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 a way of owning a home, whatever the building looks like, which is why some homes that look completely freehold from the street turn out to be condos on paper. You own your unit, while a condo corporation owns and maintains the shared parts like the roof, the hallways or the land.

A POTL (Parcel of Tied Land) is a freehold home and lot tied to a common elements corporation, which looks after shared infrastructure like private roads or guest parking. You pay a fee toward that upkeep, usually a smaller one than you'd pay in a full condo.

A deposit is the money you hand over with your offer to show you're serious, which is held in trust and later counted as part of your down payment. There's no fixed amount in Ontario, although it usually runs 2 to 3% of the purchase price and sometimes goes as low as 1%. Buyers competing in multiple offers sometimes go to 5% or higher to make their offer stand out. The rest of your down payment is due at closing.

The standard Ontario offer makes the deposit due within 24 hours of acceptance, which I change in every offer I write so you get one full business day instead. If we reach an agreement on a Sunday morning, the deposit isn't due until Monday at 11:59pm, which matters more than it sounds because a bank draft is hard to arrange on a weekend.

Yes, you can use more than one bank draft or certified cheque for both the deposit and the money due on closing. The lawyer and the other brokerage don't mind, as long as the total is right and it arrives on time. This comes up a lot when your money is sitting in more than one account, or when a daily limit means your bank won't put the whole amount on a single draft.

The minimum is 5% on the first $500,000 and 10% on the portion between $500,000 and $1.5 million. A home priced at $1.5 million or more needs 20% of the whole price, because mortgage default insurance isn't available that high. Below that, putting down less than 20% means you'll need that insurance, which protects the lender and is often added to your mortgage balance.

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

There's no hard cutoff, though lenders generally see 680 or above as a strong score that gets the best rates and terms. A lower score won't rule you out, although it narrows your choice of lenders and may affect your rate.

Yes, through the Home Buyers' Plan, which lets each person buying withdraw up to $60,000 from their RRSP without paying tax on it. It works as a loan from yourself that you pay back over 15 years, starting the second year after you take the money out. Any repayment 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, whereas a pre-approval means the lender has reviewed your documents and given you a conditional, locked-in number. Sellers take a pre-approval far more seriously, so it's the one to have before you start looking.

Yes, a pre-approval comes with conditions, so it can come apart if your income or your job changes or if you take on new debt like a car loan. It can also fall through if your credit drops or if the lender's appraisal comes in under what you agreed to pay, since the house has to satisfy the lender as well as you. I'd keep your finances exactly as they are 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. Fees tend to run higher in older buildings, in buildings with more amenities and in buildings with big repairs coming. 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.

A low fee can look like good news, although on an older building it can mean the reserve fund is underfunded, which makes a special assessment (a surprise bill to every owner) more likely. I'd read the status certificate and the reserve fund study and ask about any recent or upcoming special assessments before you commit.

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

A standard inspection is a visual, non-invasive review of the major systems: foundation, roof, electrical, plumbing, heating and cooling, and general condition. It describes the condition of what's visible on the day and comes with no warranty, so anything hidden behind walls or under floors can still surprise you later.

Usually, yes, because a standard home inspection doesn't cover wood-burning appliances, which need their own WETT inspection by a certified technician. Some insurers won't cover a home with a wood stove unless there's one on file, so I'd book it alongside the home inspection.

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

No, Toronto is the only Ontario municipality that adds its own land transfer tax on top of the provincial one, so Ottawa buyers pay the provincial tax alone. First-time buyers may also qualify for a rebate on that provincial tax.

Yes, you need a real estate lawyer to close on a home in Ontario, since they handle the title search, the mortgage registration and the transfer of funds. It has to be your own, because each side needs someone independent looking after its own interests, which rules out using the seller's lawyer. I'd pick one early, before you're up against a tight closing deadline.

Not usually, since a resale home is sold as it stands and anything that goes wrong after closing is yours to deal with. New construction is the exception, because it carries Ontario's Tarion warranty as long as the builder is registered, which is worth checking yourself on the public Ontario Builder Directory before you sign anything.

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 the builder for your Tarion enrolment details at the start.

It runs on two separate clocks, starting with the search, which takes as long as it takes: some buyers write an offer in their second week while others look for six months. Once an offer is accepted, the usual wait before you get the keys is 30 to 90 days, on a date the buyer proposes in the offer. A shorter closing is possible, although it puts real pressure on your financing and your moving plans. Keys usually change hands late in the afternoon, so I'd book the movers for the next day.

Yes, your lender and your lawyer will both want proof of home insurance before the keys change hands, so I'd arrange it a few days before closing to avoid a 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 with your insurer early.

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

Yes, that's how most move-up purchases get funded, with the timing as the hard part. Your 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, as long as your sale is firm, since most Ottawa lenders won't approve it before then. I'd work the dates out before you fall for a listing.

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 your new home, 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 it means paying a prepayment charge, which on a fixed mortgage is usually the greater of three months' interest or the interest rate differential and can run to thousands.

Yes, sellers do accept them in a slower market, although you should expect an escape clause. Under an escape clause the seller keeps marketing the home, so 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 why the order you buy and sell in matters so much.

There's no set or regulated rate, since commission is negotiable on every transaction in Ontario and there's no industry standard, whatever anyone tells you. A seller and their brokerage agree on the amount in writing in the listing agreement before the home goes on the market, with HST charged on top. Buyers sign a written agreement with their own brokerage too, so read what yours says about compensation before you sign it. If you'd like 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 the commission out of the sale proceeds, which is then split between the listing agent and the buyer's agent. As a buyer, that generally means working with an agent doesn't cost you anything directly.

Ask your agent for an honest debrief on how many offers came in and what likely won it, then check your financing is still solid and keep your search going. A lost offer tells you something useful about the market, even though it can feel like you got your money or your judgment wrong.

It depends on the conditions in your agreement, since you can typically walk away if your financing or inspection condition isn't met. Once every condition is satisfied or waived, backing out gets legally and financially serious, so talk to your lawyer before you assume you can walk.

Usually, yes, since the asking price is what the seller is hoping to get and there's more room to negotiate now than there was a few years ago. It still runs the other way on some homes, because when a place is priced well and more than one person wants it, buyers do pay over asking. What settles it is what comparable homes sold for, whatever number is on the listing.

You compare it with recent sales of similar homes in the same area, ideally from the last three to six months. 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. The listing price is what the seller is asking, whereas market value is what buyers have paid, which can land on either side of it. Your agent should pull those sales for you before you write anything.

An offer is valid for its irrevocable period, a deadline you set in the offer itself, during which you can't take it back while the seller decides whether to accept, reject or counter. Set it too long and you're committed while the seller shops your offer around, whereas a very short window may not give them time to respond at all.

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