When making an offer to purchase a home, it's usually conditional on obtaining financing and passing a home inspection.  My suggestion - get the financing finalized *before* paying the several hundred dollars for a home inspection.  That way, if the financing doesn't come through, you didn't waste your money on paying to inspect a home that you won't be buying.

Add Electronic Air Cleaners, furnaces and water softeners to that list too!  So when you're buying your next home, make sure you're fully aware of what is included with the house and what (in addition to the hot water tank) is rented.  Both you and your real estate agent need to be on your toes.

Make a list of all the features you want in your new home such as number of bedrooms, bathrooms, proximity to schools, shopping and workplace.


Be sure you can afford your home. Your monthly housing costs should not be more than 32% of your gross monthly income and your entire monthly debt load (which includes other debts such as car loans and credit card payments) should not be more than 40% of your gross monthly income.


Calculate your other monthly living expenses such as food, clothing, transportation, personals and childcare to ensure you can afford your mortgage payments.


Call a REALTOR in your preferred area. They are trained professionals with knowledge about local conditions and the housing market in general. Through the Multiple Listings Service they have access to virtually every property listed for sale in the province. Your REALTOR can narrow down your search and provide you with information on properties for sale and those that have recently sold. This will allow you to make informed decisions about pricing. Licensed by the province and members of local real estate boards, REALTORS must adhere to high standards of ethical behavior.


Obtain a pre-approved mortgage form the lender of your choice. This will help you determine the price range you should be looking in. With a pre-approved mortgage, your lender will guarantee the interest rate for up to 60 days.


You may wish to have an independent appraisal done of a property before you offer a price. It can keep you from paying more than the market value.


Ask your REALTOR for a copy of the Property Condition Disclosure Statement. This document is completed by the sellers and ensures the buyer gets complete information about the property they are about to purchase, and alerts buyers when they need to do more research on a property.


If buying a new or existing condo, look beyond style and amenities and investigate whether the construction is of good quality. You can ask for a copy of the minutes to Strata Council Meetings to determine what kind of problems the condominium has had in the past, and the expenses.


To assess potential water leakage problems, visit a condominium project immediately after a rainfall and check to see if flat areas such as roof deck and walkways have large pools of standing water on them. All building surfaces except specially designed ponds should drain freely and be immediately clear of water after a rainfall.


It is always a good idea to have the home inspected from a professional home inspector. An inspector's written report should include how well-built the home is and whether any repairs are necessary and the estimated costs.


Don't forget about other costs when you buy your own home such as legal fees (they will most likely be at least $500), property taxes and the GST (if purchasing a new home).

Congratulations! You're about to move out of an apartment into your first home. What a great move, but you need to know a few things and buy a few things. Remember there will be no "building manager" to take care of things for you - you're it!

First things first. Let there be light, but where is the fuse box? Does it use fuses or just switches? (Hint: Label each switch with white tape and black letters so you can see them easier in the dark.) It's a good idea to turn the switches off and on a few times so you're used to how stiff they can be.

Water, water everywhere. Find the turn-off valve inside the house so minor floods don't become major. Make sure you know where the toilet turn-off valve is. Can you turn off the outside faucets in the winter? (Hint: you may have to leave one outside faucet dripping during the cold months so you don't burst the pipes during freezes.) Find the water meter and make sure it is functioning. If your garbage disposal stops working, find the red reset button on the unit under the sink. Before you turn it back on, check with your fingers to see if anything is blocking the blades, and then press the reset button. (Hint: Remove your fingers and the offending objects from the blades before turning the disposal on again…duh.)

Keeping warm and toasty. It's important to find the furnace. What kind of fuel does it use? If you have an oil furnace, ask how often you need to refill it and who refills it. Do you have a maintenance contract for repairs? If not, can you get one? If you're going to have to replace or clean the filters, where do you get them? (Hint: buy a couple of them, you never seem to need to replace them when the store is open.) Find the reset button and label it. Does the furnace have a fan for cooling the house in the summer? Where are the thermostats for controlling the temperature? No matter what the source of energy for your heating, find the main shut off valve.

Curl up by the fire. But make sure the fireplace flue is cleaned every one to three years, depending on how much you use it. Otherwise, the chimney may not draw well and "smoke gets in your eyes", which is not as romantic as the song. A clogged chimney can cause a fire, which is not cool.

Nothing like a long hot bath. Check the water heater to see if it has a pilot light. If it goes out, how do you re-light it? Find out how to set the temperature and decide what temperature you should set it to.

Your very own washer and dryer. Clean the lint tray on the dryer every load or two, or it will build up and slow down the drying process. Also, too much dry lint can cause a fire. If your washer drains directly into a utility sink, place a filter on the end of the hose to keep from clogging your sink.

How about a tall cold one? At least twice a year, clean the water tray under your frostless refrigerator, and vacuum the coils at the back now and then to keep it cooling effectively. (Hint: Check the seals around the doors of your refrigerator to make sure no cool air is escaping. If there is moisture on the rubber seal, you've got a faulty seal.) Now pop open the cold one and toast your new home.

When you apply for a mortgage, the lender will run a credit check on you.  The score you receive on your credit check will not only determine *if* you get a mortgage but it can also influence the interest rate that you're offered.  Lenders will rank you as a credit risk and the lower the risk you are to them, the more likely they are to a) loan you money and b) offer you a lower rate than what others are offered.

Among the criteria used in evaluating you as a credit risk is whether you pay your bills on time, how often you're late in making credit card payments and whether or not your outstanding credit card balance(s) exceed 80% of your credit limit.  These items are weighted, along with others and contribute to what's known as your Beacon score.

Lenders don't put as much emphasis on how much you make or how much you have in the bank as much as they measure you on the likelihood of a) paying them back and b) doing it on time.

Bankruptcies, collections, judgements and late credit card payments all contribute to making you a higher credit risk.  But do you know what the #1 silent killer of mortgage applications is (for people with no late payments)?  Regularly carrying a credit card balance greater than 80% of the card's limit.  Who knew?

Almost every existing home-owner asks this question at some point!

Which comes first--the purchase or the sale--is the greatest dilemma facing homeowners planning to move-up.

If you choose to buy first, make sure the offer to purchase is conditional on selling your current house. That way, if you sell your house, both deals proceed; if not, the deal is off, and you won't be stuck with two homes. Selling first though will give you considerable peace of mind.

Knowing how much money you'll get on the sale will help you establish a price range for the new house. Selling first allows you to negotiate the purchase more vigorously, too, since unconditional offers carry a lot more weight with sellers.

Most mortgages have the option to allow payments to be made on a weekly or bi-weekly basis. This option may be desirable for two reasons. The first is it can save you money as you can expect to pay off your mortgage about 4 years sooner. This can save you dramatically over the life of your mortgage. The other reason why these options are so popular is that if your employer pays you on a weekly or bi-weekly basis, you can simplify your budgeting by making the payment line up with the way you paid.

Paying extra amounts on your mortgage can make a big interest saving over time. When we select a mortgage company, privilege payments options are something that we look for. A 20% privilege payment will allow you to pay off up to $20,000 per year on a $100 000 mortgage. It is important that the privilege payment also be flexible to allow you to pay smaller payments on the mortgage and as often as you wish. An extra $1000 periodically paid on a mortgage can help you become mortgage free faster.

When you require a mortgage for more than 80% of the purchase price of a property, that mortgage must be insured by Canada Mortgage and Housing (CMHC) or GE Mortgage insurance. The premium charged by these company`s decreases as the down payment increases. When you finance your property at 95%, a premium of 3.75% is added to the mortgage. By increasing the down payment to 10% of the purchase price the premium can be reduced to 2.5%. If you can put down 20%, you can avoid any additional insurance fee. Depending on your situation there are ways that you can structure this financing to avoid the CMHC or GE insurance premium.

As mentioned above, when you put a 25% down payment on your purchase you can avoid the CMHC premium. More importantly the larger the down payment, the lower the amount of interest you will pay over the life of your mortgage. It is important to note that it may not be wise to stretch yourself to increase your down payment and end up borrowing on credit cards or a line of credit at a higher rate.

The options for mortgages available can be very confusing for most mortgage shoppers. Terms for mortgages vary between variable and fixed rate, 6-month terms to 10 year terms. Taking a variable or floating rate mortgage can have savings. Typically the shorter the term or guarantee of the rate, the lower the rate will be. This does not always happen, depending on the market place and the economy, but history has shown that short-term rates tend to be lower than long-term rates. The up side of variable rate is the strong potential for interest rate savings. The down side is the fact that you are accepting the interest rate risk without a guarantee. If you are considering a variable rate mortgage you need to look at your own risk tolerance, and your cash flow available to deal with potential increased payment. Considering projections of rates and where we see interest rates heading can also be important in this decision. Make sure you talk to an expert when you are making this decision.