Common questions about home ownership

You should be prepared for several one-time costs when buying a home, and as a general rule, you can expect to budget 1.5% of the purchase price to cover these additional costs. 

Some of these costs may include:

• Legal fees
• Home inspection and appraisal fees
• Insurance (including mortgage loan insurance and home insurance)
• Land registration fees
• GST/HST/QST on the purchase price for newly built homes
• Adjustments for property taxes and/or utility costs to the seller for bills already paid
• Moving costs
  

Understanding the house price you can afford is important, and that number is based on several factors, including the size of your down payment, what your income is, and any other debt you may have.

Try our Mortgage Affordability Calculator  to see what your number is.

Your mortgage payment will be based on the amortization term, interest rate and payment frequency you select. Knowing your ideal payment amount will help determine which payment option is right for you

Try our Mortgage Payment Calculator  to see what payment makes the most sense for your situation.

You have three simple options for paying off your mortgage sooner:

• Double-up your payments — Make an additional payment on either a few, or on every regular mortgage payment.
• Lump sum payment — Make one lump sum payment each year of up to 15% of your original principal amount.
• Increase your payment — Once a year, you can choose to increase your regular monthly payment amount by up to 15%.
  

The first step to take before you actually go looking at houses, is to find out what mortgage amount you’d be pre-approved for. That way, it’ll be easier to focus on looking at houses you know you can actually afford, and gives you peace of mind knowing you meet the financing requirements.

Though getting pre-approved is not a guarantee of final approval for a mortgage. Once you find the home you want to buy, the property still has to be evaluated so that the price and condition of the home are acceptable to your lender.