Saturday 29 November 2008

High-demand occupations

The list of high-demand occupations for Federal Skilled Workers has been publish! As soon as I read the news, I couldn't leave without posting about it.

You can find the list of occupations here:
Job Categories
If you don't see your occupation in a category, look in another one, don't give up!!

The information in the CIC web page says that everyone that has applied after February 28, 2008 and his/her occupation is not in the list, will be contacted to return them their money and the application form. You can read the news here.

There are 38 occupations in the list and among them I found medicine, chefs and cooks, IT Managers, University Professors, and almost everything in the Oil Industry, among others. Good luck to everyone waiting for this list!!! And remember that it doesn't matter if your occupation is in this list, if you have a job offer!

Thursday 27 November 2008

A year ago...

366 days ago (leap year) we took a plane to an unknown country, with only 4 suitcases, the money the embassy asked us to have, and many dreams of a new life.

366 days ago we didn't know what to expect, we said goodbye to our families and left for a new path of life, a new beginning.

366 days ago, we arrived extremely tired to a new country, but with so much energy that we didn't sleep the whole day.

Today we still have many dreams and hopes.

Today we are one of the most happy people of the world.

Today we have jobs in our areas.

Today is the closing date of our new house, our new home.

Today is our 1 year anniversary of happiness in this wonderful country that opened its doors for us. WE ARE HAPPY!!! Thank you for being with us in this adventure!!

Sunday 23 November 2008

Moving day I - Boxes


We are moving!! Soon :) So we needed boxes of course! There are a few places were you can find boxes.

1) You can buy them at Staples or somewhere similar
2) You can look for them in recycling centres or rooms
3) Do like us, go to a supermarket and ask them at what time is the best time to get their empty boxes, for free ;)

We went to the supermarket at 6am or 11pm and was perfect! We managed to get a lot of free boxes that we are using for our moving day, so you can save a little more for your new home :)

Monday 17 November 2008

Santa Claus Parade

Yesterday was Santa Claus Parade, so we went to welcome him!!

It was really fun, crowded and cold xD If it wasn't for the kids, I don't think I would have stayed more than half an hour, but they make it worth it :D We went with my "adoptive" nephew and the son of a friend :)

We saw floats:




Bands, and all kind of fun things!




I didn't know about Canada Post picking up Santa's cards so next year we'll have it ready ^^



You can see a lot more pictures here

Friday 14 November 2008

Home insurance

I'm sorry that I've been so lost, but I've been working so much that right now, 10:48pm I'm at the office with prospects of returning home tomorrow morning!! ;)

My next post was going to be about home insurance, but today I was talking with my friend Hernan and we were just talking about it, so I thought it would be a nice idea to make this post just with the conversation we had, I hope you enjoy it!

The home insurance, I'm confused, I have insurance for all my belongings, now, the home insurance is that? or is something else that covers fires or whatever

I was just thinking about doing my next post about it. My home insurance covers up to 250.000 if I recall correctly, plus the belongings and liability. So it would be water damage, fire damage, someone stealing your things or something happening to a neighbor or someone else because of you. For example, someone falling on the sidewalk of your house because you didn't clean it, or a fire that started at your house damages the neighbor's house.

But, if I already have insurance for my belongings, do I already have home insurance?

no necessarily

I have my insurance for my belongings where I am right now, so I just have to change the address once I move and that's it, but now I understand that I have to get a new insurance for my new home?

yes, but ask your lawyer about it, because in our case they told us that they wouldn't give the keys for the house until we had a home insurance.

So, you already have a home insurance?

We are going to have the mortgage insurance, the home insurance, and the life insurance for the amount of the mortgage.

You get the home insurance a week before the closing date, but we already talked to our insurance agent and she already gave us a quote and the lawyer is going to talk to her from now on.

ok, I'll also have the mortgage insurance and the life insurance with the mortgage amount, so now I have to make sure about the home insurance.
and do you have to get a special insurance for that home insurance or it can be any insurance company?

Yes, any insurance company
We have the home insurance and the life insurance with the same people since they have special packages.

How much are you going to pay for the home insurance? I'm paying $60 for the life insurance and $125 for the mortgage insurance

The mortgage insurance is charged with the mortgage and is aprox. $1600, so I don't know how much is just the mortgage insurance. The life insurance is going to be between $40 and $20, depending on the medical tests... The home insurance is right now $75 and once I get car insurance with them, the home insurance will be aroung $54

so, then the home insurance will include everything, the house and the belongings?

Yeap... until certain amount of course
5000 in computers, 5000 in jewelry, and I don't know how much for everything else.

and what did you have to do to get the home insurance? did they do an inspection or your word was enough?

half my word and half the house listing that the realtor gives the insurance company, or the lawyer.

does the listing has everything about the house?
construction year, etc, etc?

Construction year was my word (which the inspector gave me)... the listing is the one you saw on the Internet which it says how many bedrooms and bathrooms the house has.

So now you know it, when buying a house, don't forget the home insurance ;)

Sunday 9 November 2008

Aclaration about how to buy a house

I'm sorry that I've been so lost from my blog this last week, I have SO much work right now! So please stay with me :)

I want to use this post to publish an aclaration my friend and realtor Pedro sent to me about one of my posts:

"Since you are giving only 5% of downpayment, the mortgage is considered "high ratio", so the bank asks for insurance. If the downpayment was equal or higher than 20% of the price of the house, that insurance wouldn't be necessary, although you still can get it if you want to. The institution most commonly used for that is CMHC(http://www.cmhc.ca/); although there are others. The web site has a lot of information about the type of insurance and the premiun applicable depending of the downpayment."

This ends everything I can remember about buying a home, so the next posts will be about moving! :D

Sunday 2 November 2008

Buying costs

Once you've found the house and made an offer, you have to get approved for a mortgage with a particular rate of interest, make the inspection and wait... The mortgage broker will let you know who is going to be your particular lender and how much will be the rate of interest you'll pay. If you are giving 5% or less of initial, you have to have a mortgage insurance that will guarantee the bank their money in case you can't pay.

So, how long do you have to wait for the closing date? Well, that depends on different factors, did you sell your house? did the sellers found a house? Do you have the money? etc. The wait can be from 2 weeks to 6 months, in our case we are waiting 2 months from the date of the offer.

What do we do while we wait? Get the money!!! These are the things you need to pay when buying a house of $336.000 with $10.000 of deposit and 5% of downpayment:
- Lawyers and transaction Fees: aprox. $900
- Land Transfer tax: aprox. $3500
- Mortgage fee (CMHC fee+ references): aprox. $380
- DOWNPAYMENT: $16800 (5%) - $10.000 = $6800

So, after paying $10.000 with the offer, we still need to pay aprox. $12.000 more the day of the closing ;) So, don't forget to add all the other things you need to pay when buying!

And when calculating what you are going to pay monthly for your house, don't forget:
- Mortgage
- Insurance
- Utilities
- Taxes