Buying a Home
Whether you’re buying your very first home, trading up into something with a little more space, or investing in a fixer-upper to create the home of your dreams, any home purchase is a complicated but exciting affair. That’s why we’re glad you’ve stopped at TorontoHomeRelocation.com to seek out some expert advice.
As the website grows, we’ll be adding more tips, checklists and advice from the professionals here at THR. At the moment, along with our dynamic Listings page, we’ve provided a few of the most important tools for prospective buyers: our expert tips for homebuyers, a special page for first-time buyers, a mortgage calculator to guide you towards a price range for your new home, and a tax calculator to help you figure out how you can budget your salary towards your dream home.
Here at THR, we know that buying a home can be a confusing affair, even if you’ve done it before. That’s why we’ve put together a list of our three top tips: these are basic things you really need to know!
1. Use an agent.
And no, we’re not just saying that because we’re agents! A home is the single largest purchase most people will ever make, and it is often an incredibly complicated affair, with mortgages and home inspections and easements and legal status and all sorts of things that agents are specifically trained to deal with. Plus, a good agent will actually save you money in most cases: we’re career negotiators, and we have the skills and the know-how to get you the best possible deal.
2. Location, location, location!
We’re sure you’ve heard this phrase before – it’s such a real estate truism that it’s even become the title of a BBC property show! The “location” of a home isn’t just the street it sits on, though. There are all sorts of factors that make a home’s location, such as:
- What neighbourhood is it in?
- What school district is it in? How close/good are the assigned primary and secondary schools? If your child is gifted, where is the nearest gifted program?
- What side of the street is the home on? Where does the sun rise and set on the property?
- Is there an easement on the property? If so, how does it affect your rights to the property - and the property value?
- How close is public transportation? How long is the commute to work?
- If you get a new job in a different part of the city, how easily accessible are the major highways and public transportation routes?
- Where’s the nearest supermarket? The nearest pharmacy? Hospital? Playground?
This isn’t to say, of course, that you shouldn’t be flexible. If your dream home is a couple of blocks north or south of your favourite running trail, or if you’d had your heart set on a home near Yonge and Eglinton but there’s an amazing property available at Yonge and Lawrence, it’s always good to keep an open mind. Schools can improve (or there’s always the private school option), and you can take up biking if there isn’t a subway station nearby. But remember that when you’re buying a home, you’re buying the location as well, and whilst you can always add on or tear down and rebuild, you can’t change the location. Choose well and wisely!
3. Buy exactly what you can afford.
There’s been a lot of press lately about the so-called “credit crunch”, although Canada is much better off than the US in this regard. Good news, though: the Toronto real estate market is still going strong, and you can still get a mortgage… as long as you make sure to buy exactly the home you can afford.
What do we mean by “exactly what you can afford”? Well, of course, there’s the top end: never overextend yourself on a mortgage. Generally, this means that if more than 40% of your gross (before-tax) income is going towards your mortgage payment and property taxes, you probably need to look at something a bit less expensive. Remember that you’ll need money for other home-related expenses such as maintenance, potential renovation, and trash and recycling collection, as well as for your other household bills.However, we would also encourage you not to discount a home just because it’s a few thousand more dollars than you hoped to spend: as long as the final price remains within a realistic budget, four or five thousand extra dollars is often worth it to secure a home that you absolutely adore.
Luckily, we’ve partnered with a mortgage expert who knows the ins and outs of funding a home purchase; she’d be delighted to answer your questions. And if you choose us to help in your home purchase, we’ll sit down with you and work out a budget that you’re happy with.
