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There are many steps involved in purchasing a Condo, Apartment or Townhouse as your home:

1. Select a Realtor

You will want to choose a Vancouver Realtor who genuinely cares about your wants and needs as an apartment buyer. Not a Real Estate Agent who seems like they just want to close another sale. Choose carefully and work with somebody who you have confidence in that they have the experience and expertise to write a great contract on your behalf and address your concerns. Somebody who knows what they are doing!

2. Assessing your requirements

What type of attached property is it you want exactly? Are you a condo buyer or would you prefer buying townhouse apartments. How big of a suite do you want vs. how big you need. Many an apartment buyer has in their mind exactly what they want and frequently it’s over their budget for buying a condo. We all want the suite way up high looking at the water, but maybe it will serve you better to save a hundred and fifty grand and get the larger condo a block away. Know what you have the ability to purchase.
3. Mortgage Financing

Your mortgage lenders will be happy to discuss your financing options with you and work with you to the best of their ability. Get yourself pre-approved and lock in the interest rate for 90 days. When you do, you know exactly what you can afford and you have the ability to get your Realtor to write an offer immediately when you have located THE townhouse or condominium that works best for you. This is an advantage over an apartment buyer who did not get pre approved because they will want additional time for financing.

4. Looking at Properties

Your specially selected Real Estate Agent will search for Condo apartments for sale and townhouses for sale that match the criteria you have instructed them with. They should book a tour for you. This will be looking at about 4 – 8 properties in a few hours to maximize everybody’s time. Try to avoid 1 at a time if possible, look at a bunch that matches what you’re looking for. It’s good to be able to compare them while they are fresh in your mind. Write notes on the listing sheets about the pros and cons of each one so you can make an educated decision. When you find that elusive Condo for sale that you really like, have your agent write an offer right away. If you wait and decide to proceed later, somebody else may have scooped it on you.

5. Negotiating the Contract of Purchase and Sale

The real Estate Agent you have selected will happily write an offer for you with all the terms and conditions that work best for you. Some of these will be negotiated back and forth including price, closing dates, included items and keep or evict the tenant if there is one. Typical terms will include a Financing clause, an Inspection clause and a documents clause.

The offer may go back and forth a few times until each party has agreed upon the terms of the contract.

6. Subject Removal

Once the offer to purchase has been accepted, it’s time for you to do your due diligence. You will usually have about 7 days not including holidays for the subject removal period. Firstly you confirm with your lender that your financing is approved. This is easy because you already got pre approved, but double confirm anyway. Next you and your agent will review the documents requested. Documents will include:

a. A form B information certificate which is the document that has information current and specific to that particular suite and building including the strata fee, are payments up to date, how much money is in the strata corporations contingency reserve fund, how many suites in the building are rented, is there any lawsuit against the strata and various other pieces of information.

B. Two years history of strata meeting minutes, annual general meeting minutes and special general meeting minutes. This is so they can be read over and what are the current happenings in the building. It’s like a snapshot of the last 2 years.

c. The Strata plan. It’s always good to have it. It has building floor plans in it, the schedule of unit entitlement (your proportionate share of the building), parking plans, the developers rental disclosure statement if any and various other things.

d. Bylaws and Rules. You want to know if rentals and pets are allowed. You want to know if there is any fee to move in or out or a fee if you want to get a tenant. You want to know what restrictions there are especially if it runs against your intention.

e. A copy of any engineering report or other consultants report if there is one. You want to know if the building might need an upcoming rain screen job, or if they did one, or what the engineers had to say when they inspected the building if any did. If there is an engineering report, it does not automatically mean there are big problems. Proactive strata will have engineers inspect the building when is not quite 5 and 10 years old so they can get any deficiencies repaired while still under warranty.

f. A Title Search. It is a necessity to confirm you are dealing with the registered owner of the property.

g. Property Condition Disclosure Statement (PCDS) is the document the sellers will fill out stating what they know about the property. You definitely want to know what the sellers have to say about it. This document will be incorporated into and form part of the contract of purchase and sale. If the vendor has never lived in the property and it has always been a rental, they may have crossed it out and are unwilling to make any representations about it.

Lastly you will want to have your property inspector come and inspect the condo. You probably want to do this after the financing and documents are approved. There is no sense in paying an inspector a few hundred dollars if you’re not going to get your financing or if you don’t approve of the documentation.

When these things are done you are ready for subject removal. Your real Estate Agent will provide you with the forms for your signature.

7. Completion and Possession Dates

Once Subject removal is complete, your expert Realtor will send the proper documentation to your Lawyer or Notary Public. The Notary or Lawyer for both buyer and seller will be in contact with each other to transfer the title to the property and the money on the completion day specified in the contract. You will generally go in and sign various documents with your Lawyer or Notary about a week prior to completion. The deposit you provided your realtor with which was deposited into their companies trust account will be forwarded to your Lawyer or Notary. Usually the day after completion is possession day but not always. This is when you are entitled to enter the property you have purchased. Acceptance to completion is typically 30-90 days. The closing details will be recorded on a statement of adjustments for you by your legal representative.

8. Additional Costs to the buyer

There are several other expenses you will have as a buyer in addition to the purchase price for the property.

- Property transfer tax is 1% of the first $200,000 plus 2% of the balance. If you qualify for a first time homebuyer exemption this tax may be avoided, talk to your Lawyer or Notary about it.

-HST is due on brand new property.

-Mortgage insurance

-Home insurance

-Your property inspector will charge you $200-$300 for the inspection.

-Moving expenses

- Property management if you want to lease it out and you don’t want to deal with it yourself it may be easier for you to hire somebody to do this for you.

-Your share of the years’ property tax. If the vendor has paid it for the full year, you will reimburse the vendor for the part of the year which you own the property. If the vendor has not paid it in the year you buy the property, the vendor will reimburse you for the portion of the year in which they owned it.

-Conveyance expenses might be about $800 for a Notary Public or around $1200 for a Lawyer.