Well here we are in February 2008. Where did the last year
go it seemed to fly by!
Towards the end of last year we decided to buy another
house which we could rent out on a short
term basis to anyone who is relocating to Nova Scotia, especially aimed at families
with smaller children and pets. We have been contacted by so many people who
have been looking for short term fully furnished rentals when they land ,
somewhere that gives them somewhere to base themselves while they begin their
search for property , cars etc. And wait
for their container to arrive. When you are researching from the UK you
will find that the choices are limited mostly to hotels and executive lets some
of which are not child and pet friendly and can work out at up to $3,000 a
month.
There has been a steady decline year after year in tourism
and Mumford Bed and Breakfast although busy for a few months in the summer seems
to be bulging at the seams with Brits that have arrived all year round, this is
partly due to the efforts of our Province to facilitate an easy route for
Provincial Nominees and also employers finally stepping up to the mark and
speeding up work permits and paperwork. . . So instead of expanding our bed and
breakfast or buying a larger house we thought we would try and fill the need
for homestay.
It was strange after
10 years in our present house to be out there with our Realtor and good friend Donna
McNeil …… We did struggle at first to find just the right property for our new
Homestay , and got a little frustrated in the process.
We almost closed on one house but our financing fell through
at the last min, The TD Bank where I hold my business Account decided that we
needed to come up with at least 30 percent deposit which would have used all
our money that we were allocating for furnishing ….there were tears and
sleepless nights until a few days later we decided to contact our personal
banker .Cathy a Royal Bank Mortgage Specialist. She advised us to look for a
property with more than one rental unit so that we would be leveraging the
property and more likely to be given a mortgage. Up to then we had been looking
at properties to rent out as one unit for one family at a time….This new
scenario meant that we had more of a selection of accommodations to offer and
made perfect sense so we asked Donna to look at what else was available and
renewed our search.
We soon realised that we would have to widen our search to
suit our budget and started looking in and around Woodlawn Dartmouth, a short
trip across the Mackay Bridge and 15 mins to downtown Halifax,
easy access to shopping Malls and Highways it was an eye-opener as we had lived
all our lives in Halifax and rarely explored Dartmouth.
We finally found exactly what we were looking for in a quiet
safe neighbourhood, It had that Wow this is it feeling when we viewed it. The
bank wanted proof that we could rent out the house on short term lets.. As it
was we were so busy by then that we were turning Brits down due to lack of
space so I contacted one family Nick and Steve with their three children who
were leaving the UK in October and were
still looking for somewhere suitable to live on arrival, they were thrilled to
have somewhere to move into straight away. That took care of that problem then
the mortgage company wanted to send an appraiser to the house, another couple
of sleepless nights later we were given the thumbs up and were the proud owners
of our New Homestay….
The upper level of the house has three bedrooms and the
lower level which is a walk out basement Mother In Law Suite has a master
bedroom and a smaller Childs room/den . Each has separate kitchen ,access and plenty of off street
parking. (Essential in the winter) and
yes a short driveway..For snow shovelling!…
We ended up securing
yet another loan from the bank and I went on a huge shopping expedition to buy
everything you would need to fully furnish and equip the two units.
We bought a mixture of new and second hand furniture, By the time I
had finished I had completely filled the basement of Mumford with everything
from Microwaves to night Stands I scoured the flyers for deals and sales associates
at my local stores became convinced I had a shopping addiction! ..
We took possession of the new homestay first week of
September and during a heat wave moved in to set up home!
As the week went by we furnished both levels and put some
nice home from home touches in the rooms, we also set up computers and Skype
phones for our guests and
Also had available baby cot, high chair and toddler bed for
all age groups.
It was an exciting day when Nick and Steve landed we drove
up to pick them up from the airport and held our breath when they walked into
their new albeit temporary home…After staying for four weeks during which time I fell in love with Samuel
the baby! Nick and Steve and children
moved into their own lovely home not far from the homestay in Woodlawn
Dartmouth and have become firm friends.
Since then we have
realised that not everyone gets to achieve their dreams but having a long term
goal is something that we now can work on as we have come a long way since
those few first few years while we were struggling at times to find direction
and also employment that we liked… with this in mind we will continue to grow
our services, I am starting a Nova Scotia Mentoring Group this year where you
can select a person to chat on line with
or by phone prior to arriving particularly women’s issues and not just the
basic advice given about houses, cars etc.. we hope that way to offer some sort
of support during those first few weeks
after arrival.. Women want to know about child care, grocery shopping, clothes
shopping etc. they also miss their support network more than men and sometimes
feel isolated when left at home with the kids the first few weeks while the men
get to grips with their new jobs.
We are also really excited about our very first trip to the
emigrate show in Sandown March 1-2 I’m
not sure what to expect when I get there but I am passionate about what I
believe in and love my life here in Halifax !
If anyone would like more info about our home stay services
or just information in general about living here, contact me at :
june@relocationnovascotia.com
tel: 902 446 0766
or stand 118 at the Emigrate Show.
