The questions every Ottawa buyer asks eventually

Freehold means you own the home and the land it sits on outright, with no corporation involved and no monthly fee tied to shared ownership. It's the most common structure for detached homes in Ottawa, and for about 60% of townhouses.

A condominium is an ownership structure, not a building style. You own your unit, while a condo corporation owns and maintains shared elements like the roof, hallways, or land. That's why some homes that look completely freehold from the street are condos on paper.

POTL stands for Parcel of Tied Land. You own your home and lot freehold, but it's tied to a common elements corporation that maintains shared infrastructure like private roads or guest parking, usually for a smaller fee than a full condo.

A deposit is the money you submit with your offer to show you're serious. It's held in trust and later applied toward your down payment, not paid on top of it. There is no fixed amount in Ontario. Most often it runs 2 to 3% of the purchase price, sometimes as low as 1%, and buyers competing in multiple offers sometimes go to 5% or higher. Your full down payment is due at closing.

The standard Ontario offer makes the deposit due within 24 hours of acceptance. I change that in every offer I write, so you get one full business day instead. Reach an agreement on a Sunday morning and the deposit is not due until Monday at 11:59pm. It matters more than it sounds, because a bank draft is difficult to arrange on a weekend.

Yes. You can submit more than one bank draft or certified cheque, for both the deposit and the money due on closing. It makes no difference to the lawyer or to the other brokerage, as long as the total is right and it arrives on time. This comes up a lot when funds are sitting in more than one account, or when a daily limit means your bank will not issue the whole amount as a single draft.

The minimum is 5% on homes up to $500,000, then 10% on the portion between $500,000 and $1.5 million, and 20% on anything above that. Putting down less than 20% also means you'll need mortgage default insurance.

A registered account for first-time buyers that behaves like an RRSP going in and a TFSA coming out: your contributions are tax deductible, and withdrawals for a qualifying home purchase are tax free. You can contribute $8,000 a year up to $40,000 in total. The part people miss is that you can use it alongside the RRSP Home Buyers' Plan on the same purchase.

There's no hard cutoff, but lenders generally consider 680 and above a strong score for the best rates and terms. A lower score doesn't rule you out, it just narrows your lender options and may affect your rate.

Yes, through the Home Buyers' Plan. You can withdraw up to $60,000 from your RRSP without tax, and two people buying together can each do it. It is a loan from yourself. You pay it back over 15 years, starting the second year after you take the money out. Anything you skip in a year gets added to your taxable income for that year.

Pre-qualification is a quick, informal estimate based on what you tell a lender. Pre-approval means a lender has reviewed your documents and given you a conditional, locked-in number, which carries a lot more weight with sellers.

Yes. A pre-approval comes with conditions. It is not a promise. It can come apart if your income or your job changes. It can also come apart if you take on new debt like a car loan, if your credit drops, or if the lender's appraisal comes in under what you agreed to pay. The property has to satisfy the lender too, not just you. Change nothing financially between pre-approval and closing, and call your broker before any large purchase.

A condo fee bundles several costs together: building insurance, shared maintenance, amenities, management, and contributions to the reserve fund for future repairs. Older buildings, buildings with more amenities, and buildings with bigger repairs coming tend to have higher fees. What you pay is usually a share based on the size of your unit, plus anything else you own in the building like a parking spot or a locker.

Don't just compare the number. A fee that looks unusually low for an older building can be a warning sign of an underfunded reserve. Review the status certificate and reserve fund study, and ask about any recent or upcoming special assessments.

It's the condo corporation's disclosure package: the budget, the reserve fund study, the rules, any lawsuits, and whether the unit owes money. Your lawyer reads it before your condition clears, and it is the best early warning you get about a fee increase or a special assessment. The buyer normally pays. In Ontario the corporation must produce it within 10 days and cannot charge more than $100 including tax, though a rush request can cost extra.

A standard inspection is a visual, non-invasive review of major systems: foundation, roof, electrical, plumbing, heating and cooling, and general condition. It's not a warranty, it tells you the condition of what's visible today.

Yes. Wood-burning appliances usually need a separate WETT inspection, which a standard home inspection doesn't include. Some insurers won't cover a home with a wood stove without one on file.

A common guideline is 1.5% to 4% of the purchase price, on top of your down payment. That covers land transfer tax, legal fees, title insurance, and adjustments for anything the seller has prepaid.

No. Ottawa buyers only pay the provincial land transfer tax. Toronto is the only Ontario municipality that adds a separate municipal tax on top. First-time buyers may also qualify for a rebate on the provincial portion.

Yes, and it has to be your own. A real estate lawyer is required to close on a home in Ontario, and they handle the title search, mortgage registration, and fund transfer. You can't use the same lawyer as the seller, because each side needs independent representation looking after its own interests. Choose one before you're under a tight closing deadline, not after.

Not usually. A resale home is sold as it stands, so once you close, whatever goes wrong is yours. New construction is the exception: it carries Ontario's Tarion warranty, but only if the builder is registered. Confirm that registration yourself rather than taking it on trust.

Tarion is Ontario's mandatory new home warranty program, covering defects in workmanship and materials on newly built homes for a set period after closing. If you're buying new construction, ask your builder for your Tarion enrollment details upfront.

There are two clocks, and people usually only ask about one. Finding the right place takes as long as it takes: some buyers write an offer in their second week, others look for six months. Once an offer is accepted, 30 to 90 days is the usual wait before you get the keys, and the buyer proposes that date in the offer. Shorter is possible, but it puts real pressure on your financing and your moving plans. Keys usually change hands late in the afternoon, so book your move for the next day rather than that one.

Yes. Your lender and your lawyer will both want proof of home insurance before the keys change hands. Arrange it a few days before closing so there's no last-minute scramble. Older homes can be harder to insure than people expect, so if the house has knob and tube wiring, aluminum wiring, an older roof, or an oil tank, start that conversation early.

It depends on the market, and on what your lender will agree to. In a slower market, selling first protects you: you know exactly what you net before you commit to anything. In a fast market with little inventory, selling first can leave you with nowhere to go. Buying first usually means bridge financing, and most Ottawa lenders won't approve that until your sale is firm, so buying first is often not available as early as people expect. The other route is an offer conditional on your sale, which is weaker when you're competing. Tell me what the market is doing and what your lender has said, and the order usually picks itself.

Yes, and it's how most move-up purchases get funded. The hard part is the timing. That equity only turns into cash the day your sale closes, so if your purchase closes first, the money isn't there yet. Bridge financing exists to cover exactly that gap, and most Ottawa lenders won't approve it until your sale is firm. Work the dates out before you fall for a listing, not after.

Get both numbers from your lender in writing before you list, because the gap between them is often large. Porting moves your existing mortgage to the new property, so you keep your rate and pay no penalty. It only works if your lender allows porting, if you still qualify under current rules, and if your two closings fall inside the window they give you. Breaking instead means a prepayment charge, and on a fixed mortgage that is usually the greater of three months' interest or the interest rate differential, which can be thousands.

You can, and in a slower market sellers do accept them. Expect an escape clause: the seller keeps marketing the home, and if another offer comes in you get a short window, often 24 to 72 hours, to remove your condition or step aside. In a competitive market a sale condition will usually lose to a clean offer, which is the whole reason the order you buy and sell in matters so much.

There is no set rate and no regulated one. Commission is negotiable on every transaction in Ontario, and there is no industry standard no matter who tells you otherwise. The amount is agreed in writing between a seller and their brokerage in the listing agreement before the home goes on the market, and HST is charged on top of it. Buyers sign a written agreement with their own brokerage too, so read what yours says about compensation before you sign it. If you want to know what I charge, ask me and I'll give you a straight number for your situation.

In most Ontario transactions, the seller pays commission, which is split between the listing agent and the buyer's agent, out of the sale proceeds. As a buyer, that generally means working with an agent doesn't cost you directly.

Ask your agent for an honest debrief on how many offers came in and what likely won it, confirm your financing is still solid, and keep your search active. A lost offer tells you something useful. It does not mean you got your money or your judgment wrong.

It depends on the conditions in your agreement. If your financing or inspection condition isn't met, you can typically walk away. Once all conditions are satisfied or waived, backing out gets legally and financially serious, always talk to your lawyer before assuming you can walk.

Usually, yes. The asking price is what a seller is hoping for, not a fixed number, and there is more room to negotiate now than there was a few years ago. It still runs the other way on some homes. When a place is priced well and more than one person wants it, buyers do pay over asking. What decides it is what comparable homes sold for, not the number on the listing.

By looking at comparable recent sales: similar homes, same area. The last three to six months is ideal. In a quiet pocket you may have to reach back a year or more, which is fine as long as you account for how the market moved in between. Your agent should pull that data before you write anything. The listing price is what the seller is asking. Market value is what buyers have paid, and the two are often different in both directions.

As long as its irrevocable period, which is a time you set in the offer itself. Until it expires you can't take the offer back, and the seller uses that window to accept, reject, or counter. Too long and you're committed while the seller shops your offer around. Too short and they may not have time to respond at all.

Spring and early summer bring the most listings and the most buyers, so there is more choice and more competition at the same time. If you are buying, winter is quieter and a patient buyer can do well in it. If you are selling, the busy season puts more eyes on your home, but it also puts more homes up against yours, and a well-prepared listing in a quiet month can get attention it would never get in May.