Canada's Best and Cheapest Places to Live!

Where do you want to live? Where can you afford to live? Every major Canadian city scoured for the cheapest lace to buy real estate!

Real estate in Canada has been going nuts lately! Home prices are sky high; while many feel the pressure to sell in this a hot real estate market. At the same time buyers fear they may just be getting themselves into an overpriced home and if the bubble bursts they could be sitting upside down for some time.


The best real estate deals in Canada are in Moncton and Regina. These cities got an A-. Fredericton, St. John’s, Ottawa, Gatineau, Winnipeg, Guelph and Saint John all got B+.

MoneySense looked at rent costs and average house costs which is a good indicator of the value of a home. Then it compared wages in the areas to average house prices to determine the time it takes for a family to actually buy a home. The magazine also examined how fast houses sold and how fast the prices increased over the years.

Finally, the economy of each city was also analyzed. They checked out how quickly the community grew, unemployment rates and the level of discretionary income.

By using this method Moneysense was able to avoid picking cheap real estate in cities where low real estate prices were caused be a poor economy or widespread unemployment.

You can read more about the best Canadian Real Estate bargains and maybe even find the cheapest place to live in Canada at yahoo.com/personal-finance

The article is titled 'Best deals in real estate' and it's in the Yahoo! Finance section.

One of the Cheapest Places on Earth

Own a brand new beachfront condo for $75,000. Or a luxury apartment for $28,000. Employ full-time household help to cook and clean for $30 a week. Enjoy a gourmet meal for two, with wine and dessert, for $25.

Every cliché you've heard about living large on little…about settling into the lap of luxury on even a pensioner's budget…is true in this country.


Ecuador has my attention because it offers some of the cheapest property values in the world today. For example, you can buy a high end 1,000-square-foot condo on the beach for less than $100,000…or a comfortable mountain retreat for less than $50,000.

Last year, Ecuador topped International Living’s Retirement Index, which praised its quality of life and low cost of living.

In this country, you can live high in the mountains and enjoy year-round spring-like weather. Or you can choose from 1,390 miles of coastline and great beaches. And your dollar goes far. I know of retired couples who live comfortably on $700 per month. An excellent three-course lunch costs $2. Ecuador welcomes foreigners with open arms. Best of all are the property prices and holding costs, both of which are low.

One of the Cheapest Places to Live

Back in the UK Tracy Walker of 'Peterlee Mail' writes about Carr Street as being one of the Cheapest Places to Live in North East London.

The street and area was recently highlighted in the BBC documentary : Famous, Rich and Jobless. The BBC story was about living on unemployment insurance or welfare in the Hart Lane area of Hartlepool.

As is the case with many cheap places to live Carr Street has over half of it's houses boarded up. A two bedroom house in this area sells for just 38,000 pound. It's reminiscent of areas like Detroit in the U.S. which also boasts some of the cheapest real estate in the country but at what cost? Would you really want to live in any of these areas just for the sake of living cheaply?

Cheapest Places to Retire to

ShelterOffshore.com recently asked the question, 'Where are the Cheapest Places to retire?' It's a big world ut there and when thinking exclusively about being cheap you're likely to end up in Africa somewhere. But, Shelter Offshore has done a great job of balancing quality of life with affordable living to uncover the best and cheapest places to retire to.

Panama!
Yes, you know I've been singing the praise of Panama for year snow and Shelter Offshore thinks it's a pretty cool place to live too. Here's what they say about Panama, "You can live like a millionaire on a millionaire’s salary or you can enjoy a comfortable, modest and decent standard of living on a modest amount of money in Panama."

Again, blowing my own horn here, like I've said - get away from the flashy condos in Panama City and stay away from the American marketed 'Gated Communities' especially the few that offer grand and expensive to maintain Golf Courses. Take a short drive into the 'interior', and that doesn't have to mean far away from the ocean, and you will find Panama Property is much cheaper and so is the cost of day to day living. One thing the article does say that I have to disagree with is, "learn how to haggle and shop like the locals". I've always found that most Panamanians don't like to haggle. When you eat with the locals you get charged the same low price they pay. Again, stay away from the Gringo hang outs and you'll pay local prices.

Here's a quick list of other places they mention as Cheap Places to Live Abroad in Retirement:
Belize
Turkey
The Philippines
and Argentina

The article concludes by reminding us that 'Cheap' is a relative term - relative to you, your budget, your savings, your expectations. With TV and the Internet we are now all coming to realize that 'third world' may just be a term to keep us put. There are numerous country on this planet that are civilized, clean, interesting, comfortable and cheap. If you're ready to retire it can be especially so as more and more nations develop incentive programs to entice you and your retirement nest egg to join them. All the more reason to consider investigating places to live abroad.

Manchester-Nashua, New Hampshire

Manchester-Nashua, New Hampshire is often cited as one of the Cheapest Places to Live in the U.S. New Hampshire boast no state income or sales tax which contributes to it's title as one of the cheapest. Plus it's close to Boston so many people choose to live in Manchester and commute across the Massachusetts border to work.

Like every other part of America this area experienced overbuilding starting in about 2006 which lead to a real estate down turn during the recession. Home prices were still down 7.3% in2009 compared to 2008 and they appear to be continuing tom decline. It's helping to keep living cheap here but even with the recession unemployment rate at 6.7% still remains lower than the national average at 10%.

Nashua is the second largest city in New Hampshire and with the drop in Real Estate prices more families are moving here. Home prices in some popular Nashua neighbourhoods are 20% - 25% less than they were in 2005.

Move to Spain

Oops, just remembered I was going to continue our review of Spain and look at some of the things to consider with a Move to Spain but I got side tracked.

Removals to Spain

In America that term sounds kind of funny. For some reason the word 'Removal' has taken o a negative meaning here. I always find it interesting how the meaning and differences of words often don't occur to us unless we travel.

Well, in this case I've come to learn that 'Removals to Spain' or 'Removals to France' or 'Removals to...'  anywhere is what Europeans and the English refer to when they are speaking about a move - as in getting a mover to package and move household stuff to another place.

Car Hire Spain

Another term I have come across is 'Car Hire'. I had never heard of that one before either.  It seems it's quite common in the U.K. and Europe to ask for say 'Car Hire Spain' as opposed to a 'Car Rental Spain'.

Anyhow, I just find this whole language difference thing fascinating. We spend so much of our time in communication conflict - let's face it even wars have been started and continue over the interpretation of words. If we just took the time to do a little research - a little study and try to uncover the meaning of words in other places the world would be a more peaceful place. And that's my piece or peace for the day!

International Living

A few weeks ago I mentioned International Living Magazine. It's a great resource and one I refer to often both online and off-line. The thing I like most about I.L. is that the articles are written by people who have 'been there and done that'. They really are Living Internationally not sitting in a New York office collecting data. Here are the most recent topics and headlines to give you a flavour for what they are finding on the International Living scene:

April 2010 - Cerro Azul: Where You Can Still Buy Land in Panama from $16,500

March 2010 - Portugal's Alentejo: Europe as It's Meant to Be

February 2010 - The World's Easiest Places to Retire - Note: Watch for an upcoming blog post with lots more detail ion this topic!

January 2010 - Quality of Life 2010: The World's Best Places to Live - If you've been following this blog you know we've spent the last three month's reviewing this issue. Great stuff!

December 2009 - The 4 Best Real Estate Plays for 2010

That gives you a bit of the flavour and variety of topics you will find in International Living Magazine. Each month I really look forward to getting my hard copy in the mail. It's a full colour magazine and although it does a few full page advertisements they're really not over bearing and are targeted at whatever the current article is about so that can even be helpful.

So, if you're curious about International Living and want to learn from the best source check out my World's Best Places to Live post for more details.

How to Buy Property in Spain

Property For Sale in Spain

Our last Best Places to Live visit was to Spain and it raised quite a stir! Perhaps it's the time of year but many people are interested in Spain and almost all of them want to know how to buy property in Spain. You may be looking at cheap property in Spain, a retirement home or even a rental property in Spain. Regardless of the type of properties in Spain you are considering the buying process is pretty much the same.

First you need a - Nota simple informativa
This is a document you get from the Registro de la Propiedad - Property Registry. Basically it's like doing a title search. This document will tell you about the property and if it has any financial encumbrances - mortgages or loans against it. It's also your way of making sure the title and description of the property is exactly what the seller has told you. Next comes -

Pre-Agreement
Sometimes this is referred to as a 'Buy-Sell Agreement'. The public deed for purchase cannot be prepared until this contract of sorts is made between you and the seller. It's a pretty simple document which outlines what may seem like the obvious - the buyer wishes to buy and the seller wishes to sell at a specified price and also with any conditions both have agreed to. Once you've settled these matters you may need to arrange -

A Spanish Mortgage
You will need to visit a bank in Spain and get a list of all the things they require. Allow some time to prepare - it's not a simple matter of dropping into the bank and walking out an hour later. Banks in Spain have quite a lengthy list of things you need to do and provide. Be prepared to pay some fees too - you will need to pay to have your property appraised and by law in Spain the appraiser has to be a licensed architect. Now, the title and registry is clean and clear; you have an agreement; the property has been appraised and your mortgage money is ready to go, you are ready to -

Close
At this stage the title to your property Spain is ready to be transferred and certified by a notary. The property is now yours but your not quite done yet! There are a few more items to take care of. You will need to pay Transfer Taxes and make sure the seller pays the local taxes, known as 'plusvalia'. You need to have the deed with you for both of these. Finally as a safety precaution just to make certain you are protected and your deed is valid it's a good idea to register your title at the local registry office.

Because Spain is so popular a discussion we will continue to cover some other things to help if you're considering a Move to Spain. OR as it's commonly called - Removals to Spain - Funny term, huh?