Relocating to Toronto for job
 

My brother in law is relocating to Toronto from Pune, India for two years with his family. He has never moved from Pune before and asked me for some advice.

Since I have never been to Canada, I was hoping to get some help from the experts on this board.

He has some basic questions:

1) Housing -- how much and how to get around finding a place to stay?
2) Credit cards -- Is it similar to the US systems -- does he need to establish a credit history or score first?
3) Car -- does he really need one to get around? How is the public transportation system?

Any other advice would be great.

Thanks in advance.

Do you know where the job is? What company? Toronto is a large metro area. Just saying in Toronto isnt enough. If its downtown or in certain areas you could get around without a car....there are other areas you need a car...it will be difficult to get around on just oublic transportation.

Cost of living is high in Toronto....hopefully the company isnt low balling him with a cheaper offer only for him to find out he could barely survive there.

As for the real estate/credit Im not familiar with that. I have a friend who lives in Toronto who is in the real estate area.

With him being on a work Vida I wouldnt even entertain the though of purchasing real estate...only look to rent an apartment.

Does he know how to drive? Canada like the USA is a right side of the road driving country.

He would be working at Toronto Dominion Bank which on google maps is shown in Old Toronto and near the entertainment district.

I am sure he is not going to purchase real estate -- but where would he get info on rentals and the such.

He does drive in India so I am sure he could figure it out in Canada.

I need to ask him how much is his salary so we could help him figure out his needs.

I'll try to tackle some of your questions but more info will be needed

1) Housing -- how much and how to get around finding a place to stay?

How big is his family? How many bedrooms does he want? Apartment/Condo or House? What area of the city? The cost of renting a place will vary significantly based on your answers - location - location - location.

You can easily rent a place for a family of four from $1,400.00 CAD per month to $14,000.00 CAD.

2) Credit cards -- Is it similar to the US systems -- does he need to establish a credit history or score first?

Yes it is similar to the US. Visa and Mastercard are widely used and American Express is relatively popular also. I'm sure most of the Canadian banks will issue him a Canadian credit card with a low limit if he stops in for a visit once he has an established address.

3) Car -- does he really need one to get around? How is the public transportation system?

Yes. His family will almost certainly need at least one car. Toronto's public transit system is poor compared to most of the developed world. Toronto's transit system does not come close to Paris, London, or New York City. That is not to say that using public transit is impossible. In some rare instances it's even useful. It is very dependent on where his work is located and where he is interested in living (basically if the subway or GO Transit goes from where he is to where he wants to be).

For two years is might be easier to buy something used then sell it when he leaves. Consider starting on autotrader.ca (note these are initial asking prices and, after negotiation, you should almost always be paying less). He will also need insurance.

Edit: I missed the fact he will be working downtown at TD. My answers, however, are still applicable.

TD has many locations with different operations so he might not be at the downtown head office location. There are major departments in Markham, Richmond Hill, Mississauga as well. Their IT HQ and data centre will never show up on Google for security reasons.

You should find out exactly where the work location is first.


1) other issues: Close to work or more comfortable neighbourhood, more living space ($/sf rent) or close to ethnic group.

2) Since he is working for TD just get TD to issue him a personal Canadian TD VISA.

3) for a family in Toronto you need at least one car to get around.

He is staying around London, Ontario according to my wife. Have yet to talk to him.

I will tell him to get a monthly rent budget figured out soon so he can start looking.

He is very interested in buying a used car.

London is not Toronto!
 

anaggie, just to clarify, London Ontario is NOT Toronto. It is approx 200km (south)west of Toronto, and in non-rush hour traffic, approx 2 hours drive. If it is indeed London, Ontario he and his family are moving to, then I would strongly recommend a car.

I think it would be prudent to find out more details about your Brother-in-Law's relocation in order for us to provide you with relevant information.

London does not surprise me, Since the TD/CT merger there is still quite a operation in London from the CT side.

London, more need for a car or two.

http://www.td.com/about-tdbfg/corpor...le/profile.jsp

http://www.london.ca/

London is a much more affordable city to live in compared to Toronto. A car is a definite asset here, and it's very easy to drive. From the TD towers downtown to the neighbourhoods on the outskirts of the city might take 25 minutes in traffic. London also has a decent sized Indian population.

Just pulled up Pune's and London's wikipedia pages, so you can compare the cities. I see Pune has about 10x the population of London, while both are similarly sized urban areas.

He should check if American Express offers the Global Transfer service from India to Canada. If yes, and if he is eligible for even a low Amex card in India, he should get it and use it as much as possible (and always pay the full amount every month!) After a few months he can exchange it for a Canadian Amex card for free through the Global Transfer service which will make a LOT of things easier very quickly.

He should check with TD to see if they offer the services of a relocation specialist/advisor. Most multinational's do. If so, they should have the answers to these types of questions.

I have lived in both Toronto and London.

If he is looking to live in Toronto and he is actually working at a TD near the entertainment district then there is any number of condos to rent around there. They are small, but he could walk to work and wouldn't necessarily need a car (depending on his job and the weekend activities he is interested in). Cost for a decent 1 bedroom plus den to 2 bedroom condo in that area is $1,700+/month (often above $2,000 for a two bedroom) and parking and storage can be extra depending upon the unit. Apartments are typically less, but not as nice and mostly don't have in-unit laundry, amenities, etc.

In London - yes, one definitely needs a vehicle. The buses are ok, but there is no other real transit to speak of and it is quite spread out. Housing is cheaper (and larger) but for a nice unit downtown it can still be pricey. It IS possible to commute daily from Toronto to London (people do it by car, although I don't advise it) and the Via Rail train schedule is also set up in such a way that it can be done easily as well. I did it about 10-15 days every month when I lived in London. That can get pretty expensive, though, and would offset all the cost savings from living in London