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Your first home, without the parts nobody explains.
The stress of a first purchase usually isn’t the house. It’s not knowing what comes next, or what it costs until the bill arrives. Here’s the whole process, in order.
The stress of a first purchase usually isn’t the house. It’s not knowing what comes next, or what it costs until the bill arrives. Here’s the whole process, in order.
Before you look at anything. A pre-approval shows your ceiling, holds a rate for a set period, and makes your offer credible. It isn’t a promise to lend, and it isn’t your budget.
There’s a minimum, and a higher threshold where mortgage default insurance drops away. Which side you land on changes your monthly payment. I’ll walk you through where the line sits, and your lender confirms what applies to you.
Land transfer tax, legal fees, title insurance, the inspection and adjustments owed to the seller. They’re due on closing day, in cash, on top of your down payment. This is the most common surprise.
Ontario gives first-time buyers a land transfer tax rebate, and federal programs come and go. They’re worth real money, and none of them are automatic. I’ll point out the ones worth asking about, and your lawyer confirms which apply to you.
Paint, staging and someone else’s furniture are noise. The roof, furnace, windows, basement water and electrical panel are what cost money. I’ll point you to those.
Price, deposit, closing date and conditions. On a first purchase I want financing and inspection conditions in almost every case, and I’ll tell you plainly what you give up by waiving them.
No house comes back clean. The job is separating what’s normal for its age from what’s expensive, and deciding what changes the price.
Financing finalised, funds moved, final walkthrough done. Then the keys. I track every deadline, because a missed one this late is the expensive kind.
That’s all of it. Eight steps, usually two to three months from first call to keys, and you’ll know what’s happening at every one.
Everyone plans for the down payment. Closing costs are what catch people: land transfer tax, legal fees, title insurance, the inspection and seller adjustments, all due the same day, in cash, on top of it. That’s a real second amount, not a rounding error.
There are no figures on this page, on purpose. Thresholds, rebates and tax bands change, and an outdated number is worse than none once you’ve planned around it. Ask me and I’ll walk you through how they apply to the place you’re looking at. Your lender and lawyer confirm the exact figures.
Once the money is sorted, see what’s actually for sale here.
The free guide I give first-time buyers: a line-by-line example of the cash it takes to close, the eight things I check at every showing, how to build an offer that protects you, and the countdown from accepted offer to keys.
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It usually isn’t, and every first-time buyer has the same few. A 15-minute call costs nothing, and there’s nothing to sign.
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