Moving to Toronto - Cost of living

[nokia3315]

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).

Purchase price may get lower.
But how can purchase price get higher than sale price ?

 

[scylla]

Purchase price may get lower.
But how can purchase price get higher than sale price ?

Easy - happens all of the time. People put houses/condos up for sale and indicate the price they want (list price). In my neighbourhood you almost always get more that the list price because there are more people wanting to buy a house than there are people selling. Typically there will be an offer night - that's the night they will accept offers on the house. It's not unusual these days to get several offers on the house - sometimes well over 10. Offers are people who want to buy the house. Those who are buying know they aren't the only ones interested - so they will offer more than the sale prices in hopes they will have the highest offer price and get the house. Recent examples in my neighbourhood include a house that was listed on the website for $999,999 but sold for $1.5 million - and another that was listed for $1.5 and sold for $1.8.

 

[nokia3315]

Easy - happens all of the time. People put houses/condos up for sale and indicate the price they want (list price). In my neighbourhood you almost always get more that the list price because there are more people wanting to buy a house than there are people selling. Typically there will be an offer night - that's the night they will accept offers on the house. It's not unusual these days to get several offers on the house - sometimes well over 10. Offers are people who want to buy the house. Those who are buying know they aren't the only ones interested - so they will offer more than the sale prices in hopes they will have the highest offer price and get the house. Recent examples in my neighbourhood include a house that was listed on the website for $999,999 but sold for $1.5 million - and another that was listed for $1.5 and sold for $1.8.

See when its sold for 1.8 mil then everything is on paper & legal ?
Situation like 1.5 mil is on paper & 0.3 mil under the table.

 

[scylla]

See when its sold for 1.8 mil then everything is on paper & legal ?
Situation like 1.5 mil is on paper & 0.3 mil under the table.

No - the $300K is not under the table. You can't do that in Canada. The $1.8 million was the actual legal sale price on paper.