Buy
Buying in the GTA
What happens between the first conversation and the keys, and what it costs along the way.
How it works
From the first conversation to the keys
It starts with a conversation: what you are looking for, where, what you can spend, and when you need to be in. Nothing is committed at that point, and it is the conversation that makes everything after it faster.
Then the search. I send you what fits, and take you through the ones you want to see. Looking at three houses usually changes what you are looking for, which is why the first list is never the final one.
When you find one, an offer is prepared and presented. Price is one term of several — the closing date, the deposit and the conditions are all negotiable, and in a competitive offer they can matter as much as the number.
If the offer is accepted the conditions come off — financing, an inspection, whatever was agreed — and then it closes. Your lawyer registers the transfer, and the keys are yours.
What it costs
The costs that arrive with the house
Land transfer tax is the largest of them. Ontario charges it on every purchase in the province, and a purchase inside the City of Toronto is charged a second, municipal one on top of it. First-time buyers can claim a rebate against both.
Then the smaller ones: your lawyer’s fees and disbursements, a home inspection if you have one done, title insurance, and the adjustments at closing for whatever the seller has already paid in advance.
Toronto charges one more tax, and it is not a closing cost at all. The city taxes a home that sits empty, and every Toronto owner has to declare how the home was used in the past year — every year, including the years they lived in it themselves. It is worth raising with your lawyer before you close.
The pages the province and the city publish those rates on are in the resource directory.
Tell me what you’re looking for
The most useful thing you can do first is say what you are after. Call or send a message, and that is where it starts.