Moving to Toronto - Cost of living

[maverick_bigapple]

Hi All,

I'm currently based in the USA, and, am in the midst of negotiating a couple of job offers in Toronto. I was looking to get a sense on what would be considered a good salary band to be able to live comfortably in Toronto (I'm single, and, don't have a family to support). A couple of factors that I'd like to list follow-

• Considering the location of the jobs, I will be living downtown to avoid a long commute. Also, I'd like to be fairly social (bars, restaurants, travel et al), at least to begin with, to be able to build a network within Toronto.
• I'm leaning towards buying a car to be able to get around on weekends.

Many thanks!
NK

 

[scylla]

That's a difficult question to answer since it depends on how you define living comfortably (e.g. are you OK with a small condo or are you expecting to live in a large condo or house, do you like to go out to nice places to eat/drink and do you want to be able to go often, what kind of trips you want to go on, how much do you want to be able to save, what kind of car do you want to be able to buy, etc.). Based on the info you've provided, my definitely of living comfortably would be a salary of $100K+.

 

[maverick_bigapple]

Thanks for the response, scylla.

Considering that I have almost 7 years of experience in Product Management (IT), what is a salary band I could negotiate for? The firms I'm interviewing at are in the financial services

 

[scylla]

Really hard to say - largely depends on the job level of the role you're applying for.

 

[Bs65]

Maybe just google the job title for a sample of salaries in Canada to get a rough idea.

 

[ttrajan]

Around $3000/= per month.

 

[maverick_bigapple]

@ttrajan, is the amount you quoted pretax or post tax? I'm assuming you meant CAD and not USD?

 

[ttrajan]

Yes it is cad. Cost of living per month.

 

[DEEPCUR]

If you are really unsure of a figure, you could ask them to match US salary in CAD. If they say it is too much, ask them to do a number matching of US salary. (like 90 k USD as 90 k CAD). I know someone who did something like that.

3000 looks like a lot. You may not get that much with shared living I presume (I haven't been to Canada). But better to keep family living in mind while negotiating.

 

[scylla]

IMO $3K doesn't allow you to live comfortably in Toronto. But again, depends on your lifestyle. If you want to live in the downtown core of Toronto and want to live in a decent 1 bedroom / 1 bathroom condo - you're looking at around $2K/month just on rent alone. Then you have to add all of your other expenses, food, clothing, transport, entertainment, travel, car expenses & insurance, etc.

We'd need a better definitely of "living comfortably" to really comment fully.

 

[maverick_bigapple]

IMO $3K doesn't allow you to live comfortably in Toronto. But again, depends on your lifestyle. If you want to live in the downtown core of Toronto and want to live in a decent 1 bedroom / 1 bathroom condo - you're looking at around $2K/month just on rent alone. Then you have to add all of your other expenses, food, clothing, transport, entertainment, travel, car expenses & insurance, etc.

We'd need a better definitely of "living comfortably" to really comment fully.

By 'living comfortably' I meant that I'm able to set aside a monthly saving after a fairly active social life (travel, entertainment - restaurants, bars, et al). I'd be looking to purchase a condo eventually and hence wouldn't want to squander everything on the paycheck. While I get that lifestyles are totally subjective, and, given the fact that I'd prefer to start off living in downtown, I get a sense that I'm looking at least $3-4K+ per month.

@DEEPCUR, I'll try on negotiating a CAD numeric equivalent, but, it may be tough to come by from what I've assessed. It seems contract positions tend to pay higher, but, I'd want to start off as a full time employee before going down that route.

 

[scylla]

Based on what you're saying, $3K won't come close to cutting it. I would recommend you use https://www.realtor.ca/ to check out prices of condos in downtown Toronto. This will give you an idea of what it takes to buy. Note that what you'll see on the site is the for sale price - not the purchase price (which could be higher or lower).

Yes - contract positions pay higher. This is because they lack the stability of a permanent job, you're not paid for vacations, and you don't get additional benefits (e.g. additional health care benefits, pension, employee share ownership programs if applicable).

 

[maverick_bigapple]

Based on what you're saying, $3K won't come close to cutting it. I would recommend you use https://www.realtor.ca/ to check out prices of condos in downtown Toronto. This will give you an idea of what it takes to buy. Note that what you'll see on the site is the for sale price - not the purchase price (which could be higher or lower).

Yes - contract positions pay higher. This is because they lack the stability of a permanent job, you're not paid for vacations, and you don't get additional benefits (e.g. additional health care benefits, pension, employee share ownership programs if applicable).

Many thanks for the response, @scylla.

On another note, I've been told that PRs can buy property with putting just 5% down (with mortgage insurance et al). Would it be possible for someone moving in as a PR to avail of this offer at the onset? In which case renting seems rather unattractive.

 

[scylla]

The 5% down only applies to certain purchases. Here's the summary of the rules:

https://www.cibc.com/en/personal-banking/mortgages/resource-centre/need-for-downpayment.html

Note that the 5% does NOT represent the total cost of the purchase. You still need to pay legal fees, property transfer tax and other stuff like that. If you buy a condo, you'll not only be paying your mortgage but will also have to pay condo fees and have to factor these into your total cost of ownership.

Whether you can qualify for a mortgage as soon as you arrive will largely depend on the lender you're working with (bank) and whether they'll loan you the money. If you have a permanent well paying job - you should be OK.

 

[icanada@12345]

Hello
If anyone is using a Forex Card in Canada please let me know
1. The charges for cash withdrawal in ATM (the bank from which i have taken forex card says 2.5 CAD per transaction but are there any charges levied by the ATM owner bank?)
2. Maximum amount of cash withdrawal that we can make in single transaction