find somewhere a bit more permanent fairly quickly. We are a young couple early to mid thirties with a 2 year old and a newborn. My wife wont be returning to work until next summer so we are looking for somewhere she can meet other Moms and do all those things that keep them busy. 

We are currently living in a beautiful english town that has excellent bars, restaurants and other amenities and we have grown to appreciate how living somewhere we enjoy means so much. We are looking for somewhere relatively quiet, my job is based in the Markham area so I have been looking at Pickering and Richmond Hill (although I notice this is more expensive). We are looking to spend around the $1400 to $1500 but could go a bit higher for the right place. I'm not a big fan of commuting so within 30 minutes of Markham is a must.

Any suggestions, comments or advice about the move and possible destinations would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers


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## trailingspouse (Aug 15, 2009)

Have you checked out viewit.ca? That is probably one of the best websites to find rentals.

Thornhill is nice, (SW Markham). There are some condo townhouses at Bayview and John St which may be within your budget and are location right next to a mall and community centre. Some of the older apartment buildings closer to Yonge St are excellent value for money.

You definitely want to avoid commuting into Toronto/Markham along the 401, as that is horrendously slow during rush hour, so Pickering may not be a good option.

There are several rental townhouse complexes on Valleywoods Drive, which you might look at. Commuting north to Markham from there wouldn't be bad as most of the traffic is heading south in the morning.

I would say that $1,500 a month for a 2 bedroom is pretty much a minimum. If you can increase your budget you'll find a better selection.

Good luck!


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## ClaytonP (Apr 15, 2011)

Try Stouffville, it's got a small town feel and there's a GO train station that runs to Union Station downtown.

I live in the country north of Pickering, East of Markham (Ashburn is the town) and it's quite beautiful around here (if you don't mind rural living). Glen Major forest is a large conservation area that has the best mountain biking and cross country skiing around. There's also tons of golf courses and some (very) small ski hills. It takes us 30 minutes on hwy 7 to get to Markham from here.

You should also look into Brooklin. It's north of Whitby and they are building a toll highway that will run right into Markham, it might not be done for a couple years though.


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## JPhomes (Jul 4, 2012)

*My Advice would be...*

Hi

By the sound of things you need an area where you wife would meet other mums, who do coffee/tea and often meet in the children's play group. A place where it'll be easy to meet new friends.

I'd recommend you look at Davisville Village, in Toronto. Its great for your age group (young 30 somethings with kids) It about a 30 mins drive to Markham, but there is plenty to do. Lots of restaurants, little cafes and some great parks.

Re your budget, I'd try and push it a bit. You'll love the neighbourhood.

Another tip would be to get a real estate agent to look out for lease properties for you. As you're the renter/leaser you pay them nothing as its the landlord who pays.

Also have a look at the Landlord and Tenants Act for Ontario. Its there to protect your rights.

If you need any more info then just shout.

Cheers

P.S As I'm new to the forum it won't let me post any links until I've done 4 active posts. So if you want the links then reply and we can between us get myself to 4 posts and then I can post links to relevant info for you.

Jason


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## minimouse (Oct 18, 2011)

Hi we moved to Toronto in January and we were staying in an apartment in the city until we found our own accommodation. 

We had a 1 year old at the time and it was hard with it being winter so come prepared for the cold, good jackets, ski suits for the kids and pram covers are a must if you don't have a car when you first arrive and have to walk everywhere. Also be prepared for the odd illness and eczema (your skin gets really dry because of the cold, we've never had eczema before but we all got it when we arrived and mine was so bad I couldn't sleep at night) so knowing where your local doctor and pharmacy is will help. 

I don't really know Toronto well so can't speak for Markham and the area you're staying in but make sure you know where you local supermarket before you arrive. We arrived and because we were in the Financial district the local metro had minimal baby products think 1 pack of wipes and was a good 15 minute walk away.

Rental wise it's not the best time to be looking as most people tend to move in the warmer months. Over here you engage a real estate agent to show places with your criteria. They get paid a commission for finding a tenant about one months rent paid by the landlord. Your budget is pretty tight so you might need to consider bumping it up to $2000 or more. We looked at places that we're around $1800 and they were not what we were used to and not suitable for us, as in no backyard (we have a wee one now and that suits us) and not fenced in or a student type rentals that were a bit run down. Fine if your a student but not for us.

We found finding a rental really stressful but we got there in the end. Our first real estate agent was really rude and implied no one would want to rent to us as we were foreigners and didn't have a credit rating. In the end we found our own rental and the real estate agent was very professional but beware some real estate agents are less than honest (not specific to Canada). One insisted we had to pay 1 years full rent in advance, not true all at! Like most places it's 2 months rent (1 in advance and 1 as bond).

If you can buy a car ASAP that would help with getting set up and make life in the winter more bearable. It was a mild winter when we arrived but it was still a shock after spending Christmas in the UK with family. It really is a car culture here and things are spread out. New cars a reasonable but you have to remember to add tax to the price displayed about 13%. Secondhand cars even new ones tend to have high mileage on them so don't be surprised to see a 3 year old car with 100 000 on the clock.

Luckily you have 60 days to get you Ontario License and the UK has an agreement which allows you to trade your UK License for an Ontario one. As an NZer I had to sit the tests but my English husband was able to use his UK License. Car insurance is expensive so about $2000 year we found even third party was going to cost about $1500. My husband had to file a large amount of paperwork to get our insurance at that price as our first quote were coming in at $4000.

As far as coffee groups go she should try the Early Years Centres for a place for the kids to play inside in the winter and meet other mums, there are local ones all over Toronto. There is also a website called Meetup. You could also try expat groups on Facebook and on forums. I've had limited success with meeting mums but I'm still trying and even tried swimming lessons which are run through the Toronto city council Parks, Forests and Recreation. Swimming lessons are cheap but don't expect your kids to learn to swim based on the ones we were enrolled in but if you want to have a play in the water they're fine. 

Childcare wise if you're wife intends to work in the summer start looking for childcare as soon as possible as there are long waiting lists especially for the city run ones and a lot of them don't do part time. You're looking at $90 per day for an infant under 18 months and $50 per day for a 2.5 year old. It gets cheaper as they get older and the ratio of teacher to child goes up. This includes food but not nappies and formula. You can look on Toronto city council and use their childcare finder. You can apply for a subsidy but you need to be in the system as I think it's first in first served type thing.

Also if you can set up your bank account in the UK before you arrive, we went with a local bank when we got here but because we have no credit rating we have really low credit limit on our cards even though my husband has a good job. So we're in the process of moving to HSBC they will allow us to have a much higher credit card limit and withdraw a lot more cash from our bank accounts and use our cards in the UK, NZ and Aus.

Phone wise we went with Rodgers again lots of paper work because of a lack of credit rating but once we got start they're been good but my mobile is expensive but they all are over here. My husband had his with work so we did have one when we arrived.

Another thing to remember is add tax as prices don't include tax, I think 13% and add service 15% for service restaurants and hairdressers etc...I'm still not good at this and still get a little confused about when to tip. Most food doesn't have tax unless it's junk food.

Hope this helps, the more prepared you are the better!


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## minimouse (Oct 18, 2011)

Sorry for the novel. 6am and have a cold and can't sleep.


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## emma329 (May 21, 2012)

Dont apologise Mini Mouse-ur info is fab to give us all an idea xx We are in the process of going thru the emigrating process with a Canadian agency so been told it'll prob take a year but I'm expecting it to take longer with the way they r holding back the skilled workers visas.


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## bellybells (Nov 26, 2012)

Have you had any luck with your visa or finding a place to stay? I will be in the same boat come July next year - my husband and I, also in our thirties, will be moving with a toddler and newborn. Daunting prospect! Any advice would be much appreciated!


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