The Canadian market offers significant opportunities in all aspects of real estate, whether you are looking for an investment, a condo, or a castle. The experience of buying a house is both fun and exciting, or long and frustrating, depending on whether you and your agent set realistic goals and expectations. Our 2016 Buyers Guide covers the basic essentials you need to know to purchase real estate, but here you will find additional tips to keep in mind at various stages of your search.

Pick the right team

The right team is priceless. While experience is important, equally important is someone who keeps up-to-date with changing laws, emerging technology, and market trends. Pick someone that works to build a relationship with you, rather than someone that’s chasing a pay cheque.

Knowledge is power

The market is changing daily. While you might have a basic understanding of the purchase process, the market is in constant flux because of ever changing supply and demand. Ask your real estate agent what is happening in the market every week.

Bad photos don’t mean a bad house

Don’t shy away from a home because of the bad photography. Be realistic when viewing pictures and try spot positive and negative attributes in each picture, regardless of the picture quality, and lack of staging.

Explore every option

Buying a home is buying into a lifestyle. Explore a few housing options to see what sticks. We’ve seen buyers who are searching for a bungalow fall in love with the rooftop patio on a modern town home.

Look past the finishes

The most expensive repairs and upgrades to a home do not include paint color, carpeting, baseboards, and light fixtures. Learn to watch out for quality appliances, furnaces, air conditioners, electrical, roofs, driveways, windows, doors, garage doors, and other upgrades that do not necessarily add visual beauty to the home. The rest can come later.

You catch more bees with honey

Negotiation is a mature conversation, leading to a mutually satisfying result. The seller is in an emotional situation, and will react to negative criticism. The agent that looses the bidding war is the agent that brings up the stained carpet, and the agent that wins the bidding war is the one that arrives with a personal letter from their client that references the client’s first impressions of the place they want to call home.

 We are in the business of uniting extraordinary properties with extraordinary lifestyles.