Langley BC Real Estate | Condominums And Town Homes

Mortgage regulations have changed significantly over the last few years, making your options wider than ever. Subtle changes in the way you approach mortgage shopping, and even small differences in the way you structure your mortgage, can cost or save you literally thousands of dollars and years of expense.

Get the Right Information
Whether you are about to buy your first home, or are planning to make a move to your next home, it is critical that you inform yourself about the factors involved. You can, and should, get pre-approved for a mortgage before you go looking for a home. Pre-approval is easy, and can give you complete peace of mind when shopping for your home

Know what monthly dollar amount you feel comfortable committing to
When you discuss mortgage pre-approval with your lending institution, find out what level you qualify for, but also pre-assess for yourself what monthly dollar amount you feel comfortable committing to. Your situation may give you a pre-approval amount that is higher (or lower) than the amount of money you would want to pay out each month.

Think about your long-term goals to determine the type of mortgage that will best suit your needs
There are a number of questions you should be asking yourself before you commit to a certain type of mortgage. How long do you think you will own this home? What direction are interest rates going in, and how quickly? Is your income expected to change (up or down) in the near term, impacting how much money you can afford to pay to your mortgage? The answers to these and other questions will help you determine the most appropriate mortgage you should be seeking.

Make sure you understand what prepayment privileges and payment frequency options are available to you
More frequent payments (for example weekly or biweekly) can literally shave years off your mortgage. For the same reason, authorized prepayment of a certain percentage of your mortgage, or an increase in the amount you pay monthly, will have a major impact on the number of years you will have to pay and could shorten your payment term considerably. Not every mortgage has these prepayment privileges built in, so make sure you ask the proper questions.

Ask if your mortgage is both portable and/or assumable
A portable mortgage, where available, is one that you can carry with you when you buy your next home and avoid paying any discharge penalties. This means that you will not have to go through the entire mortgage process again unless you are making a move up to a much more expensive home.

An assumable mortgage is one that the buyer for your home can take over when you move to your next home. This can be a very powerful tool at the negotiating table making it much easier and more desirable for a buyer to buy your home, and again saves you any discharge penalties.

Consider dealing with a Mortgage Expert
Consider dealing only with a professional who specializes in mortgages. Enlisting their services can make a significant difference in the cost and effectiveness of the mortgage you obtain.

Selling your home can be a difficult job, especially since you’re competing against hundreds of other properties. It’s vital that you be aware of what works and doesn’t work when it comes to home selling. Consider the following list of the most common mistakes made by home sellers:

Setting the wrong price for your home
The right price sells a house faster than any other factor. When the listing price is more than 5% over market value, the price alone discourages buyers. An overpriced house scares away potential buyers who think they can get more house for their money elsewhere.

Selling your home in ‘As-Is’ condition
Most buyers will not even consider a house that needs fix ups. What they are looking for is an inviting home in move-in condition, one that looks as good as a model home. Buyers who are willing to tackle the repairs after moving in automatically subtract the cost of needed fix-ups from the price they offer.

Selling your home with a dull interior
A clean, bright decor is what buyers want. Probably the best dollar-for-dollar investment for selling your home fast is fresh paint. Make your home look better than you’ve ever had it looking before. Focus on the three rooms most inspected–kitchen, master bedroom and garage (if you’ve got one).

No ‘Curb Appeal’
Your house gets only one chance to make a good first impression. “Curb appeal” is one of the most critical points in selling. Spruce up the view of the house from the street, including lawn, shrubs, shutters, windows, front door, mailbox. Add potted flowers out front, brass outdoor lighting fixtures–whatever will enhance your home’s “buy me” look.

Over-improving your home
While it’s important to fix whatever needs fixing to get your home ready for sale, undertaking a major project could cost more money than you would recover from the sale. If your improvements will push your home’s value more than 20% over the average neighboring home values, you may not recover the entire cost.

Inflexible Financing
The more buyers you appeal to in terms of financing, the greater your chances of selling faster. Be flexible. Accept various financing, offering seller financing, paying closing costs or points, providing a decorator’s allowance or other irresistible buyer incentives.

Stretching out buyer negotiations
One of the most important moves you can make is to reply immediately to an offer. When buyers make an offer they are, right then, in the mood to buy. You don’t want to lose a sale because you stall in replying.

Being Adversarial during negotiations
No one wins if you enter negotiations with boxing gloves on. Instead, approach negotiations in a positive frame of mind, not as an adversary of the buyer. After all, you both want the same thing–a sale. Leave most of the discussion of price, terms, possession and other conditions up to your agent.

Not having a presentable house
The presence of your family can make prospective buyers feel like intruders. If you’re at home when your home is being shown, be your usual friendly–but low-key–self. It’s the agent’s job to show buyers what they need to see. If an open house is scheduled, plan to be away from home.

Selling without a professional
Going it alone could invite disaster. Surveys show self-sellers often net less from the sale than sellers who use a real estate agent. Selling a house is a team effort between you and the listing agent. You’ll find agents do a lot more than most people know–from bringing qualified buyers to keeping things on track to settlement.

Purchasing a home is probably the biggest investment you will ever make. When buying a house, you will have to rely on a range of professionals to guide you through the process.

Realtor
The Realtor plays the most important role in helping you find a home. Your realtor will help you find the ideal home, write an Offer of Purchase and negotiate on your behalf to help you get the best possible deal. A real estate representative will find properties in your price range and would arrange the purchase transaction in return for a portion of the sale price as a commission.  

Mortgage Broker
If you haven’t already gone through the mortgage pre-qualification process, you will need to find a good lender to assist you during the purchasing process. A Mortgage Broker is an expert who introduces buyers to a full range of mortgage products, interest rate options, and strategies to pay off a mortgage more quickly. They do not work for specific lending institutions.

Lender
Lenders are financial institutions, such as banks, trust companies, credit unions, pension funds, insurance companies or finance companies that lend money to home buyers. 

Appraiser
An appraiser is a property expert who determines a property’s market value. This is based on the property’s physical and functional characteristics. And an analysis of recent comparable sales. The market value enables the lender to determine the loan to value ratio of the mortgage.

Lawyer / Notary
The lawyer or notary will review the Agreement of Purchase and Sale, ensure that all closing documents have been completed correctly, as well as file documents with the provincial land title office.  Your lawyer or notary will also ensure your property is clear of all existing mortgages, judgments and builder’s liens.

Home Inspector
The Property or home inspector examines the home you intend to buy to evaluate its roof and structural stability, electrical work, plumbing, appliances, fireplaces and furnace.  A home inspection allows a buyer to address any issues with the seller prior to closing, as well as anticipate any repairs that may be required.

Mortgage Insurer
The Mortgage insurer protects lenders from a borrower defaulting on a mortgage at any time during the amortization period.  Home buyers with down payments of less than 25% must purchase mortgage insurance from the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) or GE Mortgage Insurance Canada.

If you are putting your home up for sale, consider having your own home inspection. This should be part of your “pre-sale home improvement” process.

One of the most common conditions of the contract is, “offer contingent upon satisfactory building inspection.” Most buyers have a professional home inspection done before purchase.

The last thing that you want is to have your deal fall through because of an unknown problem uncovered by the buyer’s building inspector. This is especially true if it is a minor problem and could easily have been repaired ahead of time — if only you had known about it. Many a transaction has fallen apart because of building inspection surprises.

When preparing your house for sale, you do lots of things to make it more appealing to potential buyers. Spend that little extra and have a home inspection. By having a pre listing home inspection, you will go into the whole process knowing exactly what a buyers inspector will be looking for, and know what needs to be addressed. Find out the hidden problems with your home and correct them in advance. Take care of potential deal breakers beforehand.

By making repairs and disclosing to the prospective buyer the property’s condition up front, before negotiations begin, you can create a more relaxed atmosphere by instilling confidence regarding the home’s condition. This, in turn, may help your house sell faster and closer to listing price.

It’s easy to count your available cash, but remember that all of these cash savings cannot be used as your down-payment. There are last-minute costs such as taxes, legal fees, appraisalfees, moving expenses, and home insurance to pay before you are finally in your new home. The time to budget for those “end” expenses is now. You must be prepared to pay most, and perhaps all, of the following closing costs.

Property Transfer Tax – The British Columbia Provincial Government imposes a property transfer tax which must be paid before any home can be legally transferred to a new owner. Some buyers may be exempt from this tax. For further information, contact the Property Transfer Tax office in Victoria at www.gov.bc.ca/sbr.

Goods & Services Tax – If you purchase a newly constructed home, you may be subject to GST on the purchase price. There may be some rebates available depending on the value of the home. For further information contact the Canada Revenue Agency at www.cra-arc.gc.ca.

Property Tax – If the current owners have already paid the full year’s property taxes to the municipality, you will have to reimburse them for your share of the year’s taxes.

Appraisal Fee – When the lending institution requires an appraisal of the home before approving your loan, it may be your responsibility to pay the appraiser’s fee.

Survey Fee – The lending institution may also require that a survey certificate be presented to them. The purpose of the survey is to formally establish the boundaries of the property and to ensure that all buildings are within those boundaries.

Note: Lending institutions may ask for either a building location survey, which establishes where a building is located on a property, or a monumental survey, which establishes the actual boundaries of a property. If the current owner cannot provide a recent survey certificate, it will be your responsibility to pay the surveyor’s fee.

Mortgage Application Fee – Lending institutions may charge a mortgage application fee. This application fee may vary between lending institutions.

Mortgage Default Insurance – This type of insurance is required on most mortgage loans in excess of 75% of the appraised home value. Its purpose is to insure that the lender will not lose any money if you cannot make your mortgage payments and the value of your home is not sufficient to repay your mortgage debt. The insurance premium is paid to the lender and, in most cases, is added to the loan amount and paid for over the term of the loan.

Life & Disability Mortgage Insurance – At your option, you may purchase insurance which will ensure that your outstanding mortgage balance is paid if you die or become disabled.

Fire & Liability Insurance – The mortgage lender will insist that you purchase an insurance policy which guarantees that, in the event of fire, the lender will receive the balance owing on the mortgage loan before you receive any insurance proceeds.

Legal Fees – The transfer of home ownership from the seller to the buyer must be recorded in the Land Title Office in order to protect the new owner’s interests. You will probably want to engage a lawyer or notary public to act on your behalf during the completion of your purchase. The lawyer or notary public will charge a fee for this service, plus disbursements, including the Land Title Registration fee. If you are financing your purchase with a new mortgage loan, there will be a further fee and disbursements to prepare and register the mortgage documents.

Other last-minute costs you shouldn’t forget to set some money aside for:
» home inspection fees
» moving expenses
» deposits required by utility companies
» household goods,
» kitchen appliances,
» garden equipment,
» garbage cans, tools, window coverings, etc.
» redecorating or renovations

When selling your home, you may be obligated to disclose problems that could affect the property’s value or desirability. All Canadian MLS listing agreements require that sellers submit Property Disclosure Statement. It has to describe the property, and list to the best of your knowledge any defects, debts or claims against it.

The Property Disclosure Statement includes

Property Details
» Property size (lot specification, number of rooms, etc), building materials
» Heating and air conditioning systems
» Appliances, furniture or other moveable items included in the sale
» Any portable items excluded from the sale

Financial Information
» Asking price for the home
» Your mortgage information (balance, payment schedule, maturity date)
» Property tax
» Any legal claims on the property

Employment Disclosure
» Your agent or broker
» Employment type - seller or dual agency
» Agreed services
» The length of the contract
» Commission you would pay

Disclosure is used to protect the interest of the buyer, and sellers who deliberately conceal information may be held liable.

The Home Buyers’ Plan (HBP) is a program that allows you to withdraw up to $20,000 from your registered retirement savings plan (RRSPs) to buy or build a qualifying home for yourself or for a related person with a disability.

Conditions for participating in the HBP Only the individual who is entitled to receive payments from the RRSP (the annuitant) can withdraw funds from an RRSP. You can make withdrawals from more than one RRSP as long as you are the annuitant (plan owner) of each RRSP. Your RRSP issuer will not withhold tax on these amounts.

Generally, you will not be allowed to withdraw funds from a locked-in RRSP.

To participate in the HBP, ONE of the following conditions must apply:

• You are withdrawing funds to buy or build a home for yourself as a first-time home buyer.

or

• You are withdrawing funds to buy or build a home for a related person with a disability.

In addition, ALL of the following conditions must apply:

• You must enter into a written agreement (Offer of purchase) to buy or build a qualifying home. The agreement may be with a builder or contractor, or with a realtor or private seller. Obtaining a pre-approved mortgage does not satisfy this condition.
• You intend to occupy the qualifying home as your principal place of residence.
• Your repayable HBP balance on January 1 of the year of the withdrawal is zero.
• Neither you nor your spouse or common-law partner owns the qualifying home more than 30 days before the withdrawal.
• You are a resident of Canada.
• You buy or build the qualifying home before October 1 of the year after the year of withdrawal.

You are responsible for making sure that all HBP conditions that apply to your situation are met.

If a condition is not met while you are participating in the plan, your RRSP withdrawal will not be considered eligible. You will have to include the RRSP withdrawal as income on your income tax return for the year you received the funds.

If you do not meet the conditions to participate in the HBP in the current year, you may be able to participate at a later date.

Read more about HBP on Canada Revenue’s page.

What makes one house go on the market, have a number of showings in the first week and have a contract in place shortly thereafter, while an apparently similar house sits on the market for months? Of course, luck may have a little to do with it, but there is a good chance that the quick selling house (and its owner) was prepared to sell while the other house and owner were not.

Although pricing is a very important factor there are other issues that will have a great deal of effect on whether or not you have a quick sale.

5 Steps for Helping Your House to Sell Quickly

1. Prepare yourself to sell your house. Do your best to see the house, no longer as your home, but as a product to be marketed. This takes some work, especially if you have been in the home for a number of years and have many memories there, but it is necessary if you want to maximize your potential.
2. Consider a professional whole house inspection. An inspection will most likely uncover any major defects before they can cause trouble with a potential buyer. It also is a signal to buyers that you are a responsible seller.
3. Prepare the house. Stand back and look at your house as objectively as possible. Would you buy this home? Ask friends and neighbors to do the same, asking them to be totally honest. Overlooking flaws could cost you money! Get them fixed before you put the house on the market. 
4. Do what is necessary to make your house stand out from the competition. Make certain that your house is fresher, cleaner, and better maintained. Familiarize yourself with effective marketing and advertising techniques.
5. Remove most of the “imprint” that you have made on the house. Having a few family pictures around is fine, but if your house is a “shrine” to your family–walls full of personal pictures–you should take some steps to depersonalize it. Buyers must be able to envision themselves in the house, which is nearly impossible if everywhere they turn they stare at you!

Perhaps you’ve heard the terms “Freehold” or “Leasehold” to describe a person’s title to a piece of property and wondered exactly what that means.  The following is a list and explanation of the different ways Title to a property in British Columbia can be held.

Freehold – A freehold interest (also known as a fee simple) is the more precise term for what we ordinarily refer to as “ownership” of a home. The owner of the freehold interest has full use and control of the land and the buildings on it, subject to any rights of the Crown, local land-use bylaws, and any other restrictions in place at the time of purchase.

Strata Title – The strata title form of ownership is designed to provide exclusive use and ownership of a specific housing unit (the strata lot) which is contained in a larger property (the strata project), plus shared use and ownership of the common areas such as halls, grounds, garages, elevators, etc. This type of ownership is used for duplexes, apartment blocks, townhouse complexes, warehouses, and many other types of buildings. Because ownership of the common space is shared, the owners also share financial responsibility for its maintenance.

Leasehold – In some cases, you might purchase the right to use a residential property for a long, but limited, period of time. The owner of this right of use has a type of ownership called a leasehold interest. This type of ownership is used most often for townhouses or apartments built on city-owned land. It is also used occasionally for single detached homes on farm land, on First Nation reserves, and for apartments where the owner of the freehold interest of an entire apartment block sells leasehold interests in individual apartment units to other “owners.” Leasehold interests are frequently set for periods of 99 years, but regardless of the length of the original term, you will only be able to purchase the remaining portion. Of course, the shorter the remaining portion, the less you, or the person who eventually purchases from you, will be willing to pay for the leasehold interest.

Cooperative – In the cooperative form of ownership, each owner owns a share in a company or cooperative association which, in turn, owns a property containing a number of housing units. Each shareholder is assigned one particular unit in which to reside.

from the Real Estate Council of British Columbia 

If it is possible, as some individuals suggest, for many people to quickly become very wealthy by dealing in real estate, then unfortunately, other people on the opposite side of the same transactions must, just as quickly, lose some of what they have invested. Usually, those who stand to lose are sellers who agree to be a party to buyers’ financing arrangement in which the sellers assume risks.

Essentially, there is nothing wrong with most innovative or creative financing if all parties are fully aware of the potential risks and fully understand the possible consequences of such risks. However, the fact is that many owners (sellers) are not aware of the potential disasters which may occur. It is strongly recommended that you secure competent advice from a real estate licensee or legal counsel before finalizing any real estate contract. This recommendation is much more urgent when the offer you are considering includes terms which could jeopardize you financially.

Be wary of offers which require any of the following: