FSW WORLDWIDE

[Arod]

... Are you seriously asking me credit score of my colleagues and friends?

Nah, 150K won't help you when you don't have downpayment large enough.

I couldn't care less about the credit score of your friends, I'm trying to explain to you that you can't categorically say that you can't afford a home with a $150k without knowing all the facts.

People come to this forum for guidance, and you are not doing them any favours by saying things that can easily be refuted by people who are already here.

 

[GandiBaat]

I couldn't care less about the credit score of your friends, I'm trying to explain to you that you can't categorically say that you can't afford a home with a $150k without knowing all the facts.

People come to this forum for guidance, and you are not doing them any favours by saying things that can easily be refuted by people who are already here.

Look, its hard to be a guide. Most of us try to share what we have seen and leave it at that. @MajorGrom is among few of folks who has experience of being a student, a job seeker and a PR applicant in Canada. So his observation have been very useful.

Now coming to buying a house, I bought one recently. As in November 2022 in Victoria (Not toronto level crazy but crazy enough in Canada) and what @MajorGrom has said is RIGHT. Had I been here in 2013 or 12, I would have bought a decent sized house with 5000+ sqft lot or may be two. I had to select an attached house with lesser land because of the expenses involved. Wages have NOT kept pace with house prices and I am earning decently (much more than 160K) and yet I feel a major pinch and insecurity. Why? Because the employers who can give that kind of income are limited and very homogenous. Something which impacts one of them is likely to impact all of them. In that sense my job is NOT a commodity. And thats BAD! Commodity is always easy to replace. And you want a job that you can replace easily. And you want a commodity income that can support your lifestyle. Then you are likely to be secure.

Another consideration, one must ensure what part of his networth is blocked in house. If it is more than 30-40%, one must reconsider their choices in life. Just because you can afford downpayment and perhaps interest rate right now, does not mean you should jump on it. If most of your networth is in form of equity in your house, you will miss a lot of opportunities to earn by investment. Also you are exposed to one single event which can wipe out your most of the networth.

 

[kaashi14]

They should really create a buffer of say 50-100 profiles to substitute with the declined invitations… It is unfair to lose out on tie break only for some folks to decline the invitations for whatever reasons.

this is so true

 

[kaashi14]

Tie breaking rule means the profile created upto that date? My CRS is 489 and created profile in April 2022 and didn't get an ITA. Tie breaker was March 2022 something I think.

Also, once you get NOI from a province, you can't get it again if you don't go through with it? I got tech draw NOI in December but didn't get one now 2 days from OINP ago even though CRS was again met.

 

[ImpatientDragon]

From the recent article - https://www.cicnews.com/2023/02/the-most-in-demand-occupations-in-canada-currently-0232818.html

• Technical Program Manager—Top hiring regions: GTA, GVMA—Remote job availability: 29.3%;
• User Experience Writer—Top hiring regions: GTA—Remote job availability: 44.7%;
• Information Technology Associate—Top hiring regions: GTA, GMMA—Remote job availability: 3.3%;
• Site Reliability Engineer—Top hiring regions: GTA, GVMA, GMMA—Remote job availability: 44.7%;
• Customer Success Associate—Top hiring regions: GTA—Remote job availability: 12.7%;
• Security Engineer—Top hiring regions: GTA, GVMA, GMMA—Remote job availability: 57.9%;
• Data Engineer—Top hiring regions: GTA, GVMA, GMMA—Remote job availability: 35.6%;
• Technical Product Manager—Top hiring regions: GTA, GVMA—Remote job availability: 33.1%;
• Cyber Security Specialist—Top hiring regions: GTA, GVMA, Greater Calgary Metropolitan Area (GCMA)—Remote job availability: 13.4%;

Is it safe to assume that when Bill C-19 Draw starts then IT professionals will be invited separately?

 

[navinball]

I couldn't care less about the credit score of your friends, I'm trying to explain to you that you can't categorically say that you can't afford a home with a $150k without knowing all the facts.

People come to this forum for guidance, and you are not doing them any favours by saying things that can easily be refuted by people who are already here.

agree that a lot depends on type of house and down-payment.
You can definitely afford a home in gta for 150k. Most likely an hour or two outside of Toronto and an oldish semi or detached which run around 700 to 800k with a reasonable 10 to 20% down-payment.
Brand new detached, absolutely not. Unless both spouses are working.

 

[pinemaple]

From the recent article - https://www.cicnews.com/2023/02/the-most-in-demand-occupations-in-canada-currently-0232818.html

• Technical Program Manager—Top hiring regions: GTA, GVMA—Remote job availability: 29.3%;
• User Experience Writer—Top hiring regions: GTA—Remote job availability: 44.7%;
• Information Technology Associate—Top hiring regions: GTA, GMMA—Remote job availability: 3.3%;
• Site Reliability Engineer—Top hiring regions: GTA, GVMA, GMMA—Remote job availability: 44.7%;
• Customer Success Associate—Top hiring regions: GTA—Remote job availability: 12.7%;
• Security Engineer—Top hiring regions: GTA, GVMA, GMMA—Remote job availability: 57.9%;
• Data Engineer—Top hiring regions: GTA, GVMA, GMMA—Remote job availability: 35.6%;
• Technical Product Manager—Top hiring regions: GTA, GVMA—Remote job availability: 33.1%;
• Cyber Security Specialist—Top hiring regions: GTA, GVMA, Greater Calgary Metropolitan Area (GCMA)—Remote job availability: 13.4%;

Is it safe to assume that when Bill C-19 Draw starts then IT professionals will be invited separately?

Although the article is recent the data is from 2018-2022 H1, and I think the years are equally weighted, so I wouldn't take this as strictly recent.

 

[cansha]

You conveniently skipped the part when I asked you when they immigrated. When I moved in 2017, I rented a small room from a guy. He was from Turkey. Came as a refugee and bought a house when he was making 120K. I know crap ton of people in Toronto making 150K+ and they cannot afford to buy a home. Times are changed. I won't be asking anybody for anyone's story as I am not the person who is influenced by some teary motivational tale.


Not really. No one expects high-paying jobs. Immigrants expect jobs (skilled) that will allow them to live a decent life. What they get? A job at Timmies and a basement studio.


False hopes once again. You say that if they struggle in the initial years, they will make it big. That's feeding false hopes.

The argument "If you work hard you will be rich / successful etc." is fair and unfair at the same time. Very few people become successful without working hard; however people do not become successful just because they work hard. There are plenty of people in US and Canada who work two jobs, work really hard but won't be super successful or rich.

People like to give themselves a lot of credit when they make it and then will take every opportunity to tell everyone who will listen how they became big because they "worked hard". They are not wrong but they do ignore that chance and luck do play a role. I know people would be offended if you told them that you are successful because of so many things falling in to place which were not in their control .. "being at right place at right time". Their argument would be on the lines of "Harder I work.. Luckier I get"

I would urge people to read two books (if not already)

• Fooled By Randomness - Nicholas Taleb
• Outliers - Malcolm Gladwell

Agree with you completely on people ignoring one major factor of when a person immigrated. There is a HUGE difference between coming to Canada in 2012 vs 2022.

Does it mean people coming after 2022 won't be rich or successful in Canada? Absolutely not. There will be people who would do that. BUT, it will be much harder and not just a function of "working hard".

Although, this is a never ending debate and don't think people from either side will be able to change minds.

 

[GandiBaat]

Does it mean people coming after 2022 won't be rich or successful in Canada? Absolutely not. There will be people who would do that. BUT, it will be much harder and not just a function of "working hard".

Let me put it in this way, next source of easier wealth will come from elsewhere. Where? I don't know.

Resource pooling is one way that I can see.

 

[nns14]

I imagine the buffer is already built into the draw sizes, taking into account the observed rate of declination, rate of rejection and expected applicant family size to hit the target number of PRs each year.

Yes, from government perspective, that sorts the rejection, but not for the unfortunate individuals who had lost out on the tie-break. For instance, the low CRS candidates in the back2back and FSW only draws who lost out on a point or tie-break may never have another low CRS draw.

 

[nns14]

Oh wow! Why did you decide to move then and that too with wife and kids and start over? What was your motivation?

Passport and job security. In my country, job opportunity is very limited for junior to middle level positions and forget about higher positions. In addition, there are not that many large companies to apply to so you are kind stuck to the same organization or group of organizations owned by the same individual/family.

When I started this journey, I didn’t have any kids! By the time I moved here, I got a four year old and a one year old. Can you freaking see how slow, miserable this nuisance of “express” journey has been?! LoL. So, yeah, I didn’t plan to migrate when I had children but they were born in the process. lol.

It was now or never as I would not have been able to start over after 35. Took the risk. Fortunately, I managed to get a remote job with my former employer, which is a huge help with the ongoing settlement. My wife and kids were unaccompanied (due to low CRS) and it made my move much smoother and cheaper.

Anyways, thank you Cansha. You were also very helpful in my IELTS many years ago. You and others may not realize how many people and families you are changing their lives. The mental fortitude it took to get through 2020 and 2021 was unbelievable and I wouldn’t have survived if it wasn’t for this great forum.

 

[nns14]

... Are you seriously asking me credit score of my colleagues and friends?

I know they want to buy a place in GTA. Condo: 2 bdr. That's all I know.

I am so happy you talked about expenses. It is hard to save money for a place when your rent is 2500 CAD/month.

Nah, 150K won't help you when you don't have downpayment large enough.

It didn’t take me long to understand the real estate market in here is just horrible. No way any family with a combined salary of $120K-$140K can afford a house in big cities when you account the house downpayment and the monthly expenses.

Seriously, the government has failed its citizens (the initial European settlers) when a middle class family cannot afford a >=2 bedrooms house in big cities not even with the 25 years mortgage. Everything is designed to enslave the average person with no light at the end of the tunnel.

 

[Rapchiks]

Typically, anyone who gets recruited in Canada has an option of moving to USA because of their passport. Its benefitial for them as they get higher pay and lower taxes, so they do it. Now immigrants typically have limited mobility, so they have to make do with other options like remote work -- provided they are good in the first place.

That being said, in vancouver, Amazon has a decent presence. Microsoft also has a decent presence. Samsung also has a sizeable presence. Slack is HQ'ed in Vancouver, last I checked.

Sure its not Seattle by any stretch of imagination. But its decent.

Again, I will stress, for a lot of these companies (listed above), the recruitment process is standard. The questions asked in India, Canada or USA are standard. So difficulty tends to be constant, yet high enough. Even in India, where number of workers is phenomenally high (Canada can only dream of that many people), I have seen this same phenomenon. MASSIVE number of people, very less hireable ones.

I am going to move to Canada. I have a moving company near me. In principle, you are right, I go there for the sake of a salary and small taxes. It's very tight somehow in Canada with work. And I have to pay for my brother's education.

 

[GandiBaat]

It didn’t take me long to understand the real estate market in here is just horrible. No way any family with a combined salary of $120K-$140K can afford a house in big cities when you account the house downpayment and the monthly expenses.

For me, the tech boom of 2020 helped and then interest related rate crash of 2022.

I held some Microsoft shares from back in 2008 or so. That time they gave me around USD 15K worth of share (over few years) at about 30 dollars or so. I sold them at USD 315 or so to get enough money for downpayment. So that way I avoided touching my other investments.

The place I got was listed at 1.65 million during the peak of housing boom in Canada about 9-10 months back. It corrected and corrected. I bought it at 745K after a lot of haggling in november. Currently it is valued at 760K. For all I know it will correct further to some 650K or something during recession that will come but I am not bothered. Unless some emergency hits, I plan to keep it for long time. In 10 years it will appreciate enough.

 

[imransyed]

For me, the tech boom of 2020 helped and then interest related rate crash of 2022.

I held some Microsoft shares from back in 2008 or so. That time they gave me around USD 15K worth of share (over few years) at about 30 dollars or so. I sold them at USD 315 or so to get enough money for downpayment. So that way I avoided touching my other investments.

The place I got was listed at 1.65 million during the peak of housing boom in Canada about 9-10 months back. It corrected and corrected. I bought it at 745K after a lot of haggling in november. Currently it is valued at 760K. For all I know it will correct further to some 650K or something during recession that will come but I am not bothered. Unless some emergency hits, I plan to keep it for long time. In 10 years it will appreciate enough.

This is a gem of a post. JUST shocking how big of a drop that was!