What to Look for When Buying a New Home
You’ve decided to leave the nest, stretch out your legs and pursue the residential real estate market. Perhaps, your parents are “persuading you to leave”, to put it nicely or you just feel it’s time to move on.
Owning your own home can be a great teacher. It may teach you how to cook, clean, manage finances and more. You drive by that empty lot one day on your way home from work and notice a sign with a shiny new condo on it. You contact us and we get you Platinum VIP access to the opening of project. But how do you know if it’s the right project for you? Here are our Top 3 items you should ask:
About the Developer: Who are they? What is their track record like? How long have they been building for? Are they enrolled in Tarion?
It’s good to sleep easy at night knowing your home is getting built by professionals in the industry. A simple Google search will tell you the history of the builder, their reviews and more. Also, Tarion, who provides a comprehensive warranty to new home purchasers in Ontario has another great resource you can use. By clicking here you can search your desired builder, make sure they are enrolled, view how many homes they’ve built and any claims. Knowing your builder is very important because at the point of purchase you are just beginning the relationship with them.
What Features and Finishes does my new home come with?
Don’t be surprised later, and see what’s included in your new home today. For example, does it include laminate, hardwood or carpet flooring? Are the countertops made stone such as granite, marble, quartz? Are appliances included? Just to name a few. Each builder includes a schedule in your Purchase Agreement detailing all the standard finishes. Take a minute to go through these and ask questions. Approximately 6 months after purchasing you will be called into the builder’s décor centre to choose your colours. At this time, if there is anything you want to upgrade you can do so. Most builders only ask for a deposit of 25-50% of the cost of the upgrades up front with the remainder being added to the purchase price. Take time to review the standard features and finishes upon signing/within 10 days, because you don’t want to have to spend thousands upgrading later.
Know Your Dates!
It’s so important to know your dates of when your cooling period ends, when your cheques will be deposited by the builder and more. In Ontario, for any new condo purchase (condo apartment or condo town), by law, you will have a 10-day cooling period. These are 10 regular days starting from the day you received a fully executed copy of the purchase agreement. In these 10 days we advise you to take your contract to your lawyer and bank. Your lawyer will review and cap any unnecessary closing costs and your bank will provide you with a mortgage approval. On the tenth day, if the builder’s lawyer doesn’t hear from your lawyer the deal is pronounced firm. They will deposit your first cheque. Also, builders will provide you with a copy of your post-dated deposit cheques. We recommend setting a reminder for when these amounts will be withdrawn so you have the necessary funds in the account. If a cheque is NSF, builders typically charge a $300 administration fee and a bank draft has to be provided immediately. Know your dates and everything will be fine.
These are the three initial items we recommend you look out for when purchasing your new home. Obviously, our team will be their to to assist you from A to Z. If you have any questions about buying your new home, feel free to contact us. For a list of upcoming new developments in your desired area click here.
by admin on December 12, 2019
