Logistics of a move - help!

[MrsZB]

Hi, we are highly likely to be moving abroad this time next year.

One of the things that I can't get my head around is how you manage when your belongings are in transit. I have read that it might take around 6 weeks for furniture etc to be shipped to Canada.

So what do you do when your furniture is in transit?!

I would be very grateful for any advice because this has been niggling away at me!

Many thanks:)

We moved 6 years ago, UK to USA. Fortunately my husbands firm paid for the relocation, but the 20ft sea container cost most of the money. We didn't sell our house straight away, but left it empty with some of our stuff in it that we didn't need. When we sold it 2 years later, the moving company packed up our stuff into another sea container and then arranged for it to be shipped and unpacked this end. That cost 3-4k. Not sure if they are still around, but the Company was Sterling. Very professional and none of our belongings were stolen, during the move (unfortunately did happen to a few friends). You need professional advice re what can be put in a container and what can't.

I would also consider air freight for a few bulky things that you can't take in your luggage, but you want sooner than 4-10 weeks, the sea container will take. The air freight arrived 10 days after we did.

Forgot to add, you will also need a specialist company for moving your pets. These vary in cost for 1.5 - 5k( for UK to USA). Friend used Flypets.co.uk for 2 cats.

Another friend when moving 2 dogs to UK from USA was quoted $6k!

It was a good few years ago but a 'high top' container cost us the same as a regular height container. It made all the difference to us as it was crammed full.

Thank you so much everyone. I'm reading and absorbing all of your comments. We had the official job offer through today which makes it all seem very real!!!

I would ask for a month in a furnished rental as part of the relocation package.

We didn't ship anything other than 8 boxes and brought as many suitcases as we could on the plane.

We left everything else and went to Ikea when we arrived x

There are three IKEA branches within 30 mins of the Downtown core! Welcome to Toronto!

Any ideas about where to live etc.?

Thanks britinus

Hi UKSounding I was just checking about ikea earlier! I like the look of Upper Beaches, Leslieville and Riversale. I fancy being East for some reason. Open to suggestions though. We have 2 kids so schools really important.

Those are pretty safe choices, although pretty spendy as they are popular. You realistically need about CAD$1.25 million plus to buy any sort of family home in those areas. You picked the "wrong end" though! The West End is vastly superior!!! Joking - there is friendly rivalry, much like north versus south of the river in London. I live in the west end, so you won't get much sense out of me.

You can find the most middle class schools/areas using the Frazier Institute ranking: www.compareschoolrankings.org These rankings are a proxy for SES as State-funded ie public schools schools are generally pretty decent, and schools in lower SES areas get extra resourcing. The school boards have maps on their websites which allow you to plug an address in and find out which school your kids would have to attend. There is no "list of preferences" like in the U.K. You pretty much go to the catchment school, although here is very limited system-gaming with French Immersion at elementary level and specialist schools at high school level.
Realtor.ca website allows you to do virtual house shopping. Remember when you first arrive you won't have a credit score so you won't have the option to buy unless you are paying cash and even renting will be very difficult.

I would strongly recommend that you try to prioritize proximity to public transit (preferably subway) as traffic in Toronto is awful.

Feel free to fire specific questions in my direction - as long as they are about areas west of Yonge St. :-)

Thanks UK. I just like the idea of being nr the beaches.

We will definitely rent at first but would hope to buy eventually.

I'll come back if I think of any more questions- thanks so much :)

We paid £6k to have our stuff shipped out to the US. That was a 40-foot container.

All in we asked for $15k to pay for our move (family of 5). That didn't include visas or moving any pets.

We moved at the start of the summer and rented a furnished summer house till our stuff arrived.

My top tip for moving is get an AMEX card in uk for 6 months before you move then you can set up a card in US

Remember you will have no history so everything is a chore - getting a bank account, etc

As soon as you land apply for your social security numbers - you cannot do anything without this -
Your husband won't be able to get paid, you won't be able to get a US bank account, etc

If you are on an L2 visa you will need an employment card to be able to work, this can take about 3 months x

Stay with friends/family once your stuff has been packed up and shipped off or when you arrive move into a serviced apartment while you work out where you want to live ! Happy travels !

Remember you will have no history so everything is a chore - getting a bank account, etc

Yes - and you may be asked to pay a much larger deposit up front for apartments, utilities etc.

Thanks so much everyone- I really appreciate all the tips :)

Ooh we've done this: UK to USA and now coming back in a couple of weeks

A few things to add to all the helpful posts you've already got:

(Also this applies to USA so Canada might be different)

Hopefully your relocation package will give you a lump sum - but with us they only pay for transport of goods up to 5k and we have to provide receipts - so can't just take the money and buy new furniture with it etc.
We are going with John Mason's this time and it's costing £3700, but we're not shipping much furniture - only one room's worth, the rest is just household items (about 300 cubic feet)

Don't bother shipping anything electrical - unless it's dual voltage it won't work over there (USA at least)

The wiki expat forums are very very useful!

Beds are different dimensions so we didn't ship any bedding. Even The exact same Ikea cot we own has different dimensions in UK and USA!

We paid for an extra bag when flying so could take as much as possible with us, and this time we will be sending a couple of boxes of things we may need via UPS/FedEx (air) so will be there just after we arrive - just takes a couple of days.

Not having credit history is a total pain, and the Amex tip didn't work for us. We had to borrow money from my mum to be able to buy a car as couldn't get one on finance. We took out secured credit cards at first to built credit history. There are many blogs online about other ways to build it up. Finally got a good rating after 2 years and now we are leaving 😂

Wetransfer is a great cheap service for moving money, and they've just launched an international bank account that is way cheaper than any of The major banks

Hmm there's probably lots more! But you have plenty of time to prepare, we only had a month or so and managed, so you will be fine

Good luck!!

Oh and regarding renting an apartment without a credit history - this wasn't a problem for us. We took copies of mortgage statements to prove we are responsible and keep up payments, brought character references and job references, copies of our credit scores in UK, copies of job offer letter etc. Most landlords were reasonable enough to take our situation into account and had encountered foreign tenants before

Argh sorry TRANSFERWISE not wetransfer! Very low fees for moving money internationally

Unfortunately the rental market in Toronto is very much in favour of the landlord rather than the tenant atm as there more people wanting to rent than apartments available on the market. No credit history is a big problem for renters as landlords don't need to take the risk (and it is a very lengthy process to legally evict tenants here.)
There is also quite a bit of fraud with landlords taking deposits from people for apartments that don't actually exist - I thought that it was an urban myth until it happened to one of our students a couple of weeks ago.

The tip about beds being a different size is a valid one though.

This makes me feel worried! Maybe the company can help us. It's a good job role so we can get a letter to vouch for us. Hopefully that will help.

Thank you everyone. So helpful and I appreciate you taking the time to reply :)

There are a couple of large management companies that are "new-Canadian" friendly - Minto Rentals is the one we used when we first arrived, but we had very good USA credit history and you won't have that. You are going to need to lean hard(!) on the company that is relocating you to work this out for you. You want them to do more than write you a letter.