Loading page...
Nine steps, six programs that cut the cost, and what the market is actually doing this month. No pitch. If the numbers and the wish list do not line up yet, you will hear that first, and what it would take to get there.
Step 1
A lender tells you what you can carry each month and what price that supports. This is the real budget, and it comes before any viewing.
Step 2
Someone who knows the neighbourhoods you are shopping in and who will tell you when a home is not worth it.
Step 3
Three or four non-negotiables beat a list of twenty. Tour with the budget in hand so every viewing is a real option.
Step 4
A Contract of Purchase and Sale: price, deposit, subjects, completion date and possession date.
Step 5
Price is one lever. So are the subject period, the completion date and what stays with the home.
Step 6
Financing, an inspection and a title review, usually 7 to 14 business days. If a subject cannot be met, you walk away and the deposit comes back in full.
Step 7
Your lawyer or notary handles the transfer and the adjustments for taxes and utilities.
Step 8
The money moves and the title goes into your name.
Step 9
Usually one or two days later. Keys.
Each one changes the real cost of the same home, and two of them only apply to new construction. We run every one with your numbers, not a rule of thumb.
Full exemption on homes up to $835,000, partial up to $860,000. Worth up to about $8,000.
Withdraw up to $60,000 from your RRSP, tax free, toward the purchase.
Save up to $40,000 in an account that is tax deductible going in and tax free coming out.
A first-time buyer gets the full 5% GST back on a new home priced up to $1,000,000 (phasing out to $1,500,000, for agreements signed on or after May 27, 2025). The older New Housing Rebate returns part of the GST on any new home and shrinks to nothing past $450,000.
A $10,000 federal non-refundable credit, worth up to $1,500 off your taxes.
Up to $570 a year off the property taxes on your principal residence.
Each area page carries the current listing count, the median asking price and how many homes sit under $500,000.