Charles Burgess' Live In Canada E-Zine
   www.CanadaImmigrationInfo.com Charles@askaboutcanada.com   

In This Issue
Issue 3/01/5 - {!date long+1}   

  • Decisions, decisions, decisions....
  • Update on the property scene, and... owning a car!
  • Which city in Canada is right for you?

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A Note From Charles

Dear {!name_fix},

Greetings to you from Canada. Spring is in the air here in Vancouver and the sun has been shining brightly through the windows. Last night I took my dog for a long walk along the edge of the golf course where I live and we wandered down towards the sea. I needed a pullover because it was starting to get a little cooler. But it was far from cold. It was relatively light still at 6.15 pm and there were golfers out on the golf course. I looked in the newspaper today and I saw that the temperature yesterday was nearly 20 degrees Celsius. Compare that to 22 in San Diego, 26 in LA, 6 in New York, and 3 in Boston. We do okay in Vancouver.

I met a friend while I was walking who had arrived back yesterday afternoon from a business trip to Toronto. He told me that it was -1 degree yesterday and how happy he was to be back in Vancouver.

Weather plays an important role in many of our lives, for some it’s more important than others. It’s something that you need to consider when you think about where you want to live in Canada. There are other things too….

I have some friends who wouldn’t dream of living anywhere else but in Toronto. They couldn’t be bothered about the weather. They love the “big city” aspect, the LA style highways, the cosmopolitan atmosphere, lots of trendy places to visit in the evenings, all the latest stage and theatre shows hitting the city, and the hustle, bustle and busyness that any big city brings with it. And then there are people who love cattle country. They love Texas and they love Alberta. They would not want to live anywhere else but in Calgary.

And don’t forget jobs…it would probably be easier to land the job you are looking for in Toronto than in most of the other cities. And owning a house…in Edmonton you could get a nice family home for the price of a small apartment in Vancouver. It pays to do your research well. Having to move again, after your move to Canada, can be costly in terms of both time and money. Good luck…..

Warmest wishes to you from Canada

PS: I will be doing something special for all subscribers to this newsletter in the next few weeks. So look out for it!

Breaking News From Canada

Property

The property market in Canada continues to be strong. Here is the average prices (all in Canadian dollars) of properties sold in some of the big cities for the month of January 2005:

Toronto: $323 141.00
Edmonton: $180 800.00
Calgary: $240 328.00
Vancouver: $377 100.00
Victoria: $396 500.00

Comparing January 2005 to January 2004, prices were up for all these cities.

The economy is strong and low interest rates tend to have a positive influence on the strong market.

Recently interest rates have been as low as:

2 year: 3.99%
5 year: 4.65%
7 year: 5.02%
10 year: 5.40%

This would mean that if you finance the purchase of your home with a $250 000.00, 10 year mortgage, and you chose to pay back the loan over 25 years, your monthly payment at 5.40% would be about $1511.64. The interest rate and your payments would remain the same for ten years.

Car Prices

By worldwide standards, cars tend to be very reasonably priced in North America. To give you an idea of what you could expect to pay for a car, here are some cars and their prices currently being advertised in the newspapers. All are brand new 2005 models and the prices are in Canadian dollars:

Toyota Echo Hatchback CE (small car) - $14 025.00. You could lease this car from around $168.00 per month with a down payment of $1 575.00

Dodge Ram 1500 Quad Cab SLT 4X4 Hemi (5.7Litre truck with 4 doors and lots of extras like 20” aluminum polished wheels, power windows, locks and mirrors and lots more) - $34 288.00. You could lease this for around $428.00 per month with no down payment

Dodge SX 2.0 (4 door family car) - $13 788.00. Lease for $199.00 per month with $850.00 down payment.

Remember that all these leases have some kind of financial commitment at the end of the lease period. Prices in Canada are in many instances negotiable so that you may well pay a different price from somebody else for the same vehicle.

 

VISIT OUR HOMEPAGE

Charles Recommends

Do your research well when you are considering where you are going to live in Canada. Take into consideration all the factors that are going to impact on you settling comfortably and happily into your new lifstyle.

We chose Vancouver because of the pleasant weather and because of the natural beauty of the place. We live about 40 minutes from the city centre and you would never believe it. Two days ago we had deer wandering through the back yard and every summer the biggest threat to our security is not a gun or being mugged. It's the number of black bears that come down from the mountain and amble around the garden. We are lucky to live close to nature.
We are about 8 minutes from the sea and 12 minutes from the nearest ski slope.

If we didn't want to live so close to nature, we could live downtown in a highrise apartment building. Many of them have spectacular sea and mountain views. Downtown Vancouver is very similar in concept to Manhattan, just many times cleaner, a lot safer and very much more modern (and of course much smaller). Many Europeans like Vancouver because of the many sidewalk cafes, coffee shops, late night delis, high end supermarkets and of course the renowned Robson Street for shopping!

I am going to sign off now...it's the weekend and the weatherman says its going to be gloriously sunny and warm all weekend!!

Oh Yes...email me if you have any questions about Vancouver in particular or other Canadian cities. Email me too, if there is anything on your mind that you want to discuss about moving to Canada. I love hearing from you!

PS: I will be writing soon to you pesonally about something that I would like to do for you as a newsletter subscriber.

PSS: I would like to hear from you the reasons why you are either planning a move to Canada, thinking about immigrating, or have already got your immigration application submitted. I am surveying the reasons why people want to live in Canada and I would value your response even if its just a few lines long! Please take a few minutes now before you forget!!

 

VISIT OUR HOMEPAGE

 


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About AskAboutCanada.com

We provide useful information if you are thinking about visiting, studying, working or living in Canada.

We provide up to date information to help you make the right decisions.

Read the latest breaking news from Canada as it affects you.

We will periodically refer you through our newsletter to professionals who can assist you in the immigration process and to contacts who can also help you to settle comfortably into your new life in Canada.

We sometimes make special privilege offers to our newsletter subscribers.

Contact Charles Burgess at charles@askaboutcanada.com if we can assist in referring you to a professional who can work with you in the immigration process or to one of our contacts who can help you with settling into Canada.


 



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